Episode 38 - The Return Of Twitter Fingers

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  0:08  
What up y'all?

Nicky Saunders  0:09  
And we're on episode 38!

Mostafa Ghonim  0:11  
Let's go!

Nicky Saunders  0:13  
 And once again, this is a lot to talk about in this episode. We're talking about the Walk of Fame. We're talking about people being back outside. We're talking people buying out all Foot Locker, some self esteem talk. It's it's a lot. It's a lot everything from Lil' Baby to Will Smith, to Nip to just, it's a lot. It's just a lot. How are we feeling about this Moose?

Mostafa Ghonim  0:42  
Look, the world is opening up. The day we're recording this, I'm just coming back from a trip, you was gone the last two weekends. So yeah, the world's opening up, it's time to shift it up a little bit. So yeah, I'm excited.

Nicky Saunders  0:55  
Let's get into his intro.

Jaymie Jordan  0:58  
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  1:26  
And you know what time it is! It is the review of the week! And this one says relevant, entertaining and... already empowering all at the same time. It's impossible to listen to this podcast and not walk away with relevant, entertaining and thought provoking insights into branding entrepreneurship. And the world of business is literally a branding masterclass for entrepreneurs.

Mostafa Ghonim  2:03  
Wow! Ok!

Nicky Saunders  2:05  
Yeah, I mean, first off, I messed up. For all our brand new listeners, it has been a running joke that on these reviews, reviews, I can't even say reviews. In the reviews, I mess up somehow, some way. So, that was my mess up for a bit. But that was a really good review. So...

Mostafa Ghonim  2:29  
That's a solid review. Who left that? Is there a name on that?

Nicky Saunders  2:34  
Yep, can't read it. But okay, that person you know, who you are right. We super appreciate you and we appreciate everybody who leaves a review. Continue to do that. We appreciate it. Um, but let's get into this episode. First off, how are you feeling Moose? How's everything?

Mostafa Ghonim  2:54  
I'm good. I'm good. I'm a...man, I'm excited. I'll be honest. I'm also inspired. I know we talked about it. First first conference trip or for first like trip work related trip. A year and a half Nicks? It's been a long time. So this is a this is is nice. It's nice to feel like the end is near if we're not already there. So I'm excited. I'm ready to get it.

Nicky Saunders  3:16  
We'll get into it. We'll go into more details about it. But let's do some celebration. Because Congratulations to Nipsey Hussle to receive the 2022 star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The marathon continues. Man, when they announced this, I was not actually expecting that. Um, the fact that Nip gets a a star in Cali, I think was like, needed and like, I don't want to say like he should but

Mostafa Ghonim  3:59  
Nah it's well deserved. Yes, it's well deserved.

Nicky Saunders  4:01  
Yes. And some of the other names of people who receive the star was Carrie Fisher from Star Wars, she passed away as well. Black Eyed Peas, Michael B. Jordan, Ashanti, Keenan, from Kenan and Kel and SNL. Who else? Who else? Who else?

Mostafa Ghonim  4:24  
Khaled

Nicky Saunders  4:24  
How do I miss that? DJ Khaled and so many other people and if I have not mentioned you, I apologize. But um, I will have a question. I will have a question. I do have a question that I will like this is future. But um so like I said, I this is no hate. This is no shade. I promise you. I'm just trying to understand how does Khaled and Ashanti and Michael B. Jordan get a star. And it took forever for Snoop Dogg, Ice T. Not Ice T. I think he got one. Ice Cube, um, Dre like it took a minute for them to get their stars. And granted, maybe they said you know what? It is time for us to wrap up that whole You have to do it for so many years you have to have this many like the I'm not gonna front. Black Panther alone. Creed alone, right. There's a bunch of other roles like clearly, I'm not saying they don't deserve it. I would just like to know the criteria. Right? Why maybe some of the ones that have waited for so long, didn't get it sooner. So there's no shade because I believe that each one of them deserves a star. No shade. I just want to know why some so soon. And some, like way like why why why we did you just want to make them relevant.

Mostafa Ghonim  6:09  
Yeah, even if you think about somebody like an Ashanti like Ashanti was probably really, really hot. I don't know, 15 - 20 years ago.

Nicky Saunders  6:17  
Okay. This is where my shade comes in. I have no clue why she's getting one. I'm gonna be honest. No, I'm, I'm not going to agree with that one. I'm calling me.. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I believe certain awards, yes. I'm confused about the star because maybe I see it higher than what it's supposed to be. Okay, so maybe, maybe it's not as big but I'm confused of that I just, I'm not, I'm not seeing it.

Mostafa Ghonim  6:57  
Somebody write us on Twitter. If you from Cali, or anywhere, maybe a little bit more familiar than we are about what the star really means, the significance, how do you get, you know, considered for one, I'd love to know.

Nicky Saunders  7:10  
You know what, I take it all the way back. So if you clip it cool, whatever. She probably wrote a lot of good stuff. I take it back. I'm thinking on it. I speak to too soon sometimes, Ashanti please take my apology in the same way that I had already questioned it in the same episode. You don't even have to wait to another episode for me to apologize. Because you probably wrote a lot of things that I am just not aware of. right that qualifies you for this...So you know what, I apologize. That quickly. 

Mostafa Ghonim  7:52  
Fair enough. 

Nicky Saunders  7:54  
But shout out to Nip. But let's talk about some people are back outside. Some people are back outside. You already heard Moose. 

Mostafa Ghonim  8:08  
We outside! Yep!

Nicky Saunders  8:09  
Moose said he went to a trip and it just happened to be with number one motivational speaker of the world, Dr. Eric Thomas. Yes, E is back outside. He was in Atlanta this past weekend, depending on when you heard this, right. On the 18th on the 18th of June, he was outside. Okay, in front of thousands of entrepreneurs or soon to be entrepreneurs. And I heard, I'm gonna let Moose speak on it. I heard the energy was crazy. He had a message and went just the spirit hit him and just went left.

Mostafa Ghonim  9:02  
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. 

Nicky Saunders  9:04  
And so but the good thing about it is now can we expect E back on the road? What are we? What are we doing? What are we doing? People do you want E back on the road? I'm acting like this is a live audience.

Mostafa Ghonim  9:20  
Hey, Guys, let us know. 

Nicky Saunders  9:22  
Let us know In the comments.

Mostafa Ghonim  9:24  
Right. No, man, it was incredible. I mean, you said it though, that man. And of course we were behind the scenes kind of preparing some of the slides and not necessarily editing them ourselves. But just like, you know, on a conversation all that and it's funny, I was there backstage and Nicky's texting. And she's like, Hey, he's been on the slide for quite some time. How's it going out there, right? I said, Yeah, it doesn't look like he's gonna use the slides. My man did the whole hour presentation on two of the 33 slides we had set out for him. So yeah, if anybody's been blessed with the opportunity to hear the man speak live, you know that when he feels it and goes in a different direction, it doesn't matter what you have prepared ahead of time, just go ahead and scrap all of that. But no the energy was incredible though. He he tore it down. I think, you know, it's so cool I think what makes he so dynamic and so unique is that he can go on into any space still be himself but connect with people on a way right where they are if that makes sense. So it's like okay, I'm not changing myself to connect with you. I'm still gonna be myself. But I'm going to figure out how to really communicate that to you in a way that still connects with you and makes you feel like okay, here are the adjustments I need to make. So energy was incredible man I thought it was awesome very very well put together event you know, all the guys did a phenomenal job putting that thing together. And it was fun man it definitely gave the juices coming back. So I'm excited to see what's up next and yeah, hopefully my man does a live event.

Nicky Saunders  10:56  
Listen, listen. Okay, we may know some things, we may not. I'm not...

Mostafa Ghonim  11:02  
I'm just pretending.

Nicky Saunders  11:03  
Listen, but what I will say is that I got a great text from a few people that's like, Yo we need E back like if it's going outside like have you guys already talked about tours? Where are you going? Like when is it happening? I saw E on stage what and you know, you know me I stir up the pot a little bit so I took the pictures that Jose gave me, shout out to Jose right, and was like yo, it may be time. Where should we go? I put it in stories. Where do you want to see him? What is happening? So all we can say, we outside people! 

Mostafa Ghonim  11:51  
It's official.

Nicky Saunders  11:50  
We outside just stay stay tuned to this podcast a little bit longer if you decided that this wasn't for you anymore Just a little bit longer stay a little bit longer for a very interesting announcement but if he does, which he will but if he does right if he does what city would you like E to come out to? Let us know that even though we have a, I may get a lot of Ohio's cuz shout out to our Ohio listeners! Oh, talking about listeners real quick I'll do I still have it up let me see if I still have it up. We have, we international! We out here. No No we we really out here. I had um hold on let me see if I can pull it up real real quick. But not only do of course we have our our lovely St. Lucia people, Great Britain, Bahamas, Barbados, Angola, Liberia, G-U-Y-A-N-A. How do you say that?

Oh man, I don't know.

Shout out to y'all! Um, and of course everybody in the US but we international and I want to give props to all our listeners and viewers who rock with us but since we talking about outside, you know, it wouldn't make sense if I didn't talk about Verzuz. Real quick, I'm not going to go too too deep into this one. But Trina and Eve battled this past week or so. And the reason why I wanted to bring it up was because of how they did this battle instead of necessarily the music so what do I mean by this? Is that you could kind of see it in the picture if you're watching it on YouTube but for my audio listeners, Trina is performing at Club LIV in Miami and there's an audience and Eve is a performing in London virtually right which was fire. IG live was still going on. Triller was still going on as far as broadcasting this with no lag right. So there wasn't even kind of a Alright, let's wait till Eve catches up with the music. It seemed as if they it felt like if they were in the same room. What's cool about it is that this is now the second battle where Verzuz is in club LIV in Miami. So the first one was Swizz and Timberland doing the rematch and they performed live at the club with a bit of a an audience. Now I believe that was more of a celebrity type audience than anything. But with this, Trina and Eve one, I felt like more regular people were there, you can hear the audience, you could feel the energy. Right. And of course, Eve was in London, so she couldn't necessarily but it felt like she felt the energy as well. So I'm thinking, is Verzuz next move kind of making this to two things, either making Miami the hub of where you could possibly see these performances live while still getting the virtual experience as well. Or are they going to start traveling between let's say, and still keep it a virtual thing? So if they was to do let's say the Diddy and Dre rumors are true, right? I know. They've been talking about it. So Diddy in, I don't know, Miami, or LA one of his homes, right? Shout out to multiple homes. But we're gonna say we're gonna say Miami for this point, right? No, let's say New York. He's back in New York. Right? Let's say he goes back to New York, and Dre is in LA. Right. And they're both performing at a club. Right with an audience but still giving that virtual vibe. I think that is a cool way for anybody who has been doing virtual events, or virtual anything, right? And trying to still connect with your audience while we're going back into in person events, how do you still connect with both audiences because there's some that still can't travel or don't feel safe enough to travel? Right. And I'm people who are just used to virtual life now and to people who have been like dying to be back outside. So I love from that standpoint of how Verzuz really broke it down to like, we're still going to give you a virtual but in person vibe. I just want to see, is this going to be more public as far as buy tickets for this event? Limited tickets only this than a third? Because I think you've got to be like, invited or live in Miami to understand Yo, this is what's happening. But we'll know more. Because supposedly Bow Wow and well, Shad Moss I'm sorry, Shad Moss, and Soulja Boy are supposed to be doing a Verzuz. I'm so tuned into that. But that's just me. Moose, what do you think?

Mostafa Ghonim  18:04  
I mean, I'm still thinking about how they're going to set up the different experiences because it's like, you know, they've broken the mold completely about what a live concert, what a music concert feels like, or should feel like, and like, I've seen concerts streamed but never live. But it's something that you go back and watch like the Beyonce did the Netflix thing, you know, that hold nine. So I'm like, curious to see how they pull this one off, and are able to add just new elements or new, what you would consider regularities or what's considered a norm in the industry, because I feel like that's, that's what's next for them. It's like continuing to send new trends or new norms in the industry. So yeah, it'll be cool. But if Miami becomes a hub, I can just see like other partnerships starting to spark up because of that already being a big town. You know, like that's already a very diverse and Party City to home. Nice. So yeah, I'm excited to see what happens next.

Nicky Saunders  19:03  
I'm excited. Shout out to Verzuz. Verzuz you should, you should really come holla at us as much as we talk about you. Verzuz shout out to Swizz and Tim, y'all doing amazing, though. But let's get into one of the most popular topics of our podcast, because shout out to all our YouTube people who continuously run up the numbers when we talk about Joe Budden, Rory, and Mal. Shout out to those who are invested in this topic. So for those who don't know, Rory and Mal actually came out with a podcast, right? It's called Rory and Mal. We're not going to be too complex with that. It's really called Rory and Mal. Now they aren't we already spoke about how they addressed it on that Vimeo, Vimeo video, right, and how they felt about the whole situation. But on their podcast that is now dropping on Saturdays and we're gonna get into that kinda. Yeah, kind of that conflict right there. Mal brought up the...somebody asked him, like Yo, can friends do business right? Especially with their experience, can friends do business? And he actually answered it in a different way than I expected.

Jamil "Mal" Clay  20:44  
You can do business with friends. And I think we got to stop acting like you can't. Because people always say don't mix business and friends don't. You can absolutely do business with friends. Like you should be able to. It's just that sometimes in business, you realize, Oh, [people] just not my friend. You know, I'm saying like you just not you not my friend thought you were my friend. But you're not. But you can absolutely do business with your friends. It's just conversation, just transparency, just honesty, integrity, morals character.

Mostafa Ghonim  21:20  
Shout out to the guy just staring at the wall, you know,

Nicky Saunders  21:22  
Listen, I didn't get that. I didn't understand, I didn't question it. I was like, that's your vibe. Everybody has a different vibe. But Moose, what is your take on the breakdown of what keeps friends in business in tact?

Mostafa Ghonim  21:42  
Yeah, man. I mean, of course, he lists some very powerful traits around like, things that matter in any relationships, right? He talks about character integrity, you know, just morals, the whole nine is like, absolutely, I think in any relationship, these are things that are going to be extremely important for the strength of the relationship, or the well being of the relationship, the part that honestly had me kind of like, oh, where he said that you can do business with friends. But sometimes you get into business and realize, Oh, this dude really wasn't my friend. Like, we weren't even there to begin with. That's the part that I'm like, Wow, I've never thought about it that way. Because it's true. like growing up, we've all been told, you know, don't do business with family, or friends. And the reason being is because you can't separate your emotions from what's business, or, you know, you might kind of stay in a relationship longer than what you should be. But for at least our generation, or even, I'll speak to my example, or my experience, even in working with someone like yourself, or working with someone like E or just any of the people who we work with regularly. For the work to work, we have to be close friends, I can't see it happening any other way. Right? Like, we hang out together when we're on the road. I had lunch with D with E's wife and his daughter, like, you know, like, it doesn't work if we weren't that personal and close to each other. But you had to kind of face that cold reality of all, you weren't my friend, it just kind of has me wondering like, Well, why would you go in business with me to begin with, unless you were just trying to take from what I brought to the table? You know, it's just like a dirty kind of cold blooded way to even go about doing business. But it don't make sense to me. Like, that's the part that I like what he's saying, but I'm just saying, in my mind, I'm like, man, why would someone do that though, like, I think a part of the business experience is to be able to work with those who you like to work with. So to do all of that, just to work with somebody who you don't really want to work with, after all, man, I'm not saying you know, these guys are at fault for it. But I'm just kind of speaking to the situation. Yeah.

Nicky Saunders  23:55  
So I'm going to talk about it from a personal standpoint, right? Life real life scenarios in in this situation. So I can understand almost in both ends of getting into business and then realizing, yo, you may not necessarily have my best interest. And then from a standpoint of I got into, like I was cool with somebody, and I actually got closer because of the business. So let me let me break down the positive before the negative. Right. So that was with you. Right. We were cool. Right? We were absolutely cool. But I won't say that we are we were as tight as we were, as we are now. Right? When we start talking about Nicky and Moose and doing something together. We're like okay, we work together very well. We have cool conversations, but, like, on the personal side, we never really had those conversations until recently. Right? Yeah. So, and I think that's both of us kind of, like, okay, we have this relationship. We're great. We're great. Okay, let me slide one thing. Okay. You took that? Well, all right. At least for me, I don't know about you. Okay. You still stayed around, you're still consistent. We talked things out. We had our ups and downs already in some weird stuff, you know, and we're still, like, the business never got compromised, because of that, nor did our friendship get compromised. I'm like, Oh, well, let me tell you about this personal thing. And then I wait. I'm like, Okay. He opened up about something too. Cool, right. But it was because of the business is why we be saying became so close on a friendship level, right. So which isn't, I don't know if it's common or not, it worked for me. So if other people have experienced that with like, okay, we're cool. Like, and then we grew this brand. And now it's like, we actually live this life like it actually is Nicky and Moose. Like, he wanted me to come on to Atlanta, like, What do you mean, you're not coming, you have to come. It's like, I'm going here, you have to go here. And I honestly bought my ticket and then had to refund it. Shout out to a shout out to the Juneteenth celebration, which is a holiday now. Shout out, shout out to everybody. But um, so from that experience, I can say, I learned a lot about friendship because of business. Because for me, if I can't do business with you, I can't be friends with you. That's how I look at things. So that the fact that like, the business side, through Extreme Execution, shout out to all our Extreme Execution people and Flight Assessment people and all those great people, right, because of Extreme Execution. And because of the the podcast, right? It has grown to be a legit, like solid friendship. Now, from another standpoint of, I've had a friend that as we got into business, and money started to come in, you realize how selfish certain people are, in which is doesn't match my values. And I'm like, hold on, did you really just cancel me out? And just thought of you in this situation? Because friends don't do that, at least for me. Friends don't do that. So...And ever since those particular situations, the friendship has never been as solid as it was before. Right? And so I say all this because I do believe friends could be in business. But for me, the type of person I am, it's like business actually has to come in first. For us to be friends it happened with and a shout out to Nick everybody knows well everybody should know, Nick. But shout out to Nick. Um, we met because of E right. Um, and he was in Jamaica, doing camera stuff that he does and all that great stuff. And we started working together and we realized like yo were really we're both dumb, like together.

Mostafa Ghonim  29:27  
Oh snap. Wow, this is Hey.

Nicky Saunders  29:32  
Oh, we have a lot in common.

Mostafa Ghonim  29:38  
I was not expecting that. That's hilarious.

Nicky Saunders  29:39  
It's true. It's true. But then even to the point where for me with with Nick, is that I will put our friendship over business. So if he, and I can be very honest with this because he allows me to, when he sucks at the business side, I don't talk to him at all, at all, because that's where my friendship goes over. Because I know how I can get in a business level. And I like verbally stab people, I'm fully I'm fully aware of my flaws, and I don't try to fix them at that point. But, I understand how I am when I'm upset and when certain things don't happen in the manner that it should. So I kind of allow a buffer, aka Karl, shout out to Karl to handle that, from that side, because that's my best friend. Right? So that's and that's what I'm saying. Like, it's, it's weird, but I could still do business with him when he is super level headed and great. And see, we're on the same page. And, you know, those great times, right. But like any friendship, any business relationship too it goes through ups and downs. Right. So, but at the end of the day, what I wanted to just totally Say with me, it's business and then friendship. And I don't know if that's common, I don't know. I don't know if that's normal.

Mostafa Ghonim  31:29  
That's interesting. Yeah, cuz I know, for me, like, traditionally, I've always kept them separate. And even if I started establishing, like, a very close relationship with someone I'm doing business with, because just a common thing, we're spending a lot of time together, work is going great, whatever the case may be, you like I still try and keep a fine line between what is business and what is really, really personal. Just because I'm like, man, not that I don't want to be friends or super close with that person. But I'm just like, I really want to protect what is professional right now, over time as the trust factor really starts to go there. And I think it's the like, for me, if I were to think about like, yo, what is that thing that allows you to kind of say, Alright, fine, I'm gonna, like break that rule for you, is when you start to see that someone consistently has your back, right? Like Oh, you really, genuinely care. Okay, that's not just a business thing, because you had no gain no reward, no interest in my well being in that particular scenario. But you went to bat for me, or let me know about something or protected my interest, you know, in a certain way. So I feel like, those are characteristics of friends. So it's difficult to then continue treating those people as just business partners, because it's like, okay, like, then you just kind of went, you know, came into the friendzone. So, yeah, that's what I've noticed. That's like, some things that that helped to keep the relationship flowing.

Nicky Saunders  33:00  
But what about like, because I mean, there are certain there are certain relationships that you have to keep business, right, and separate from both ends, right? Like, there's certain people that I would never want to do business with, because of our personal relationship. I don't want to do that. Right. I don't want to mess up the friendship. I know, if you mess up in business, there cannot be, at least for me, there cannot be a friendship. If you really mess up business side for me. Now. What about when it comes to partnership, like when you go into business together? Because transactional can stay transactional Right? I hired you for a service. We're, you know, we have great conversations, and we both see the goal and know the results. So it seems like we have this really great relationship. But at the end of the day, it's still very transactional. But from a partnership, starting business type stuff, starting a whole brand type stuff, I believe, and that's just me, and maybe I'm naive, and I don't know much. I'm cool with that. Right? But me, if I'm going to talk to you every single day, I gotta be friends with you. I got to like, I'm not going to talk to you every single day. I am not that a business Holic person to just talk to you every single day with no like, so how was your well being? Like, are you like, Are you going out? Like what do you do today? They are we laughing like because I need a laugh. Like, if we can't laugh, I can't rock with you. Like, I'm a whole jokester. 

Mostafa Ghonim  34:49  
That's actually one of the ways to ruin a business relationship today. If you really think about it, you know, like if you're only reaching out to somebody, when you and we talked about this, when you only need something. It's like you. You become you're now putting yourself in a category that's like, okay, I already know like, I'm not, I'm not necessarily excited when the phone rings and I see your name, but from time to time, and it actually strengthens business relationships, when you can just like, shoot, shout out to Rob Wilson, I had Rob Wilson, just the other day, I just just check in like nothing business related. I was just like, oh, man, just, you know, just sending you some, some good energy your way that was it. And I'm like, you can see the appreciation for it, because I'm sure he's usually getting hounded by people constantly reaching out, you know, for things related to their business needs. So like, I'm like, man, I don't want to necessarily be known as that guy. And, and that's one of the things that I really, I gotta say, I messed up on in COVID. Because COVID really, like turned me into a bad introvert. I've always been introverted. But I became a really bad introvert because a COVID. Like, all of a sudden, I kind of like forgot people existed in the world. So I'm like, that's not cool. Like, you got to start. And again, you said, I'm saying that too. I'm not perfect man. You know, it was just one of those things that I'm like, you know what happened to me? But I'm like, Okay, you got to reach out to people, and not just when you need something like, they those relationships are truly appreciated so much more. Because it's like, wow, that person genuinely cares. Like, he knows my son or daughter's name, he knows my so and so's name. He asked about this situation or that situation. It's like, the end of the day. That's what that's what really makes a relationship valuable.

Nicky Saunders  36:38  
These are facts. And I think also, when it comes to me, it plays into a small plug, the flight assessment, because I'm a I'm a high pilot and a high flight attendant, which I feel in this in this season, the flight attendant is questionable at times.

Mostafa Ghonim  37:00  
Is on vacation.

Nicky Saunders  37:01  
Yes, its kind of questionable, because I have to get used to people again, and I'm used to turning it off when I want to turn it off. So that's that's a different thing. But

Mostafa Ghonim  37:12  
My flight attendant is coming back.

Nicky Saunders  37:15  
Because you are outside again, right? Yes, I was inside and I became super people person, because I could turn on the camera and say, Hey, love you guys. Let's just all talk. We're all here together. And I could turn it off. I go outside and is like Nicky! I'm like who are you? Shoot, I can't turn this off. I can't I can't be like Hello, and then walk away, and come back and be like, how are you and walk away. I can't do that. But me bringing that up is like maybe that's why I like if we can't do business, we can't be friends kind of thing. Because still my pilot is like business, but I still need to be a friend. Right? My flight attendants like we still need to be friends. I can't just be business with you. Depending on the certain business that we're doing. Like I can't just be business with you that's trashy. Like, how would these conversations be okay, and so Mal said this. How do you feel Moose? Okay, next subject. The next subject is Lil' Baby. How do you feel about Lil' Baby? It would be boring, it would be trash. Yeah, so that also plays along. Probably I would assume I could be wrong. I assume because of the flight assessment, flightassessment.com for those who have not taken it flightassessment.com. But it because of the flight assessment, I do business and friends simultaneously because I'm a 99 and a 99. But let's get into this next one. There has been a video that's been trending. And I also wanted to bring in like the people who are killing it in this time, right? I know we normally go through the legends but there is a particular person that I am just extremely fond of and excited of how their decade I'm not even gonna say a couple years but their decade is going to be and that's Lil' Baby, right, Lil' Baby. Actually, let's let's see if I could play it. Lil' Baby bought out, first off, he's a rapper from Atlanta and bought out all of Foot Locker right to give back to his community. Right. So for all my YouTube viewers, you can see people buying well walking out with the, the sneakers and everything like that. And then you see the community handing it out and everything. But the part that I really love was what's on the screen right now, which is saying buying shoes, ain't what I mean by saving community or giving back that some ish that I did, because I've seen a lot of them had on flip flops. When I say save the community, I mean, centers, programs, jobs, you can imagine the ish that I don't post. So the reason why I wanted to bring that up is because it's, you not only show it to a certain extent, but the deeper things you don't you know, and we've gone over through the over this in past episodes as far as you don't necessarily have to show off everything. Right. That wasn't even a clip that was on his social media. That was what people were, we're recording, right? He didn't if you go on Lil' Baby's Instagram, you don't see anything that we just showed as far as Foot Locker and the the people putting on the sneakers and that you don't see that nowhere on his Instagram, right? But, um, it's the people that is like, yo, look at what he's doing. The people will shout your name and show all the things that you're doing within the community. You don't necessarily have to show that. But what's really cool about Lil' Baby is just the things that he's been doing. Like he doesn't make light money. So some people are like, oh, okay, he just bought out all the Foot Locker I mean, all of Foot Locker not just some of it like, the whole Foot Locker, right, that that alone is crazy. But then I had to be like, yo, let me let me understand where Lil' Baby is, as far as the brand as far as numbers, like, he has been so on top, but what does that really mean? And he's every single project, every single mixtape, whatever, that he drops is instantly on the Billboards, instantly, right, his last, his last album, Your Turn, was has, like, made $2.3 million. Just and that's the estimate, right? He tweeted out that I would say a couple of months ago, or maybe a year ago, whatever. He's like, Yo, I'm doing $100k on features. I'm at a point where I can ask for $100k on features because everything that he's on, make it like goes to the charts, right? Which means if he asked for $100k in features, his shows alone was reported before around 70 to 100k. That probably went up. He know he has merch. You know he has deals like Reebok. You know he has a YouTube that streaming over 3 billion views so that's a good million couple millions off of YouTube check alone. Right? And yet with all this he says still giving back to the community and not flaunting that not Hey, I come back to the to the hood to do this. This is and we're gonna get into like his location and everything but to see people like him. This is a perfect like piggyback even though I hate that word. Perfect piggyback off of our last episode because we talked about Migos and Quality Control. And what do you think little baby is on Quality Control. So when you hear numbers like that, and you see little baby on the charts, and you see people like Drake, and at a Young Thug and all the Lil' Wayne everybody getting on a record with Lil' Baby, you're like Quality Control strikes again. When I was researching Lil' Baby, though, was really cool is that he only started rapping about four years ago. 

Mostafa Ghonim  45:14  
Wow. 

Nicky Saunders  45:16  
He's a he's purely natural. What what Coach K said. And if you didn't listen to the last episode, go listen, last episode, you'll know who Coach K is. But Coach K said, and Coach Pee was like, yo, you sound like a rapper. Just didn't hear him spit anything. Yo, you sound like a rapper. And he was like, Yo, I always know how to put words together. It shouldn't be hard to make a song, it shouldn't be like that natural gift, right? Where it's not even this hard. And to see how it when you stay in your natural because he used to hustle when you stay in your natural, how big you become. When he fully embraced that, it was like, charts everything I'm dropping. Joe Budden dropped the interview of him and was like, do you practice? Or is it like every song you just get better? He was like, Yo, I do another song isn't that practice? He's like, no. Well I do another song and it's me getting better. It's, it's, I don't intentionally do things. So that alone is crazy. And shows that when you don't think too much about something, that's the one that's going to make you the most money. But, um, but I love the sneaker thing. 

Mostafa Ghonim  46:45  
I love that. Yeah. I mean, yeah, like, as I, as I just watched that, that video play, right. And for our listeners, check out the YouTube. So you can actually see the video that Nicky had playing, she was kind of like, narrating or describing what was happening there. Right? I truly am starting to believe in this social media era, or just the world that we live in today, moments that define your character the most are ones that happen off camera. Because it's so easy to narrate, or practice and, and do something on camera. And immediately people are gonna question your intentions was a genuine, like, it just takes you on a route that even if you're the greatest, most kindest person in the world, somebody is gonna see it and be like, of course, he walked Look at the camera. Right. But for something like that to happen, and him not being intentional about documenting it, it tells you a lot about that person's character. That's the first part of it. Right? The second part of it, now that it's out there, and we always talk about this on this platform taking control of your narrative. He goes out there now and post it look like what is something he posted on his story kind of describing like, hey, just so you know, I'm not saying that I'm saving the community by passing out sneakers in my neighborhood. Saving the community, I already know is through centers, jobs and programs. Right. So that's the beautiful part about it, too, that I love that he's very well informed about. This is what really moves the needle in a community. If you're looking to give back or help it or build it, whatever the case may be. This is how you really do it. So I think those two combined, it shows that this is someone although young really knows, you know, like, what it is from a very just real and honest standpoint. So I love that in every way. Honestly.

Nicky Saunders  48:41  
Yeah. I I'm just in love with Lil' Baby and what he's doing. And just the the positive energy, like you don't really necessarily hear anything negative about Lil' Baby. Yeah. It's just crazy. But there's this clip that I saw that I wanted to actually spin into a branding and business kind of vibe. So watch this and listen to this with an open mind. First and foremost,

Lil' Baby  49:13  
Like you got to stay in tune. Like I feel like if I hadn't gotten my bag and just went to L.A. and just like left the bros and then I wouldn't even have nothing to rap about. You got 6 more months left. The fact I'm, I'm in the mix now. I still know what's going on. I know what to say. I don't know how to say it. You don't see me falling off. I know what's going on. But if I separate myself from that and I'm LA, you know, some Hollywood I feel like that's when I'll lose. I'll fall off.

Nicky Saunders  49:46  
So, so follow me with this one real quick, because for some reason, I was like, that's it. Right? That's it right there. And what I mean by that is of course He was talking about rapping. And I know for my hip hop fans, some of y'all are gonna be like, Nah, he needs to get out of the hood, why wouldn't he do it? Um, and from a craft standpoint, not because of a community standpoint, not because of what he's doing. But from a craft standpoint of, Yo, I will lose it, I will lose me being on top, if I went Hollywood, and I look at that, from a perspective of, there was something that kept us always getting new information when it comes to our craft, when it comes to our brand. And our business. Like, it forever gave us the fuel and the the knowledge that we needed to make, to get our name out there, right, or some kind of activity that we would always use to do a routine, something we would always used to do. And the second that we see some type of success, or we get on certain stages, or we get into certain communities, or whatever kind of status, we tend to lose what actually got us there. Right? And of course, when you look at it from a Lil' Baby standpoint, and he's saying, Yo, I'm not leaving, because, you know, this is what actually gives me what I rap about. And like I said, Some of y'all gonna think like, Nah, he needs to leave, right, it'll show growth or something. But maybe, at this season, and not saying he'll always stay there. But at this season, he fully understands Yo, I'm on top. Because of this, because of what I rap about, because of the information and the experiences that I see here. So if I remove myself from that, I am no longer going to be number one, I'm no longer when they say hip hop, rap, ATL, my name may not be associated with that anymore, because I removed myself and became Hollywood. Now. If I become an actor, that's a different story. Right? I would go to Hollywood. And maybe that's the transition in my life, because he was in How High 2. So, he's also an actor, right? But I look at it from me, and you've had this conversation where it's like, there's a home court advantage. When it comes to your craft or when it comes to your branding and business, there are certain things that will keep you on the highest of high because you're in home court. Right? For me, it was always learning something new every day having the certain screens near me. And I knew exactly what I'll be looking at with each screen, and how to deliver to people and things like that. And so when we talk about going back outside and I'm laughing at the whole, maybe my my flight attendant maybe going down is because now I'm not in home court. And I'm not sure how I can turn that on and off switch right into the delivery to people or when to kind of learn something new if I'm always on the go, right? I deal. I was gone two weekends in a row. And I'm like, yo, how was I supposed to learn anything? Like Monday came and I always go live and I'm like, I have no clue. Normally, I don't have any clue what I'm going to talk about, but I really didn't have anything like Yo, what am I going to talk about, but I took myself out of what I get all my information from him what people look forward to with the updates and everything. And I removed myself from there. And it was a whole different Nicky, right. So it's almost to the point where I get what he's saying. But at the same time, how can we create a vibe or a system that regardless of if you're at home, or you do move up in the world and you move to Cali you move somewhere else, you know, you still have that kind of strength? That still kind of hunger and things like that because you look at Rick Ross right He is his bars elevate, he's not rapping about the same thing, right. But he got a mansion, he got mansions several places, you know, he's not living in the same spot that he was before and things like that. So while some rappers can, but it's very far and few to still stay on top of their game, he at least realized like, yo, at this moment, maybe I don't have the discipline to be on top and rap the same way that I rap if I was to go to Cali, because my origin is here, the source that I get my power from, as far as lyrics comes from here, what would what would I do over there? So yeah, I think it's a it's, it's a awareness and a discipline thing when it comes to that.

Mostafa Ghonim  56:00  
100% Yeah, you know, it's funny, I was, um, I got to meet Brandon. Shout out to Brandon, for the first time this weekend. So dude's been working with us for well over a year. And of course, we're COVID has been strictly virtual, we work together very closely, very virtual, met together met for the first time, you know, on the trip. And we were just talking about like traveling and and what type of exposure and experiences it can happen. And we started talking about, like, being competitive and, and I was just explaining to him and I said to him, you know, allow these opportunities to help you to grow. But don't let them change you. Right. Because a lot of people, what they tend to do is regardless of what industry you're in, you allow something that was meant to help you to grow, to develop to become better than what you were to change you or take you away from doing the very thing that got you the opportunity. Hey, like so so you defeat the purpose. So I love that he's able to maintain the discipline to stay almost like in in home base or stay planted where he grew up, so that he can still have a pulse on what's happening so he can continue to tell the story. One of my favorite movies, and don't laugh, but I actually enjoyed the movie. I think it's called. Okay, now now I'm messing up because it's like, how is it my favorite movie and I don't know the name. Forget it. But let me tell you the line that I like, right? And and the line is, it's a what's the guy's name? Nah I'm getting it. It's coming back. I wanted to say A Star is Born. But that doesn't sound right. It's something with a star. It's with Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, so whatever, there's a scene in the movie, if you haven't watched it, go check it out. It's the scene in the movie where Bradley Cooper is fighting with his brother in the movie, okay. And they're going back and forth all upset, whatever. And then the brother is mad at Bradley Cooper because he's like, Yo, I was better than you. Like, I was more talented. I was the better artist than you. And I didn't have any issues like, you know, life issues, drinking problems, whatever. But I put my career on hold for you. And he sent a line to him that I was like, yo, that's it right there. He said everyone is talented. But not everyone has something to say. And you didn't have nothing to say. 

Nicky Saunders  58:28  
And you were correct. It's A Star is Born.

Mostafa Ghonim  58:30  
Okay, there we go. A Star Is Born. Got it. So I just was like, wow, that's it right there. We are so caught up on talent as if talent is the cream of the crop as if talent is the most important thing. It's not because at some point when we really truly tap into who we are, we discover our talents and talent is no longer the thing that separates us at the next level, it's what you have to say. Is what you're saying at its core really moving the needle really impacting the people or what you say you stand for? So that that that's something that I've always taken with me is like okay, talented is great, or talent is great. We we need talented people. But we're all talented if we really think about it, like what God's creation, we're all talented. But not everyone has something to say. So the fact that just so I can kind of wrap it, the fact that he's able to stay home grown or stay home base and not go to an LA so he can continue to collect the story. The narrative The thing that makes him him is so dope because it continues to allow him to have something to say.

Nicky Saunders  59:46  
Listen, he's probably like I made so much money here. Why would I go? How I feel about home. So much in the pandemic. Anyway, um, okay, okay, okay, let's get to the next. So, um, for our audio listeners, right. Kevin Hart went on a little tweeting spree again. He does this. He gets in his feelings, right. And this is, this really isn't any kind of shade. We've gone over Kevin Hart on our flight back in the day Facebook Live Show shout out to our day ones, right. And he is a high flight attendant. So meaning that when people may get at him over and over again, he's going to address it in a time that maybe he doesn't necessarily need to. But I respected this kind of back and forth that he did, because it comes with stats, right? So I'm gonna read the tweets. For my audio listeners, YouTube people, you'll see it but I'll read it anyways. So he says "the he's not funny. slander is the best This is for you. I have three stand up comedy specials that fall in the top 10 highest grossing comedy special of all time, two of my specials are in the top three of all time." Let's give flowers to that. "I have also turned my comedic talent into a place of business and branding and radio and other than revenue streams. The hate slash slander feels me to do more. Jay Cole said it best if you're laughing at a millionaire, the joke is on you now back to my regular schedule program. Live love and laugh." So, once again, I'm really not sure why he is addressing the public the way he does. However, I did like there, there's a part. And it was the second tweet that I really like where it was like, Look, I've taken what people know me for which is the comedy. And I actually made a brand and multiple revenue streams from what I've done. Right? So you can say what you want. But because it is one talent that you make fun of, I have multiple streams of the thing that you made fun of. So I don't know why you're laughing. Well, you can. But I have turned a joke into generational wealth. Yeah, but it all goes back to this, this kind of quote kind of bar, not quite a bar that I saw from Will Smith, that, you know, for, for all our listeners, I always try to impress Moose with like this really dope bar something now I'm trying to make it a regular thing. I may get it, I may not. But, um, I thought this would go very well, with the will than that the Will Smith, the Kevin Hart joint.

Will Smith  1:03:37  
We start looking to other people for our self esteem. And, you know, sometimes we find ourselves looking in broken mirrors to get a reflection of ourselves. Right. And the greatest tragedy is when you look into a broken mirror to see if you're pretty, right. And you're gonna let that person tell you about your inner qualities. And the good. The greatest tragedy is when you look in a broken mirror, and you're going to change your face to try to look good and a broken mirror.

Mostafa Ghonim  1:04:24  
Yeah, that's major. That's major. I mean, you know, and as we bring the two together, it's like, really looking at Kevin Hart's message and saying like, and let me say this first, I was actually on his page today. I went on his Instagram and I'm like, and I'm not that I'm comparing but I'm thinking about E's influence and impact. And then I'm looking at Kevin Hart's account. I said, Wow, this person has over 100 million followers. Like I can only imagine what it's like managing a brand or having a voice that has that amount of reach. Like he can reach 100 million people like that's more than the amount of people who voted for the president this year, right? Like, it's crazy. It's a ridiculous amount of people. But at the same time, it shows you that when you're not too careful around the limitations of your personality, right, and this is the reason why we're so big on a flight assessment, because as much as it can help you, we can also protect you. Right. So when you're not careful around the limitations of your personality, you listen to what Will Smith said is now now you're looking at, you know, the opinion of broken people to validate something that at your core, you're wondering if it's there. And immediately it's, it's, it's going to throw off the image because no one is perfect, right. And this slide, that's the the analogy of the broken mirror. So it's like, Man, this is so critical, and I wish more people would pay attention to that. And we've said, this line on the podcast before your heroes, all of them are human. Yeah, all of them, every single one of them. At the end of the day, all of your heroes, the people, you look up to the ones that you aspire to be like, they to have to sleep at night, you know, like, they do all of the things that you do, but they have certain routines, certain discipline, certain perspectives, or just principles and values that help them to get to where they are. So at the end of the day, while you might want to idolize some of the things that they do, don't forget that they too are human. So like, when I listen to Will Smith say something like that. It's like, Man, it's a great reminder for all of us that at the end of the day, the heroes are human.

Nicky Saunders  1:06:35  
Facts. I think for me, like, and we've, we've talked about this a few times, but you have to the self awareness is so important, right? If you are super aware of yourself, and what you can do and add to the world, sometimes what you can't add to the world. You're not always seeking validation from people who don't even do what you do. Right. And I think that's why I have like, a problem, not a problem. But I don't understand why Kevin Hart always get such an his feelings that he always has to reply. Because it's people who don't do what he what he does, and haven't even tried to accomplish, what he's accomplished, right, he he listed the stats and bring them back up. literally saying I have three stand up comedy specials that fall into the top 10 highest grossing comedy special of all times. Two of my specials are the top three of all time, like what are you what are you... this the thing. Even if that that one that he's referring to sucked, who cares? If those are the stats that you have, and you literally said a joke has now turned into multiple streams of income for me and my family. What the not everyone is going to hit not everyone's going to hit. And so when you're paying attention to it, and this is where Will Smith was like, yo, you're going to change your face off of a broken mirror. Like you're changing or reacting to things that don't even match what you're doing. Like it doesn't match the reflection of your goals. The reflection of your your bank account.

Mostafa Ghonim  1:09:01  
That's good Nicks.

Nicky Saunders  1:09:02  
It doesn't go together. And so yes, as a people person, as a person who wants to always make sure the art that I put out is for the people and they love it. You have a body of work that's done that already. You can do something for yourself. And I think that's where that last tweet comes from. Because J Cole, who we've gone over on this podcast a little bit not the full story, or did we I don't know. But we talked about it on Nicky and Moose right? And he did what he needed to do for the people to be up there as far as top rappers and then he started putting out projects for himself. As a as a creator, as a person Who puts their craft and calls it art, that is the ultimate freedom to do stuff, because you want to. So if the one that he said that he's not funny, if it didn't get the reaction that he always get, that's okay. It still made more money than some of those people's bank accounts. It still made more money than they would ever see possibly in their life. You still have more followers, you still have a huge tribe of people who don't even care if you're funny or not. You still have a successful acting career. What are we and so instead of always looking at what people say, because, and I'm not even calling people like that broken mirror, but the goals are broken. They're different, like, they may have some pieces that are the same, but not all of it is formed into the same reflection of what you're doing.

Mostafa Ghonim  1:11:24  
Yeah, Yeah. You know, like, looking at the numbers again, it's like, I love what you said, by the way, that's, that's incredible. I definitely I'm like, I'm listening. I'm like, absolutely, I can I can I can relate with that in a lot of ways, but I'm thinking about, he's saying, three of his comedy specials placed in top 10. So out of 100 million people following you, maybe you only need to listen to the other seven, you know, not the 100 million. You know what I'm saying? Its like just listen to the seven who are in the top 10 with you like that's the point that I think that you made that I'm like, Yeah, you're absolutely right. Like maybe we're listening to too many people and not considering the source or, or the value of the person who's sharing their opinion its like, okay, valuable people share valuable opinions. You're not going to get a valuable opinion from someone who hasn't maybe created anything valuable. So it's like, take the opinion of the other people who are in that top 10 with you now. Yep, you're absolutely right.

Nicky Saunders  1:12:30  
And they happen to have a Father's Day Special Red Table Talk by the time this comes out. You may have seen it, and we may talk about it on the YouTube Live. We may talk about it because I'm going to watch it. Are you going to watch it Moose?

Mostafa Ghonim  1:12:48  
For sure. For sure. Absolutely.

Nicky Saunders  1:12:50  
So we may we may talk about it on when this drops tonight's live every Tuesday 8pm on YouTube, youtube.com/nickyandmoose. Follow us everywhere. Take the flight assessment, flightassessment.com. Um, and that's all I got. I don't know. Moose do you got...well, I guess final words but I mean.

Mostafa Ghonim  1:13:17  
Yeah, no we killed it. Yeah this was solid. Yep. I enjoyed the dialogue.

Nicky Saunders  1:13:21  
Let me tell...actually, I'll leave it for the after show. Please look out if it isn't already active by the time this drops because I'm working very hard to make sure this goes. We have a subscription about to come out already came out official announcement will be emailed and text out and all that great stuff on on social media. But we have an after show only for Apple podcast people so go grab an iPad if you don't have Apple podcast, get you an old iPhone, whatever it is. It's all access squad. It's a whole vibe. And this after show thought that I have in my head is going to be on there. So yeah.

Mostafa Ghonim  1:14:11  
Go catch the after show.

Nicky Saunders  1:14:13  
But you already know what I'm gonna say. Moose, final words.

Mostafa Ghonim  1:14:19  
This one is real simple, man. I look first time out work related out in a year and a half. And I just want to encourage everybody like, yo, go seek some inspiration. Seriously, seriously, like, like, stop, get ahead of the curve a little bit and go seek some inspiration, whatever that means for you. I don't know if it's watching the movie. I don't know if it's going for a hike, do something different that you haven't done in a year and seek inspiration I was given the example of someone's like you imagine if Apple put out an iPhone or has not have not put out iPhones since like iPhone seven or whatever it is, and they're still expecting to generate the same amount of money on like the next several years, having never put out any new product. And this like for us, we're that product. So if like you don't ever feed yourself any new information or seek any new experiences or gaining new inspiration, you can never generate anything new because you're still walking as your old self. So that's just my words like you're encouraging people go out, seek something new to generate new.