In life, there are many different ways to find occupational success. Indeed we are far beyond the days of equating a traditional “9 am-5 pm” job to a professional success—Keidrain “Bossman” Brewster, James Mayes, Blakk Tatted, and Wallo know this fact to be true. These brothers took to the ESSENCE Fest stage, at the “In His Zone experience,” to discuss their unconventional career paths in conversation with Entertainment Editor, Okla Jones.
Keidrain “Bossman” Brewster owns the trucking company Brewster Logistics. The founder says that when building a business, owners must be disciplined. “Once you start your own business, you still have a routine you’ve got to follow. You’ve still got people dealing with customer service. You still have to deal with employees as well as customers. A lot of people are under the impression that, ‘Once I start my own business, I get away from the nine to five.’ But once you start your own business, it’s 24 hours.” When it comes to insights for up-and-coming entrepreneurs, Brewster says go above and beyond—it’s not always about the bottom line. “I’m somebody that believes in doing more than what the job requires.” The founder continues, “One of the things I tell people, quit focusing on the money and focus on producing more than what their job requires.”
James Mayes is a fashion designer and founder of a New Orleans-based clothing line called Emline. Mayes says that the spirit of New Orleans is intrinsic to his brand; his ability to connect with his customers is partly responsible for his success. “I want to keep New Orleans inside of my brand, like the culture inside of it. But I also understand fashion. In fashion, there’s a bubble. You can’t be outside of the bubble; you can’t be too far behind, you can’t be too far ahead, you know what I’m saying? So to get to speak to my people, I got to speak to them in a certain type of way.”
Blakk Tatted is the CEO and founder of a hookah line, Blakk Smoke. The entrepreneur says that he was fueled by the naysayers. Blakk Tatted refuses to play it safe. “If we’re being real, being transparent, when we talk about the hookah world, talk about the tobacco world, you don’t see people like us. I was actually told, ‘I don’t think you should do that or you don’t want to do that. They’re not going to let you do that.’ So to me that challenge was enough for me.” The CEO says that he was able to push forward with his business and find success because of his deep love for his work. “I always tell somebody if you’re going to do a business, the main objective to doing the business is doing something that you love to do because even when the money gets low, even when business is not going to the pace or the magnitude that you want it to be, that passion is what’s going to keep you hungry. That passion will make you keep doing it, regardless, and get to the next point.”
Wallo is an influencer, consultant, and co-host of the podcast, “Million Dollaz Worth of Game.” His strategy to attain success is not caring what others think. “You have got to have thick skin in this game. You’ve got to approach this game with ‘you.’ Nothing is more lucrative than when you can make money being you. We [the hosts of “Million Dollaz Worth of Game”] get in there everyday. We’re us. We’re apologetically us, we don’t care.” Wallo continues, “As a Black person in America, Black people are some of the most critical people and you have to be able to live above the comments, live above the criticism, live above the hate.”
As for final insights for those who want to pursue an unconventional career trajectory, Wallo says, don’t overthink it. “People are always over planning. We just woke up one day and started our show [“Million Dollaz Worth of Game”]. Do you know how many people make plans and don’t do anything? I believe you’ve got to start doing and when you start doing, you’ll flow into knowing what you’re doing. But you ain’t got to know what you’re doing at first. You just got to get the motion. And I think a lot of times we don’t even try to get the motion because we are listening to everyone.” The entrepreneur says finally, “Don’t try to give me advice about my dream when you have given up on your dream.”