Episode 14 - Behind The Inky Johnson Brand With Inky Johnson

Nicky Saunders: 0:00

What's poppin'? What's poppin'? What's poppin'? Welcome to Nicky and Moose! I'm Nicky! That's Moose! What's up Moose?

Mostafa Ghonim: 0:07

What up y'all?

Nicky Saunders: 0:08

Listen, and we have... Moose, you intro this. I don't even...I don't even feel right.

Mostafa Ghonim: 0:16

Let me tell you something. We've had some some very important heavy hitters on the show so far. We are extremely grateful for you all, but this one holds a very special place in our hearts.

Nicky Saunders: 0:26

He's like, ya'll great and everything but...

Mostafa Ghonim: 0:27

Yep! You guys are great. We love you all. But let me say it this way, literally and this is no exaggeration, not because, you know, they'll be on with us here shortly. Literally the most humble person I have ever met. I'm just gonna leave it at that. And not humble because he's trying to climb up, you know, the ladder of success. The man has accomplished much to be proud of. But literally the humility, the integrity, the character, I can go on and on. So I'm really excited about this one.

Nicky Saunders: 0:57

Hint, his name is Inky. Let's get this intro.

Jaymie Jordan: 1:02

Two kids from Queens. Cut from a different cloth. Now joining forces helping you to elevate your personal brand. Yeah, I'm talking about Nicky and Moose, bringing you a never before seen perspective into the mindset, the mentality, the behaviors, the driving force, but more importantly, the stories behind the people and brands that you know and love the most.

Nicky Saunders: 1:31

So you already know, I gotta do the review of the week. Alright, this is a lot of words. Y'all, know, I don't like reading out loud. Y'all keep writing these long words. But that's cool. All right. Here we go. "Great content! Wow! The the gems dropped are amazing. I thank y'all for creating a space for others to share their experiences and for sharing such knowledge. I especially loved the episode with Karl. I'm a high S and high C. And I definitely catch myself in a supportive role and just going at a much slower pace. Shout out to Nikki. I like your your name by the way. I like your name. I just want to put that out there. Um, but shout out to everybody who writes a review every single week. We read them, we love them, we post them on the Instagram so go check that out up at Nicky and Moose. But let's let's get into the man of the hour! You see him!

Mostafa Ghonim: 2:35

There he is!

Nicky Saunders: 2:37

What's up Ink?

Inky Johnson: 2:39

What up good people? How y'all feeling man?

Nicky Saunders: 2:41

Ah man, blessed! Blessed! Listen, the way we have this episode, you are starting off 2021. I just want to put that out there. You are starting off 2021 and...Moose, could I start real quick? I got a just a random... listen.

Mostafa Ghonim: 2:57

Please.

Nicky Saunders: 2:59

2020 happened. It happened. What was the biggest lesson? Let's start there. What was the biggest lesson from 2020?

Inky Johnson: 3:07

Yeah, man. First off, you know, I just want to thank you both you know not only for your platform I want to thank you all you know just for what you do and how you do it. Man I got a lot a lot of respect for both of you all. So to be on, it's an honor and a privilege. But um, I would say the biggest the biggest lesson for me has just been, you know stepping back, evaluating the big picture in terms of my life, and I have been running for a while. You know in terms of when I say running, coming out of the gate speaking. I started young you know? I started at you know, 20 years old basically, 21 years old speaking. And so I had been running for a while just out of the gate right like a horse race. And I hadn't really slowed down in my career much right? And I'm 34 years old now. And so this year was a blessing for me because I got to step back, got to slow down, got to look at my life, evaluate different moments, different areas. And it's been a blessing right? Just being able to step back, slow down, evaluate, self assess, and I've learned a lot.

Nicky Saunders: 4:10

That's good. That's...look! Alright Moose, start it off. I had to get 2020 out of the way.

Mostafa Ghonim: 4:19

Nah it's good. I'm glad you did. I'm glad you did. But let's...take us back a little bit Ink. I mean um, you know I think for those who may or may not know, but let's just pretend there's the the crazy people who have no idea who you are. I don't know what's wrong with them. That's a little bit crazy, but just yeah, give us a quick intro man. Who is who is the man behind Inky Johnson?

Inky Johnson: 4:41

Yeah, man. You know most importantly husband and a father. But um, you know, I grew up in the city Atlanta, southeast corner to be exact. Born to a mother at 16, two bedroom home, 14 people. And like most kids man ,started off with a dream, you know? A dream to make it to the NFL because I felt as if this was the quickest vehicle to help me change my family's life. And got very close to making that dream manifest and one day, man, my life got turned upside down. You know, I went out to play the game, had an injury, and life look different. September 9 2006, moving forward, paralyzed my right arm in hand, not only did my career in but my life changed, and it's produced a man that, you know, the world have come to know, you know?

Mostafa Ghonim: 5:27

Wow.

Nicky Saunders: 5:31

Sheesh! Alright so Ink, here's my question. When, with everything that happened, right, when did you know "You know what, what I have like, it has to get out to the world."? Like when did you know? Was there a particular day event situation? What was that for you?

Inky Johnson: 5:54

Yeah, so I think, you know, just being honest, I think the spirit that most people catch from me, is based upon me not realizing or thinking that anything I had been through or anything I had experienced, was anything special. And what I mean by that is like my life story, right? Like, I never thought what I had been through was anything special, because I know cats that came up and had it worse than I had it, or knew cats that had injuries, whatever the case may have been.You know, I was raised, you know, you get it, how you live, you take things in stride, you embrace it, and you figure it out. And so even after my injury, I wasn't trying to speak, you know, that wasn't on the agenda. I was trying to coach. And I used to go and do service projects all the time, right? Because people helped me and my family when I was growing up. And so I was passionate about it. And I'll never forget, man, when a man came up to me, in the mall in Tennessee, and he stopped a couple of feet away from me. And he was crying. And he said to me, thank you. And I was like, What are you thanking me for? And he was like, I saw your story on the news tonight, when you were talking about what happened to you. And he said, I said, Man, if this guy can laugh and make humor about his situation, and what he was going through, surely I could stand here and I could fight for my wife and my three daughters. And he said life had been beating him up and he was about to leave. And then that moment, I was like, man, if I represent this to people, I got to take my life and what I do a little bit more serious.

Nicky Saunders: 7:30

Moose

Mostafa Ghonim: 7:31

Yeah, Ink you know, there are a few words or major themes, if you will, that I think of, you know, whenever I think of Inky Johnson. And, and one of them. Of course, I mentioned them at the intro, but one of them especially is faith, like just an unbelievable amount of faith. Right? Like there's a story of you going to, you know, share your book with Oprah. Right like and and you know, there's a lot of interesting stories and for those who haven't heard the stories go look deeper into Inky's story to really learn about, he gave you just a very short summary, but there's a lot more to it. You know, what, why? Why the faith right? Why do you feel that that's such an important ingredient? In the equation of success as a as a brand, as a business, as a speaker, as a husband? Why is that so important you feel?

Inky Johnson: 8:20

Yeah, and so, you know, Moose like, biblically, you know, when we look at faith, faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen, right? Like that's the definition of a biblically that we know, but when I look at faith, faith, for me, has also represented every since I was a kid growing up in a two bedroom home with 14 people growing up, me and my cousins wearing the same clothes to school sleeping on the floor, roaches and rats, rushing to the bus stop shaking my bookbag out making sure there were no roaches and rats, right? Every since I grew up in this environment, faith for me represented, everything was going to be okay. Right, regardless of how bad it may have looked, regardless of what we were going through at the time, regardless of what you may be experiencing, regardless of what you may encounter. Faith, for me was always that thing that represented, regardless of what you experienced, regardless of what you go through, regardless of what you encounter, Ink everything is going to be fine, right and subscribing to that thought process of being optimistic about whatever I encounter. And so it's worked at every phase of my life when I was a kid, right? Coming up in that environment, nobody in my family had went to college, but I believe that I would, and it happened, right? First one in my family to go to college. I believed I would be the first one to graduate college. It happened in the midst of my injury of me having to learn how to write with my left hand. Like, even after my injury, subscribing to the same thought process of faith that Hey, man, everything is gonna work out and everything is going to be okay. And so for me, that's what faith represents to me. And that's why it's so important not just because of the biblical definition of it, but also understanding and realizing that aye man regardless of what you go through, you might not like it, but thing have a way of working itself out in life.

Nicky Saunders: 10:02

That's good. That's good. So, Ink, who did you..who did you look up to, or go to when it was time to brand yourself? Like who was maybe a few people or maybe even something that you read? Like, what was, who was that person for you?

Inky Johnson: 10:25

Yeah, so um, man, I'll never forget, I had been speaking. And you know, I was just doing it right? Just because a lot of people have said to me, Ink, man, you might need to look into speaking. And I'll never forget when it started to fell right, right? And I was like, Man, this is, this is the thing, right? I believe this is what God wants me to do with my life. And so I started taking it serious. And I'll never forget, I still wasn't thinking in terms of branding, marketing, right? I wasn't thinking about, you know, lane, I wasn't thinking about any of that, because you got to think I was still fresh off of my injury. Right? Like, I was just going into environments and doing something. Because I was searching for purpose, right? I was searching for fulfillment. I had lost the thing that fulfill me and drove me every single day. And so even when I started doing it, I was still fairly fresh off of my injury, right? Whether it was a year, two years, three years in. And I'll never forget when one of my buddies showed me a video of E, right, and like, it blew my mind. Right? I was like, man, my man like vicious, right? Like I hadn't seen anything like that. And, of course, it's sent me down the rabbit hole of studying him. And fortunately for me, you know, CJ was in Atlanta, I got to meet with CJ. And we got to talk. And, you know, I share my vision with him. And he started to change my thought process about it. And early on, I had a guy before he got into music and things of that nature. He was working with me in terms of branding, and things of that nature. And he helped me develop as well. And so it was a couple of people early on that helped me develop and look at things differently.

Nicky Saunders: 12:04

Like that, like that. Moose I set you up. Go, go go.

Mostafa Ghonim: 12:08

Yeah, that's good. That's good. Yeah. Talk to us about that entrepreneurship journey too Ink because I know like in the beginning, especially in the untraditional realm, like speaking wasn't as popular as it is now, when you first started, right? Like, I don't know if there were rules in terms of how do you go about negotiating and all these other things? What was that experience like for you? You talked about when it started to feel right. Give us a little bit more insight on that.

Inky Johnson: 12:32

You know Moose man, I...when I started, you know, it was just about me being obedient to what I felt was the call on my life, right? Because it says obedience is better than sacrifice. But for most of the time as people what do we do? We judge the level of sacrifice without first being obedient, right? So if you give a person a task, or you ask a person to go on a quest to do something, they're going to look at it and say, Well, what do I have to give up? Right? What is it going to cost me? Right? What do I have to do? How many hours is it going to take? Like, why do I got to leave my friend, they judge the level of sacrifice, without being obedient. And so for me, I was like, I'm gonna just be obedient with speaking, right? Like, you want me to go to a birthday party? Cool. I'ma go to the birthday party and speak. Want me go speak to some elderly ladies at a golf course. Cool. I'ma go there and speak. I get an opportunity in corporate, cool, I'm gonna go there and speak right? And so early on, it was about me perfecting my presentation, perfecting my craft and trying to become great from a communication standpoint, right? So I could demand what I wanted to demand. And it was a process that I was well aware of, right? I wasn't going into rooms asking for certain things that I knew I wasn't worthy of at that point. And I knew, like I wasn't at that level. And so my whole thing, the unconventional route for me was early on, when I started charging $5,000 or whatever, $3,500 whatever the case may have been, at that level, I wanted to be able to provide so much value from a speaking and communication and presentation standpoint that when they paid me, they felt as if man, I just got an amazing deal. Right? I just gave my man five grand and like, he blew it out of the water. Right? Like, I'll never forget, Moose and Nick, I'll never forget a guy paid me um, I think it was like, $7,500. First time, but I got $7,500 and I spoke right? And the CEO of this steel company was in the room. And at the time, like when I got $7,500 at that time, I was like, Oh, I just got $7,500 right? Like, I was like tripping right? Like, man like somebody just paid me to speak, right? Because I'm still looking at it like man, somebody willing to pay me to speak? My man gave me $7,500, the CEO comes up to me after the engagement, and he says to me, man, that was unbelievable. He said I would have gave you 20 grand for what you just did up there. He said I would have gave you 20 grand for that. I went back to my hotel that night, I told my wife. I was like my man said he would have gave me 20 grand. I was tripping about $7,500. Right? And check, he hit me up the next week, probably that Wednesday, and set me up for like two more engagements within different branches of his company. And he paid me the 20 grand, right? But when he spoke to me, he was like, man, I get it. Like you love what you do. Like, it's so good. You're great at it. But he told me, he said, Don't do that to your family. Right? And it hit me. He said, don't be out on the road speaking and providing value and undervaluing yourself. Don't do that to your family. Charge what you're worth man. And it changed my whole thought process about it. Yeah.

Mostafa Ghonim: 15:45

Sheesh, Wow.

Nicky Saunders: 15:49

I almost want, I almost want to stay there. Because, like, there are a lot of people who are starting and struggle with that worth. Like when it comes to the bag, it's a different... some people feel like they give it all or some people don't know what they're doing and do too much. Like what is, what is the happy medium that you've learned throughout the years?

Inky Johnson: 16:21

Yeah, I think, um, you know, because I've been in a room, you know, on both ends of the spectrum in, like, I've been in the room to where it was several speakers. And I spoke and, you know, I just been fortunate enough to have these type of encounters. But I spoke and other people had spoken. And afterwards, one of the guys from the committee pulled me into his office. And he sat me down at his desk. And he said to me, he said, Man, we feel as if as a committee, you gave the best presentation. I was like thank you, man means a lot greatly appreciate it. He said, but you got paid the least. He was like you got the least. He was like you the nicest, but you got paid the least, right? And when he said it, I was like, Can I get the tape on everybody that presented? Like I just want to see, right? Because if if they better than me, or they further along in the game than me or industry to me, you know, I'm gonna just be like, Hey, man, I tip my hat to him. And we'll figure it out. Let me try to learn and grow into that space of whatever I want to demand. Right? Because I think a lot of times, a person might ask for something in terms of whatever the quote may be honorarium, whatever the price may be, they might ask for something, but they don't necessarily provide that level of value, or they don't understand the perception that's attached to it. Right. And so for me, I wanted to look at the other guys that were on the bill, see what they were present and see how they were doing it, see what they charge, but also look at my own presentation, self assess myself and see what, what do I want? And does my presentation lineup to that? And can I actually demand that? Or will I be pricing myself out of the market? Because I think a lot of people do that as well.

Nicky Saunders: 18:02

Facts, Moose.

Mostafa Ghonim: 18:06

Yeah and Ink, I'm curious, because I feel like what I've noticed about you know, people they either under, greatly undervalue who they are, or they probably overvalue right? It's it's difficult to get that honest interpretation of where you're at. And sometimes it comes with, I think they play off of their age is like, oh, man, I'm still young.

Inky Johnson: 18:32

Right.

Mostafa Ghonim: 18:33

Now, I know you're big on process, right? Like you, you're really big about process, both personally and professionally. Is there a process that you kind of use to help you figure out your value outside of the the things that we're tied to right? Like something that we can say that Oh, man, I feel like I'm younger, maybe I'm too age or I'm outdated? What What would you say to that person who feels they're too young or too old and not really getting an honest look of what they can provide?

Inky Johnson: 19:01

Yeah, so I think, I think is more so about understanding, what does it take, you know, to acquire or get what it is that you're trying to get right? Or that you seek out to acquire in terms of the services that you offer. And like you all said, a lot of people are not honest with themselves. Right. I think that's the first challenge, right? Like, I'm brutally honest with myself, like I knew at certain points in my career, when I wasn't there yet. Right. I knew at certain points in my career, when I was presenting, and it was straight passion. Right. And it wasn't much value, right? My intent was correct. I was doing it for the right reason. But I just didn't have the skill set. And I wasn't just as developed and well versed in terms of my presentation or communication skills. I wasn't there yet. Right. And I was honest about that. And so I think it's not so much about age, it's about value, right? Because I'm I'm speaking to companies and I'm the youngest guy on the bill. And this guy's that can be my father, right? That's speaking on the same bill, but I'm closing out the show and so it's more so because I know what to look for now. I'll put it to you like this. I never forget. I told the guy I said, I blew a lot of opportunities early in my career. Because I was so gung ho, right? I was so ambitious, I was so driven, right? That when I would get on the phone with a company, and they would say, Hey Ink so tell us about, you know what you're going to do. And I would just start rambling man, I'm going to speak about this, because I felt as if I got to prove something I got to show them, right? Like, I'm gonna show you all how I'm gonna do. I'm gonna set the stage on fire. I'm gonna give you everything I got that athlete mindset, right? And I'll never forget, I would get done and sometimes they would be like, Oh, that was cool. But that's not really what we were looking for. We appreciate it. But I had never even asked them what they were looking for. I had never even said, Okay, what is it that you all want me to present about? Was it anything that you all saw? When you were researching me that stood out that I can incorporate into my presentation that you all feel would bridge the gap with you and your organization? I never asked themn are there any filler words, buzzwords? Is there a theme that you guys are using? What's the feeling that you want the crowd to walk away with? What are the dynamics that would be in the room? I never asked those questions. And when I stopped and asked those questions, then I became crystal clear on what I needed to do to accomplish the goal that I set out to accomplish, then I became a sniper with my content. At first, I just walked in the room and I'm spraying everywhere, like E talk about, I'm all over the place. But when I became a sniper and became crystal clear on my objective and my goal. Then my content was different. The value was different. I was able to demand more in terms of, you know, my honorarium, my price and things of that nature.

Nicky Saunders: 21:46

Moose, I don't know, this. Yeah, yeah. Yeah Moose.

Mostafa Ghonim: 21:50

It's a lot of heat back to back, you know? It's just a lot of heat right now.

Nicky Saunders: 21:54

Yeah, Moose. I don't know if this next one's gonna, like, slow it down. Um, so, when was the time that it felt like it wasn't going to work? Like, you just mentioned times where you missed some opportunities based off just details. But when were when was one time in particular that you were like, I don't? I don't know. I don't know about this one. I don't, maybe I should go back to coaching. Maybe I should figure something else out. When was, when was that for you?

Inky Johnson: 22:32

Early in my career, when I started out speaking and I wasn't getting paid like that, you know, when now we know in terms of entrepreneurship, you know, early on for most people, that's the journey, right? You sew, you work, right? You do what you got to do. You embrace the process. And then you start to yield what you seek to yield. But early on, I remember going to speak and you know, just being obedient, getting the coffee mug, right, I'm going to speak I'm getting a T shirt, right? I'm coming home with the you know, little kit from the event, right? But I'm leaving my wife, I'm leaving my children to do this. And people that I love people that I respect people that I'm still friends with have relationships with till this day, all those people were like Ink, like, man, like, don't do that. Do that on the side, go get a job. Right? Make sure you got insurance for your family, you got a wife, you got kids, man, like I get you want to help people you want to speak, like you don't need to be getting coffee mugs, right? Because I had offers also to coach right at the time. And so people looking like man, go do that. And then you can do that on the side. And I'll never forget saying nah but it feels right. Like, I feel like this is what God wants me to do. So I'm gonna stay obedient. And I'm gonna stay true to it. And I'm gonna figure out the puzzle of what I need to do and how do I need to do it in order to demand what I want to demand. And so I went on this quest of just figuring out communication. I went on this quest of studying, I went on this quest of building out my infrastructure for my company, I went on this quest to figuring things out to put me and my family in a better situation. So I wasn't just out speaking and having fun and serving, but I wasn't handling the logistics and the other side of it as well.

Mostafa Ghonim: 24:22

Love it. You know, I know, today's culture is very on...it's like the hamster wheel right? Like onto the next, on to the next, on to the next. And I've been around you for about four years. And I noticed you're very disciplined about how you move what you do. Ink Come on, you got to start this coaching program. Ink is like No, thanks. Ink you gotta get this merchandise. Ink is like, I'll pass. Right? While I understand the need for innovation, get us like tell us a little bit about that mindset. Like what you... like why? Why is it that you're like, I'm just going to focus here? What has that done? And why do you do it? Yeah.

Inky Johnson: 25:07

Absolutely. So, um, you know, the big reason is, right, like all the things you mentioned, right? Like, I think they're great from the programs to the merch, you know, things of that nature. They're great when the right person does them. Now we all know in every industry it's people out there that's doing it, that's manipulating it. That's another story. But the standpoint that I come from in terms of thought process for it, you know, I'm not where I want to be, from a communication standpoint yet, right? Like, I'm still in the process of becoming the communicator that that I seek to become. And so my thought process moves in that is basically when I present and when I do something, I know the perception of motivational speaker, inspirational speaker in the world. Like I know, when people look at a motivational, inspirational speaker, better yet a young 34 year old African American, motivational speaker, I didn't label myself that that's just what the world calls me. I know when I walk into a room, what the thought process is when I walked into a room, and I'm speaking of Bank of America or Wells Fargo, and everybody's suited and booted, and you got this young black man, and he got on a button up shirt. He got on some jeans, and he's a former athlete. I know the perception when I walked in a room at Chick fil A, everybody suited and booted, you got this young African American 34 year old male, right in jeans and a button up and he played football, he's an athlete. First thought process is, he's gonna probably tell sports stories, second thought process is what is he selling from stage? What is he trying to redirect us back to? Third process is, third thought process is why should I listen to him? Like what makes him special? Right? Why is he speaking to us? Right? Like, I'm not oblivious to it. And I'm all good with it. I get it. Right. Everybody has the right to think what they want to think it's all good. Right? So when I step on the stage, and you say, What, is he trying to redirect this? What is he trying to sell to us? Nothing. I ain't trying to sell nothing to you. Right? Where's he trying to push us to? Nowhere. Right? Okay, I got to trust him. Let me give him a shot. Let me see what he has to say. And it's in that moment, that I got to provide so much value, that when a person does become a supporter of me, they gone ride with me for life, because they feel as if the content that I provided, the things that I presented, right, it wasn't trying to redirect them back to something, and it wasn't a catch 22 with my content. So when I do come out with merch, when I do come out with something else, when I do come out with a program, they're going to ride for me because I reverse engineered it on the front end. When I first asked him for their attention. I didn't try to redirect them to something I didn't sell anything from stage. I just said, Will you give me a shot with my content? Right, as a communicator, will you give me a shot and listen to me as a young 34 year old African American man presenting in the industry that I'm not supposed to be in?

Nicky Saunders: 28:13

Sheesh! Um, okay, so this is...Moose. Moose. Okay, so do you, because a lot of people, what I've seen this year is, and multiple years, but definitely this year, comparing, right? It kind of stings them, and now we really continue to hear more and more of the imposter syndrome, because of all the stuff that's happening, and they feel like they can't go, you know, run up the same kind of lane as day. Like, how, how do you stop yourself from comparing or do you even...was there a point where you did compare? And when did you stop?

Inky Johnson: 29:09

Right? So um, you know, for me, like, you know, the quote, says, "Comparison is the thief of joy." And I think is not anything in the world that takes a person off of their mission, off of their purpose, off of their calling, more than comparison. Right. But I think we also have to look at it from the perspective of, you know, everybody is put here, man to run their own race. Everybody is put here with their own specific calling and purpose and mission. Everybody has a different skill set. Right? Everybody is unique in a certain way. And so the moment I take my calling and try to compare it to another person's calling, everybody's assignment is different. Right? Like specifically, right, we could be going in the same direction. We can be brothers and sisters on the same journey, but everybody's assignment may be different and it's not right for me to compare myself to somebody, because none of us had the same starting point. Right? Like none of us started at the same spot. None of us started in the same household. None of us started with the same set of circumstances, they may be similar, but none of us had the same starting point. So for me, like the comparison, I think what it does is it makes a person get unfocused, right, I'm more about when I see somebody, right, and I'm inspired by them and where they are. I'm like, Man, that's pretty dope, right? That's their assignment. It's like in a world, everybody is not meant to be on the stage with 10,000 people, right? And I think the problem for most people is like cats can play their position. Right? Well, whatever it may be. And so it's always a team, right? And so like, I tell, C all the time, like, man, I got so much respect for you, right? Because he was willing to take the back seat with E when both y'all were speaking and say, nah, this guy right here. Like he got the juice, right, all of us got juice individually. But he got the juice, right, he's going to be the guy that we're going to get behind and build this brand. So we can get to a return to get to as a team. I think it takes a special group of people like even with you all and how you all do it. Like that's special. And that's unique. And I don't think everybody has that. Because some people are chasing the light so much. And they're comparing so much that it makes them forget about their gifts and their calling, and their mission and their purpose. And so for me, it's about running my race to the best of my ability with what I feel I've been called to do, and trying to stay true to that.

Mostafa Ghonim: 31:32

Yeah, this is I'm loving this. this. I feel like a kid in a candy store for real. Yeah, speaking, speaking of team, you know, I think one of the dynamics for a successful team is humility. Now, it's a very fine line, right? Because sometimes the thought process is Oh, you're, you have humility, because maybe you lack confidence. Right? And this is like uh no, right? So like, I'll never I'll never forget, maybe like three or four years ago, we were doing the conference. I was actually volunteering at the at the conferences at that time. So Nicks I'm in the bathroom, washing my hands. And I'm coming out and who's coming in? Inky Johnson. I'm, yo. This is Inky Johnson. And Ink, you stood there, you acknowledged me, said hello, you spoke to me. You I think you even complimented me on something I was doing online. You were like, Yo, I love what you're doing. And I'm like, what? Like Ink is... me like at the time I'm thinking I'm like this. I'm a nobody, like how does Ink know this? And I walked away from that conversation. Like yo Ink is truly a humble person. This is not an act. This is not a, you know, a facade that he's putting up. But at the same token, there's a level of confidence and conviction that you walk in. Talk to us about that balance of humility. Yes. But I'm not gonna let you walk all over me either. There is a level of confidence there.

Inky Johnson: 32:55

Oh, no doubt, no doubt, man. And I remember the moment you talking about man, because I had saw you speaking online, you know, prior to the conference. And when I saw you, I was like, man, he's dope, man. That's my man. Like, I got to speak to him, I got to show love and respect. Because the way I look at it Moose and Nick, it's like, even if I'm on the platform, and I'm speaking, right, like, I've seen the mistake that cats make when they go into a room and they speak. And cats feel as if people are below them. Right? Or they feel as if they're in a room speaking and they got the platform, like, they're speaking at people, right, like people got to listen to me, I'm here for a reason, right? It doesn't mean that you're more successful than a person, it doesn't mean that you're more important than the person because you're on a platform. No you just got the platform, right? Like god bless you and trust you with the responsibility in the moment, right. And so for me, when I think about humility, I've always viewed humility as strength, right? I've always viewed humility as a cat that can show respect, a cat that can be self controlled, a cat that can take the things he's been blessed with, and not have to throw it up in somebody's face, a cat that can take his assignment and the things you've been trusted with and handle it in the right way. I've always viewed that as strength. Right? I viewed it the other way around. Right? A cat that's loud, right? A cat that's got you know, fake confidence. I view that as weakness, a cat that always has to tell everybody what they do and who they know why they do. I viewed that as weakness and insecurity. Right? I viewed the cat that's doing it handling his business, right on point, doing what he's supposed to do. And he can still show respect, still walk into a room acknowledge everybody. I viewed that as strength my whole life. Right? Because I was blessed to be around people like that. Right? I've always been taught right cat as loud cat that's over here trying to embarrass somebody, like to me that was weakness and insecurity. But I do think right with humility, you got to show people how to treat you. Right? You got to show people how to treat you. And I think a lot of times the mistake that we've made with humility is we don't show people how to treat us, right? Even though you have humility, you forget to show people how to treat you. I think that's very important. You can show respect, but sometimes you got to demand it as well.

Mostafa Ghonim: 35:13

Wow.

Nicky Saunders: 35:20

Moose, you may have to... side note, um, my mom still loves you. My mom is probably gonna watch this. My mom...

Inky Johnson: 35:31

What up mama?

Nicky Saunders: 35:32

She, still, what was it stay... stay ready one of those in New York and you were sitting. We have a picture of you and her talking and everything like that. Like, who is that Inky guy, he's really cute. Mom! Mom!

Mostafa Ghonim: 35:49

He's married mom.

Nicky Saunders: 35:50

Mom he's married. I am too. Shout out to mom, she'll probably call me after she sees this.

Inky Johnson: 35:59

Shout out to mama!

Nicky Saunders: 36:00

But, um, I remember a conversation we had, when it come when it came to your content, you were like, Look, I didn't want to do anything that everybody is doing. Like I see what E is doing. I see what all the other speakers are doing. And I actually want to have kind of like an exclusive vibe, right? And it even reminds me of like how even people could like book you. Like you're not out there like when... before, now a little more now, but before you weren't out there, they had to like special request you. It was a referral type status, right? Um, talk to us about kind of that strategy, kind of that exclusivity kind of vibe, where other people are like, I'm out here. Look find me everywhere. You could, you could book me here, you could book me there, you just gotta, you know, actually just called Joe and he knows exactly where I'm at, like, find me. Like talk t the people about that ki d of stra

Inky Johnson: 37:08

Yeah. And so for me, it's being totally aware, not only of what I want to do and how I want to do it, it's also being aware of the services that I'm putting forth. And the people that I'm putting the services forth to. And so for me, I always think in terms of it like this, I'm an athlete, right. And so for most people, an athlete moving to industry to where you're presenting in your speaking, the perception is, for the most part, athletes can't speak. Right? That's the perception that if you book an athlete, athletes gone get up and just tell a whole bunch of sports stories, and it'll be funny or whatever, sometimes, but they don't look at athletes as providing much value in terms of the speaking space. And so for me in terms of perception, looking at it, and understanding, okay, what's the perception that I want to have people have about me? Content, presentation, how I get down, how I carry myself. And so when somebody comes to book me, or somebody comes to say, Inky, we're interested in hiring you, right? I'm a pretty low key guy. I'm not going to be overly anxious, I'm not going to be I'm pretty even kill. That's just my personality in everyday life. Right. And so I want them to feel like,I don't know. The guy was real calm. He wasn't really trying to convince me that much. He wasn't overly like, you got to get me right. I want them to feel like that. Right? So when I get in the room, and I do my thing. It's like, Oh, he's he's really about it. Like he does it. He does it for real, right? I want it to be a little bit of man, I don't know, I want it to be that way. So when I speak, right, I would rather forget expectation to be low. And I come in and I shoot it like, than I'm over here saying book me you got to book me, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this and you over promise and under deliver. And that's what most people do it they over promise, right? They set the expectation super high, and then you come in and you don't deliver, right? I would rather for somebody to have a lower expectation because of my background as an athlete. Because of me being a young 34 year old African American male, you have a lower expectation and I come in and I over over deliver with value, with content, with presentation. Then ask you guys oh man, come book me. And then you over promised and under delivered. So for me, it's all about surpassing that expectation, but doing it in a way that's true to me.

Mostafa Ghonim: 39:52

I like it. I like it. Ink I've seen you in places man where after you're done speaking you pull out a notebook and you start taking notes. I mean, I'm just, you

Inky Johnson: 40:02

I got it right here. Boom I got it right here know... man.

Mostafa Ghonim: 40:04

I'm just like, what? Yeah, you never see that ever? Why?

Inky Johnson: 40:11

Yeah, man, I'm a student, I'm a student, right? I'm gonna be real with you like, even when we get off of this, right, like the reason I got my notepad, and the reason I got my pen is because I'm gonna go, and I'm gonna jot down some notes from this, right, that's just how I've always been, you know, just as a person, like, in everything that I've ever done, right? I'm a student, right? I'm learning. And I feel as if we can learn something from everybody. And so even when we've been at the conferences, and when I wasn't speaking on when I was done speaking, like, I'm gonna sit down with my pad, and I'm gonna watch and I'm gonna study and I'm gonna jot down notes, and I'm gonna learn, right, and I'm gonna go back to them, and I'm gonna look at them. And I'm gonna try to incorporate some things into, you know, the way I do what I do to help me become a better individual. Right, because I'm not one of these individuals that feel as if I've already arrived. I know it all already. I can't learn anything from anybody. I can learn something from everybody, right? The lane that Nicky is in and how she does what she does in a great way. I can learn something from her right? How you do what you do Moose and the way that you do it. I can learn something from you. C, E, Jose all like the team, I can learn something from everybody. And so I'm not one of these guys, that's just glued to what I do and how I do it, and feel as if I know it all. And I've already arrived. And it's not anything I can't learn from other people in other areas. No, I can learn some from everybody. So I'm gonna bring a notepad, I'm gonna jot down some notes, and then we get busy, and try to add and incorporate within to my campaign and how I'm doing it.

Nicky Saunders: 41:45

I'm just gonna keep pressing this. That's all I'm gonna do, I'ma, keep pressing this. Um, so there was an observation I made. Before you speak, right? When when we were traveling with E, you spoke to a few people, and some of the stories may have had a sentence or two inspired based on what you said on stage. Like, do you do that strategically? Like, is there certain questions you already have in your mind? Or you already know, like, I'm going to whatever I learned from this person, I'm going to draw out of it. And it's going to be part of what I say today. Like, how do you go, because I realized that maybe twice now. I'm like, hold on.He just heard, like, he had to have what he was already gonna have to say, beforehand. But he literally five minutes before just had this conversation like what's, you know I'm strategy, what's the strategy behind this?

Inky Johnson: 43:00

No doubt, you know, when we think about people that are great at what they do, most of the time, or people that's becoming great at what they do. From a communication standpoint, most of the time, people want to do what makes them great, right. And that's great. Like people want to work on the things that make them great, right, whatever their strengths are, they want to do that, right. And people very seldom want to put themselves in situations that force them to level up or force them to grow and force them to be great. And so for me, if I want to continue to grow as a communicator, continue to grow in my presentations, I have to challenge myself. And so if I'm talking to somebody before I go up on stage, and they say something that I feel is potent, or something that I feel I can incorporate within my presentation, you know, I think it's worth me trying to share it and connect it. And I feel as if I have the ability to do it as a communicator. And so when I go, and I speak to companies, and I can get there in 30 minutes before I'm slotted to go up, and I could be talking to the CEO, and we could be talking about something that's very relevant that just happened probably that morning, day before, you know, hour before. And if I can tell it's something that's very important to them, I'm gonna find a way to incorporate it within to my presentation. Because I think for one, it's going to make an impression on them. But also, he's going to know, hey man , he does this for real, right. But also, I'm trying to challenge myself as a communicator, to continue to grow and continue to become better, you know, and put myself outside of that comfort zone and keep it fresh, right? Like I can't do the same thing every single time, right the exact same way. Even though my story may be similar, even though I may arrive at the same destination, right? The way I navigate and the way I get there is going to be different every single time because I'm challenging myself as a communicator. I'm not just speaking when I get on stage. I'm challenging myself to grow as a communicator with the way I navigate and the way I get to what I'm trying to accomplish.

Nicky Saunders: 45:05

It was crazy to see cuz me and him talked about when I was in the military and he said something, like, similar to that. And I was like...

Mostafa Ghonim: 45:14

Wow, yeah,

Nicky Saunders: 45:16

I was stuck. I was in the front, you know, I had the camera and everything. I had to turn that... every time Inky's on, I'm just like, nope, camera down. I don't know why we're here. We're just, we're gonna sit. Like, it's crazy.

Mostafa Ghonim: 45:30

Yeah, Ink you know, you talked about communication quite a bit, but you also said, you know, you feel that you're not at that vision or at that level yet. What does that vision look like? What does that grand, you know that that that top level of communication look like for Ink?

Inky Johnson: 45:48

Yeah, man, just getting to a point to where, you know, I'm I want to have more depth, right. Like, I feel like I do have some layers to what I say, and how I present it, I just want to have more depth, more diversity in terms of my content, I think I can go a lot of different directions with it, I want to be able to go more directions with it. Also just, you know, continuing to become cleaner, right? With my transitions with my word choice, I want to improve on my vocabulary, right? I want to, I want to be able to, like E inspired this in terms of, you know, to Spanish, I want to get to a point where I start studying that, you know, I saw Nicky helping him at one point get right with it. But you know, just continuing to grow.

Nicky Saunders: 46:36

Then he left me.

Inky Johnson: 46:37

Continuing to grow man and become sharp, you know, and have depth and have, you know, value beyond belief, but also that diversity as a communicator, right, being able to go any direction at any given time with my content, right? Like now I feel as if I can go a lot of different directions, but I'm not where I want to be yet. And I know that right? And so I'm not going to be oblivious to that and be like, oh man, I've arrived. No, I haven't gotten to the point to where I feel like I could say yeah, I'm there. Like I'm in the pocket now. Even though I feel like I'm in a pretty good space.

Nicky Saunders: 47:11

I need to find another sound Moose, this is crazy. Work-life balance. Talk about it. I don't even have to say no more. Like your travel schedule before COVID was crazy. But I know there was always one thing that had to happen. You had to go back home that same day.

Inky Johnson: 47:44

Yeah absolutely.

Nicky Saunders: 47:45

There was there was no let me stay over this, that, and the third. It was I'm going back home. That's it. Talk to the people but that work-life balance.

Inky Johnson: 47:57

Man, absolutely. And, you know, I've learned a lot like when I was telling you all at the beginning, like filming, like I had been running. And so you know, with the way I grew up, you know, in a two bedroom home with 14 people, then born to my mother 16, and experienced and the things that I experienced my whole life. I felt like I was running from that. Right. And I never forget, early in my 20s, I was at a retreat. I was at a spiritual retreat. And we had breakout groups. And I'll never forget we was in our breakout group and the gentleman asked a question. He said, Does anybody feel as if they're running from something in their past? Right, and people are sharing different things being vulnerable. And he got to me and I was like, Yeah, he was like, What is it? I said, Man, I feel as if I'm running from poverty. Right. And he said to me, Nick, and Moose, he said, Are you in poverty? I was like, No, he said, Stop running. He said, just stop running right? Now to one, right, it will be fairly simple, right? Simplicity. But to me, it was profound because I felt as if at that point, I had done a lot of damage, right in terms of I had missed a lot. But I felt as if, as a man, you've been taught be a provider, right? Go, make sure you make enough money, make sure you're doing what you got to do to handle your family's business. Right. And coming up the way I came up. I'm like, man, I don't want my children to experience poverty. I don't want to put my family through that and so I was sacrificing a lot for my so called career to get to different levels and stages and phases. Now, I look back on it. I'll never forget the first summer I took off. Right? I'll never forget it. I was sitting around the house. I'm like, Man, I'm not getting on the plane today. Right? I'm not speaking a day. Right. And at the end of the summer, I was like man that's pretty dope. Like I'm cool. Like I'm not in poverty. I'm not feeling like I gotta get this money or that money, right? When the pandemic happened, right, of course, I spoke a lot doing this and that. But when the pandemic happened, I was like, bro, like, I don't have to speak as much as I thought I did. I was just running, right? Like I was just running right? For no reason because of some things that happened years ago when I was young. And it put certain things into the picture to where I was able to focus on them more, right? Like, let me share this with you all right? I was speaking for company in St. Louis. It was Equifax. And I stood up and I said, Can anybody tell me something that happened as a result of the pandemic, something you're able to do that prior to the pandemic, if we were working in schedules were the same that you probably wouldn't have gotten to do. Because of the time frame. One lady stood up, she said, I'm able to talk to my mother every single day, she's over in Japan, somewhere like that. She was like, when I was working constantly, I knew for a fact I wasn't able to talk to my mother every single day. Gentleman stood up said, Man, I got to watch my first child be born. He said, I know for a fact, right? Like if we were working in the schedules were the same, I wouldn't have gotten the opportunity to see that moment. I stood up, I said, Man, you know what, like, I'm thankful for 3pm. They was like why 3pm? I'm like, man, I'm able to get in the carpool line. Right? Every single day almost and pick my children up from school. Prior to that, I didn't see that line very much. Right. And so I think when we step back, and we look at different situations, from a work life balance standpoint, I think when we self assess, and we really put them priorities in order, I think a lot of times, we don't know what we need, we don't know how much of it we need. But I think we set our values, our priorities in order. And we put the main thing, the main thing, I think it helps us zoom in and focus on what's really important. And I think this time frame has done that for a lot of people.

Nicky Saunders: 51:59

I go too happy. I got too happy.

Mostafa Ghonim: 52:05

Incredible, incredible. And this is gonna be my last question, man. By the way, shout out to little Ink. I see little Ink playing baseball...so you know I love that.

Inky Johnson: 52:14

Trying to get it like you Moose! Trying to get it like you man.

Mostafa Ghonim: 52:18

Much better, much better. Yeah, um, talk to us a little bit about just the routine man. Like, I know, again, we talked about schedule and, and productivity and all of these different things. In your world, what have you found to be, you know, just some certain things in in the day to day that you need to move at a high level to be Inky?

Inky Johnson: 52:41

Absolutely, um, I do a lot of different things in terms of I think being intentional is very important, and I think is people. It's like, when you're young, and you're strong, right? Or you're young, and you're fast, and you're athletic, young, you're intelligent, and you're brilliant. And you feel as if nothing can stop you. Right? You feel as if nobody can knock you off your pivot, you feel as if you're strong, and if it go down, you're confident in your ability, you're confident that you're going to make it through when you're young. But in the same sense, you're blinded, right? Like when you're young, you're overconfident, you're blinded, right? A lot of people when they're so gifted, right? And they're so talented, right? their talent ends up betraying them not because they're not talented enough, or they don't have the skill set. They're blinded, right. And they're not intentional about certain things. And so for me, I get up and I'd be very intentional about every single thing, right, my energy, right, my family to time with my family, I try my best to be very intentional and say that. And so one of the things that's most important for me, I journal a lot, right, like, I got a journal for me and my son, I got a journal for me and my daughter got a journal for me and my wife. And then I have a journal for myself, that I write to myself, right. And you know, how, like as you navigate throughout life, and, you know, with parents, people try to tell their children, about their parents, like hey, man, let me tell you about your father. Let me tell you about your mother. Right. And so in these journals, what I'm doing is I'm congratulating them, right when they do certain things. I'm writing to him about decisions that I had to make for them that they may didn't like right or they didn't like the way it felt, right? They didn't like why I had to do it, but I'm explaining why I had to do it. I'm explaining to them, right, my principles, right? My morals, right, what's important to me, who I am as a person, and I journal, first thing in the morning, I journal shortly after lunchtime, and I journal every night after everybody is down and asleep. And for me, man that keeps me locked in that keeps me focused. That keeps me zoomed in on what's important. I think more than any other thing I do any other routine I have, that's the one thing that keeps me centered the most on what's important.

Nicky Saunders: 55:05

So here's my last question. Um, he got podcast! Can we talk about it? Moose, I gotta show you this podcast. The quality, the, the content in it.fuego! Like, Imma let I'm let him talk about it but after like this podcast, when it comes, if it's out by the time you hear this like, you need to go subscribe now or if... there needs to be pre orders to podcasts I promise you. Cuz this... I saw two. And yeah, that... Ink talk to the people. Why the podcast? What it's about? And yeah what can they expect?

Inky Johnson: 56:00

Yeah, yeah, so it was more so about putting out longer form content and so you know, you have my presentations, you have my videos and things of that nature that pop up online, but I don't think a lot of people have ever, you know, gotten to get inside of my mind and my thought process, right other than like with us when we're at an event, and you know, we all talk or we share a few moments about different things or bounce, and pitch, and catch ideas, concepts back and forth, but in terms of the world, I don't think they've gotten the opportunity to see the way I think much right in terms of me being on the spot, navigating through my thought process, my perspective, how I see things how I interact, you know, also joking, right about certain things like I don't think a lot of people know like, I like to have fun and I like to joke right and like I was on Twitter and I was laughing at something that a guy said and this is what really sparked it. I was laughing at something, a guy you know, he wrote back something a joke or whatever. And I was laughing at it and my man was like, oh man, like I didn't think he was gonna laugh like I thought he was always serious right? And I was like man I got it I gotta show cats right that that other side of me man like that I'm not just serious dude right I like to have fun but also putting out longer form content that I feel can add value to the world. And you guys inspired this you know of course E and the squad inspired this and it's just about getting the work man and trying to add value.

Nicky Saunders: 57:39

So look, everybody depending on when you hear this, I need y'all to go subscribe to everything with Ink and stuff like that. Like Ink where can they find you real quick? Where can they find you?

Inky Johnson: 57:53

Yeah I'm Inky Johnson. I-N-K-Y J-O-H-N-S-O-N @InkyJohnsonMotivate on Instagram. But all the other social media platforms just Inky Johnson website inkyjohnson.com. I appreciate the support man. I won't let you down. You can trust me. More importantly, you can trust me.

Nicky Saunders: 58:14

I'm telling you if you haven't... the two people who haven't heard about Inky, the two, right? Like just YouTube my man, you'll thank me later. I promise you you will.

Real quick announcement: 58:27

Tuesdays 7:30pm Eastern, 6:30pm Central. Moose..

Inky Johnson: 4: 58:37

30

Nicky Saunders: 4: 58:38

30 all right. 4:30pm West Coast time Facebook. We have our live show every Tuesday facebook.com/nickyandmoose. Also follow us everywhere Nicky and Moose and leave the review you heard that we did it earlier leave the review. But Moose, how did you feel about this episode?

Mostafa Ghonim: 59:03

Oh this this was terrific. This This did not disappoint not one bit. Ink if I can just take a moment man and say Thank you man, thank you so much respect and admiration for

Nicky Saunders: 59:11

Yeah and Ink, I was I was scared to press send I who you are first and foremost. And of course what you do and ain't even gonna hold you. I was scared to press send for you to what you share with the world so yeah, no this this is come on here because first I know how much your family man. I phenomenal. was like so in COVID does this mean he spends all the time with his family? Because how does this work? I didn't want to disturb that. He is home. He is in his like super super mansion. I still have to go over one day. Moose, I don't know if you'v seen these like little smal corner pictures that he tries t play. Like he has this like, I'm only gonna do one section of it. But we can already t ld the vibes that thing is mass ve. So, um, yeah, I was scared t e press send but I knew it was i portant like for me and Moos the way we show appreciations h ving people here and having people say their stories about heir brand their business whi e they're alive. Like, I think we wait too long to give flowe s. And we wanted to give you you flowers because both of us and specially for me because I'm sp aking, so I can't speak for oose, but um, I've been noth ng but inspired, I still get g eked out the times that you omment and you put beast I'm ike, No, I'm baby beast, I'm bab beast. I'm baby beast. I gott get my stats up. Like I get geeked out. So the only way we k ow how is to, you know, put you on our platform, the baby pl tform that we have, but bec use it was important to us to g ve you your flowers becaus you've done amazing and you've inspired not o

Inky Johnson: 1:01:09

No man. Y'all know man, both of y'all. I got a lot of love and respect for both of you all man. Anything that you all ever doing. Anything that you all got going on. You already know it's solid with me. And I'm gonna support it because I got great respect and admiration for both of y'all.

Nicky Saunders: 1:01:25

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I've been waiting for this podcast to drop because it's about to blow up. I'm just gonna say that. It's about to blow up. We gone make sure of that. It's about to blow up. But Moose normally do the final words, but Ink, you're on. And we would love the final words by you.

Inky Johnson: 1:01:47

Absolutely! So I got a quote card sitting here with me. And I'm gonna read it and take us out with it. You know, this year, I know it's been been challenging in terms of 2020. Now we in 2021 rocking and rolling. And it's going to be a beautiful year for a lot of people. But I want to leave you with this quote card reads. "You can't calm the storm. So stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself, and the storm will pass." I'm gonna say it again. "You can't calm the storm. So stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself, and the storm will pass." Never forget in the midst of adversity, in the midst of opposition, in the midst of challenges- the ability to learn as a gift, even when pain is your teacher. Keep pressing