what’s up everybody welcome to another
YouTube hangout super excited to be here
with a special guest and new friend Josh
Vern is a serial entrepreneur he’s run a
number of companies he’s had 20 years
experience as a business owner started
his first business when he was nine
years old and it hasn’t looked back
since and is now the CEO and founder of
a company called flock u which is a
pretty cool platform for college
students trying to help each other out
get a voice make some money and also
connect with brands who are trying to
target college students so we’re going
to talk entrepreneurship find some
lessons learned and answer some of your
questions Josh welcome aboard man thank
you for sure you have me Evan so we had
a little bit of a quick chat in the
green room about what flock he was all
about can you just give my audience a a
deeper dive into what what you do yeah
absolutely
so flock you was created for college
students be able to help out other
college students dealing with life for
the first time that they’re on their own
a lot of students might be doing really
well in the classroom they might be
doing really well behind the books but
when they’re when they’re really faced
with their first social situations you
know sometimes it doesn’t always go the
best that they wanted to so the thesis
behind flock you really was driven for
have college students to be able to let
other college students know they’re not
alone and if they’re going to mess up
they’re going to screw up in life and
not only not only the mess ups and the
screwed ups but also how to do things a
little bit better so we have a content
exchange we build a content exchange
where we ingest and distribute content
written by students for other students
100% of all the content is curated or
created by college students we then take
that we ingest it and we actually pay
all of our content creators we have
about 550 content creators throughout
the u.s. we actually pay them for all
the content that we consume we ingest
probably about 50% of what we actually
get submitted to us so we were pretty
strict with the curation process we pay
them based on how viral it goes and the
shares that it gets and then we turn
around and then go distribute all that
content whether it’s through our
syndicated partnership with people like
The Huffington Post or whether so our
own social channels and flock yourself
or if it’s just on our own site so we
really take the content and really want
to put
in front of the students wherever they
are and then we work with brands that
want to truly authentically connect with
students and get in front of them in the
right way instead of do no programmatic
on this site we do no display everything
is is done through whether it’s
experiential whether it’s activations
offline or online and really taking from
a branded content perspective where 100%
of it is done by the college students
themselves cool that sounds like an
interesting model and congrats on
getting that thing off the ground and
running it’s exciting my audience is
mostly entrepreneurs people in business
wanting to take it to the next step more
people who are thinking of starting a
business may have started a part time
you’ve been at this game a long time
Josh what what some of the nuggets of
wisdom you would give them about being
the success as an entrepreneur well I’ll
tell you that probably 80% of your
audience is either really skinny really
heavy or have no toenails or have no
have no fingernails left that’s usually
that’s usually what’s happening with
entrepreneurs listen the bottom line is
I think the biggest and much you know
true to like the way flock U is
positioned is to let entrepreneurs know
they’re not alone there’s going to be a
tremendous amount of failures most
people are going to have a lot of
failures before they have that one
success the key with an entrepreneur is
really learning what caused a failure
and what not and how not to cause it
again and how not to have it again you
know and the other thing that I’ve
always recommended to people and it was
something that I kind of learned the
hard way as an entrepreneur you do not
know everything virtually you know
virtually nothing to be honest and
you’re really learning on the fly so the
key that I’ve always tried to recommend
to anybody is talk to everybody whether
they’re successful people whether
they’re just friends whether they’re
peers whether you’re friends friends try
to talk to everybody because if you
could just pick up one little tidbit
from somebody at any given time it
really is the best of all worlds for you
and what it really does is it at the end
of the day is because you don’t know
everything the more that you can reach
out the people that have been there and
done that
the smarter you’re going to be to where
one day you could be in that position
where people can ask you those questions
so never get never get pushed back
failures are going to happen and
failures should happen and the reason
why they should happen is because it’s
the way you’re going to learn
and it’s funny I’m looking at the the
board behind you of all the successful
businesspeople and every single one of
them I’m sure will tell you about all
the different failures that they’ve had
and so it’s congruent with what
everybody does there’s going to be
failures before their successes stay
firm say psyched and passionate about
what you’re doing and listen is the key
you have to listen everybody around you
I love it so this is either some of the
heroes behind me from famous
entrepreneurs and the middle picture is
actually my my parents and me when I’m
like 7 or 8 years old I’m sure by the
way I’m sure you’ve had some failures
and all your luvin and you have a lot
more hair back then so that’s why yeah
you know hey listen I think you know
still I got it I got to keep what I have
absolutely do you have a do you have
people you look up to do you have like
the legends the entrepreneurs that you
say these are the people that you know
maybe I aspire to be here people that
I’ve learned some important lessons from
you know yeah I mean I think that that
has definitely had some kind of impact
on me you know there’s there’s a few
different things you know you look at
like the the proverbial Steve Jobs you
know a guy that told him he couldn’t
people told him he couldn’t do he
couldn’t do he couldn’t do and he made
his own map and he made his own
direction and obviously everybody knows
what he became so you know someone like
him I’ve always operated in front from
behind where where I I’ve always
ingested and loved when people told me
that I couldn’t do something because
number one I love a good argument
especially when it’s really spirited but
at the end of the day I like being told
that I can’t do something because it’s
not that much more gratifying so yeah I
think that you know from there from the
proverbial Steve Jobs you know I go back
to my father who really instilled in me
about creating an unbelievable workplace
for employees and and giving them an
unbelievable home because most of the
time they’re spending more time at the
office and they are at their house and
then my fellow peers you know whether
it’s my partners in business whether
it’s my partner in this particular
business who’s had a lot of success and
somebody that could just call up and
really ask questions to so the people
that I truly look up to in in the non
we’ll call the non proverbial sense like
the Steve Jobs are people that really
can help me out with just some insights
and anytime I ask questions are there to
be able to help me there’s this great
video I saw Sylvester Stallone doing an
interview and he said I love no yes
I love no and then the reporter said why
do you love no
because it really means yes III got to
tell you though you know when you when
you look at people like that or even
like the Steve Jobs or you know it’s
some reference and I’m giving you know
usually the people that have had some
kind of success or the people that say
they love no Pope but when it’s
happening
it’s obviously not as fun and you have
to learn how to take out of it and you
have to understand why somebody is
saying no you know it’s funny our CMO
that we just hired in our company a guy
named Mancha he was a guy that I tried
calling in to over at his prior job a
very very big brand Fortune 1000 brand
and when they said no to me I just kept
going back to them and saying why why
tell me what I could be doing
differently then not only did I learn
how to get in there but also I was able
to convince him to come work with our
team so he’s now our CMO so but yeah yet
when there’s a know you got to figure
out why and then how to make it into a
yes and again not just staying true to
who you are and trying to be extremely
passionate I love it so for those of you
guys is tuning in we’ve got Josh who’s a
serial entrepreneur and founder of flock
you with us for the next 25 minutes or
so if you have a question leave it in
the live chat and we will get to them
there’s really a ton point in first one
up why do you think most entrepreneurs
fail in their ventures leaving I think I
from my opinion it’s like I started off
the interview by saying is I think
people think they know it all you know
and and one way to do it is and listen
you’re going into a venture thinking
that you know it all and there’s nothing
wrong with that and that’s obviously a
good status to have in your own mind but
at the end of the day there’s a lot of
people around you that are going to know
a lot more if you ask questions and
surround yourself with the right people
those are truly the people they’re gonna
be able to help you succeed so what I
would say is I think listen there there
is you know you know have enough funding
you don’t have enough runway the idea
that resonate there’s those kind of
things but when you really dig deeper
into it it’s really knowing yourself and
knowing how to get a look at it you know
I didn’t interview a couple weeks ago
and it was how to get out of your what
your own way to be able to be successful
you have to get out of your own way and
you have to be able to surround yourself
with people that can help educate you
and teach you so you can learn next door
with you right next up is do you have an
advice for how to navigate
working with a business partner so you
mention you have a partner what advice
do you have on partnerships well I kind
of learned the hard way right so you
know I’ve been in partnerships before
where it actually did not go as smooth
and you know and it’s either cost me
time or money or whatever you know I
think the advice is number one
understanding that just because you guys
have been best friends just because you
might be relatives or Nestle doesn’t
necessarily mean that it’s gonna be
translating the business there’s two
things that I would suggest one is more
of a tactical approach and then the
other one is more of a legal approach
the legal approach is make sure
everything is documented documents
happen for the reasons why lawyers make
all the money right is that they there
there’s going to be a problem god forbid
there’s going to be something that
happens that that that you guys can’t
decide on together and you need
something to be able to govern that and
you need something be able to govern
that to be able to say okay what is the
right thing to do and how do we get out
of this thing so number one you want to
make sure it’s papered up the right way
whether it’s through partnership
agreements whether it’s through
operating agreements or buy-sell
agreements you want to make sure it’s
really partnered up where I spend the
money upfront to make sure that happens
because it’s so important I’ll save you
a ton a headache in the long run the
more tactical approach is understand
where your partner strength is and
leverage it you know sometimes when you
try to especially as an entrepreneur you
try to do too much and you try to say I
had this whole thing covered know your
partner know know why they’re your
partner know their strengths know their
weaknesses so you don’t have to call
them them for the weaknesses but you
truly call them them for their strengths
and you have to respect it you have to
respect what their strengths are until
such time that it may not come to
fruition and then you have to come take
a different path and maybe that’s where
you know having this thing papered up
appropriately would work but at the end
of the day know your partner know what
you’re getting involved with and know
how to leverage their strengths so you
mentioned you have a partner I flock to
you how do you do I’m assuming it’s all
legal and documented so that’s taken
care of so how do you how do you balance
like what do you good at what is your
partner good at how do you guys balance
that well I think it’s I think it you
know I view everybody I mean we have
about 20 employees in the company and we
view everybody as partners and not
saying that just just to save it
I truly believe that everybody that
works for our company has ownership in
our business so it’s no different
whether it’s my direct partner that I
co-founded this business with or whether
it’s any employee that’s here it
is you want to leverage strengths you
want to make sure that there’s really
clear expectations you know and there
can only be one CEO you know sometimes
when there’s two CEOs it’s a little
tough and you know I was given this role
in this responsibility for a reason and
you have to learn how to leverage and
you have to learn how to pull it pull
the different levers for different
people its key is understanding
strengths and understanding weaknesses
you don’t want to sets up people up to
not succeed you want to set people up to
succeed so one way to do that is again
spending the time to truly understand
what the what the strengths and
weaknesses are of the employees of your
partners on whoever it is right and
yourself and by the way you know I I
always say I have a tremendous amount of
weaknesses I’m you know I have a couple
strengths that have helped drive me but
I have a lot of weaknesses and I try to
surround myself with people which I
never always did or with which I haven’t
always done I try to surround myself
with people that really can complement
my weaknesses
so what do you think you’re really good
at like you’re one of the best in the
world at doing this and then what do you
suck at that then you have to surround
yourself with people to help you yeah
I’m really good at pivoting and and
understanding that if something’s not
working we have to you know we have to
shop and drive you know we have to it
the bad part is is that sometimes I do
it too fast and you know and I listen to
my gut you know I’ve become very much a
data guy and understanding data and how
data drives a business but still there’s
this inherent nature me to try to use my
gut as much as I can and when I use my
gut sometimes it’ll get me in trouble
when the data doesn’t support it so I
think you know the like I said the
biggest strength is truly understanding
what’s working what’s not working and
capitalizing on what’s working and then
shifting and driving away from the stuff
that’s not but again that can also be a
weakness because sometimes I do it too
fast and sometimes I rely um I rely on
my gut too much which is really where
I’ve brought in to the organization
people that are more mellow more
level-headed more tactical in their
approach and more operationally driven
to where they could say you know what
maybe we shouldn’t do this maybe we and
really push us back in the right nature
to make sure that I’m slowing down in my
process next question coming in is how
do you maintain focus I’m not sure I do
yeah
I’m a dancer yeah I’m not sure I do and
again an entrepreneur and I’m sure the
person asking this question can
appreciate this is an entrepreneur will
always jump at the next opportunity you
know and you might be building a
business and you see something that you
might be court that might be corollary
to what you’re doing and all of a sudden
you grab it you know it’s easier said
than done
it really is probably one of the most
difficult things to do and again the
only way I would say that is make sure
that you surround yourself whether it’s
with a team or your partner that you’re
doing this thing with make sure that
that they’re the polar opposite of you
because it will really help – it will
really help drive what you’re or define
what the weaknesses are to move away
from it so I absolutely have a focused
problem not not when I’m working on a
project I actually have OCD so it
actually helps me in that respect where
I could stay really focus on a project
but when opportunities come up I jump
pretty fast you know it’s really having
a good team around me that can help
level that out and really be the
naysayers of the bunch to really have me
truly think about what needs to take
place to make that decision do you try
to stick to a regular routine schedule
habits yeah yeah and again part of that
just the way I’m wired you know I’m at
the same time every morning I generally
go to sleep the same time every night
most of the time yeah I mean I the same
process I my wife is very understanding
of how I am so she makes sure that that
uh she makes sure that I’m set up to
succeed whether it’s at the house and I
have the same assistant that I’ve had
for 21 years so she makes sure I’m set
up to succeed outside of the house and
it goes back to and I know I continue to
say that’s just having a really good
team you know and early stage
entrepreneurs don’t always have that
Avenue whether it’s a wife at home they
may not be married or or maybe it’s not
having that assistant but it’s truly
surrounding yourself with people that
understand how to have it how to keep
you in a really good process so to
answer your question yeah I have pretty
much the same process and that’s what
drives me and sometimes when I figure
out that process may not be working you
have to be smart enough to be able to
shift and move into a different process
you’re building a home team as well as
an office team yeah exactly
listen my wife definitely definitely
keeps me grounded definitely as a
phenomenal wife my two little girls 12
and 10 so you know you do at the end of
the day as you get older you start to do
it all for them so love it
next question what
is your inspiration for starting flock
you I was coming off of an exit of my
prior business which was in the
financial wellness and e-commerce space
and I started doing a lot of reading
about Millennials and about the college
age demographic and there was a couple
things that I saw that I saw pretty
pretty even to what I’ve known in the
past is number one is that college
students they want to they want to
understand social skills they want to
understand life especially Millennials
they want to really get a fair chance
but because of the generation that
they’re in a lot of people are really
pointing them into the wrong corner and
and have all these adjectives for them
that really make no sense I mean I’ve
worked with a tremendous many
Millennials in my life and actually
there’s so much smarter than me so I you
know I kind of take it to heart and I
say to myself from a mission perspective
here’s an opportunity to be able to get
in and truly help out this particular
demographic on really dealing with real
life so and there was a like I said
we’ve pivoted a lot so you know we
started off as an e-commerce platform
which was going to guarantee the
cheapest pricing we were going to high
procure a product just for the
college-age demo and then when we know
that when the rise of jet comm came
around then I woke up in that proverbial
sweat one day and said I gotta be nuts
to want to compete up against the
Amazons and everybody but we really
figured out a way to make her my partner
so we said that so the inspiration truly
was able to help out college students
and be able to and they’re not going to
listen to me I’m a 39 year old guy
they’re not gonna listen to their
parents because of the rebellious piece
but they’re certainly going to listen to
their friends especially this particular
age demographic so that was where we had
the idea to be able to develop this
great content exchange where college
students can help out other college
students via content and get paid for it
and get paid for it as well so everybody
wins a similar kind of question where
that’s going to earlier that question
coming in is what was the trigger for
you to become an entrepreneur since all
your bio nine years old
yeah certain up so how many of you can
remember back then but was the trigger
to become an entrepreneur I think to
think my father was a business guy so he
started me really early in business you
know whether it was taking me to
meetings or whatever it is but also you
know I think I never liked working for
anybody can never be I think I never
liked being told what to do
and you know when when you have that
kind of attitude and you want to kind of
forge your own way it really triggers
something in you and and even though
some people may be like that but they
may not have an entrepreneurial bug
there was something about there was
something and I don’t remember the
earliest stages of it but there was
something about being able to look at
something to create something really
special that I truly enjoyed and you
know called ego call a drive call it
passion whenever you want to me it’s
being able to look at something and say
wow there’s this unbelievable white
space here we have to figure out a way
to be able to capitalize on it and then
the hard part is the journey right it’s
okay you set you set your mile marker
out there now how do you go accomplish
it so I don’t remember the earliest
stages but I could tell you it’s B it
takes a lot to become an entrepreneur
it’s sweat it sweat blood tears you’re
going to meet a lot of friends you’re
gonna make a lot of enemies whatever it
is it’s very very tough and people think
a lot of times they’re entrepreneurs
until they really get into the weeds and
until they get into battle and then they
truly understand you know what this may
not be for me but I give everybody
credit for trying something and anytime
you can go out on your own to truly try
something it’s very very important that
you understand what you’re doing and how
you’re doing it and the more you can
learn through every stage whether it’s
failures or successes
it drives you that much more for your
for your next initiative did you did you
always think you’re going to be an
entrepreneur like when you’re in high
school or college did you ever have
aspirations am I gonna I’m gonna be a
banker I’m gonna be a cattle nor gonna
get a job it was always like you know
this stuff is not for me I got to do my
own thing yeah I didn’t go to college
and partially was because I knew that if
I went to college it would kind of delay
me for years from really what I wanted
to do and you know I don’t pooh-pooh
college at all I think boot I think
college is phenomenal I think everybody
should have the opportunity to go as
long as they can for me it just wasn’t
right for me I wasn’t to me I’d rather
be out there hustling or figuring out a
way to go change something or make money
as opposed to sitting in the classroom
and I always took the approach that
because I wanted to be an entrepreneur
because I wanted to work for myself I
wanted to get four years ahead of where
everybody else was but that said I still
live the college life I go to visit all
my friends and all the rest of that
stuff so I had the best of all worlds it
was great
right and you said on a website to help
college students there too by the way
that’s looks like
I pride myself on cars I never had a
social media account and I never went to
college
nice little medium this is the college
space is phenomenal that’s an
entrepreneur’s yeah exactly
uh okay next question what’s the biggest
obstacle you faced as an entrepreneur at
you know getting yourself getting out of
your own way
biggest obstacle a lot of times is again
understanding what your strengths and I
know we continue to talk about it seems
like the theme of what we’re discussing
but it’s really understanding what
you’re smart at which you’re not so
smart at what you have to learn and I
think the biggest obstacle is always
going to be yourself no matter how
successful you are no matter what you do
it’s always going to be yourself because
you know even through failures there’s
always that edge there’s own
entrepreneur always has a chip on their
shoulders as I like to do it that much
better
the more you can you can focus on
the people around you and the smart
people around your being able to ask the
right questions I think it’s a UH you
know I think that’s what it comes down
to I think that’s truly what it comes
down to is just understanding yourself
and understand the more you understand
yourself the more there you’re going to
be able to get out of your own way do
you have advice and how to do that how
do you figure out how to understand
yourself no I really don’t I wish I did
I you know I keep going back to the
biggest thing is just talking to
everybody you know my first career my
first business that I was in I never
networked I never spoke to anybody I
always had the attitude and said you
know what they’re going to come to me
and talk to me and network with me and
and then when I exited that business I
said to myself wow there’s so many other
smarter people out here than May and and
what I’ve learned and as soon as that
trigger the first time first networking
event that I went to and I really saw
the kind of people that I was meeting it
really was unbelievable it really was
unbelievable to the the eye-opening
experience to understand the knowledge
that is out there and people are willing
to give it to you you know you might be
intimidated to go ask somebody or talk
to people but they’re willing to give it
to you so to me it’s really getting out
there and just really surrounding
yourself and asking the right questions
is there a moment that you kind of
realize that like everyone’s coming to
me you gotta come to me I’m a successful
entrepreneur I know better than
everybody else and then to make this
shift like I don’t know anything
I have to go through that yeah I mean I
think it was the first exit that I had
and uh you know it wasn’t the most
successful exit it’s something that you
know we had a great business we had a
hell of a business and there were
certain things that just went against us
then unfortunately we had a pivot and
and we we ended up moving in different
directions but as soon as that happened
I truly tried to understand myself what
what did I do to cause this and what
could I do differently and in that
search one of the things I came out with
I just said I have to go out there start
talking to other people whether it’s on
the other people that have been in the
situation or other people that could
teach me because remember you know I had
done 1.0 for 16 years now I had to
figure out what 2.0 was going to be and
that was the other thing was getting out
there and trying to figure out what my
next stage was going to be so I think
the biggest issue for me was being able
to step out of where I’ve been for 16
years look at the successes look at the
failures look at all those things and
say well something needs to change and
to get out there so it happened probably
about six years ago seven years ago hmm
reading lots of great feedback in the
live chat hello everybody it’s great
having you here Thank You Josh you truly
appreciate you so this is great
um the next question is about failure
and someone’s asking should you get
angry at your failures and use that as
fuel to do better or should you just be
cool about your failures and move on to
something else well I think listen yeah
you could say you could say don’t get
angry of course you’re gonna get angry
for passionate you’re going to get angry
but I think the key is channeling that
anger right you know in and when you
start to understand that’s the Kin if I
can get a point if I can get across one
point to your audience
it’s got to be understand yourself and I
know I keep saying that so when you have
failures understand what caused that
failure understand what caused a fight
and don’t be mad at yourself because
you’re human right understand how to
twist it now to change it to make it not
happen again
that’s the key that happens a second
time that’s when you could be mad at
yourself so I wouldn’t use anger to
drive to drive success I will just use
the lessons that you’re learning from it
because if you stay angry then you can’t
be successful because your head as an
entrepreneur and as someone has a
complete vision on where you need to get
to your head needs to be clear you need
a head needs
be clear at all obstacles and when that
thing gets in front of you got to be
able to figure out a way to hop over to
run through it well fear or anger or
whatever it is is just that you got to
figure out a way okay soap for 24 hours
48 hours and then get the hell out of
your own way and start moving forward
again mmm you mentioned fear it’s
actually the next question that comes up
so it’s great um basically this question
from Yosh asking about things that you
have feared and how do you get over and
how do you drive forward to accomplish
that goal you set when you’re afraid of
doing the actions that you need to do
yeah I mean I think fear I brought up
fear because I think it’s very relevant
I think it’s you know as an entrepreneur
there is a tremendous amount of fear for
me the number one fear is failing um you
know you have confidence in yourself and
you say to yourself if God forbid
something happens your rebound but it’s
also the people and the team that you
come along that they come along with you
you know we have 20 people here I’ve had
I’ve had upwards of thousands of
employees and you know you’re
responsible for those people and you’re
responsible to drive a company in
direction to where you can put food on
their plate and you can always have that
paycheck for them so I think fear is
actually something that’s actually a
very positive thing if you know how to
channel that fear and know how to make
it always put that as a goal in front of
you that you don’t want to fail then
you’ll be able to slow down and figure
out one of the things that could get you
to fail and be able to slow down and ask
the proper questions and move in the
right pivot in the right direction to be
able to get you to that place so I think
fear is not a Beth and I actually think
fear is actually a very good thing
people that don’t have fear those are
the people that will die early you know
or do something probably very stupid
fear is actually a very positive thing
hmm how do you know that you’re ready to
start as an entrepreneur you never do I
think you just got to do it and again
you know it’s easy said than done it’s
easy for me to say because I’ve done it
and it’s easy for me because I I’m wired
that way I don’t think it’s for
everybody
I really don’t and I’ll tell you that
you know the person whoever it is that’s
asking that question I think that they
don’t they don’t they’re never going to
know until they do it you know there has
to be this drive in you that has to that
truly says to you man I gotta go try
this
you know I’ve whether its companies that
I’ve invested in or whether its people
that I’ve spoken to recently there’s a
lot of people out there that don’t think
that there were
to try something until they go try it
and then they go wow I should have done
this earlier and then there’s people
that did it really early that they
should have never done it okay because
they weren’t successful but they would
have never known what they did it so I
can honestly say I don’t know if there’s
a straight answer there you know I could
listen you can open up an Excel
spreadsheet and you could put something
on one side and on the other side say
what what am I good at what am I not
good at whatever it is the bottom line
is you’re never going to know until you
try it right cool ah someone is asking
how important is money raising money at
the start of the business I would say
95% of companies go out of business
because there’s no money so I don’t know
if it’s necessary from day one until you
understand what you’re doing because the
worst thing you want to take somebody’s
money and then the fail but I think
money is very important but I think
getting the right money you know one of
the things that I always urge people
that I that uh that I talk to whether
they’re looking for money from an
investment whether it’s for myself or
whether it’s from somebody else is you
know if if you take in too much money
then you’re going to make some stupid
decisions if you take too much money you
might dilute yourself to where it’s not
important to you anymore to where you’re
not gonna have enough ownership to where
it’s meaningful so but then there’s that
tough balance because you want to take
enough in but you want to be able to you
want to be able to streamline and you
want to be very very good to yourself to
say I don’t want as much in there
because I will go spend it you have to
develop a discipline you have to
understand what is sometimes that’s
learning the hard way though you know
I’m somebody that’s always built through
you know I always say I’m a P&L guy no
one knows how to drive crap line and
bottom line better than me but I’m not a
balance sheet guy I need a lot of cash
to drive my businesses that’s not
necessarily a good thing it’s yes cat
let me answer it directly cash is
extremely important cash raising is very
important but not until you know that
you have a real product something viable
that you can go out there and truly make
a difference with because the worst
thing you want and trust me it’s
happened because there are is going to
be scars and there’s been a lot of black
eyes in this industry where people go
take a lot of money and then they fail
and they go right through it all those
people going to be really tough to get
funded again mm-hmm people remember yeah
well you know people do remember but
they also have short memories you know
and and uh the problem is in the commune
in the cash raising community especially
when you’re talking about the silicon
valley’s of the world and everything
like that it’s a pretty small community
okay it’s not tough to forget but when
you get into the world of the world it’s
uh you know people do have short
memories as long as you could deliver
something really strong you know and
again it goes back to all those people
that are behind you and any successful
entrepreneurs there’s been failures and
if you go out the right way and you
truly said that you tried you never
screw to anybody and you never did it
the wrong way then you can obviously put
your head up high and say you know what
I’m going to go do it this way next
question is about bringing on a team in
what stage of your businesses do you
start bringing on a team depends I mean
I think it depends on the business I
think it you know a lot of times if
you’re in a product business where you
actually have something tangible it’s
going to be really tough not to bring a
team in in the beginning because you
need to be able to move it to point A to
point B if you’re in a tech business and
you’re someone that’s a coder yourself
or whatever it is I would suggest doing
it yourself it’s a really tough question
because it goes back to the money it
goes back to the money aspect right I
mean you can’t do things on vapor right
you can’t try to you can’t pay people
with IOUs
so it really goes back to what stager
and I would suggest to anybody I mean
this is my third business so I uh I did
this a little differently where I
actually you’re geared up with a really
strong team from day one so I can hit
the market really running but it’s also
it was also my third business this is
your first business going out as an
entrepreneur I much like going to raise
money
understand what your product is go
through some of the trials and
tribulations without bringing these
people along with you
so this way you’re even that much more
successful when you have something that
you’re ready to rock with and that’s the
time you figure out a way to go get some
capital in and to surround yourself with
a really good team doesn’t mean you
can’t call on people you know my
suggestion is there’s really cheap ways
to go get good people you know put
together a really strong board put
together a really strong advisory board
it won’t cost you cash maybe it’ll cost
you some equity but not a lot of equity
you know and these are people that have
been there and done that before so I
would say absolutely take it understand
what you need in order to go do it but
the cheapest way in the beginning is to
do it yourself
as well as surround yourself with a team
that maybe won some equity without
actual cash off the door on a related
note someone’s asking
when did you know your business was
going to be successful or was it an
overnight success for you
no nothing nothing’s been an overnight
and even even flock you today I mean the
company just launched our main product
in March and you know we’ve close to a
million members and you know three
million users and we have over 22 brands
that we’ve done business with and we
have a lot of great successes that we’re
doing right now but trust me we’re not
we’re not even close to where we need to
be um you know it’s it’s very easy to
make a first move but being sustainable
is something that’s a lot harder so I
don’t believe I think you know you read
about the Airbnb and uber of the world
and so on and so forth and and you think
that their overnight successes they’re
really not these are people that have
been at it for a very long time they’ve
been they’ve been very lucky to be able
to give an opportunity to able to get
the product out there but again it’s
taking that product and making sure you
have the right product to be able to do
it so I don’t believe in overnight
successes
I really don’t and I think they happen
just like anything happens but I think
to truly be successful you have to have
an unbelievable product that people want
and you have to be able to execute on
and even that much better ooh
and let’s see me think that time for one
more question coming in are you uptight
every day because of your goals how do
you find peace while having this insane
Drive ah probably meditation meditation
is a really good thing listen I think
it’s it’s all how you’re wired you know
it’s it’s it goes back to what you’re
looking to accomplish one of the things
I start my day off with which is really
important is is I review my calendar and
I take a look and I say really what’s
important today and what’s not you know
I’ve actually been accused which is the
right accusation of moving my schedule a
lot which is something that’s a major
flaw of mine but I take a look at what’s
important and what’s not important and
in the morning I really review and I
make those decisions on the fly you know
what you don’t want to do is overburden
yourself but the other thing you don’t
want to do is keep an empty day but I do
believe in downtime I do believe in you
know whether it’s going to the bathroom
is your down time whether it’s
meditation whether it’s going for a walk
whether it’s eating lunch whatever it is
you need the your brain is a muscle and
you need to relax every once in a while
unless you’re going to burn it out or
you’re going to make it flat so to me
it’s very important to make sure you
have some kind of down time so that’s
how
I’m able to be able to manage the drive
with the uptightness and with the with
the with the unbelievable focus to say I
have to get stuff that this particular
stuff done today but I know I won’t be
able to do it accurately unless I take a
little bit of that down time and again
I’ve learned that the hard way so we get
a lot of love in the chat people
appreciate the wisdom and the time you
spent for people who want to learn more
about flock you what you’re all about
the next thing you’re doing what’s the
best thing for them to do next
yet visit our website flock ucomm that’s
FL Ock with the letter U dot-com
you can go to any one of our social
handles flock yourself that you are salf
call me directly my cell phone number
two one five five two seven zero two two
zero I am one of those weird guys that
actually enjoy these type of
conversations I love it feel free to
call me Josh at Flocka comm be more than
happy to be able to answer any questions
you have I think it’s the first time
somebody’s put their personal cell
number I want is interview so I
appreciate that don’t I wait I’m hoping
that’s a good time I’m hoping I’ll be
calls right now but that listen but I
we’ve all been there so any time I could
be able to help out somebody I think
it’s really important yeah I mean
everybody gives the Twitter
some people have given her email but
this is a first
Josh giving out his personal cell number
Josh man really appreciate the love
today getting tons of fans here and the
advice and the mission that you’re on
and for spending some time with us on
the show you got to have any great
really appreciate you having me and
great show you have I really appreciate
and love the platform that you’re doing
and continue kicking it for us it’s
awesome all right thank you guys for
watching Thank You Josh for joining us
continue to believe and we’ll see you
soon
you got it
YouTube hangout super excited to be here
with a special guest and new friend Josh
Vern is a serial entrepreneur he’s run a
number of companies he’s had 20 years
experience as a business owner started
his first business when he was nine
years old and it hasn’t looked back
since and is now the CEO and founder of
a company called flock u which is a
pretty cool platform for college
students trying to help each other out
get a voice make some money and also
connect with brands who are trying to
target college students so we’re going
to talk entrepreneurship find some
lessons learned and answer some of your
questions Josh welcome aboard man thank
you for sure you have me Evan so we had
a little bit of a quick chat in the
green room about what flock he was all
about can you just give my audience a a
deeper dive into what what you do yeah
absolutely
so flock you was created for college
students be able to help out other
college students dealing with life for
the first time that they’re on their own
a lot of students might be doing really
well in the classroom they might be
doing really well behind the books but
when they’re when they’re really faced
with their first social situations you
know sometimes it doesn’t always go the
best that they wanted to so the thesis
behind flock you really was driven for
have college students to be able to let
other college students know they’re not
alone and if they’re going to mess up
they’re going to screw up in life and
not only not only the mess ups and the
screwed ups but also how to do things a
little bit better so we have a content
exchange we build a content exchange
where we ingest and distribute content
written by students for other students
100% of all the content is curated or
created by college students we then take
that we ingest it and we actually pay
all of our content creators we have
about 550 content creators throughout
the u.s. we actually pay them for all
the content that we consume we ingest
probably about 50% of what we actually
get submitted to us so we were pretty
strict with the curation process we pay
them based on how viral it goes and the
shares that it gets and then we turn
around and then go distribute all that
content whether it’s through our
syndicated partnership with people like
The Huffington Post or whether so our
own social channels and flock yourself
or if it’s just on our own site so we
really take the content and really want
to put
in front of the students wherever they
are and then we work with brands that
want to truly authentically connect with
students and get in front of them in the
right way instead of do no programmatic
on this site we do no display everything
is is done through whether it’s
experiential whether it’s activations
offline or online and really taking from
a branded content perspective where 100%
of it is done by the college students
themselves cool that sounds like an
interesting model and congrats on
getting that thing off the ground and
running it’s exciting my audience is
mostly entrepreneurs people in business
wanting to take it to the next step more
people who are thinking of starting a
business may have started a part time
you’ve been at this game a long time
Josh what what some of the nuggets of
wisdom you would give them about being
the success as an entrepreneur well I’ll
tell you that probably 80% of your
audience is either really skinny really
heavy or have no toenails or have no
have no fingernails left that’s usually
that’s usually what’s happening with
entrepreneurs listen the bottom line is
I think the biggest and much you know
true to like the way flock U is
positioned is to let entrepreneurs know
they’re not alone there’s going to be a
tremendous amount of failures most
people are going to have a lot of
failures before they have that one
success the key with an entrepreneur is
really learning what caused a failure
and what not and how not to cause it
again and how not to have it again you
know and the other thing that I’ve
always recommended to people and it was
something that I kind of learned the
hard way as an entrepreneur you do not
know everything virtually you know
virtually nothing to be honest and
you’re really learning on the fly so the
key that I’ve always tried to recommend
to anybody is talk to everybody whether
they’re successful people whether
they’re just friends whether they’re
peers whether you’re friends friends try
to talk to everybody because if you
could just pick up one little tidbit
from somebody at any given time it
really is the best of all worlds for you
and what it really does is it at the end
of the day is because you don’t know
everything the more that you can reach
out the people that have been there and
done that
the smarter you’re going to be to where
one day you could be in that position
where people can ask you those questions
so never get never get pushed back
failures are going to happen and
failures should happen and the reason
why they should happen is because it’s
the way you’re going to learn
and it’s funny I’m looking at the the
board behind you of all the successful
businesspeople and every single one of
them I’m sure will tell you about all
the different failures that they’ve had
and so it’s congruent with what
everybody does there’s going to be
failures before their successes stay
firm say psyched and passionate about
what you’re doing and listen is the key
you have to listen everybody around you
I love it so this is either some of the
heroes behind me from famous
entrepreneurs and the middle picture is
actually my my parents and me when I’m
like 7 or 8 years old I’m sure by the
way I’m sure you’ve had some failures
and all your luvin and you have a lot
more hair back then so that’s why yeah
you know hey listen I think you know
still I got it I got to keep what I have
absolutely do you have a do you have
people you look up to do you have like
the legends the entrepreneurs that you
say these are the people that you know
maybe I aspire to be here people that
I’ve learned some important lessons from
you know yeah I mean I think that that
has definitely had some kind of impact
on me you know there’s there’s a few
different things you know you look at
like the the proverbial Steve Jobs you
know a guy that told him he couldn’t
people told him he couldn’t do he
couldn’t do he couldn’t do and he made
his own map and he made his own
direction and obviously everybody knows
what he became so you know someone like
him I’ve always operated in front from
behind where where I I’ve always
ingested and loved when people told me
that I couldn’t do something because
number one I love a good argument
especially when it’s really spirited but
at the end of the day I like being told
that I can’t do something because it’s
not that much more gratifying so yeah I
think that you know from there from the
proverbial Steve Jobs you know I go back
to my father who really instilled in me
about creating an unbelievable workplace
for employees and and giving them an
unbelievable home because most of the
time they’re spending more time at the
office and they are at their house and
then my fellow peers you know whether
it’s my partners in business whether
it’s my partner in this particular
business who’s had a lot of success and
somebody that could just call up and
really ask questions to so the people
that I truly look up to in in the non
we’ll call the non proverbial sense like
the Steve Jobs are people that really
can help me out with just some insights
and anytime I ask questions are there to
be able to help me there’s this great
video I saw Sylvester Stallone doing an
interview and he said I love no yes
I love no and then the reporter said why
do you love no
because it really means yes III got to
tell you though you know when you when
you look at people like that or even
like the Steve Jobs or you know it’s
some reference and I’m giving you know
usually the people that have had some
kind of success or the people that say
they love no Pope but when it’s
happening
it’s obviously not as fun and you have
to learn how to take out of it and you
have to understand why somebody is
saying no you know it’s funny our CMO
that we just hired in our company a guy
named Mancha he was a guy that I tried
calling in to over at his prior job a
very very big brand Fortune 1000 brand
and when they said no to me I just kept
going back to them and saying why why
tell me what I could be doing
differently then not only did I learn
how to get in there but also I was able
to convince him to come work with our
team so he’s now our CMO so but yeah yet
when there’s a know you got to figure
out why and then how to make it into a
yes and again not just staying true to
who you are and trying to be extremely
passionate I love it so for those of you
guys is tuning in we’ve got Josh who’s a
serial entrepreneur and founder of flock
you with us for the next 25 minutes or
so if you have a question leave it in
the live chat and we will get to them
there’s really a ton point in first one
up why do you think most entrepreneurs
fail in their ventures leaving I think I
from my opinion it’s like I started off
the interview by saying is I think
people think they know it all you know
and and one way to do it is and listen
you’re going into a venture thinking
that you know it all and there’s nothing
wrong with that and that’s obviously a
good status to have in your own mind but
at the end of the day there’s a lot of
people around you that are going to know
a lot more if you ask questions and
surround yourself with the right people
those are truly the people they’re gonna
be able to help you succeed so what I
would say is I think listen there there
is you know you know have enough funding
you don’t have enough runway the idea
that resonate there’s those kind of
things but when you really dig deeper
into it it’s really knowing yourself and
knowing how to get a look at it you know
I didn’t interview a couple weeks ago
and it was how to get out of your what
your own way to be able to be successful
you have to get out of your own way and
you have to be able to surround yourself
with people that can help educate you
and teach you so you can learn next door
with you right next up is do you have an
advice for how to navigate
working with a business partner so you
mention you have a partner what advice
do you have on partnerships well I kind
of learned the hard way right so you
know I’ve been in partnerships before
where it actually did not go as smooth
and you know and it’s either cost me
time or money or whatever you know I
think the advice is number one
understanding that just because you guys
have been best friends just because you
might be relatives or Nestle doesn’t
necessarily mean that it’s gonna be
translating the business there’s two
things that I would suggest one is more
of a tactical approach and then the
other one is more of a legal approach
the legal approach is make sure
everything is documented documents
happen for the reasons why lawyers make
all the money right is that they there
there’s going to be a problem god forbid
there’s going to be something that
happens that that that you guys can’t
decide on together and you need
something to be able to govern that and
you need something be able to govern
that to be able to say okay what is the
right thing to do and how do we get out
of this thing so number one you want to
make sure it’s papered up the right way
whether it’s through partnership
agreements whether it’s through
operating agreements or buy-sell
agreements you want to make sure it’s
really partnered up where I spend the
money upfront to make sure that happens
because it’s so important I’ll save you
a ton a headache in the long run the
more tactical approach is understand
where your partner strength is and
leverage it you know sometimes when you
try to especially as an entrepreneur you
try to do too much and you try to say I
had this whole thing covered know your
partner know know why they’re your
partner know their strengths know their
weaknesses so you don’t have to call
them them for the weaknesses but you
truly call them them for their strengths
and you have to respect it you have to
respect what their strengths are until
such time that it may not come to
fruition and then you have to come take
a different path and maybe that’s where
you know having this thing papered up
appropriately would work but at the end
of the day know your partner know what
you’re getting involved with and know
how to leverage their strengths so you
mentioned you have a partner I flock to
you how do you do I’m assuming it’s all
legal and documented so that’s taken
care of so how do you how do you balance
like what do you good at what is your
partner good at how do you guys balance
that well I think it’s I think it you
know I view everybody I mean we have
about 20 employees in the company and we
view everybody as partners and not
saying that just just to save it
I truly believe that everybody that
works for our company has ownership in
our business so it’s no different
whether it’s my direct partner that I
co-founded this business with or whether
it’s any employee that’s here it
is you want to leverage strengths you
want to make sure that there’s really
clear expectations you know and there
can only be one CEO you know sometimes
when there’s two CEOs it’s a little
tough and you know I was given this role
in this responsibility for a reason and
you have to learn how to leverage and
you have to learn how to pull it pull
the different levers for different
people its key is understanding
strengths and understanding weaknesses
you don’t want to sets up people up to
not succeed you want to set people up to
succeed so one way to do that is again
spending the time to truly understand
what the what the strengths and
weaknesses are of the employees of your
partners on whoever it is right and
yourself and by the way you know I I
always say I have a tremendous amount of
weaknesses I’m you know I have a couple
strengths that have helped drive me but
I have a lot of weaknesses and I try to
surround myself with people which I
never always did or with which I haven’t
always done I try to surround myself
with people that really can complement
my weaknesses
so what do you think you’re really good
at like you’re one of the best in the
world at doing this and then what do you
suck at that then you have to surround
yourself with people to help you yeah
I’m really good at pivoting and and
understanding that if something’s not
working we have to you know we have to
shop and drive you know we have to it
the bad part is is that sometimes I do
it too fast and you know and I listen to
my gut you know I’ve become very much a
data guy and understanding data and how
data drives a business but still there’s
this inherent nature me to try to use my
gut as much as I can and when I use my
gut sometimes it’ll get me in trouble
when the data doesn’t support it so I
think you know the like I said the
biggest strength is truly understanding
what’s working what’s not working and
capitalizing on what’s working and then
shifting and driving away from the stuff
that’s not but again that can also be a
weakness because sometimes I do it too
fast and sometimes I rely um I rely on
my gut too much which is really where
I’ve brought in to the organization
people that are more mellow more
level-headed more tactical in their
approach and more operationally driven
to where they could say you know what
maybe we shouldn’t do this maybe we and
really push us back in the right nature
to make sure that I’m slowing down in my
process next question coming in is how
do you maintain focus I’m not sure I do
yeah
I’m a dancer yeah I’m not sure I do and
again an entrepreneur and I’m sure the
person asking this question can
appreciate this is an entrepreneur will
always jump at the next opportunity you
know and you might be building a
business and you see something that you
might be court that might be corollary
to what you’re doing and all of a sudden
you grab it you know it’s easier said
than done
it really is probably one of the most
difficult things to do and again the
only way I would say that is make sure
that you surround yourself whether it’s
with a team or your partner that you’re
doing this thing with make sure that
that they’re the polar opposite of you
because it will really help – it will
really help drive what you’re or define
what the weaknesses are to move away
from it so I absolutely have a focused
problem not not when I’m working on a
project I actually have OCD so it
actually helps me in that respect where
I could stay really focus on a project
but when opportunities come up I jump
pretty fast you know it’s really having
a good team around me that can help
level that out and really be the
naysayers of the bunch to really have me
truly think about what needs to take
place to make that decision do you try
to stick to a regular routine schedule
habits yeah yeah and again part of that
just the way I’m wired you know I’m at
the same time every morning I generally
go to sleep the same time every night
most of the time yeah I mean I the same
process I my wife is very understanding
of how I am so she makes sure that that
uh she makes sure that I’m set up to
succeed whether it’s at the house and I
have the same assistant that I’ve had
for 21 years so she makes sure I’m set
up to succeed outside of the house and
it goes back to and I know I continue to
say that’s just having a really good
team you know and early stage
entrepreneurs don’t always have that
Avenue whether it’s a wife at home they
may not be married or or maybe it’s not
having that assistant but it’s truly
surrounding yourself with people that
understand how to have it how to keep
you in a really good process so to
answer your question yeah I have pretty
much the same process and that’s what
drives me and sometimes when I figure
out that process may not be working you
have to be smart enough to be able to
shift and move into a different process
you’re building a home team as well as
an office team yeah exactly
listen my wife definitely definitely
keeps me grounded definitely as a
phenomenal wife my two little girls 12
and 10 so you know you do at the end of
the day as you get older you start to do
it all for them so love it
next question what
is your inspiration for starting flock
you I was coming off of an exit of my
prior business which was in the
financial wellness and e-commerce space
and I started doing a lot of reading
about Millennials and about the college
age demographic and there was a couple
things that I saw that I saw pretty
pretty even to what I’ve known in the
past is number one is that college
students they want to they want to
understand social skills they want to
understand life especially Millennials
they want to really get a fair chance
but because of the generation that
they’re in a lot of people are really
pointing them into the wrong corner and
and have all these adjectives for them
that really make no sense I mean I’ve
worked with a tremendous many
Millennials in my life and actually
there’s so much smarter than me so I you
know I kind of take it to heart and I
say to myself from a mission perspective
here’s an opportunity to be able to get
in and truly help out this particular
demographic on really dealing with real
life so and there was a like I said
we’ve pivoted a lot so you know we
started off as an e-commerce platform
which was going to guarantee the
cheapest pricing we were going to high
procure a product just for the
college-age demo and then when we know
that when the rise of jet comm came
around then I woke up in that proverbial
sweat one day and said I gotta be nuts
to want to compete up against the
Amazons and everybody but we really
figured out a way to make her my partner
so we said that so the inspiration truly
was able to help out college students
and be able to and they’re not going to
listen to me I’m a 39 year old guy
they’re not gonna listen to their
parents because of the rebellious piece
but they’re certainly going to listen to
their friends especially this particular
age demographic so that was where we had
the idea to be able to develop this
great content exchange where college
students can help out other college
students via content and get paid for it
and get paid for it as well so everybody
wins a similar kind of question where
that’s going to earlier that question
coming in is what was the trigger for
you to become an entrepreneur since all
your bio nine years old
yeah certain up so how many of you can
remember back then but was the trigger
to become an entrepreneur I think to
think my father was a business guy so he
started me really early in business you
know whether it was taking me to
meetings or whatever it is but also you
know I think I never liked working for
anybody can never be I think I never
liked being told what to do
and you know when when you have that
kind of attitude and you want to kind of
forge your own way it really triggers
something in you and and even though
some people may be like that but they
may not have an entrepreneurial bug
there was something about there was
something and I don’t remember the
earliest stages of it but there was
something about being able to look at
something to create something really
special that I truly enjoyed and you
know called ego call a drive call it
passion whenever you want to me it’s
being able to look at something and say
wow there’s this unbelievable white
space here we have to figure out a way
to be able to capitalize on it and then
the hard part is the journey right it’s
okay you set you set your mile marker
out there now how do you go accomplish
it so I don’t remember the earliest
stages but I could tell you it’s B it
takes a lot to become an entrepreneur
it’s sweat it sweat blood tears you’re
going to meet a lot of friends you’re
gonna make a lot of enemies whatever it
is it’s very very tough and people think
a lot of times they’re entrepreneurs
until they really get into the weeds and
until they get into battle and then they
truly understand you know what this may
not be for me but I give everybody
credit for trying something and anytime
you can go out on your own to truly try
something it’s very very important that
you understand what you’re doing and how
you’re doing it and the more you can
learn through every stage whether it’s
failures or successes
it drives you that much more for your
for your next initiative did you did you
always think you’re going to be an
entrepreneur like when you’re in high
school or college did you ever have
aspirations am I gonna I’m gonna be a
banker I’m gonna be a cattle nor gonna
get a job it was always like you know
this stuff is not for me I got to do my
own thing yeah I didn’t go to college
and partially was because I knew that if
I went to college it would kind of delay
me for years from really what I wanted
to do and you know I don’t pooh-pooh
college at all I think boot I think
college is phenomenal I think everybody
should have the opportunity to go as
long as they can for me it just wasn’t
right for me I wasn’t to me I’d rather
be out there hustling or figuring out a
way to go change something or make money
as opposed to sitting in the classroom
and I always took the approach that
because I wanted to be an entrepreneur
because I wanted to work for myself I
wanted to get four years ahead of where
everybody else was but that said I still
live the college life I go to visit all
my friends and all the rest of that
stuff so I had the best of all worlds it
was great
right and you said on a website to help
college students there too by the way
that’s looks like
I pride myself on cars I never had a
social media account and I never went to
college
nice little medium this is the college
space is phenomenal that’s an
entrepreneur’s yeah exactly
uh okay next question what’s the biggest
obstacle you faced as an entrepreneur at
you know getting yourself getting out of
your own way
biggest obstacle a lot of times is again
understanding what your strengths and I
know we continue to talk about it seems
like the theme of what we’re discussing
but it’s really understanding what
you’re smart at which you’re not so
smart at what you have to learn and I
think the biggest obstacle is always
going to be yourself no matter how
successful you are no matter what you do
it’s always going to be yourself because
you know even through failures there’s
always that edge there’s own
entrepreneur always has a chip on their
shoulders as I like to do it that much
better
the more you can you can focus on
the people around you and the smart
people around your being able to ask the
right questions I think it’s a UH you
know I think that’s what it comes down
to I think that’s truly what it comes
down to is just understanding yourself
and understand the more you understand
yourself the more there you’re going to
be able to get out of your own way do
you have advice and how to do that how
do you figure out how to understand
yourself no I really don’t I wish I did
I you know I keep going back to the
biggest thing is just talking to
everybody you know my first career my
first business that I was in I never
networked I never spoke to anybody I
always had the attitude and said you
know what they’re going to come to me
and talk to me and network with me and
and then when I exited that business I
said to myself wow there’s so many other
smarter people out here than May and and
what I’ve learned and as soon as that
trigger the first time first networking
event that I went to and I really saw
the kind of people that I was meeting it
really was unbelievable it really was
unbelievable to the the eye-opening
experience to understand the knowledge
that is out there and people are willing
to give it to you you know you might be
intimidated to go ask somebody or talk
to people but they’re willing to give it
to you so to me it’s really getting out
there and just really surrounding
yourself and asking the right questions
is there a moment that you kind of
realize that like everyone’s coming to
me you gotta come to me I’m a successful
entrepreneur I know better than
everybody else and then to make this
shift like I don’t know anything
I have to go through that yeah I mean I
think it was the first exit that I had
and uh you know it wasn’t the most
successful exit it’s something that you
know we had a great business we had a
hell of a business and there were
certain things that just went against us
then unfortunately we had a pivot and
and we we ended up moving in different
directions but as soon as that happened
I truly tried to understand myself what
what did I do to cause this and what
could I do differently and in that
search one of the things I came out with
I just said I have to go out there start
talking to other people whether it’s on
the other people that have been in the
situation or other people that could
teach me because remember you know I had
done 1.0 for 16 years now I had to
figure out what 2.0 was going to be and
that was the other thing was getting out
there and trying to figure out what my
next stage was going to be so I think
the biggest issue for me was being able
to step out of where I’ve been for 16
years look at the successes look at the
failures look at all those things and
say well something needs to change and
to get out there so it happened probably
about six years ago seven years ago hmm
reading lots of great feedback in the
live chat hello everybody it’s great
having you here Thank You Josh you truly
appreciate you so this is great
um the next question is about failure
and someone’s asking should you get
angry at your failures and use that as
fuel to do better or should you just be
cool about your failures and move on to
something else well I think listen yeah
you could say you could say don’t get
angry of course you’re gonna get angry
for passionate you’re going to get angry
but I think the key is channeling that
anger right you know in and when you
start to understand that’s the Kin if I
can get a point if I can get across one
point to your audience
it’s got to be understand yourself and I
know I keep saying that so when you have
failures understand what caused that
failure understand what caused a fight
and don’t be mad at yourself because
you’re human right understand how to
twist it now to change it to make it not
happen again
that’s the key that happens a second
time that’s when you could be mad at
yourself so I wouldn’t use anger to
drive to drive success I will just use
the lessons that you’re learning from it
because if you stay angry then you can’t
be successful because your head as an
entrepreneur and as someone has a
complete vision on where you need to get
to your head needs to be clear you need
a head needs
be clear at all obstacles and when that
thing gets in front of you got to be
able to figure out a way to hop over to
run through it well fear or anger or
whatever it is is just that you got to
figure out a way okay soap for 24 hours
48 hours and then get the hell out of
your own way and start moving forward
again mmm you mentioned fear it’s
actually the next question that comes up
so it’s great um basically this question
from Yosh asking about things that you
have feared and how do you get over and
how do you drive forward to accomplish
that goal you set when you’re afraid of
doing the actions that you need to do
yeah I mean I think fear I brought up
fear because I think it’s very relevant
I think it’s you know as an entrepreneur
there is a tremendous amount of fear for
me the number one fear is failing um you
know you have confidence in yourself and
you say to yourself if God forbid
something happens your rebound but it’s
also the people and the team that you
come along that they come along with you
you know we have 20 people here I’ve had
I’ve had upwards of thousands of
employees and you know you’re
responsible for those people and you’re
responsible to drive a company in
direction to where you can put food on
their plate and you can always have that
paycheck for them so I think fear is
actually something that’s actually a
very positive thing if you know how to
channel that fear and know how to make
it always put that as a goal in front of
you that you don’t want to fail then
you’ll be able to slow down and figure
out one of the things that could get you
to fail and be able to slow down and ask
the proper questions and move in the
right pivot in the right direction to be
able to get you to that place so I think
fear is not a Beth and I actually think
fear is actually a very good thing
people that don’t have fear those are
the people that will die early you know
or do something probably very stupid
fear is actually a very positive thing
hmm how do you know that you’re ready to
start as an entrepreneur you never do I
think you just got to do it and again
you know it’s easy said than done it’s
easy for me to say because I’ve done it
and it’s easy for me because I I’m wired
that way I don’t think it’s for
everybody
I really don’t and I’ll tell you that
you know the person whoever it is that’s
asking that question I think that they
don’t they don’t they’re never going to
know until they do it you know there has
to be this drive in you that has to that
truly says to you man I gotta go try
this
you know I’ve whether its companies that
I’ve invested in or whether its people
that I’ve spoken to recently there’s a
lot of people out there that don’t think
that there were
to try something until they go try it
and then they go wow I should have done
this earlier and then there’s people
that did it really early that they
should have never done it okay because
they weren’t successful but they would
have never known what they did it so I
can honestly say I don’t know if there’s
a straight answer there you know I could
listen you can open up an Excel
spreadsheet and you could put something
on one side and on the other side say
what what am I good at what am I not
good at whatever it is the bottom line
is you’re never going to know until you
try it right cool ah someone is asking
how important is money raising money at
the start of the business I would say
95% of companies go out of business
because there’s no money so I don’t know
if it’s necessary from day one until you
understand what you’re doing because the
worst thing you want to take somebody’s
money and then the fail but I think
money is very important but I think
getting the right money you know one of
the things that I always urge people
that I that uh that I talk to whether
they’re looking for money from an
investment whether it’s for myself or
whether it’s from somebody else is you
know if if you take in too much money
then you’re going to make some stupid
decisions if you take too much money you
might dilute yourself to where it’s not
important to you anymore to where you’re
not gonna have enough ownership to where
it’s meaningful so but then there’s that
tough balance because you want to take
enough in but you want to be able to you
want to be able to streamline and you
want to be very very good to yourself to
say I don’t want as much in there
because I will go spend it you have to
develop a discipline you have to
understand what is sometimes that’s
learning the hard way though you know
I’m somebody that’s always built through
you know I always say I’m a P&L guy no
one knows how to drive crap line and
bottom line better than me but I’m not a
balance sheet guy I need a lot of cash
to drive my businesses that’s not
necessarily a good thing it’s yes cat
let me answer it directly cash is
extremely important cash raising is very
important but not until you know that
you have a real product something viable
that you can go out there and truly make
a difference with because the worst
thing you want and trust me it’s
happened because there are is going to
be scars and there’s been a lot of black
eyes in this industry where people go
take a lot of money and then they fail
and they go right through it all those
people going to be really tough to get
funded again mm-hmm people remember yeah
well you know people do remember but
they also have short memories you know
and and uh the problem is in the commune
in the cash raising community especially
when you’re talking about the silicon
valley’s of the world and everything
like that it’s a pretty small community
okay it’s not tough to forget but when
you get into the world of the world it’s
uh you know people do have short
memories as long as you could deliver
something really strong you know and
again it goes back to all those people
that are behind you and any successful
entrepreneurs there’s been failures and
if you go out the right way and you
truly said that you tried you never
screw to anybody and you never did it
the wrong way then you can obviously put
your head up high and say you know what
I’m going to go do it this way next
question is about bringing on a team in
what stage of your businesses do you
start bringing on a team depends I mean
I think it depends on the business I
think it you know a lot of times if
you’re in a product business where you
actually have something tangible it’s
going to be really tough not to bring a
team in in the beginning because you
need to be able to move it to point A to
point B if you’re in a tech business and
you’re someone that’s a coder yourself
or whatever it is I would suggest doing
it yourself it’s a really tough question
because it goes back to the money it
goes back to the money aspect right I
mean you can’t do things on vapor right
you can’t try to you can’t pay people
with IOUs
so it really goes back to what stager
and I would suggest to anybody I mean
this is my third business so I uh I did
this a little differently where I
actually you’re geared up with a really
strong team from day one so I can hit
the market really running but it’s also
it was also my third business this is
your first business going out as an
entrepreneur I much like going to raise
money
understand what your product is go
through some of the trials and
tribulations without bringing these
people along with you
so this way you’re even that much more
successful when you have something that
you’re ready to rock with and that’s the
time you figure out a way to go get some
capital in and to surround yourself with
a really good team doesn’t mean you
can’t call on people you know my
suggestion is there’s really cheap ways
to go get good people you know put
together a really strong board put
together a really strong advisory board
it won’t cost you cash maybe it’ll cost
you some equity but not a lot of equity
you know and these are people that have
been there and done that before so I
would say absolutely take it understand
what you need in order to go do it but
the cheapest way in the beginning is to
do it yourself
as well as surround yourself with a team
that maybe won some equity without
actual cash off the door on a related
note someone’s asking
when did you know your business was
going to be successful or was it an
overnight success for you
no nothing nothing’s been an overnight
and even even flock you today I mean the
company just launched our main product
in March and you know we’ve close to a
million members and you know three
million users and we have over 22 brands
that we’ve done business with and we
have a lot of great successes that we’re
doing right now but trust me we’re not
we’re not even close to where we need to
be um you know it’s it’s very easy to
make a first move but being sustainable
is something that’s a lot harder so I
don’t believe I think you know you read
about the Airbnb and uber of the world
and so on and so forth and and you think
that their overnight successes they’re
really not these are people that have
been at it for a very long time they’ve
been they’ve been very lucky to be able
to give an opportunity to able to get
the product out there but again it’s
taking that product and making sure you
have the right product to be able to do
it so I don’t believe in overnight
successes
I really don’t and I think they happen
just like anything happens but I think
to truly be successful you have to have
an unbelievable product that people want
and you have to be able to execute on
and even that much better ooh
and let’s see me think that time for one
more question coming in are you uptight
every day because of your goals how do
you find peace while having this insane
Drive ah probably meditation meditation
is a really good thing listen I think
it’s it’s all how you’re wired you know
it’s it’s it goes back to what you’re
looking to accomplish one of the things
I start my day off with which is really
important is is I review my calendar and
I take a look and I say really what’s
important today and what’s not you know
I’ve actually been accused which is the
right accusation of moving my schedule a
lot which is something that’s a major
flaw of mine but I take a look at what’s
important and what’s not important and
in the morning I really review and I
make those decisions on the fly you know
what you don’t want to do is overburden
yourself but the other thing you don’t
want to do is keep an empty day but I do
believe in downtime I do believe in you
know whether it’s going to the bathroom
is your down time whether it’s
meditation whether it’s going for a walk
whether it’s eating lunch whatever it is
you need the your brain is a muscle and
you need to relax every once in a while
unless you’re going to burn it out or
you’re going to make it flat so to me
it’s very important to make sure you
have some kind of down time so that’s
how
I’m able to be able to manage the drive
with the uptightness and with the with
the with the unbelievable focus to say I
have to get stuff that this particular
stuff done today but I know I won’t be
able to do it accurately unless I take a
little bit of that down time and again
I’ve learned that the hard way so we get
a lot of love in the chat people
appreciate the wisdom and the time you
spent for people who want to learn more
about flock you what you’re all about
the next thing you’re doing what’s the
best thing for them to do next
yet visit our website flock ucomm that’s
FL Ock with the letter U dot-com
you can go to any one of our social
handles flock yourself that you are salf
call me directly my cell phone number
two one five five two seven zero two two
zero I am one of those weird guys that
actually enjoy these type of
conversations I love it feel free to
call me Josh at Flocka comm be more than
happy to be able to answer any questions
you have I think it’s the first time
somebody’s put their personal cell
number I want is interview so I
appreciate that don’t I wait I’m hoping
that’s a good time I’m hoping I’ll be
calls right now but that listen but I
we’ve all been there so any time I could
be able to help out somebody I think
it’s really important yeah I mean
everybody gives the Twitter
some people have given her email but
this is a first
Josh giving out his personal cell number
Josh man really appreciate the love
today getting tons of fans here and the
advice and the mission that you’re on
and for spending some time with us on
the show you got to have any great
really appreciate you having me and
great show you have I really appreciate
and love the platform that you’re doing
and continue kicking it for us it’s
awesome all right thank you guys for
watching Thank You Josh for joining us
continue to believe and we’ll see you
soon
you got it
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