We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aubrey Banks a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Aubrey , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
I have been able to master going from Idea to Execution. Being an Entrepreneur for 20 plus years Ive learned that if its just and idea you have to make it real. How I do that is if I come up with an idea and it is pretty solid and I think about it more than once then it means something. First thing I do is go and buy the domain name, to me that makes it real, Secondly I go ahead and invest the money to make it an LLC with the State which usually is under $200. So with a small investment and under 20 mins I have created a new business, after that there are no excuses it makes me responsible.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I stared a clothing store which opened on my 18th Birthday. I had no idea what I was doing but coming from working at Popeyes and selling shoes out of my trunk I knew I had style and was a hustler which I used both to my advantage. All of this was foreign territory to me starting a business but it was either that or go to school and I didn’t understand what value school had for me at that time so I choose being an Entrepreneur, after that I started dressing alot of celebrity clients which was my segway into entering the music industry and the rest is history. Many years Later I still own a music production company, a multi media marketing firm with a Professional sports crossover division, A Magazine mass media company, A car sales company and and Interior design Firm, All while occasionally creating a new side hustle.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
Every company I have started I received no capital for. My very first business a clothing store I did get an investment of 20k which I was thankful for and it helped me get it off the ground. But from then on every business that I opened I self funded. At the start I would look for funding and go to banks, however being uneducated in that process it usually was a dead-end street. I persevered and continued to invest in myself. If I made 20 I reinvested 10 and I have continued to do that along with believing in myself until this day. Now I am well more versed in getting funding and I appreciate the value in it. From now on I will move smart and the idea is to use the funding thats widely available and keep your own money safe.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
There was a time in my life and career that I lost everything. I mean everything I had to go back to my moms house for a while and reevaluate what I was doing wrong, and what I found was I was taking care of everyone but not myself. Bad investment. One thing for sure everytime I bet on myself I won. That was the safest best. After leaving my moms and sleeping in my storage unit a couple nights I was like this life is not for me let me get back on my grind and I did. I began to build myself back up and in no time I was back in action. Wha I learned in that is you can win a game you dont play in . So that taught me to never give up. A bad day isnt the last day so you have to keep going there will be pitfalls but there will also be triumphs.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.whynotmemasterclass.com
- Instagram: _chasingbanks
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AubreyBanks
