Get lessons in leadership and decision-making from renowned health expert Dr. Drew Pinsky and serial investor Kim Perell on this episode of Entrepreneur Therapy.
00:0099% of all the most successful entrepreneurs I've ever met have pivoted.
00:04How is the rest of your life? Your family good?
00:06Rapping and then becoming a father is what was my light bulb moment.
00:11Being an entrepreneur, it's not easy.
00:13You might have people looking after your business, but who is looking after you?
00:17We are. Welcome to Entrepreneur Therapy.
00:21Presented by Amazon Business.
00:23In each episode, renowned health expert Dr. Drew Pinsky and serial investor Kim Perel
00:27will meet with small business owners looking for some advice.
00:31We're here to find out what issues still keep them up at night.
00:34I'm Roy Scott, founder and CEO of Healthy Hip Hop.
00:38Roy, why are you here today on Entrepreneur Therapy?
00:41What I've learned on this journey is a lot of times we're seeking this external validation.
00:46This entire process of being an entrepreneur, they want to see are you that type of founder
00:50that can listen, learn, and pivot to make sure you get to the next inflection point.
00:54All right, Roy, it's time. I'm going to send you over to Dr. Drew and Kim.
00:58Let's make it happen. I'm excited.
01:01Roy, it's so great to see you.
01:03Do you want to fill us in on your business and where you're at today?
01:06I'm founder and CEO of Healthy Hip Hop and our North Stars to become an iconic children's brand.
01:11We've been able to continue to pick up some real momentum,
01:14getting traction with school districts, government contracts, and now with our direct-to-consumer app.
01:19So, Roy, your business is called Healthy Hip Hop. Tell us what's healthy, what the idea was, where that came from.
01:25Absolutely. So, Healthy Hip Hop essentially came from my journey as a kid.
01:30I loved hip hop music and culture, didn't have a lot of guidance around me.
01:33I was in the streets rapping. Like, I definitely wasn't healthy hip hop, right?
01:37But rapping and then becoming a father is what was my light bulb moment.
01:41Seeing my son repeat my music, you know, that promoted, you know, violence, drugs, etc.
01:45And that was just a light bulb. Like, I can't do this anymore.
01:49That's where it started. I made the pivot with my life to, you know,
01:52want to create a hip hop experience for children and families that was clean and safe.
01:56Started with music, education. It evolved to technology.
02:00Continuing to grow.
02:01Congratulations. What are some of your questions that we can help you with?
02:05I think a couple things.
02:07So, on the personal and the professional side, the personal side is really being present and being in the moment and being able to make decisions quickly and effectively.
02:18And I think on the business side, you know, we were really locked in on the B2B, selling in the schools, selling in the government contracts,
02:24and then made the pivot to a direct-to-consumer offering.
02:26So, that's kind of what's keeping us up now is getting that early adoption, scaling our direct-to-consumer app.
02:31So, finding the balance.
02:32I heard two things. I want to deal with the business part first.
02:35That's going to be you. Because I hear it a lot from friends of mine that create products that end up being used by school and government.
02:41They immediately think, it's not enough. We need to go beyond that.
02:45What do they need to do?
02:46I think, based on my experience, the school and the government, it takes time.
02:50So, patience is essential.
02:52But once you land those contracts, great reoccurring revenue streams.
02:58The challenge is, entrepreneurs don't have enough cash and they run out of time, right?
03:02And so, I'm sure you found that, Roy. It's like, I need to make money now, Kim.
03:06I need to understand where's an opportunity to monetize my product now.
03:10And I love that you pivoted.
03:1499% of all the most successful entrepreneurs I've ever met have pivoted at least once.
03:19So, having the courage to make a change is amazing.
03:23So, that's really interesting because I also heard Roy say he's having trouble with decision-making. Is that true?
03:30Yeah, well, I feel like sometimes, again, we're just so entrenched in a certain direction.
03:35As a startup, we are nimble enough to make that move.
03:38But sometimes, just got to be real clear if that is the best move and then making that move.
03:43And so, just some of those times, I haven't had trouble making them.
03:46But a lot of the times, it's wanting to make sure that it's clear and that I'm on the right path.
03:51How do you feel when you make a decision and it goes bad?
03:55Sometimes, it's part of the game. I just want to kind of mitigate that risk.
03:58I want to make more of the right decisions than the wrong decisions.
04:02Part of what I think, Roy, you're getting into is you're being a little hard on yourself with that decision-making process.
04:06I am hard on myself. I'm extreme because I'm always challenging myself to be better.
04:10I'm like, I want to be the best version of myself. So, I definitely need to show myself some more grace. That's true.
04:15I think a great rule of thumb that I use is the 70% rule.
04:19I know it's hard to make decisions without complete information.
04:24But if you have 70% of the information, my rule of thumb is go.
04:29How is the rest of your life? Are you in relationships? Are you family good? What's your sort of circumstance?
04:34My kids were the driving force of me starting this business.
04:37So, my son, when I first started the business, was like, I'm going to say, you know, five.
04:43But now, my son, he'll be 21.
04:45Oh, wow.
04:46You're happy.
04:47I am. I'm happy. I'm more, I say, joyous. Like, I'm more joyful.
04:51Because sometimes the happiness can be to and fro. I'm, for the most part, happy, though, but I'm extremely joyous.
04:57Grateful would be maybe a better word.
04:59Incredibly grateful.
05:00Yeah. And I always tell him, people are doing well when they express lots of gratitude.
05:04Well, I think we got to this. Thank you, Roy. Great to talk to you.
05:07Yes. Congratulations on all your success.
05:09Absolutely. Thank you, Dr. Drew. Thank you, Kim. I appreciate this opportunity.
05:13All right, Roy. So, you just got done talking to Dr. Drew and Kim. How are you feeling right now? How was it?
05:19I feel great. I mean, I think they were spot on with everything they were discussing in regards to, like, you know, best practices.
05:26I'm excited about the opportunity. So, it was excellent.
05:29Roy, thanks so much for participating in Entrepreneur Therapy presented by Amazon Business.
05:34To say thank you, we're giving you $1,000 in cash.
05:37As your app and educational platform grow, an Amazon Business Prime paid membership can provide your team with advanced analytics and powerful procurement features designed to save your team time and money and drive its success.
05:50I'm excited. So, I'm already using the AWS servers. Our whole tech stack is built on an infrastructure.
05:55So, to use these sweetest services as well, I believe, is really going to help us propel our business to the next level.
06:00I love it. Well, thanks so much, Roy. Great to see you again.
06:03And best of luck in the next steps for healthy hip-hop.
