We caught up with the brilliant and insightful James Hastings a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

James, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I’ve always been into comedy as a fan. The way that I made my way onto the ‘comedy club’ scene was back in 2019. I was shooting a film for my production company, Fokus Firm, and I needed a restaurant for one of the scenes. I put it out in the media that we needed a restaurant for our scene and my now business partner, who I did not know at the time, responded. He didn’t own a restaurant but he went out of his way to basically book one for us, just for him to get his opportunity to work with us. Little did he, or I know, this partnership was exactly what we both wanted. So everything aligned perfectly, and right now we’re in the process of renovating our brand new comedy club, Big Laugh Comedy Club in Fort Worth, Texas. It’s on track to open early 2024, we’ve got a big grand opening in the works, and some pretty big names on the lineup. So we’re both really looking forward to that. As for my other ventures, they pretty much all stemmed from the things I either enjoyed or was fascinated by as a kid. Growing up I was always thrilled by the nightlife, gambling and clubs. I started gambling at just 13 years old. As I got older and of age to legally gamble, I decided I wanted to own my own casino but didn’t know how to go about it. Living in Texas didn’t really help either, because gambling is illegal here. So I thought ‘what’s the next best thing’ and I decided ‘a poker table’. I got my 2 poker tables, placed them, and the Sugar Shack Poker Tables were born.
The story behind the name ‘Sugar Shack’ goes:
In my 20s I was living in Indianapolis and we had a major nightclub in the heart of downtown called, The Sugar Shack. You’d see celebrities in there any given night. It was really popping. The best club experience that I can recall. And for the culture. The club eventually closed and like all good things, the fun came to an end. Fast forward to when I got my tables. I wanted something that would bring that same joy and excitement that I felt at that club to my players. I wanted those good memories and feelings associated with my tables.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

It all starts with confidence. I grew up with my grandparents. They instilled some of the most valuable lessons and characteristics in me. My grandparents gave me a work ethic like no other. I understood my purpose in this life at a really early age. I’m a connector, and being a connector leads to being a storyteller. Understanding my gift helped me shape my company. As a producer, being able to connect people and talents is one of your biggest credits. That’s how you get those stories, and you must be able to bring those stories to life. Though I have my hands in a lot of different ventures, I have the ability to connect all those dots from each one and make them work together for a greater purpose.

Have you ever had to pivot?

2017 was probably one of my hardest years in adult life. It felt like the year of the pivot for me. I was shooting my first film, Sicko, and my wife had gotten extremely sick. She was diagnosed with cancer which eventually did take her life. This diagnosis and loss hit so hard. Not only did I just lose my partner and best friend, I was now left to be a single father to a 4 year old baby girl, I wasn’t nearly as present as I would have liked to be for my first film, and I was left with this strange new home life reality where I now had to be alone. Of course time heals all but the time lingered. It took me doing the self work and remembering that I still have my baby girl to show up for before I really felt that healing.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Early on I worked as coder and I basically just worked super long hours to be able to save and finance my own projects. Once, while at an event, I saw a banker from my local bank branch and he recognized me. From there we talked and bonded. I remember I stopped by his office one day in the days/weeks following and asked how I could go about getting these things for my business without having to use all my own savings. This is where he basically explained to me the importance of CREDIT. Because at this time, I was inexperienced and my credit was shot. Being connected here, my banker helped me get my first secured credit card, then I moved to an unsecured, then I became inclined enough to have Kanye West reach out TO ME to be on MY mixtape when he was first blowing up. That sole connection to Kanye turned out to be enough to validate my credibility with the bank and get me a $10K loan. That $10K loan turned into all of this.

Contact Info:

• Website: Fokusfirm.com
• Big Laugh comedy; https://www.blcomedy.com/
  Sugar Shack Poker; https://linktr.ee/sugarshackpoker
• Instagram: Jimshoes_66
• Linkedin: James Hastings
• Youtube: Jim Shoes 66
• Others: Big Laugh Comedy Club- 604 Main St Forth Worth, Texas
  Sugar Shack Poker – 3105 S. I-35 Frontage Rd, Round Rock, Texas