We recently connected with Akeem Reed and have shared our conversation below.
Akeem, appreciate you joining us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?
Being a business owner is probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It makes life more unpredictable than it already is, as an entrepreneur we mainly study things going on in the marketplace we look at trends, changes and work to create new ways to better serve our clients and expand our reach in the market. I don’t think too much about having a job, I have been an entrepreneur for twelve years and haven’t had a job since, I feel like my true calling is to create jobs and opportunities and even if I were to need a job I don’t think I would qualify for a great one to be honest being that I’ve had more experience working for myself and I’ve never seen anyone ask that on a job application. The best job I ever had was paying me $10 and hour washing dishes and I just could never see myself having to ask for that again. In the past 12 years I have served thousands of people and I have built my business based on customer relationships it’s easier for me to reach out to customers for jobs than it is to go apply for one. Back in 2017 I over invested in real estate, I used all of my capital in investments in hopes for a quick return and like they say starting a business always cost more than you think, I didn’t know that lesson at the time but I soon found out. Within seven short months I was on the verge of bankruptcy and I thought it made sense for me just to find a job while I waited for my investments to cash out. At the time I still owned business that were cash flowing but my overhead expenses were just too high for me to make ends meet. Finding a job was very difficult I spent about a week on sights like indeed looking for something that would pay, I needed it least an extra $1,500 a week for it to work. I couldn’t find anything and honestly I didn’t even really know how to look. The problem was I had not much job experience, and my highest level of formal education was eleventh grade. So, instead I used $800 I had left in my account to start thrift shopping at Goodwills and garage sales and started reselling the items on eBay. First I started making $500 week then $1,000 then about 5 months later I was making anywhere between $15,000 to $20,000 a month and I was much more happier about that in the end.
Akeem, 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?
Being a serial entrepreneur I have started dozens of businesses, and created several companies in different niches and markets. I’ve owned and operated dozens of mall kiosks. I own multiple beauty salons including Glam Geeks Beauty Bar and started a cosmetic company Pro-Found Cosmetics, I am the founder of Lil Aj’s Italian Ice which I sold to another company after several years of being in business. I owned Platinum Financial which was a credit repair company, I’ve started eBay and Shopify stores selling anything from stuffed animals to medical supplies. I own USA Slingshot Rental which is the largest privately owned Slingshot Rental Company in the world. I’ve trained hundreds of business owners how to start their own Slingshot rental companies. I am the head of marketing for Mark Gregory Custom Tables which is the most luxurious hand-crafted and best playing pool table in the world. I’m the author of The Knowledge into Cashbook were I show people how to take what they already know and make money by sharing their experiences with others. In all my years of business in so many different industries the one thing I’ve learned is that with the right type of marketing you can create practically anything for people to buy and the right message will make you money. I now work with Rio’s Italian Ice as their marketing director and strategist for their new online program and one of the most exciting things for me is to help business owners and entrepreneurs grow their businesses online. I feel like it is selfish to be successful and not share your journey with others. Life is about evolution and as mankind we are a naturally evolving species, in my own opinion I feel as though the energy we create is what leads us to satisfaction. For me, helping others is what gives me the ultimate satisfaction and helping people make more money is the cherry on top of the icing. Right now I’m going very heavy on Think Media Academy, where we show entrepreneurs how to create viral and engaging content and sell their courses and services and grow their business online through advanced strategies that are proven to work and custom tailored for their unique type of businesses without generic information they can find on Google that never works or hiring a marketing team that doesn’t really care about their customers R.O.I just how many clients they can book for services each month an upsell them on all these packages that should come included. Many business owners are great at the thing they do but not so great at marketing and that’s ok. I believe the best thing someone can do is share their business with more people and I help business owners do just that because it doesn’t really matter if your the king if no one knows it.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I’ve had to pivot many times in business, the one that stands out the most and was the biggest transition for me was when i started shutting down all my mall kiosks businesses. At the time I was in the kiosk business for roughly 7 years. It was all I knew and I was really good at identifying trends and coming up with new concepts to expand the business, I had a total of 13 kiosk running at once and that’s when it happened. Online shopping had a huge spike around 2016 and I can remember like yesterday how it effected the mall business like never before. Mall rent is usually much more expensive than a traditional brick in mortar store front, however a kiosk can be significantly less or just as much if your in a high traffic mall let’s say Lennox Mall in Atlanta Ga. A kiosk is at Lennox is $5,000, which is quite expensive for the most part when you can drive 10 minutes away and easily find a retail location and get 2,500 square foot store with a bathroom and storage for the same price they charge you for a 100 square foot kiosk space. However you are paying for more than a space, you are paying for the location. I don’t know much about their demographics now as of today but if I would take a guess I would easily say a 5,000 people visit Lennox Mall per day. Now keep in mind that’s what I think it does now, in 2023. However there was a time not too long ago in 2016 when that foot traffic number was 30,000 people a day and the malls were a the #1 place for people to go shopping until online shopping became more than a trend but more of a revolutionary phenomenon that would change the way mall kiosk operators did business forever. In less than 2 years I went from thirteen kiosk to only three. As mall kiosk owners we pay thousands of dollars to be in high traffic locations and when those high traffic locations aren’t high traffic anymore or the things we sold are now available on Amazon for a fraction of the price, we just can’t compete with the high overhead cost it takes to run a business and make a profit. When I saw this happening I knew I had to make a change in the way I did business. As the saying goes, if you can’t beat them join them and that’s exactly what I did. In 2018 I began to take my business online and I’ve never looked back.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Wow, yea there’s really a lot.. When I first started my business I didn’t have a mentor or anyone to give me advise. I learned everything on my own through trial and error. I didn’t know about business licenses, taxes, LLC’s, Business Accounts, Marketing or Advertising, Sales Funnels or Websites, Client or Customer Lists, Pixels, Attracting Customers, Sales Psychology, Brand Color Design, Creating Content, Hiring Sales Teams, Payroll, Sales Messaging, Offer Creation, Automation or anything for that matter. I just knew I had a product that I needed to sell. I really operated my businesses in a dinosaur area which was strictly word of mouth and direct sales, I didn’t have a clue about marketing at all. If I knew then what I know now things would be a lot different for me in business honestly. I eventually got a mentor and business partner and overtime I learned and implemented strategies for my businesses to grow and I’ve been fortunate to help other’s who once were where I was and it’s been a blessing to have gotten this far to be able to be able to do so.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.knowledgeintocashbook.com
- Instagram: @think.akeem
- Facebook: Akeem Reed
- Linkedin: Akeem Reed
- Youtube: Akeem Reed
Image Credits
@papishotme