Shaahin Cheyene
Podcast Cola
@0:14 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
Hello everyone and welcome to the Shades of Entrepreneurship. This is your host, Mr.
Flores.
@0:28 - Shaahin Cheyene
Today, I'm here with Shaheem San Shaheem. How are we doing? I'm doing great, Gabe.
@0:33 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
How are you? Another day in paradise, you know, we've been talking. actually had a folks, we had a reschedule.
Unfortunately, this, this conversation. So I'm excited about this one because this gentleman is not just named Shaheem, but he actually has another name that we're going to get into in a bit.
But we're not going to talk about the name that he's been endowed with. First, Shaheem, give us a little background.
@0:55 - Shaahin Cheyene
Who is Shaheem San? Tell us a little bit about you. so my name is Shaheem Shan. I'm an entrepreneur.
where I've been doing the entrepreneurship game since since I was born. But really since the early 90s, my parents came here to the United States as immigrants from Iran.
I started my first company when I was in my teens company with a product called Herbal Ecstasy. was the first legal alternative to Ecstasy and created over a billion dollars in revenue.
I went on from there to inventing all the technology that has now become digital vaporization. So anybody that fapes that technology arose from technology that I built.
And from there, I moved on to the Amazon space building Amazon companies, teaching other people how to build seven eight figure companies that they can sell in a couple of years and move on to the next thing, which is one of my favorite things, real estate investing.
And currently, I'm the founder of startup called Podcast Cola, where we get people booked on great shows just like this one, Gabriel.
So if somebody has a high ticket product or service, a business, and they're looking for way to market it, as you know, podcasts have exploded.
And the best thing I think that any entrepreneur can do is to start selling through storytelling. the way you do that is by being on podcasts.
that's what we do at Podcast Cola.
@2:24 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
You know, folks, got to tell you, I've been, I've been very fortunate enough to work with Podcast Cola for the last kind of year or so.
And they have been absolutely but phenomenal in regards to the quality of individuals that have been sending my way.
So really folks that are listening, you should really think Podcast Cola for a lot of the guests that you have been hearing on the shades of entrepreneurship, including Shaheem.
In fact, I would love, let's take a step back. Because one of the things I mentioned is folks, he was dubbed, again, this is a unique name, the Willy Wonka of Generation X by the London Observer.
So I really want to kind of get into that. At first, let's talk about that first kind of entrepreneurial ship endeavor that you jumped into, specifically the ones with the XC, how did, where the heck did that idea come from and how did you bring it to fruition?
@3:13 - Shaahin Cheyene
Yeah, I was a kid, was left home, wasn't getting along and decided that I wanted to try to find a way to get rich quick.
Of course, the best way to get rich is quick in case anybody was wondering. So, I was trying to find a way to do that and I kind of looked around me and none of the ways really were for me.
I didn't really have a high school education even, I'd gotten a GED, I was just trying to find ways and I got involved in the electronic music scene and through the electronic music scene, I realized that people were taking a drug called ecstasy, I had never done a drug in my life, I didn't all throughout my twenties and I thought, what if there was a way I could create a legal version of this and at the same time the supply of XC had dried up but the demand was there.
there. And I just went about doing it. You know, how you do something is by doing it. And so I went out there.
I wrote about this in my book. I wrote a book called Billion How He Became King of the Thropyl Cult is being made into a film now by Paris Hilton's company.
Wow. productions. So I'm very excited about that. That film will be coming out in next couple years. They're just getting ready to start production on that.
And there's a book you can check out the audiobook. It's on Audible. It's called Billion How I Became King of the Thropyl Cult.
I really enjoyed writing it. And it documents kind of the story of everything I went through, know, from dealing with the Japanese mafia, the Yakuza, to finding rare and hard to find plants, to make up this magic formula, to do in shows with people like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Beastie Boys and doing over a million dollars in one Lala Palooza event.
talk about it all. But that's basically what happened. I was a kid. really, you know, it was a combination of getting
lucky and being at the right place at the right time and not taking no for an answer. I think it was a combination of that stuff that led me to become very successful in the world that I was in.
@5:14 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
You know, one thing I love that you said right there was the difference between you and everybody else is you just did it.
You know, and I think that is the true emphasis of entrepreneurship is, and I tell this to folks on the show all the time that I listen, if you have an idea, go out and share your idea with other people, get proof of concept, see if it's really going to work, and then go out and try to actually do it because the only difference between you and somebody else is they're doing it and you're not, right?
Even if you share your idea, somebody else probably already has that idea, but the differences are going to go do it.
@5:44 - Shaahin Cheyene
Yeah, really the best, like I tell people this with podcasting all the time, right? How do you get good at podcasting?
People always ask me they're like, man, know, I really want to start doing podcasting, and I know you guys can get us booked, unlike the best shows.
But how do I get booked on podcasts, right? And then once I get booked, how do I get good?
And the answer is you learn by doing it. You get good at doing the thing by doing the thing, which is what I've been focused on.
You know, we've got a backend course where we teach people. Hey, these are how you have your talking points.
You need to have a call to action. You know, by the way, check out my book. It's high, became king of the throw-pull culture.
out our service, Podcast Cola. get people booked on great shows like this. Make sure you have your CTA. Make sure you mention it five times.
But it's got to be natural and it's got to be organic. And you can't sound salesy because people aren't listening to that show to just be sold some stuff by you.
People are listening to these shows because they want to pick up some value. Like, hey, man, my time is valuable.
There's a million things. I can be listening to Joe Rogan. I can be listening to Lex Friedman. I can be listening to Andrew Huberman.
These guys are top rated dudes. I've been listening to you, Gabriel Flores. So I'm listening to you because I think you might have something.
that I see in you that other people might not see and that might give me an edge. So I tell people lead with value, but don't forget to ask for the sale.
@7:10 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
Man, I could not have said it better myself. And folks, again, if you forget what Shreem said in regards to his bill and how to become the king of the Thrill Pill poll, I'll have this information on the Shades of Entrepreneurship newsletter so you can actually subscribe on the Shades of E.com.
So make sure you do that. Now Shreem, how did you go now from doing pills to moving on to the next venture?
That was a very unique pivot because it's a completely new industry.
@7:35 - Shaahin Cheyene
Yeah, I thought about this a lot. And I don't know, man. think to myself, dude, I've got such a goldfish attention span when it comes to companies.
And look, when you're in your teens and your 20s, stretch of five years to start a company to launch a product, that's like nothing.
But you start getting into your 30s, you're like, man, how many more are these five years? slots am I going to get you still cool.
By the time you get into 40s like I am, I'm like, man, I got two, three, maybe four of these five-year companies.
So I say no to almost every opportunity that comes my way. And some of them are really freaking great.
But I say no, because I just know that I have to make the next few things I have count more than anything else that I've done in the past.
And to your point, when I came up with digital vaporization, there was no such thing. You couldn't find a vape.
There was no vape. There was no like, you had smoke shops that sold, you know, pipes and bongs and paraphernalia and stuff like that.
And you had medical places that sold nebulizers, which are little devices for people of asthma and lung conditions. And that was it.
And so I came around and was like, huh, people have been smoking for, I don't know, all of humanity, 50,000 years, 100,000 years, people have been smoking.
It's like, there's got to be a better way. There's got to be a way where we can get what we're trying to get.
The nicotine, the cannabinoids, the medicine without getting the smoked tar and carbon monoxide. anyone ever tried that? And I did some research, I found some patents, got my own patent, we built a company out of nothing, out of absolutely nothing.
We built that company and they were costing us 25 bucks to make. I was selling them for $400 apiece.
The first of apes were the size of a ketchup bottle and I exited that company that was one of the first vape companies to ever go public.
So it was, it was a pretty exceptional company. And, you know, it's, it's, I think now, would I do it?
I don't think so. I tell people this all the time. I really feel that innovation is a loser's game.
If you want to make money, stick to what works. Let somebody else. Reinvent the wheel and went look and when I say Losers game.
I don't mean that Anybody that innovates is a loser what I mean is if you're interested in making money like real money Find an industry where somebody's winning and just be a little bit better than that Steve Jobs did not invent the smartphone.
There were a lot of people who had it before but you know what he did do He told a better story and that makes all the difference and I teach that to people who Or my Amazon course by the way if anyone's interested reach out to me.
I'll give you my course for free It's normally a few hundred bucks, but anybody that wants to that's heard it on shades of gray Shades of what is it shades of entrepreneurship?
@10:42 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
think so you call me say it's a Greg.
@10:43 - Shaahin Cheyene
I just 50 of them. Don't worry All right.
@10:45 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
Yeah, that might be that might be a different thing But yeah, I just put shades put shades shades in the subject heading.
@10:51 - Shaahin Cheyene
I'll give my direct email. It's D. A. R. SS at gmail.com. That's dark as s at gmail.com. Just let me know you want the Amazon course.
I'll give that to for free. But I teach people this all the time in my Amazon course, my students who I teach how to build these seven and eight figure companies so they don't have to sell their hours anymore is that really you want to find something that's already selling and just do it a little bit better because that's what we've come to.
And innovation, leave that for the big companies, leave that for the gigantic apples and the Microsoft and the companies that have endless revenue.
Now that doesn't mean that you can't win with innovation. A lot of people are going to win, but it's kind of like saying, dude, I'm a good looking guy.
I am smart. And you know what? I've taken a lot of acting classes. I'm going to be in a blockbuster Hollywood movie and become a big star.
It's not going to happen, right? The chances of that happening are less than you winning the lottery and the chances of that happening are less than you being hit by lightning.
So it's something that's that's not within your control. But what's within your control is being able to find opportunities, vulnerabilities in the market and to make slight shifts in how that story is told.
If you can do that, you can make millions. And I tell people this all the time, like, that's the game.
That's the game you want to play.
@12:22 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
Yeah, you know, I could not agree more. The riches are in the niches. In fact, I was having a conversation yesterday.
was inviting an individual onto our board for a nonprofit. And one of the things he was telling me about to your point was basically taking the flight simulation that we currently have.
It's about, you know, if you want to do a helicopter flight simulation, it's like $2 million per hour or something, something ridiculous.
So he was able to create a system that uses VR to do the flight simulations for a fraction of the cost, which is going to allow us to bring more pilots, more education.
It's also safety. we're trying to get it, you know, trying to get an FDA approved. How do you get on the Apple vision to your point?
He's not reinventing the will is just doing something a little bit better, right? It's already there. It's sort of just doing a little bit better, folks.
Now, Shaheem, one of the things you mentioned, know, you're building up, you're growing these programs, you had a couple of exits successfully.
How do you market something like, you know, you mentioned the disposable cartridges things that you're doing. I mean, that's again something that is very novel.
It's not out.
@13:25 - Shaahin Cheyene
How do you, you know, effectively sell a product or service like that when it doesn't even have a market yet?
That's the problem. That's the problem with innovation. And the problem with innovation is that you have to be the one educating the public about how to use it, which is why I say I got lucky and I was able to get into niche markets and get out there and hustle and create a sales team and sell it into an existing infrastructure, which was the smoke shops, the head shops, and then to the pharma companies.
for the drug delivery devices to patent it, to really get it out there. Most people won't get that lucky.
And then the problem we had of scaling from 10 million to 100 million was, how do we tell people they need this?
I mean, we would go to conventions where people were like weed smokers. I'd be like, dude, do you want to try to vape?
They'd be like, what? No, no, I'm going to Tommy Chang's at the booth next door. I'm going to go next door and smoke some leave.
What are you talking about? Like, it just went right over their head. But then when it hit and everybody started talking about it, everybody wanted it.
those same people were willing to pay for $400 because they knew it made their material last longer. It was cleaner on their lungs.
It was better for the health. You know, I don't agree with vaporization now with the vapes that they have now, with all the chemicals that are in there from China and they're cheaply made.
But the way that we had it really was better for you.
@14:54 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
Yeah, folks, I'm going to be quite transparent. I'm a pot smoker back in the day. And so I would try the vapes when they first...
first came out and I would say the quality I actually stopped using Vapes quite a while ago, the quality has certainly diminished quite a bit, you know, and I think that also goes back to the marketing to telling the story.
You know, you mentioned it, the importance of when you're selling a product or services to tell a story. So talk, talk to us little bit about specifically with the podcast world.
Why are podcasts the most efficient way to sell a product or service in your opinion?
@15:25 - Shaahin Cheyene
Yeah, so again, you want to sell something now? How are you going to sell it? All right, we got a great service, man.
We're the best influencer marketing. We're the best sports nutrition. We're the best, you name it. How are you going to sell it?
So obviously the best way for us, especially if we're in a high ticket consulting, if we're speakers, if we have an agency where we're doing agency work, design work, anything like that is word of mouth referrals.
Here's the problem with word of mouth and referrals, it doesn't scale. How many times can you go like a poor cut?
into customers and go, dude, who else do you know could use my service? Here's, here's the Starbucks gift card.
You can't do it. It doesn't scale. It's not a recipe for growth. It's a recipe for staying in business, maybe.
So you got to advertise. You got a market. What are you going to do? Facebook ads, Instagram ads, the guys looking at your ad that you just spent a ton of money making and then a girl on a mini spirit and a dancing monkey.
I just watched this chimp, chimp thing.
@16:31 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
tiger king guy. Oh, man, I saw that. It was crazy. It's crazy.
@16:37 - Shaahin Cheyene
It's so crazy. It's so crazy. I can't believe these people exist. I think he makes him up. I don't believe these people exist.
So, you know, attention spans are short. So you sell through story, the way our ancestors did, the way people have done for hundreds of years.
If I tell you, buy my thing, you go, Hey, man, F you, you know, who are you? You just want my money.
But if I say, Hey, let me tell you a story. You know, my dog, he was so sick, little phyto, he was sick and we were pretty sure we went to the vet.
He said, we got to put him down and then all of sudden he got into this bag of supplements on the floor.
We didn't even know what it was. The next day he was up and running like a little pup and it was insane.
It was crazy. And he got better right away and he started eating all his food and he had babies and everything was great.
Not a cool story. Right. What's your question that you have from that story?
@17:31 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
Oh, what was what was what was he taking?
@17:35 - Shaahin Cheyene
What was the supplement? Oh, now I got you.
@17:36 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
I got you. Right.
@17:38 - Shaahin Cheyene
I love it. in the blank. It was CBD. It was the glucosamine. It was great seed extract. It doesn't matter.
Right. Because at that point, whatever you're going to tell them, they're going to go, oh, this guy's not trying to sell it to me.
He just told me this this endearing story. So, selling your service, your product. on podcast is the same thing you're selling through story now of course you got to have a good story and that's what what hiring a professional agency like podcast cola podcast cola dot com by the way for anyone that's interested helps because our team gets together and we extract your story we figure out what's interesting about you and then you go on and you tell that story and you don't sell you you just story tell and people go man that guy is cool i want to learn about what he does i want to learn about his amazon course i want to learn about podcasting and you offer something for free you bring value and those people will come to you and even if the people listening might not be the right person guess what because it cousin Jamie has a new consultancy that you started doing the best interior design and she doesn't know how to get customers so she's gonna come to you and want to hire your service so that's what you do you build audience through storytelling it's what Seth Goughton talks about pull marketing right it used to be pushmark
for kidding, where you would go and try to shove a message down people's throat via advertising, right? We'd be like, watching the Superboy be like, Hey, man, you want a Budweiser?
Hey, you want a beer? Hey, you want a beer? Do you want a beer now? How about now? Do you want a beer now?
And that got old. The internet came in and was like, we don't need to watch commercials anymore. So now there's a real battle for your attention.
And it's gotten more expensive to get that attention, to get that call to action, to get that sale, to convert.
And that's where we're at, nothing better than podcasting, to make that happen.
@19:39 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
Yeah, you know, this is something I tell folks, know, entrepreneurs that go through our non-profit, LatinoFounders.com folks, our business accelerator program.
When they go through that and we talk about the pitch, we really talk about making sure your story resonates with the community that you're telling it to.
And that's exactly what you did. Talked about the dog, talked about that personal connection, talked about everybody at some point, probably had a pet.
So they understand like losing that pet and the connection you have from a personal connection and really wanted them to see them healthy.
And so that's why you begin to think, and I really love the way you presented it, human saying you kind of left it open to ended where you didn't actually deliver the product or service that you're actually discussing.
You kind of left it up to the individual you're telling the story to to kind of ask that question.
I really, really enjoyed that. Now, and you've been doing this for some time, what are some things that an individual that is telling their story, that is marketing their brand product or service, what are some things they should do and things they should stop doing?
@20:41 - Shaahin Cheyene
Yeah, so if you're trying to market a product or a service, I'd say the biggest mistake that people make is, it's funny, I tell this to young guys all the time, I'm like, dude, you can't get married before you date.
and selling a customer is no different, really.
@21:05 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
Well, that's a great analogy.
@21:07 - Shaahin Cheyene
People wanna go on podcast, they wanna be like, hey, order my thing, buy my thing. they're like, man, I didn't give a thousand orders.
And I'm like, yeah, you're not going on there to sell. You're going on there to build an audience, to build a fearless, relentless audience that will buy whatever it is that you're selling.
Like, I don't care if buy my product or service. What I care about is that you join my group, that you become part of my ecosphere and that I can tell you, I can market to you, I can feed you stuff, I can have you watch content.
And then you think it's your idea to buy it. Again, whole marketing, not push marketing. That's the biggest mistake that people make.
The second mistake that people make is they think that it happens fast. They look at all these influencers, these big guys on there, people like Pappett, David, and Joe Rogan, they're like,
Man, that guy puts something out. He gets 50 million views and, you know, he's huge. I want to be huge like that.
It's like, well, do you know, pep at David, for example, I love his content value payment. He worked for five years relentlessly putting out content, getting relatively few views.
Nobody watching his stuff until something hit. Same with Rogan. Rogan didn't hit right away. His first episodes took forever to get people to watch.
you can't quit. You got to think about it as building. Now we have a lot more tools and there's agencies like ours that help you accelerate by borrowing other people's audience and bringing them to your platform.
And that's what podcast Cola accelerates at. But back then, there wasn't any of that. And still to this day, it takes time.
So you got to think of things minimum one year timeline. If you're launching something, it's going to be a year.
Don't think, Hey, I'm going to start guessing on podcast. So I'm going to start my own podcast.
@23:01 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
I'm going take up, how long did it take you for your podcast against the momentum, Gabriel? Yeah, we're almost to that point.
We're almost at year three, you know, and it's starting to gain momentum. And going back to your, what you didn't mention earlier in this conversation is folks that that first product of creativity isn't going to be the best, right?
It's going to, there's going to be some work that needs to be done. But if you want to get better, you got to continuously do it.
If you go listen to my first couple episodes of my podcast, they weren't the greatest, they probably, you know, better quality now than they did previously.
But again, I didn't stop. kept on going and kept on improving and kept on learning.
@23:33 - Shaahin Cheyene
that's, that's really what she he means talking about is really just not giving up and persevering through these, through very unique opportunities of entrepreneurship.
That's true. It's true. And at the end of the day, it kind of comes, comes out that it comes down to not giving up, not quitting.
But I'm going to put a caveat in there that most people don't hear very often, but knowing when to quit.
Sometimes you need to be able to shift, and that's not really quitting. If you're trying something and it's not working, like one thought is, hey, just keep plowing through it.
But what if you're at a brick wall? Like you don't keep banging your head at a brick wall thinking it's getting softer, it's your head that's breaking.
So at a certain point, you've got to say, hey, what I'm doing isn't working, let me try something different.
And at the same time, you need to have multiple streams of income. And if you don't have multiple streams of income, you're going to have problems in this day and age.
got to have, I tell people this all the time, some money in real estate. If you don't know how to do that, you can learn this, people online who teach that.
Even if you don't, you have very little money, you can still get involved in real estate, right? You can start an Airbnb business.
You need to have a job or some kind of revenue that keeps the stress off you, right? Keeps the diapers on the kids, keeps the food on the table.
So you're not stressing, right? The goal is to get away from the job, get away from selling the hours.
But that... Easiest way to make money is number three is having an e-commerce business and that's why we teach people how to do that It was very little investment under 10k investment You can start an Amazon company and you can launch that company and can that company be worth two million five million ten million in A couple years time.
Yes, I've done it. Can you sell that company for that kind of money in a few years? Yeah, I've done it We do it all the time.
So Those are the things right that you got to know and you got to have some totally passive income some income That's in the markets and then you've got the four pillars of what I call success And you know, okay, wake up in the morning and Amazon's not doing great.
No problem. All your other stuff is still solid You wake up in the morning and real states down a little no problem You've got all your other stuff you got your e-commerce But in that way you become bulletproof and I teach people this all the time I teach it in my Amazon course and I teach it to the people that I'm mentoring coach You know, I really like that is essentially, you know, what's the definition of insanity?
@26:00 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
I mean, it's doing the same thing over and over again, right? Like you mentioned, just pounding your head against the wall.
And you know, I, you mentioned real estate, you know, you actually, again, you mentioned your four pillars, you have your e-commerce, you got your job, you got your real estate, you got your, your, your, your, your investments.
But let's talk about the real estate transition, because again, another unique pivot from your product to real estate, how did that pivot occur?
@26:25 - Shaahin Cheyene
I think there's probably been more millionaires made in this country from real estate, probably by volume than anything else.
And if you're somebody who wants to step up the ladder in life, I feel like there's no better investment.
I love single family homes. I love commercial. I love multifamily residential. I think the best of all time is single family residential, because there will always be a need for homes, for family.
place to live in. Markets bad, people need a place to live, and markets good, people want a place to live.
There's always be a time and a place for real estate, and I like the dirt business. I like the business of having something under you that has weight, and there's nothing for the middle class, especially, I would say, that can push you up that ladder quicker and more sustainably than real estate.
I thought people this all the time, if you're making some money, put some of it in real estate, or go out there and plan to buy some real estate.
It's very hard. You never heard anybody go, man, I bought a house for a reasonable price. did my, there's always the horror stories of people who paid too much for stuff, you go, man, I bought a reasonable house 10 years ago.
I'm so sorry that I bought that now.
@27:53 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
You never hear that.
@27:54 - Shaahin Cheyene
always hear people saying, I wish I bought more. I wish I bought all the houses on the block. Had I had known the market was
going to be like this hindsight. So yeah, you can't do it stupidly. Yeah, of course, you can go out there and buy stupid stuff and lose money.
But in general, if you play your cards, there's no safer bet than real estate, in my opinion, especially in America.
@28:15 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
Yeah, I completely agree. And I think diversification, folks, you're thinking about that, I think that should also apply to your stock picks as well, diversify your stocks for your offerings.
And also remember, folks that are concerned or hesitant about joining the stock market, look at the last five years of the stock market has not gone down.
Same with real estate. If you look at a five year trajectory, you tend to do pretty well. Now, Shaheem, you've been doing a lot of different entrepreneurial endeavors.
you kind of mentioned there are some moments of uncertainty during this times. Have you ever had a moment of self-doubt?
@28:52 - Shaahin Cheyene
I think a lot of that relates to what the answer is yes, of course. I have having a moment of self-doubt right now.
mean, I have for every, every minute of our lives revolves around asking the question of, am I on the right path?
And if you're a person who's self-reflective, which is a key to being a successful entrepreneur, meaning you look back and you reflect on your life, not everybody does that, I realize.
Some people just plow through life and you're like, what are you doing? Oh, yeah, okay, I'm getting married. Okay, cool.
Oh, yeah, getting kids. Okay, cool. Oh, yeah, I'm working nine to five. Okay, cool. What's it all for? Oh, what do you mean?
What do you mean? What's it all for? What do you, and they don't reflect. So if you don't take that time to reflect, then maybe you have self-doubt, maybe you don't, maybe you just plow through and then one day your card is called and you're done.
And I don't know what the whole thing meant, but you didn't have very much reflection. If you take time to stop and reflect, hey, what's the meaning in these life circumstances?
I can speak for myself at least and go, what was that all about? Like, I got into this business deal and
I made a bunch of money or I lost a bunch of money or you know, those partners were great.
I'd love to work more with those people because they make me feel good or those partners were terrible. They ripped me off.
You know, what was that experience about? How does it relate to my life? Then you'll know that life isn't about like the movie, the Disney movie success, right?
you've got this up-and-coments and you're doing something, you're up-and-coming, and you start to do it, then there's this called the Heroes Journey.
There's this incredible obstacle that seems unsurpassable, and you defeat the obstacle by all measures, and there it is at the end of it.
You're pot of gold, and you take it, and you live happily ever after, right? Life is about moments of like, man, do I want to work with this person?
Do I really want to do this? I thought I was going into the cookie business, but the cake business is a lot better.
So I'm down in the cookie business. That's a good thing. Self-doubt could be be a good thing. go, I thought I'd make $10 million selling cookies.
I just talked to a lady. She's the cookie queen of the cookie queen of Queens, New York, and she sold her company for hundreds of millions of dollars.
We talked to her on our podcast, Business Story of the Week, and she sold her company for hundreds of millions of dollars, making cookies out of her house, and franchising it, she did a big thing.
I think to myself, men, know, like you can pivot, right? You can just pivot. So yeah, I doubt myself.
Is it a bad thing? Probably not, right? I don't doubt myself in the right moments, because if you have competency, competency leads to confidence.
If you're one of these people who goes out in life and you just BS and game, right? And you're like, man, you know, I can do this, I can do that.
And then when it comes time to do it, you don't produce because you don't have the competency done in Kruger, right?
Like, I don't know who that guy is, he's going on all the podcast talking about. quantum physics or whatever, and scientists are just like, he doesn't have the competency.
So if you don't have the competency, then you won't have the confidence when the time comes. But if you do have the competency, it doesn't mean that self-doubt doesn't hit you, you go, man, I'm my right for this.
Sometimes you're not, sometimes you're not the right person for that. And it's good, it's good because you're reflecting, you're having that self-doubt, and then you're changing lanes.
And that's okay, that's okay in life. The guy who wins isn't the guy who never changes lanes. The guy who wins is the guy who's at the right place at the right time doing the right thing, right?
Right action.
@32:42 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
Yeah, when you think about, when individuals are listening and they're thinking about how would you advise them to begin to think about or place themselves in opportunity to be at the right place at the right time?
@32:56 - Shaahin Cheyene
It's the four pillars that we talked about. Look, I feel like I'm the lucky one. is person in the world, right?
have made hundreds of millions of dollars. My companies have earned over a billion dollars in revenue over time, well over that.
And I got everything that I need. I got really lucky, but I'll tell you something, there isn't an ounce of that luck that I didn't hustle and work hard for and create myself.
And I think a lot of it comes to following your intuition, having humility, seeking mentorship, finding people who've done what you want to do in life, and going to them and saying, how do I sign up, right?
you have a course? you have a mentorship program? I call you every once in a while? And having something valuable to bring to the table makes a big difference there.
And most of it is really competency, excellence, persuasiveness, influence, and most important of all of that. that is network, getting yourself in the right network with the right people.
@34:06 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
You know, I couldn't agree more in regards to all of those statements because again, folks, I think when your value proposition is going to get people to come to you and engage with you, but then it's going to be your equality, as you mentioned, that's going to continue to pat people coming back, right?
And then the way you actually present and market that story, again, it's all comes together and it's all part of your brand and it's all part of your identity.
It's all how people were going to remember you as an organization, an entrepreneur, as even a colleague, if you're in the entrepreneurial world, right?
So, you know, Shaheem, you've grown, pod Cola, you've got the real estate, you got a lot of different things going.
What's the goal you got?
@34:49 - Shaahin Cheyene
Maybe one or two more five-year companies in you. What's the future look like for Shaheem? Yeah, the future is we don't stop.
We continue doing what we're doing and what we feel called to do. So we're doing podcast cola right now.
It's podcast cola.com. I've got the film coming out. I got the book and we keep doing it. My goal is to inspire entrepreneurs to take action and to stop selling their hours.
It's I think the greatest crime that you can do to yourself is to go to someone and say, here's my time.
This is the value on it. I'm going to now sell my hours and that's where you're probably going to be at your weakest.
Now, I have no judgment on people who have to do that. You got to feed your family, but there has to be a plan to get out of that, especially in today's age and gig economy everything that we have going, you should be able to put together enough money so that you don't have to sell your hours.
And that's the ultimate goal. know, I travel with my family all the time. We traveled three months out of the year.
We were in Europe sitting on the coast of Italy. It was gorgeous. one of the most best beaches ever.
I had my phone and I was doing deals and company was running and we were making money while we're sleeping.
People were ordering our products on Amazon. And that's the life, right? Being able to inspire people. And at the same time, create a good family life for myself and my family.
That's my, that's my goal, my objective in life.
@36:24 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
You know, I'm, I'm very interested in this now, because one of the things you mentioned is selling your hours.
I'm, I'm folks, I'm going to be selfish right now. I'm already learning a lot about the, just in this conversation.
So folks, if you start hearing me, shout out the shades of E.com pretty consistently about five times when I learned it throughout this podcast, that's something you're going to probably see me doing here in the future.
But more importantly, I'm also interested in how do I create, you know, reoccurring revenue streams without selling my hours?
@36:53 - Shaahin Cheyene
Yeah, I mean, the easiest way is through an e-commerce store, right? That's, it's the four pillars that we talked about.
So one of the most Packaways, get a hold of me guys. I'll send you the course for free. Get a hold of me.
You know, it's DarkzSDRKZSS at gmail.com and just put shades of entrepreneurship in there just shades and let me know you want the course and I'll send it to you for free.
I think that's the first way. I think the second way would be to have a high ticket product or service that you're selling and really just to follow those four pillars, right?
The more passive income streams, predictable, recurring passive income streams that you can produce, the better off you're going to be in the long term.
And especially as we're approaching a downturn in the economy and this inflation is high, need money, the more you work the less you make.
I tell people that all the time, the more you work the less you make. You want to get out of selling your hours.
@37:53 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
Yeah, folks, you got to think of your revenue kind of sources like a lake, right? And the way, the best way to continue to feed the
lake is you have multiple streams kind of going feeding that lake with multiple water sources and that's your revenue cycle.
So you want a nice fluffy lake where you can water ski on and as as as humans mentioned you know maybe hang out in the beach of Italy then you really want to have multiple sources of streams of revenue kind of helping support that.
Now Shaheem last question folks listening and again folks if you for those who are listening if you want this information you can go ahead and subscribe to the newsletter on theshadesofe.com we'll have Shaheem featured on the newsletter as well as a blog post now.
Shaheem for those folks that are listening that what what advice would you get for folks that maybe are thinking they have an entrepreneur if but they have not jumped it they have not you know jumped full force into the water what advice would you give them?
@38:45 - Shaahin Cheyene
I think you got to take action everything comes down to three things again I write about it guys give my book get the audible book it's called billion how I became king of the through a poke cult you can find it on audible I probably make a whole 92 cents for every book that everybody buys unless you get it on
Amazon unlimited and then it's free I get a whole like two cents on that but I think the book I think the book will help you and I talk about it I think everything comes down to objectives what are objectives strategy what's the strategy we want to use to get to that objective and tactics so what are the tactics we're going to use within that strategy and it's a three-part formula objective strategy tactics and I recommend that to everybody I think that's probably the best way let's let's get clarity on your objective is the first step and then we'll figure out the strategy and tactics and reach out to me guys if you need help I love talking to new people and learning more about people want to be successful yeah and I love that that kind of layout right there I think that's the you know when you think of business development first what is your true north right that's your value proposition what are you what is your goals and aspirations okay and then once you identify your goals tactfully what do you need to do to accomplish that goal and sometimes you have to think about the operations as well like well what do I need to operationally that
@40:00 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
to support these goals if they're locked enough to scale to, you know, multi-million dollar company as Shaheem's has done several times now.
So, you know, thinking about constantly thinking about evolving folks, thinking about networking, constantly thinking about getting out there and putting yourself in uncomfortable situations like a podcast interview, like a public speaking opportunity, because again, you're going to learn a lot, either you're going to learn you love it, you're going to learn you hate it, or you're going to learn things that you're good or not good at, or things you can improve on.
So, again, take every moment you have as a learning opportunity. Shaheem, thank you again so much for being on the show.
folks, his book is available digital. You can find it again. I'll have my information on theshadesofe.com, so go ahead and subscribe to the newsletter there.
Shaheem, any last words before we leave?
@40:45 - Shaahin Cheyene
No, just never stop selling, never stop hustling and get out there, stop selling gmail.com. The book is a billion, Howie Became King.
of the throw up help cult available on Amazon and audible. And if anybody's interested in being a guest on great podcasts like this one, check out podcast cola.com podcast cola.com and folks, this information will be on the shades of entrepreneurship website.
@41:15 - Gabriel Flores (The Shades of Entrepreneurship)
So please subscribe at the shades of e.com. You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, tiktok and LinkedIn at the shades of e.
And if you're so feeling so kind, you can become a patron on member for five dollars a month to help support the podcast to help me continue to bring on phenomenal guests like Shaheem.
Now, Shaheem, I got to tell you first and there's again, personally, thank you so much for everything you have been doing at pod Cola.
Your team has is remarkable. They were really easy to work with. They continue to provide me with phenomenal guests.
personally, I hope that I'm also living up to the quality of the expected of your team. And if I'm not, please do let me know so I can continue to improve because I have nothing but good things to say about the podcast cool team and all the remarkable guests that you have sent my way throughout the year.
So Truly, truly, thank you for creating it and thank you for thinking of me and bringing me into your world.
For those folks listening at home again, please subscribe at theshadesofe.com. Thank you and have a great night.