Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Miguel Hampton . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Miguel , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today

What I understand about entrepreneurship today versus what I knew then, I’m not sure if there is much I would do differently. My background has always been about fast, efficient, and goal-oriented growth that focuses me. Should I have to do it all over again there are a few key points I would implement.

First, I am a bit of an operational person, everything has to have an organic manual or a playbook if you will. I also like forecasting everything, I write on everything mapping out how every aspect of the business connects directly and indirectly. Having a strategic plan with very specific growth goals that are customer-centric is key. As I am writing this it seems super technical and I am, but I can also be what I call rigidly flexible I love to pivot and I will shift based on how our business is performing. I also do a lot of strategic planning using concepts like SMART goals etc. Let me just say, that if I had to start all over I would build my infrastructure first and make sure my teams understand the foundation because at some point I am going to shift and they will need to understand how to maintain a thing without me.

Secondly, my background as a multi-level retail, district sales manager and traversing into the Vice President of marketing and sales. I learned early in my career that learning who your Ideal Customer is, and investing in them early and fast will boost sales and customer engagement quickly. I would also create a customer lifetime value plan that focuses on profit first with a strategy for removing customers who didn’t meet this model in the early stages and at maturity growth. I would brainstorm and come up with a capitalization strategy. This will help me and my team understand how to secure short and long-term low-cost (debt) capital. I tend to focus on profit and cash flow and not revenue. So having a seasonal Profit and Cash flow plan in place has allowed me to see our future steps in most cases.

Short story, I once had a long car ride with a client and we had a variety of conversations. Yet, there was one question he asked me about video games, platforms, retail, microchips, etc. I am a bit of a geek and can be informed about things that most people see as useless information. But not him, he took that part of the conversation and did his due diligence and a few million! Idea plus money to invest created for him new opportunities and wealth. My daughter said, I never tell my personal stories and I should share the stuff she hears me say at home. I often have this “from earning to idea” conversation with her. A wise man said to me when I was younger, “Understanding that money without an idea has very little value, and an idea is only worth what it can be billed or sold for. “My friends and family often say when I open my mouth someone gets rich. Early on in my entrepreneurial endeavors, I had little caution about sharing my ideas (with money people) or offering valuable advice without a direct line of benefit. I found my ideas being executed by people with money without as much as a thank you. Don’t get me wrong things/benefits tend to come full circle and not everything is about money. However, doing it all over again I would charge for brainstorming, coaching, and consulting and if the idea is really good, I would ask for at least 10% of the earnings.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Today, my simple answer starts much like this.I am a father to my beautiful and super smart daughter Mireya Hampton and husband to “The Wife” Teah Williams-Hampton, LCSW for 21 years. I met Teah at WIlberforce University, which is the first private and black owned university, founded in 1856, where I’m a legacy and alum. My entire family has attended or attends an HBCU (Historically Black College and University), including my only daughter who attends Tennessee State University. Making us a proud generational HBCU family. I am also a first generation American on my mothers (Desiree Carter) side, where they originated from Panama by way of the West Indies. My father’s folks are from the mountains of Pennsylvania by the way of Germany and American slavery. I am truly many things depending on who you ask and when. My short bio says something like, Miguel Hampton is a Published photographer with a diverse background in business management. The truth is, like everyone else I am so much more than what I often share. My wife often says, I should do a full review and share my whole story. I often laugh and say that’s a few movies or books. However, for the purpose of this interview, I would like to start almost from the beginning.
In order to understand who I am today, you have to know and understand who I was. I was born in Fort Knox , Kentucky in a military hospital. I spent my early childhood years on Wilberforce University campus in Xenia, Ohio. What starts as a rocky upbringing, ends up being the very thing that allows me to be successful later in life. My father after trying to kill my mother ran off with the babysitter, my mother later would remarry in a short few years. This would be my journey in to a domestic violent household till i was an early teen. The violence in our house escalated leading my mother, when I was between the ages of 6-7 years old to send me and my brother to our fathers, who played cruel physical and psychological war games with us. I remember a time my mother came to see us one weekend and he locked us in the attic, and I remember looking out the window and crying because all I wanted to do was leave. This would go on for some time, but ultimately this would create my first recognizable paradigm shift in my life. Around 8 years old, my mom and step father showed up in what we call kidnapper vans (Old Ma Bell Van) . She came to pick up my brother and I for the weekend.We get in the van and my step father proceeded to drive off. We stop at the corner of the street, I remember everything so clear and vividly down to the stop sign. My mom turns back and looks at my brother and I on the floor of the van. She says,“If you come with me, you are never coming back, but it’s your choice.” I remember looking at my mom, step dad, the sky, and the stop sign as if it was telling me what to do and I said, “ I’m coming with you.” My brother got out of the van and we drove off. I knew at this moment I could make any decisions and there was nothing that could stop me from making decisions that could affect my life.
As a kid I was loving, kind, sweet, and really shy, but I also carried a personality that was abused, tortured, and lacked social boundaries. Through most of my youth I was emotionally detached and battling with behavioral issues. I struggled academically, but was strong creatively and learned to think critically about my surrounding environment. At Jefferson Elementary in Dayton, Ohio, this would be my first pass in 3rd grade. My teacher wrote on my report card “ This kid is evil and I don’t know why he is here.” I would start my 2nd time in 3rd grade in Delaware Ohio, where my stepfathers personal violence against my mother would ensue. We would ultimately find ourselves in Columbus Ohio in a homeless shelter, where I was introduced to Green Eggs and Ham, the food and the book. We were not at the shelter long before going into public housing: Greenbriar. As a kid I would learn this is the most gang, drug, and pedophile infested community I have ever lived. It has since been torn down and has been developed into a green space. Even though we didn’t live there long, Greenbriar would become the next paradigm shift in my childhood. For the first time I found community, I found peace and a teacher found me. We lived in a building where most of the kids were way older than I was and they took me under their wing and let me hang out with them most of the time. We were latch key kids before that was a thing. The neighbor kids taught me how to belong and considering they were in middle school and high school they taught me a lot of other things too. I was still struggling socially at school, fighting a lot, talking back to adults and grades, well I didn’t care about getting good marks.
However there was this one teacher who saw the light in my darkness. For some reason she decided to invest in helping me be a better version of myself. At this point, reading, writing, and math was the least important thing in my existence, mostly just wanting to play and hang in the community. But she saw something greater. I remember the day my Mom and her sat and discussed how they could rebuild my self esteem and how I wasn’t that far gone if they would just take the time with me. Seeing the streets was calling and I was interested in answering even at 9 or 10 years old. What is super crucial at this moment in life is that my teacher and this teacher roll out what I call your “Great Kid Plan”, and I still use this today. This is also where I came up with my mantra, “To do what you have never done you must do what you have never done”. I will share more about this later, “Great Kid Plan”. My teacher believed I was smart, despite my father and even eventually myself referring to me as dumb, stupid, etc. To overcome many of the issues i was facing, they had me write on post its around the house, “your are smart”, “you can read”, “you are good at math”, you don’t have to hit people”, you don’t have to cuss”, you can be respectful to adults and others. This method worked and would carry on with me for 6 more elementary schools and two high schools. The cycle of violence social challenges would end, but that had to do with us moving from urban inner city housing to us living in a community where I was one of three or the only black kid in the town. Being the only or being one of the few would create a new paradigm shift in my life, one I wouldn’t become more aware of until much later in life. It is this phase of my life that I begin my entrepreneur capers. Around 11 years old is when we created our first business, hustling and washing windows in downtown Marysville Ohio. I wasn’t afraid of hard work and I had the gift of gab and with one of my best friends at the time, we set out to make some money and once I got on this pathway I knew I was always going to earn.
Let’s push forward several years and two degrees later and at this point I had built a diverse set of skills and talents. By the time I was 18, I had already had several childhood business startup, I was a line cook, studying to be a sou chef, learning the art of photography, learning how to DJ, had several inside sales jobs, published a series of poems, managed two different local restaurants among a few other hustles. Next up I was off to college to study Business Management. Just before I graduated from Wilberforce, I stumbled into my first career at fashion retail store called Mr. Rag’s which was owned by Clairs. I started out as an assistant manager and within about 6 months I was promoted to Store Manager, Area Manager, then District Manager. From here I went from managing 3 stores in Ohio to Managing 6 stores in Utah and Idaho, to managing much of the east coast stores. My career in retail lasted just shy of three years. Clairs sold Mr. Rags and that chapter ended for everyone fast. While working at Mr. Rags I had a few other side hustles, Graphic Tee Business, Record Label called Freaky 5 Records, etc. However, when Rags closed, my wife and I found ourselves pregnant and she wanted to go home to visit her mom in Jeffersonville Indiana, and yep 19 years later we are still here. Our stay here truly is what put me on the path of Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship!
Rags went out of business and I found myself with no job and in a market who did not seem keen on hiring a 20 something kid who was accustomed to making 6 figures. My world was going to change, a kid on the way, freshly married, new house, new car note (I had a company car), no job and no prospects. Interview after interview, the world was telling me “good luck” and “you’re overqualified.” Then my father-law, Andrew Williams III, called me and said, “I want you to go see my friend, sit down with her and tell her who you are”. I got a call from Agnes Stewart, CEO and Owner of Incentives. Incentives was a small black women owned promotional products company in Louisville KY and at their height they were one of the largest promotional companies in the region and one of few black owned promotional businesses in the industry. Their revenues were just shy of $10m at their peak. I learn later they are not at their peak when I come onboard, Agnes was getting older and ready to retire and her husband John, already retired twice from two other careers. Needless to say, I interview with Agnes and we talk for a bit, parting wisdom and experience as an older mother/queen would to a son/rising prince who just came from a different world about to walk into a new and uncharted territory. Agnes said to me “Baby, I cannot offer you what you are accustomed to making, but I can do this. I can teach you how to make money in a way you haven’t before, I will teach you how we do business. You can bring that baby you have on the way to work, we set a play pin up right next to your desk and we will pay for half your insurance. Remember you have a baby on the way, and a house note.” She told me to table my pride and ego and remember my hustle. Then she made her offer of $30k a year, I made more than this when I was 18. Talk about a sprint backwards. I said “yes” and I found myself in the promotional products industry and I was about to learn how to make 6 figures between side hustles and direct B2B sales.
Agnes didn’t lie for that year, half was with her, she gave me a 20 year download of history, business politics and hustle. Much like how Morphius gave Neo the pill, life changed. During my short time with Agnes, I was selling promotional items to Casinos, ChurchHill Downs, International Manufacturing companies, City and State Governments and the list goes on. Then the phone rang, and on the other side was a call from Pac-Sun, looking for a District Sales Manager for their Demo Divisions. At first I was eager to get back to a place that made since, but I am better than I was a year ago with a whole new skills set, and a bigger ego. I say this to say the first round of recruitment didn’t work and I wasn’t leaving, I was making good money and about to make bigger moves. Agnes was selling the company and I thought this could be my chance to buy into something that has history, legacy and value. The cards didn’t play out the way I saw them, either way the way they did play out was pretty unique. I became Vice President of sales when the new owner took over, pump in salary, pump in commission, and override the whole business. Shortly after that, Pac-Sun gave me a call and this time the offer was right and I said “yes”. No, I didn’t leave Incentives, I negotiated with both companies to let me work both at the same time as there was no conflict and I knew the DEMO offer was short term. Truthfully, it was all about the money and I had maxed out my potential in my arena and needed to make moves that were going to elevate me even further. The new owners were super cool, progressive and I knew we could make money together also. I wasn’t really thinking about a career any more. Over a 6 year period I had begun to watch the market shifts and whole industries decline. Just like that 8 months into my new hustle, DEMO was closed, and Incentives was on its way out too. Yep, by October of 2007 I found myself without a job again. Like the first time, every company I applied for said I was overqualified. I also just graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University with my Master Degree in Business Management. Two degrees and no job, The Wife (what I call Teah) found me sitting on our stoop. She asked me “what now”, I said “I don’t know, I seem to keep landing here, what am I going to do here?” She said to me, “Babe you’re not going back to corporate anytime soon let’s go get your Labret pierced, it’s something you always wanted to do” and I did. This would be the next paradigm shift and where all my collective experiences would offer me one thing I knew for sure, I would never fail or close on me.
In October of 2007, I started F5 Enterprises, LLC and I had no real idea what my business was going to be. I knew two things, I had $2,000 to lose, and shit ton of experience. Like that luck called and I got three phone calls, First client looking for Promotional Products and graphic design in Minnesota, second called looking from retail merchandising and sales help in Ohio, the third call was a church in Ohio who needed turn-around support and consulting. I would love to tell you that I was off and running and I made a hundred grand, I didn’t! This was hard, I was out here in the streets alone, trying to learn a whole new set of rules, figure out how to capitalize the business, build off of what I know in a down economy. Not really think about what I was doing and didn’t realize what an uphill battle I was facing. The graphic design industry was on a decline, the promotional product business was too, and I was too new in the consulting business to really get off the ground. Don’t get me wrong I was down, but I wasn’t doing what I knew I could. No matter what I was going through, I was committed to build something, to use all my gifts, talents to win for my family and I. What I go on to do next I think is a bit amazing and I hope your readers do too. With three of my dearest slogans and the span of 16 years I have created a hybrid lifestyle business that by industry is a Marketing, Public Relations, Promotional Product, Video Production and Photography business rolled all into one.
Living by Mantras
“To do what you have never done before, you must do what you have never done before.”
“The best things in life are unscripted”
“Money is a byproduct of the things I do well”
I have launched my own Salsa brand called Sancho Miguel’s Salsa, I have been an designer for the Kentucky Derby, I launched as series of 5K Fun Runs for Humana, I have managed several political campaigns spanning from Us Senate race to City Council, we created a Senior PGA Sponsored video game tournament called VGC 2008, with my Mother Desiree Carter, I created a series of Women Empowerment programs called the Gift of Rediscovery and (W.E.W) Women Empowering Women Power Breakfast. We created a youth photography class called Kool Kids Photography that focuses on teaching photography to children who come from traditionally underprivileged communities. Creating a safe and brave space for women of all walks of life to share their stories. We created and hosted a series of Cut & Sew fashion shows in Southern Indiana and Louisville, KY, creating a space for up and coming designers and models to gain experience and promote themselves. We created a Podcast and FM radio show called Common Conversations that focuses on social, political, economic, health and racial equity. We have been a part of and have filmed several short Documentary and website projects centered around Social Equity and Wealth Building. In Jeffersonville Indiana, We created the first economic summit and Juneteenth Festival in 2023.
“Healing In The Valley” https://youtu.be/b5pRqMTQZkA
“Wealth Builders Movement”

Common Conversations The Move Forward a New Hope: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQJWFICSwLC7EwtFbnvXLBqG87kQyCWGO
Common Conversations: Podcast: http://commonconvo.com
Common Conversations: “Let’s Talk Sex”: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQJWFICSwLC4d7lBGogk5r9MFa_PJJgnU
Feature on WAHS 11 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LE3J_oggoI
Miguel Hampton is a published photographer and an award winning community business advocate with a diverse managerial background.
F5 Enterprises, LLC is We are a creative marketing, branding and media production firm
Our primary services are:
Marketing & Public Relations – As a hybrid we focus on developing comprehensive strategies for promoting our clients brands, products and or services, while developing and focusing on their business private, public, political relationships.
Commercial and Creative Photography – We create experiences while capturing, styling, and crafting stories through still images of our clients and products to promote their businesses and brands.

Video Production – We focus partnering with our clients to create high-quality
content that authentically captures the essence of their story, brand, business
etc, that effectively brings their vision to life. We focus on Live Streaming, Short and long form documentaries, corporate interviews, brand stories, short film and web based podcast and entertainment.

Business Consulting and Coaching – We teach, plan and help our clients develop working solutions that solve problems.
• I host Business MasterMinds, Community programs and Lunch learns focused on Racial, Health, Community and Economic Equity.
• I facilitate business programs focused on helping small businesses with revenues from $150,000 to mid size business with revenues up to $6,000,000 scale and reach the founders desired goals.

Podcast and Live Stream Production – We make magic happen!
We take our clients concepts and ideas, and we bring them to life in ub we like to call consumable digital media! Our services focus on helping creators produce, edit, refine and bring to market their Podcast and Live Stream content.

What problems do we solve and what sets us apart? I struggle answering this question for so many reasons. Not every customer that comes to us is looking for the same thing or has the same problem even if they are purchasing the same service or product. That being said, we take pride in helping bring our clients ideas to life. We believe in results and how our creations live on after we are done. We take a listening approach to what our customers wants and desires are, we then create strategic planning sessions with their teams so we can draw a clear understanding of process, times and what their budgets may allow. Once we start and finish a project, we have an ongoing evaluation process that allows us to help our clients manage and execute the content and information we deliver.
Thinking about what sets us apart beyond all the normal canned answers like quality, timeliness etc… I believe it because we work one on one with our clients and their teams, we truly listen to understand and we are dedicated to bringing their dream to life. We are authentic and honest in the process, we create safe and brave spaces for everyone to engage in the planning, production and delivery process. We offer flexibility in how we engage and lastly, I have learned the better we understand a thing/person/dream the more authentic we can be in the creative and consulting process.

Pride is a funny thing. I am proud of everything, but I am not the type of person who reviews and celebrates my wins and success. But reflecting the past three years post COVID, I am proud to still be in business. One of the few times in 16 years, I wasn’t sure we would make it. I operated for almost a year with little business coming in, there were so many mistakes and errors in my decisions making, working with clients, vendors, I remember thinking these are rookie mistakes in new times. This is like starting all over with no known variable to compare it to. Then a call came in much like in the beginning, asking could I create a virtual environment for a live stream. Everything in my brain said, no! That’s way too expensive, they don’t have the money, I don’t trust the current business environment, I don’t have or know a team who can do it. Some many thoughts were racing in my mind. I found myself playing PUBG that same evening and one of the guys I play with said “G what are you working on”, I told him the story and he said “you do it every night when you turn on this game. I know you have the gear already”. I did some processing, tore out my photography studio, my gaming consoles and built a live steaming environment that my client was asking for. In short I/we turned a church into a multi camera, multi audio two-way multi-stream broadcast network. This was the moment I knew our next move, our new direction! Proud moment, the 2020 Pivot. In 2021 helped produce two short documentaries that went on to film festivals and one even won honors in Poland “It Takes a Village”. I helped several new clients shift also, by taking their in person events and created live streamed video podcasts and webseries.
Something I want my fans, people who follow or work with me, I love what I do and value all that they have poured into me, the trust they place in me to bring their vision to life and I look forward to creating and doing so much more!

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

In 2011 my father-in-law, Andrew Williams III dared me to take a product we call Sancho Miguel’s Salsa, that was made for the family and as a side hustle; he dared me to treat it like a real business and push it through the holidays and see what happens. Salsa is something I have been making ever sinceI managed my first restaurant. It was something people around me loved, something I do easily without thinking about it, and something I never saw as business. Salsa is something I am passionate about and knowing that my family wanted to do this with me was even more of a motivator. I knew the possibilities. What I didn’t know is what was going to happen if I said, “yes”. I listened to what Buck said. Buck is the name the family called him and one of the few men in my life I truly trusted and listened to. Dad said, I got you…
In just two days, word spread, nine gallons of Salsa flew out the door!! And Sancho Miguel’s Salsa was born. We literally were up until 2 and 3am stemming cilantro, packaging, labeling, scorning how we were going to store all this product, who was going to deliver it! Really was never racking but it was so much fun, to see my Nikki (my sister-n-law), The Wife, Shug (The daughter) helping make salsa that people actually bought from a few quick digitals flyers I made in photoshop. We were tired as hell by laughing and funning like nothing mattered, like no one had to be at work or had other things to do. We didn’t even discuss money, it was just lets see, even our customers and friends helped with connecting and sharing the flyers. It was my great uncle and one of my Call of Duty gamer buddies who helped us narrow down the name. We packaged and sold 144 8oz units of fresh Sancho Miguel’s Salsa at an average price of $5 at $720 in two days. Yep we knew then we could do a thing!
Due to consistent grassroots marketing and sales efforts, Salsa demands increased from sporadic requests, to weekly demands. Making raves and waves at local farmer’s markets, bazaar’s, charity events, and festivals in Indiana, Sancho Miguel’s has quickly became the most sought after chip dipper, shot shooter, chili maker, and marinade in our backyard! In 2012, I took the next leap and began to distribute Sancho Miguel’s Salsa into local retail stores, farmers markets and even began to cater to some of the local Universities, we had a business!

Yepper we had a business, it was under funded, we had a product that required certain health department regulations, we needed a permanent facility and so much more. As a family we were crafty, we negotiated with friends, small business, vendors from photography and marketing business and landed everything we needed at every obstacle. My business associates couldn’t believe what we were doing and how fast things were moving forward. We went from a 2 day push to 6 months later wholesaling our products to local retailers. Chips where, and what I knew was coming I was excited.
Warning, this isn’t a happy ending in the since we all love! But everything worked out down to the last day when I closed my photography business and the salsa business. In business there is a saying, you can grow too fast. Well I grew it too fast.
I knew being in retail, and some of the other spaces we were in, that at some point we were going to need capital, F5 Enterprises couldn’t keep funding it, the photography business was being completely ignored and lastly we had to get a permanent location to make our product. Then family was tired, I became frustrated trying to raise capital and get outside investors to help us scale. I didn’t know what I didn’t and I was learning fast with the help of an older gentleman by the name of Mr. Fox. I received a strange call from a man saying, I hear what you are doing and I can help. At first I was, like nope I will pass. But then we met and he opened my eyes to so many things, and it was a blessing to sit with someone who could talk about food, tech and scaling. Mr. Fox was a retired food scientist for several really large brands. Mr. Fox and I would meet for a matter of 2 – 3 months, as he would help me prepare for the next big move. It was a lot of work but we had a plan. We found a new facility, we had possible funders, we were increasing our brand position, I even created our first commercial and aired on several local channels and on the web. We were ready and everyone was excited about what was coming. I had an opportunity to get funding by pitching our brand to the local chamber of commerce and a few other equity investors. There was a lot of prep going into this, so much perp that I had to come back to Jeffersonville via a 3 ½ hour drive from Columbus, Ohio just to make the pitch. Arrive at the chamber of commerce and everything is ready. They had me sit in the lobby as I waited to make the pitch. I knew something was off as they kept delaying, then an attorney walked out and informed us that we were no longer allowed to pitch. My heart hit the floor, doing all the things, asking all the questions, I packed up and left. Shortly after this all of our hard work began to unravel one by one we lost assumed support. I remember sitting in my office wanting to cry, nothing made since! Mr. Fox called me and took me to lunch. I remember this day like it was yesterday, because it still hurts to see the tear fall down his face as he said “had you just been someone else, this makes no sense”. I called one of our retailers and asked them, “how does this look if we can no longer supply salsa, what if I want to come back one day.” The Buyer said to me, we love your product and we understand these things happen. He said call all your suppliers and tell them what has happened and when you are ready to start distribution again we will be waiting! This was one of those moments when everything was not supposed to work, it did, and when the things that should have worked didn’t. But as a business owner, a creator has integrity and builds a business and product people respect and love even when you have to close your doors, you still WIN. Closed sancho Miguel’s salsa with no dept and no losses other than our personal, mental and physically attachment.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I honestly don’t think about what my reputation is or isn’t. I move with Integrity, I show up as who I am and I face opposition directly even when I am wrong. When it comes to business I strive to do right by others and to deliver on my word. I have the privilege of working with a diverse group of businesses, people and community, this offers me opportunities to learn about cultural differences and norms. I meet all my clients with the same respect and some have told me, it is the space I hold for them. I allow them to be who they need to be in my and their spaces. As I am adopting the word “Harmredcutionist”, I have made it my mission to do no harm, to be a constant learner; tell my truth; and to create space for others regardless of a thing. My clients appreciate that and they reciprocate that same offering. I am not perfect and no onr is, but being honest with folks and allowing them to be honest with you goes a long way. I believe taking the approach I have has allowed me to grow and maintain sustainability in unstable times.

Contact Info:

• Website: f5enterprises.com
• Instagram: Miguel_Hampton
• Facebook: Miguel Hampton
• Linkedin: Miguel Hampton
• Youtube: Miguel Hampton