We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nxxxa Ace. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nxxxa below.

Nxxxa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you share a story that illustrates an important or relevant lesson you learned in school

A couple months after I moved to London, I enrolled into middle school. My teacher, Mr. Williams said something during one of his lessons that left a mark on me for life. I was about 12 years old so I can’t remember the full details but I think he was teaching us about capitalism. Anyways, I remember him saying that 0.1% of the worlds population possess majority of the worlds wealth. He said that but I heard something else. I heard “being broke is normal and its weird to be rich”. It must be weird to be wealthy if only 0.1% of people are wealthy, right?

Something clicked inside of me after hearing that. It was the first time in my life that I perceived being weird to be a positive thing. This is especially important when you’re young, since it’s a time in your life when you’ll really want to fit in. Kids can be horrible and tease each other for standing out or being different but after finding out that being rich is not the norm I really didn’t mind being different. As time went on and I got older, I embraced my differences even more. There are millions of people who sing and millions of people who design products but there is only one person who can do it like I do it because there is only one me.

Nxxxa, 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 Nxxxa Ace, the King of Slow Jazz and I am the luckiest man alive. I grew up in North West London then I moved to Los Angeles and became East LAs most eligible bachelor. I founded the online store, DigiWish.org, and the clothing brand Grow or Die.

“Make a wish, make it happen” was the original slogan for DigiWish. It started as a service website where customers could make any request and I’d take care of it. If the request was outside of my scope then I’d hire a friend or associate who was qualified to handle it. The site also featured a gift shop with products from my clients and merchandise for my first EP, Hungry Suite:1. One of my clients was a shoe company run by two brothers from Italy, John & Tony. Working with them I was able to learn the production process for making women’s shoes and provide them with an online outlet to sell their products. I wanted DigiWish to be a website where designers could advertise and sell products without paying any posting fees. Websites like Etsy charge too many fees for some designers to afford when starting out.

Now designers typically sell their products for free on websites like instagram so our focus is more on providing unique products you can only find at DigiWish.org. To achieve this goal I started my own clothing/footwear brand, Grow Or Die. Our products are manufactured in America, Europe and Asia and we pride ourselves on ethical production. An absolute zero tolerance policy on sweatshops or child labor. Some products are handcrafted by myself, like our Garden Balaclavas, and all collections are inspired my personal experiences. Our latest collection, the Lucky Capsule, is my first collection that isn’t attached to a musical project, inspired by my intense appreciation for life. I’ve survived 5 car accidents in my life and consider myself to be the luckiest man alive. I hope I can use it to share some of my luck.

Last year DigiWish celebrated five years in business and this September Grow or Die turned five as well. To be in business this long is truly an accomplishment. Most businesses don’t make it past year 2 so we have surpassed the average lifespan of a company. Longevity is great but there’s so much we’ve accomplished since I started and so much to be proud of. If I had to pick one thing I’m most proud of, it might be trademarking GOD. When I initially applied for the Grow Or Die trademark I was rejected and in the rejection letter I was advised to seek legal aid as my application made it clear that I did not understand what I was doing. It was a fair critique, especially since it was true but lawyers are expensive so I did my own research. I read countless trademark applications then reworded my application to make it seem like a lawyer prepared it and it was successful.

My experiences have turned me into a believer of my potential. I’m very excited for whatever is next. I just want people to know we exist. I want them to know they can find ethically produced swag, they can’t find anywhere else.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

All of our products are sold directly on our site and it was an easy choice. To list products on Etsy it costs 20 cents per product, Ebay and Amazon charge on every item sold. A new business selling on those platforms is at a loss before they make any sales. There are definitely advantages to using these sites, like more traffic, so I recommend doing what ever suits your needs the most. A lot of people think once you make a website, you list products and sell but that’s far from the truth. Websites require regular maintenance and I’ve seen businesses close down due to backend negligence.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

The Big Moo by Seth Godin influenced me to let go of my perfectionism and refocus that energy on more obtainable goals. It emphasizes the importance of being remarkable over being perfect.

Contact Info:

• Website: DigiWish.org
• Instagram: instagram.com/digiwish
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digiwishbazaar/
• Twitter: @DigitalWishlist
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nxxxaace
• Other: instagram.com/growodie