We caught up with the brilliant and insightful ILL BEAST a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi ILL, thanks for joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
One risk I took was starting up my own little clothing brand. Branched off my rap artist name ILL BEAST COLLECTIONS. I took the last little bit I had saved and invested in starting my own clothing brand. Started up with $700 dollars and turned that into $15,000 profit in under 9 months. It was a hard decision to make at first, especially being on the crossroads of being broke and now a pandemic coming up on us. Fear took over my feelings and I started to doubt everything. Kept asking myself will this work? How would I push through with this pandemic going on etc. Then one morning I remember watching an interview with Biggs Burke, co-founder of Rocafella Records, he talked about his struggle, how he overcame everything and worked towards building a brighter future, even through adversity. So it clicked to me then and there that fear will not win over me. I gave myself the most commendable speech and prayed to god! Got on my knees and prayed for god to guide me through this journey. So I went on to register my company that day, august 24th 2020 and did everything I needed to do to start. By the next day I had all my shirts done, my company registered and my website up. Started promoting and opened up a few months later and had my initial investment money back in the first 30 days. It was an amazing feeling. To see myself blossom every step of the way. Creating something solid and concrete. I still pray to god till this day, every morning and every opportunity I receive I ask to thank him everyday. Putting god first in every move is important! It’s the pinnacle to your morning start. It’s like that breakfast you skip because you don’t have the time! Make time and embrace that positivity to crank start your morning. I promise you that it would be the best decision you will ever make!
ILL, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m in the business of clothing. A fashion artist that started in music. I grew up as a rapper in the hip hop community. I started writing and reciting lyrics at the age of 14, back in 1993-94. We used to battle each other on the corners and go through the neighborhoods and battle other local rappers etc. From there I kept writing and trying to compose tracks. I never understood the concept of how to write, put together songs etc, until you ran into other artists that were more established or worked on projects and had connections to other rap artists etc. I started to develop more passion into creating songs and in 1998 is when I first started recording myself thru my friends on the block that started investing into their own recording studios etc. The year 2005 marks and now I’ve developed a style of writing and better established in my craft, I moved to Florida and started working on projects with artists up there. It’s when I had a better understanding of writing and recording. So I went on to record projects that were felt by the internet community and through local radio etc. I started making a mark for myself on the internet and went on to perform in local venues, I started to get more online presence by joining platforms that promoted artists, started being a pinnacle on the online radio platforms. That’s when I made a decision to join a local college station and started bringing interviews to the station, when I started to make my connections and branch out to the industry. Where I gained my popularity and managed to drop my first studio single featuring the legendary Sadat X of Brand Nubian. I landed on radio in ATL, so it become a bit of success for me. From there I started to think of the idea of starting a clothing brand to further expand my brand into different markets, so ILL BEAST COLLECTION was born. I started with a draft I created for free and started pushing that on designs. When I made a bit of money from single release, I was able to get my logo done and had it printed on shirts. I started my own journey and invested in getting promo for my brand. From there I went on to make about $15,000 from a $700 investment to start. It’s been a great process that I learned all on my own. I just kept learning the process, to learning how to compete and learning to be artistic in the process. I live hip hop and what it has done for me in my life. Still so much more I have to give and create and can’t wait to share it with the world!
Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?
Yes! I purchased a hair business that focused on hair wigs and extensions etc. The reason being is that the market is such a huge market with so much to benefit from. So I invested about $300 dollars and started to promote it to the world. I made about $8000 dollars from the investment. It was set up through a drop-shipping site, it was all set up, it had its own customers and I managed to promote the site to a bigger audience. So I invested into promotions about $1000 in the process. Best money I spent to be honest. One of the things many businesses lack is promotions. People rely on free promotions like their life depended on it. Lol, while it’s cool to depend on it, it’s not the only source that will push you to where you wanna be. You have to invest, promote and push yourself out there! It’s the only way!
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
Man! It feels like the work you put in to try to make some extra money always goes unnoticed. Let me tell you, when you dream of being someone out in this world, no one tells you the adversaries you have to face to get there. One being the closest to you never believing in you and what your trying to accomplish. When I started my own clothing company I created a business plan. The idea I had into my brand, what it would cost to get started and how much it would cost for us to put up a store front. Monthly revolving charges to keep the store afloat etc. Also the pricing of each product and how much we would make off of each sale. So I began to pitch my proposal to almost everyone I knew, contacts etc. It one person said hey let me read this plan and let me see what I can benefit from helping this brother start up his plans etc. Nah man, not a soul. So I kept trying to push and push and push and nothing. So Income tax was coming around and I knew that I had my share of the return and I was gonna use that. But I wanted to see if I can Atleast borrow the money ahead of time to start now in hopes to draw back the money before then and I could pay back the person with interest for helping me out. Again everyone I talked to said no. So I was like alright! It’s cool! So I started to promote the hell out of my new idea, my designs that I was able to get printed and when Income tax came around, I could of finished up whatever I need to do to make it happen. So by the time it came around to do what I had to do, I had promoted the life out of my brand lol. Then when I started to actually sell the product, the hype was there already. So it was a great time in my life where I learned so much about what I was doing, who I was working with and who helped or not. All these little hoops you have to go through are so detrimental in your start up! Cherish them and keep it forefront every time you move! That builds character and so many lessons!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ILLBEASTCOLLECTION.com
- Instagram: @ILLBEAST
- Facebook: ILLBEAST
- Twitter: @ILLBEAST @IBCFASHION