SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hustler, on today's episode of the Turn Council Podcast, we have a San Antonio native who started with a troubled childhood and got caught up in a past life. That led to two felonies and eight arrests before his breaking point and decided to turn his life around. He is now coming up in 10 years sober. Today he's a senior entrepreneur running multiple businesses, including community festivals, hosting concerts, and a transportation business. On today's episode, Mike Anthony. Welcome to the Turn Up the Hustle Podcast, where real estate investors and entrepreneurs show their stories, strategies, and mindset behind our hustle. I'm Michael Giannis, aka Mr. Hustle. To my right, Scott Moon. Let's go. And today's special guest, Mike Anthony.

SPEAKER_03 0:43

Man, I appreciate it. Appreciate it, man.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

No, we appreciate you being here, man. I'm excited for this podcast and all the stuff that you got going on. But before we get into it, for those that don't know, my hustle is real estate flipping, wholesaling, and subject to what is Mike Anthony's hustle?

SPEAKER_03 0:58

Man, my uh hustle is promoting, networking, building relationships, giving back, and my transportation business.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Transportation business.

SPEAKER_03 1:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

So before all of that, before the promoting, before the festivals and aka Festival King, but I hear your name coming around. Who was Mike Anthony before all the festivals, before all the promoting and networking?

SPEAKER_03 1:18

Man, you know what? Uh a troubled kid, probably, if anything. You know, so before getting into the promotions and marketing, it was trying to figure out who I was and where I wanted to go in the direction. So it took a took a while, but you know, at the end, it's just a matter of meeting the right people that can actually elevate you and get you into that next season in your life. So, but at first, I had that gray area to where just didn't know at first. I didn't know what I was gonna do. I mean, when you're a teenager, you think you're gonna do one thing, and then when life hits you, and life hit me at a young age, and that just kind of made me think about okay, what's the direction that I'm going to go into? You know.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Now let's talk about little Mike Anthony, right? When you say trouble kid, what's the growing up looking like looking like?

SPEAKER_03 2:06

Man, you know what? Uh growing up, uh, I had a uh God bless my mom, she'd been passed away over 10 years, and she raised us really well. You know, she raised us on the belief of sharing is caring. So always giving back, and no matter what you do. So even till this day, everything I do is all about giving back. So helping the community out uh all the time. But as a kid, you know, had a roof over her head, you know, she provided whatever she could. And it was uh for me, I had learning disabilities as a kid and like CMC, didn't like to read, didn't like to talk in front of anybody, and then just you know, kind of just develop a personality in middle school, then came out came at the at like a class clown in a way, and then just getting in trouble. And my mom, she didn't care that I got in trouble, she just wanted me to always take accountability of it. So her thing was you get in trouble, just take accountability. Say you did something wrong and just we'll go figure it out. Or, you know, if you don't know something, just ask. Or even with grades. Man, I remember as a kid, she would uh tell us, uh, we actually have friends had would get paid to get good grades, you know, and I'd be like, hey mom, like my my friend over here is getting five dollars for an A. And she goes, that's cool. She goes, but if you want to be dumb, be dumb on your own. She's like, I'm not gonna pay you anything. So I'm like, you know, uh uh life lessons, you know, at a young age, like if you want to do good, do good. She didn't put any pressure on that, you know. So, but getting in trouble, when I say in my younger age, is based on my young adulthood. You know, I had my very first felony when I was, I think, 19, if I'm not mistaken. 19 years old. Yeah, 1920, man. My first felony. My first time ever, my first time ever getting in trouble with the law. And that's just so crazy.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

At 19, how do you know?

SPEAKER_03 4:09

Uh shit. I'm 39. Yeah, I'm gonna be 40 this year.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

So 39, so 19, that's 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_03 4:15

20 years ago, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Blink of an eye, I would assume.

SPEAKER_03 4:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

If you actually think about it, right? How fast time flies. Now, at 19, what did a Mike Anthony do to get a felony?

SPEAKER_03 4:24

Man, just be at the wrong place at the wrong time. And what happened at the wrong place? And and and and and getting into a relationship that was toxic. So I was uh going through that first, you know, we've all experienced maybe some maybe haven't, but you think you're in love at 19 and you find the person that you want, and you know, and and at the wrong place at the wrong time, meaning that I caught well, I don't even want to say a caught, I basically went to my home that I already moved out, and my ex-girlfriend at that time, her and I was still trying to figure things out, and she had another guy inside the home. Were you guys separated? And so we weren't together.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

You weren't together, so you guys were separated. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 5:08

You walk in. So when I knock on the door, uh I know there's someone else in there, obviously, you know. Uh a phone rings, she has her phone in her hand. I open the door more, I see a guy sitting on my couch, and I beat him up, basically. So I got in a fight, beat him up. She goes outside and and uh screams, and my brother is the one who is actually driving me to the house, and when he goes inside, he pulls me off. I do what I thought was right, which was call the cops. So I call the cops and I tell them what happened, and they tell me to wait at an H E B, and I did.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

So you left the uh left, uh-huh. Left.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

Go go park, you know, wait. And when they see me and my brother, my brother's a little bit bigger than I am, so they assume it's him. So, like, sir, you're under arrested. And he's like, no, like I was me. Yeah, I I always make fun of him on this part because I'm like, dude, like the way he just acted, he was just like, it wasn't me, it was him. And I was like, Yeah, it was me. And then get arrested. And I didn't think anything of it. I thought, oh, okay, got in a fight, and that was it. But in black and white, and this is where I got screwed over, uh, Susan Reed was our district attorney at that time. She was giving everybody, you know, first uh first offenders just a hammer, basically. And so in black and white, it is a burglary with the habitation to commit an assault.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Over time?

SPEAKER_03 6:43

So a burglary with a with the habitation to commit an assault. So if you look at that, if someone just looks at my record right now and they see that, in black and white, they're gonna think burglary, theft, stealing, an assault, someone that's aggressive, someone that's wants to fight. And that's not my character. You know, I mean, it is in a way with the with the being aggressive and all that, but to protect people that I care about, but not want to start it. And so I didn't have any money at 1920. I didn't even know what to do. So I hired a a family attorney that didn't do cases like this. He was more of a traffic kind of attorney, like with tickets and DWIs and stuff like that. But I didn't know any better. So I took a plea bargain. And again, there they tell me, hey, it's gonna be a deferred, but you still got a felony. And at that young age, I'm just like, a deferred. So does that mean I can still work somewhere or not? So honestly, I did uh, I want to say I decided to register at Northridge Vista, took a criminal justice class to teach myself what I had. So in that course, uh former judge Michael, I want to say his last name's Pena, maybe, uh, gave me some good advice after the after the semester, and I kept on asking questions related to my case. And like I would ask a question related to the case, but not saying it was about me. And some way try try to make it, you know, twist it around. And at the end of the semester, he just told me, he goes, son, you got some shit. I was like, Yeah. He goes, Yeah, I could tell because every time you asked something, it had nothing to do with our our court our class our topic. And I was like, Yeah, he goes, What happened? I told him what happened, and he tells me you got two choices. You either go down that route and just live that lifestyle, or you go become something yourself. And I was like, All right, cool. And really, it was depressing. Suicidal thoughts. Uh you just you can't get hired anywhere, man. You can't even live anywhere. You can't get it at a home, you can't get nothing. You know, you get rejection after rejection. It was just really depressing at that time, and I didn't know what I was gonna do. I really wanted to just end it all. And then um I met uh a couple years later, I met my best friend, John. He owned a couple of bars and clubs, and I kind of just asked him what he did, how he got started, and then he told me about promotions, and I said, What is that? And he goes, Will you promote clubs and bars? And I think now I'm 22, maybe 23. And he goes, You're old. You can't start, you gotta start when you're 17 or 16 in the nightlife. He goes, You're kind of old. He's like, but you go to college? I was like, no. He goes, damn, he goes, so no fraternity, nothing like that. I was like, uh-uh. He goes, you just gotta be out every night then. And then that kind of him and his best friend Nick are two people in my life that helped me get into the clubs and bars and the restaurants. And then that's where I started really building uh a career out of promotions and not just doing it just for free drinks and just because you're around girls and celebrities. No, I actually took it into a business, you know, and all access has been I've been doing what I did, what I've been doing for since 23, but all accesses legally being been in business for over 12 years now. You know, we're going on our 13 year in May. So, you know, I I that first felony took uh made me really think about what was uh what I had to do and how to pivot into my life. And then of course, when you're in your 20s, I I mean after that first felony, I got another one, then I got in trouble with the first one. You got a second one? Yeah, I got a second one, then then I got how were you in the when you got the first one?

SPEAKER_01 10:38

19, you said 19, 20, I think. And then the second one?

SPEAKER_03 10:41

Something around there. Second one, I don't even remember, like 24, 25, maybe. What'd you do? 26. Uh the the second one wasn't even like anything bad. It was just drug related.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

You know, it was I never heard of a good felony. I know, right? I never heard of a good felony, man.

SPEAKER_03 10:58

I mean, like that's true, but you know, a lot of people out here, I think they they put this uh persona of of what they did in the in the past and they make it worse than what it is. Like me, I'm I don't ever like I'm very transparent with what I've been through. I don't just make it look like, oh my gosh, two felonies. This guy's like a street guy or whatever. Like, no, I'm not pretending to be anybody I'm not. And I think there's a lot of people out here that pretend to be something that they're not, or they got in trouble for something that may not have been even like that serious. It's just the wrong timing or or the law, the justice system is just not good. Yeah, and so with mine, second felony, it was based on prescription pills, you know? And God bless my mom, she's uh passed away, and I used to take her to the doctor's appointment. So she left some prescriptions in my car. But she had a habit which was really she had she had a habit of taking off the labels. So when I got pulled over and they searched my car, they saw a bunch of pills. We're talking about like you know, narcotics, and so hydrocodons, you're talking about oxycontin, you're talking about the real good shit that people take. Yeah, and she had lupus again, and she had other illnesses. And to me, I thought nothing of it. You know, at 24 or whatever age I was, I thought to myself, those are my moms. Like, that's not gonna, what am I gonna like? I didn't think I was gonna get in trouble. Yeah, and the officer, you know, I and I forget when you have one felony, you know, it doesn't look good on the cops. You already painted a so I I could be doing the right thing, and if a cop pulled me over, even to this day, if a cop pulled me over to this day, and they looked at my background, they see two felonies and other arrests for other stuff that I've been involved, which is DWIs and other stuff. And it doesn't look good on you on black and white. So I don't there's times where cops don't treat me good, which I understand, but I respect cops. Do I like them all the time? No, but I respect them, you know?

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Why don't you like them?

SPEAKER_03 13:07

And because of that reason. Because of uh pressure. Being labeled when that cops or is that anybody? It could be it could be anybody, can we? It could be anybody, yeah. When people label you for they don't know who you are and they prejudge you, yeah. I mean, like that's that's you know, you gotta get to know people, you gotta talk to them. You know, just sit down and do a podcast, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Do a podcast, man. Because I didn't know you had two penalties and you just had a DWI.

SPEAKER_03 13:35

Yeah, I've been arrested eight times. Eight times? Why did I arrest it? Eight times. But what what high school did you go to?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

I started doing backgrounds around. What high school did you go to? Nina, understand where you came from.

SPEAKER_03 13:46

Um, high school. I mean, the high school had nothing to do with the background. I went to a white school. O'Connor. Yeah. O'Connor. O'Connor High School in Holotas.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

San Antonio native, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:57

Born and raised in San Antonio.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

All right. Second felony, and then eight times. It's a lot of times.

SPEAKER_03 14:03

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

I didn't know you get arrested that many times.

SPEAKER_03 14:06

Yeah, I know. It's crazy. But it's but, you know, when you're living a fast lifestyle and and and you're drinking and doing drugs and and you're in the nightlife, and you I mean, granted, some people may not experience that, you know. My best friend lived the nightlife and has clubs and bars and never been arrested, you know, for anything serious. So there's people out there that know how to be good on it, you know. You ever been arrested? Skylar, you've probably never been arrested either. So, you know what I mean? There's some people that just are okay. Me, I it was it was not the case, you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

And you own the clubs, I know you that was a different that was a different Skylar back then.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

Story has nothing to do with anything, but my I remember exactly where I was at. I got my first speeding ticket. Dude, I was on Walsham Road, and you know my background. I moved out, I was, you know, homeless and whatever, graduated, finally got a truck, and so I'm driving around, and I was, I don't know why. I was always just speeding. And I was on Walsham Road right there in front of Christian World, is like the church that's right there. I pulled into their parking lot, and the cop comes over, and I could not control myself. I'm like shaking. I was like 16, 17, dude, I'm like shaking. I get my ID. He's like, son, did you just murder someone? And I said, No, sir. No, sir, I didn't. I can't, and I'm like, dude, what the f what are you doing? Why are you shaking? I couldn't stop. He's like, Are you alright? I was like, Yeah, I'm just really nervous right now. And then sure enough, it was just a speeding ticket, but I'm one of those goody two shoes guys. I cannot like it.

SPEAKER_03 15:33

See, and that's good, you know. For me, when I again going back to my brother when he was like crying, and I make fun of him to this day, I'm like, he's like, he did it. I'm like, man, you just a bitch, basically. I was like, dude, it was like you should have just been like, no, it's not me, it was him, or whatever. Like, don't cry like just the way about it, yeah. But but I get it, you know. For me, I mean, I left the eight, I left at the house at 17, you know, I didn't kick the house, I left the house at 17 because I didn't want to follow rules. Yeah. And then when you don't want to follow rules and you just, you know, live that life, and there's a lot of things I did on the side that I shouldn't have done, but you know, it I think everything that that you do in your life shapes who you are today, you know, so there's no regret of anything. It's just it when you're at that moment at a young age and you don't have the experience of knowing that it's gonna be temporary, it can mess with your mind a lot. But when you start surrounding yourself with winners and people that have good things going on with themselves, that's when you start shifting and thinking, like, wow, everything that I did go through was just temporary. And then you just you're okay with that.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Out of those eight arrests, uh-huh, I took you to the eighth one to say, Hey, I need a change. What why why is somebody arrest? Like, right, man, I gotta stop what I'm doing and really evaluate what I'm doing to myself and interest that's a lot of arrests.

SPEAKER_03 16:50

Yeah, so at one point I had four pinning cases. So I had the drug possession, I had two DWIs, and then I had an assault case. So I had four different pinning cases that were just within less than two years. And I remember going to court, and the judge just looked at me in my eyes and said, You should be in prison. And you already can see that I'm white as hell, and but I turned pale. I was like, oh hell no. I was like, I'm too pretty for prison. There's no way I could do that. And you know, I I I gotta give a shout out to uh Nicola Hood, our former district district attorney. I have a really good relationship with him, and I hit him up and just said, hey man, I said, I need some advice and I need your help. And met up with him for lunch. And he, because of our relationship, he's like, I can't do anything for you, but I'm gonna refer you to a colleague of mine and you go through him. I said, Okay, cool. And I did. I did everything what uh Andrew, uh an attorney named Andrew, he he guided me the in that direction. He said, Okay, this is what I need you to do. I need you to go get a hair follicle test. I need you to volunteer yourself with the breathalyzer, I need you to volunteer yourself with a six-month outpatient program, I need you to uh get some people to say that your character is good, and that's what I did and went to the to the judge and basically presented all that and avoided prison. Did two years probation and six months in a work release program and six months outpatient program. So if anybody doesn't know what the work release program is, it's basically you're going in jail every day. So you're still it still misses with you mentally. So imagine being free for like six hours, right? And then after you're free for six hours, you gotta go back to the city. Yes, it misses with your head. And and and and it's not like you go in with your clothes. No, you gotta get butt-ass naked, spread your cheeks, show everyone everything, and then put your orange suit on, and then you're with real criminals, criminals. You know, you're not with just people that oh, I stole a chocolate bar. No, you you're laying down to someone that's a real thug in the streets, or you're laying down with someone that's a rapist or a murderer or whatever. You're not just in there with just people that do harmless who had wrong drugs in the car. Yeah. So yeah, basically.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

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SPEAKER_03 20:16

So it was crazy because I was uh I kept to myself when I was go when I was in the work with this program. But some of the guys, I mean, obviously I stand out, uh nothing wrong with tattoos because I actually want to get tattoos, but you know, no tattoos, nothing looks, you know, suspicious on me, and you know what I mean? And so some of the guys are they just asked me, they said, what do you do? I said, uh just you know, promote market. No, what do you do? I said, that's what I do. They're like, no, what do you do? I said, promoting and marketing. They're like, ask you one more time, what do you do? I said, I own a business. Okay, that's what we need to know. I was like, okay, why? Well, go talk to the officers uh up front, tell them that you own a business. I was like, okay, they're gonna treat you different. I was like, for real. And he was like, Yeah. I was like, all right, whatever. So when I leave, I I tell the uh the officer, I said, um, I'm not sure if y'all know this, but I own a few different businesses and and uh wanted to know if that can help my situation. And the officer says, What business? And I said, All access promotions entertainment, all access transportation, LLC, 417 solutions. And then right right as when I was saying it, he started looking it up. He saw the website, he saw social media, he saw everything. He was like, All right, we're gonna grant you 10 or 12 hours. I was like, for real? He was like, Yeah. I was like, cool. So it went from a six, six hours, eight hours to ten or twelve.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

What year was this?

SPEAKER_03 21:51

So I was nine, ten years, it has to be ten years ago because I'll be ten years sober. So I To be in 2015. 16, 15, 16. Yeah, that'd be 2015. Was the last time I got arrested?

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Big pinnacle change from last time getting arrested to soberness.

SPEAKER_03 22:09

Yeah, that was the reason why I became sober. You know, you uh the last time I was in jail, called an ex-girlfriend of mine, her name's Crystal, and she was such a sweet girl, like the girl that got away in a way. And my mom loved her, my best friend, all my friends, they all loved her. I just knew I wasn't right for her. You know, and so I let her go. And I remember in in jail, she was one of the only people that I knew her number by heart. And I remember calling her, and this is a pivot point, and and uh an aha moment. And I call her, she answers, I said, Hey. And there was a long pause, and then she says, How did I know it was gonna be you? Another long pause, your mom would not be proud. And I was just like, damn. I just remember like yeah. And then I got out of jail, and when I got out of jail, I told a few people, and that same day, I went back to the bar. And when I went back to the bar, I just asked God. I said, God, so can you just please, you know, let me go in to the bar and not buy anyone shots? Because back in the day they used to call me Hollywood, and I'd be the guy that buys 10, 20, 40 shots for everybody, bottles and all that. I live that lifestyle. And then I asked God, I said, just can you let me man up? Let me go in there, let me not buy any drinks, let me not order any drinks or shots, and just let me just get through the night, please. I said, This is my lifestyle, this is what I do. I can't go do anything else because of my record. I can't get hired. I there there's no, even to this day, if someone looked at or fill out a resume or application, they still deny me, you know, with all the experience I have. And so I went in there and that was like one of the longest nights ever. And I just remember just people like, hey, get some shots, or hey, here's a shot, here's a drink, and I'm just like, no, and I'm just in the bar, and it just like it took forever. And then last call, and then after everyone leaves, I go back in my car, I say one more prayer, and I woke up and never just had the desire to drink ever again. Now, granted, you it helped based on getting those arrests, you know. That was the reason why I had a change. And then that message that was told to me by my ex. And then just listening and just understanding where I was at. And the in the outside of uh people seeing me, I had this good life, which I'm not saying I didn't, it's just I was making careless mistakes at the same time, and I was tired of making those careless mistakes. And then you know, you worry people that that love you. Oh, you're gonna be in jail again, or you may end up getting in an accident, you may kill someone because you're drinking behind the wheels. And this is all knowing I have drivers and party buses too. And I just I was making reckless decisions, and so at first I didn't know if I was gonna stay sober for the rest of my life. It wasn't until a day after uh CBC at church, I was with some of my sober friends, uh Chris and Desmond, and uh Desmond had uh said, Hey, why don't you talk about your sobriety? I said, Oh, because my story's not like y'all's. Like I had no choice, I had to clean up my act. He goes, Yeah, but you should really share it. And I said, I really don't know about that. He goes, Yeah, you should. And then I was like, uh, maybe, you know, and that was when the first conversation I had with someone that actually told me to share it. I didn't want to share it because I didn't know if I was gonna stay sober. I didn't know if that was, you know, for me. And I mean, I like drinking, you know who? I mean, people that drink like to drink. So, and it's everywhere. And you've been this in this nightlife, you're around it all the time. And so I made a decision, I said, you know what, at this moment, that's what I'm gonna share. I'm gonna every time I made a post, and you could backtrack this, any post I've ever made, I always say, at this moment. And it's because at this moment, the sobriety has been a blessing. But I just never knew if I was gonna continue it. So even though my mom's been passed away for over 10 years, I have a conversation with her all the time. I get signs from her all the time. I believe in that. And I remember one day I get in my car and I said, Mom, I said, My two years is coming up, or three years, or whatever the probation I was on. Said, I don't know if I should say sober or not. What do you think? And then when I get in my car, my Bluetooth didn't connect. And I listened to a lot of inspirational videos in my car and even in my office. And so it didn't connect, and it was the radio, and the radio, they were just saying, Congratulations, Eminem, on his 10-year sobriety. And I just remember he's 10 years? No way. I thought he was doing drugs, I thought he drank. I mean, I like Eminem, top five best rappers of all time, and I'm just not a stan. I didn't know anything about him like that. So I quickly looked and it was true. It was 10 years. So I laughed to myself. I said, Mom, that's crazy. You want me to do 10 years? I was like, all right, I'll do 10 years. And then recently, I told my group of friends recently, like within the past few months, my 10-year anniversary is April 25th. And I've never been baptized, so I asked Pastor Ed to baptize me on April 25th.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

I mean, let me pause this because I feel like you're going on and on and on.

SPEAKER_03 28:08

Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

Let's have a conversation here.

SPEAKER_03 28:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

So you got the the the felonies, you got the thing. 10 years sober?

SPEAKER_03 28:14

10 years on April this year.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

So kudos to that, because I know that's a lot of hard work, right? So kudos to that. Crazy sign with their with their mom and putting that time into MM. Yep. So you're 10 years sober, you're still in the club space. When in the club, well, let's talk about the hustle mentality. Let's let's take a pause before we go into CBC. The hustle mentality as a hustler, because I know promoting's hard. I used to be in the club space. Harder and harder every year. What do you got to do different than all the other promoters? Because you've been around for a long time promoting. For all the newbie hustlers that are watching this, some of their wholesalers and doing are doing side jobs and side hustles. What do you got to do to be different as a regular promoter?

SPEAKER_03 28:54

I I think you just gotta find who you are and be happy and and be able to brand your name out there and don't always try to copy other people. Just be you in a sense, you know, and use the power of social media. You know, I I think I think for for me, it's based on being transparent and being bold and speaking truth. And if you don't know something, just say you don't know it. Find out or figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

In this promotion space, there's a lot of, I mean, pretty much every promoter I know, they drink, right? So for you not to drink, you think you became a better promoter because you don't drink and you're sober and you're analyzing the business and you're analyzing how everything works, or you're at a disadvantage compared to other promoters because you're not drinking with the crowd.

SPEAKER_03 29:41

Uh it gives g give or take with who you're talking to, you know, meaning as in clientele. If you're talking to a bunch of 20-year-olds, you're not gonna fit in because they want to get drunk and drink. But you talk to, you know, business professionals and owners, they just want to have a good time. So for them to see you sober, that's you know who they're gonna deal with. They're not gonna deal with someone that's drunk with them, but someone that can take care of them. So it just depends on the clientele.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

The promotion and the concerts kind of go hand in hand?

SPEAKER_03 30:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

Biggest concert you did? Um biggest as in attendance-wise, and then biggest as in ROI-wise.

SPEAKER_03 30:20

Uh Poly D. DJ Poly D. Yeah. Yeah, that was uh 1400 people that attended, I believe. Sold out within 10 days, 40% return. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

Oh, it was Poly D himself.

SPEAKER_03 30:34

Cool. Doesn't drink.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

Doesn't drink?

SPEAKER_03 30:37

Mm-mm. Poly D just goes in, does his set, and leaves. He's there for business.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

That's good. Well, he's been around for a long time.

SPEAKER_03 30:45

And in uh James Kennedy, same thing. Yeah. Sold out, 40% return. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Is that average or how does that 40% work?

SPEAKER_03 30:52

Um, based on whatever you invest in, you know. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

A good return, 40% of your money, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:59

Uh what about the typically what, six-week project? Yeah, six weeks, eight weeks project.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

So not like the uh headache celebrities or the headache individuals. I mean you know, I'm like, man, that dude is tough to work with. Uh offset. What's the story on that one? I remember that it's coming back to me. Oh man. Showed up late or something, I'm assuming. Maybe drunk.

SPEAKER_03 31:17

Diva, not drunk, just late. A diva. Um I didn't know all the details on it too as well. So I was just more of a talent buyer investor. So when you don't have full control of things or you just don't know, then you just don't know. So we looking back now, I probably should have kept it at 1902. But because we decided to move it to Smoke Skybar, I thought it was gonna be better because Smoke at that point was already doing concerts with hip hop and rappers, like 50 Cent and Ellie, and all that, whatever. So to me, it just made sense. But then now looking back, again, you have to look at the timing. If he would have gone there early as he was supposed to, then maybe it would have been a little bit different story. And because he got there so late, that's the reason why I I look at it now, it should have been at 1902 or club, because people would have been entertained by the bottles and the service and the DJs and maybe a couple other people performing. So but you learn, you know. So that that was probably the most challenging uh concerts that we did. But I mean, at the end of the day, it's just learning.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

How's uh concert space uh concert space now?

SPEAKER_03 32:38

Uh as your next artist. As a promotional partner, I mean, I made a deal with with the Social House Entertainment, and we are the consider like quote unquote the hub for San Antonio Market for Tacos and Tequila Festival. So been with them for the last three years, and it's been a blessing to work with those guys to learn, and they bring in huge artists. So this year we have 3-6 Mafia, Trina, Paul Wall. We have a lot of people on there, mims. So pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

What's your favorite 3-6 song?

SPEAKER_03 33:13

Um man, trying to think. Sipping, maybe? That's old school.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

That's really old school. Okay. Yeah. So now you're doing tacos and tequila, right? You got a tenure sobriety, so a lot going on. I'm assuming with tacos and tequila, because I mean I haven't been to it. I I think last time you came here, I wasn't in town, but I do want to go check it out because it seems really, really cool.

SPEAKER_03 33:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

That tacos and tequila, now you're doing more and more festivals, right? Yeah. How many festivals do you got?

SPEAKER_03 33:45

A little bit over 20.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

20 festivals? Yeah. What's what's the thought process in that you say doing too many festivals? Um, or is that no such thing? No such festivals.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

Or do you want to do more? No, no such thing. I have more coming next year.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

More?

SPEAKER_03 33:58

Yeah.

unknown 33:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:00

When you find when you when you find systems and you have people in place, and again, it just goes based on systems and being structured. I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary. I'm just taking that food item and substituting it with another food item. So there's plenty of restaurants that are catered towards every single festival. Started the first festival seven years ago with the brunch. So brunch festival is my baby, and that one's the most prestige one and I love it. That's the only one that I changed the theme, the music, and do different things for it. And then after that, I did um, but back to the backtrack on it, I was probably one of the first promoters in the city that did the day parties. Like day parties are huge now, but I did that 15 years ago. And I have receipts on all of it. I would pick different restaurants and put a DJ and do 11 from 3. And at back then they used to have bottomless mimosas. So you had bottomless mimosas, you had a brunch buffet, you had a DJ. I tied it into a nonprofit organization to give back. So I was doing these smaller ones, and then finally, seven years ago, I said I want to do a big one. I said, Man, let's do a brunch fest. And John, owning Alamo Biscuit Company, being my best friend, I hit him up and said, Hey, I'm gonna do a brunch festival and you're in it. I didn't ask him, I just said, You're in it. He said, Okay. I said, Damn, all right. And then after I made the announcement, said that they were gonna be involved, then magnolia, pancakes, whiskey cakes, and grieving on the burge, like all these big names. And then we had all these other people that didn't know anything about them. So it was a really good uh turnout. And then every year since then, it's been great. And then I go based on what I eat, so I have to have one sweet per day. So I put the sweets and sugar fests. I eat pizza every Sunday religiously, put a pizza festival. But I would look at different markets. So San Antonio, in my opinion, is sleepy San Antonio. We're slow on everything, behind on everything. So when you look at the Pizza Fest, Dallas has it for like seven years already. Austin, five years, six years. So you look at the market, you'd be like, damn, why is San Antonio being 1.5 million people in the city and surrounding areas? Why is it that we don't have it? We have outsiders coming into our city doing events. I'm against that, unless they're bringing a big artist. Like, there's no reason why. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. There's no reason why people should be coming to our city doing a festival without bringing in major artists. No reason. If they're bringing a major artist, then all by all means, let's go bring those people.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

Besides Taco and tequila, which festival is that? Um was uh what festival was coming into San Antonio?

SPEAKER_03 36:57

There is a margarita festival that that that that is uh here in San Antonio that's the same name, but I bought my name. And but the guys are from Dallas, and they come into the market, and I already had a conversation with them already a couple of times. Told them like just stop doing it. What'd they say? They said no.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

What would you say?

SPEAKER_03 37:17

Just wait to find out. That's it, you know? Because I don't I I don't I have everyone's back, you know, or everyone has my back in this city when it comes to the bars and the clubs. I could just make a phone call. I haven't done that. Will I? Probably. Because I I don't I don't think that that if he wants to change the name legally, that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

But what's the name Margarita Fest? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 37:39

San Antonio Margarita Fest. Mine's San Antonio Margarita Festival.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Uh, that's the issue. So his is San Antonio Margarita Fest.

SPEAKER_03 37:47

No, his is San Antonio Margarita Festival, mine's San Antonio's Margarita Festival. So it's the same name besides that S on the San Antonio's. But the trademark or the DBA or something? Yeah. So the the point here is if they would just either it's not just this company, it's other companies that are coming in. It just doesn't make sense why are the cities supporting it. But San Antonio is a weird market, though. Y'all should know that, you know, in certain ways. San Antonio sometimes supports locals, sometimes they don't support local.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

Oh we know.

SPEAKER_03 38:20

You know, that's what I'm saying. San Antonio, San Antonio, I love my city, born and raised. But San Antonio be kind of weird on that stuff. That's why there's times where I say, and this may be giving it out, which I don't care, but I say sometimes we're bringing X, Y, and Z to San Antonio. I don't ever say this is coming from all axes. I say we bring to San Antonio. Because now people have that thought process, like, oh wow, they're bringing it to San Antonio. When in reality it's us doing it. But you'd be surprised how many more people will support it if we say we're bringing it compared to saying, hey, we're just launching a new concept.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

Why do you think that is? Why do you think the support's not there from San Antonio, in your opinion?

SPEAKER_03 39:04

I think San Antonio sometimes has some haters, you know. That's just facts, you know. But I also think San Antonio just doesn't really get it at this moment. That's why it's sleepy San Antonio.

SPEAKER_01 39:17

When you say they don't get it, what about those people that are just oh, I didn't know somebody from Dallas at a margarita festival? I just want a margarita.

SPEAKER_03 39:23

Yeah, sometimes that happens too, you know. There's all types of angles on it, but I think San Antonio sometimes lacks support because they probably don't want to see people win, you know, in a sense. Not saying that's everyone, because I had I have nothing but a lot of support from everyone with the festivals, you know. It just I'm talking about other people that I see that try to do events that they don't get support. I'm just like, why are you not supporting them? For me, on a personal level, I get the support, but it's because I talk to everybody. You know, my phone's been going off right now during this podcast, and I'm good at giving people that respect to respond as quickly as possible. There's no such thing as being busy. You just prioritize people to where you see them at. You know, and because of the and you have to take time to listen too. So when you have vendors speaking to you, you listen and pay attention. And you know, I average about let's say 24 vendors that we can accept in our festivals, but then we have applications that come in for each festival, so that averages between 40 to 50. So if you do the math, 40 vendors that you talk to, right? And you have over 20 festivals, that's a lot of people I'm talking to. Like last year I talked to over 400 owners. So my network is growing huge, and you just gotta pay attention. So again, on a personal level, I get a lot of support. I get a lot of love from the city. When I speak that the city don't support sometimes, it's just based on what I hear, and I just uh like even in the music industry, people don't support local artists here. I was like, why? Why do they have to move to California or to you know Florida or wherever? Why can't y'all just support the local artists here? Because I've been working with a lot of uh artists right now.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

Who are you working with?

SPEAKER_03 41:23

Uh right now I manage uh a young uh guy named Angel. So he's uh up and coming right now. So he does a lot of RB and pop. And so uh took him a while to convince me, but now I'm managing him. So but then I have other artists that are part of my team that that I'm putting them on the festivals, giving them that platform to get heard, you know?

SPEAKER_01 41:45

So it's been a blessing. Yeah, the festival's really cool. What you got, Skyler?

SPEAKER_02 41:49

Speaking of people like to hate in San Antonio, somebody that you and I know, Chloe, you know them too. Adrian at Smoke, you all have done a lot of business over the years with the concerts and the festivals. I actually I think I was a uh judge against at the Brunch Fest. There was there at Smoke. Speaking of people who like to hate on people, Adrian, I feel like gets a very bad rap, and obviously he's going through a bunch of stuff right now. What uh how's your relationship been with him with him at uh Smoke Skybar?

SPEAKER_01 42:14

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SPEAKER_03 43:20

I like Adrian. Him and I are friends. So and sometimes people could look at that the wrong way and say, oh my gosh, you're friends with Adrian. And we're like, he's never done anything wrong to me. Yeah, he's been very supportive. So uh, and then people are like, well, how come you don't do the festivals there anymore? I was like, because we outgrew the venue. Yeah. You know, social spot, shout out to the guys, Hori and Sergio. Uh they reached out to us and showed us the the layout, made a really good deal, and we have 17 festivals over there. So yeah, I I it just you when you outgrow a venue, you just outgrow a venue, you know, and eventually we may outgrow social spot, you know.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

A step back. So go all the way back. You had the original uh felony, and then your friend John told you about promoting clubs. How did you actually take the initiative to get started? Because I know that's probably what 2010, 12-ish? Yeah, something like that. So it's a different time frame. It's not like it is now. There's no social media. You came up in the Eric Morgan days, the I want to say Scott was still promoting. Scott Malouv.

SPEAKER_03 44:24

Yeah, all of them. We all we all grew, like we all had our territories. You know, I always tell people, and this is just for kicks and giggles, but I would say I was in the North, which is Stone Oak, and I considered Stone Oak was the major league. Right. And I consider everything was like the minor leagues. If you weren't promoting the Stone Oak area, then you weren't as big as a promoter. And I I think it just based based on what I was told to do was go out every night, go shake hands, and then have flyers and do the traditional, you know, I still do that to this day.

SPEAKER_02 44:56

But from a business standpoint, because I remember when I first met you, we haven't known each other that long, but five, six years now. Yeah. Um, you know, you were in with the owners of Hotel Discotech, was the top club in the city. You were friends with David, who owned Lush, the place that I bought. You were friends with all the top owners. How do you go from just going out every night getting drinks to now you're working for a no on a personal friend level with like the owners and stuff? How does that transition happen?

SPEAKER_03 45:18

Uh, based on on not taking advantage of the owners and thinking about the clubs first and not yourself. So as a promoter, I wasn't the typical person that says, hey, I need five comp bottles and I need uh a hundred dollar bar tab and I need this and this, this. No, it's like you ask questions, how can I help you? How can I serve uh a purpose into your club too as well? What is it that we can do to work together? So if back in the day, Salita Lindo, I was promoting there, and we did a Sky vodka, I don't even know if that's even around to this day. Sky vodka around. Still around, yeah. Still around okay. So that used to be the pop popular bottles back then, you know? And it shows my age. But we were doing, let's just say 50 bottle,$50 bottles, right, for Sky vodka bottles before midnight. And so I would ask the club owner, be like, hey, how much is this bottle and at your cost? And they just say they said$15. All right, well then let me buy five of those at$15 at your cost so that you're not losing anything, like you're breaking even with me. Really? Yes. All right, cool. And that's what would happen. I would pay for the bottles that I was giving to my clientele. And another thing I did differently was I started a a point system. So back in the day, one of my business cards, and I didn't bring my wallet in here, but I keep the business card in my wallet and it says book smart, get rewarded. So if Mike is one of my regulars and he's spending$2,000,$1,000,$3,000, I start tracking down how much you spent. And I wrote write it down. I would show the club owner, be like, man, this guy spent like$5,000 in one month. Like, this is what I want to do for them. This, this, this, this. And then I would pay for some stuff, and then the club stall, they're like, shit, that's a good client. I was like, yes. So then I would reward them. So in my business card, it says book smart get rewarded. And I started this point system with every single uh club. And then also I couldn't be everywhere. So I have I wrote contracts with every single club that I couldn't have uh couldn't be there on that night. So I have a had a residency on a Friday night at somewhere. But say you and you just wanted to go to different two different clubs. Most promoters have to convince you to go to their club. I was like, no, you want to go here? All right, you're gonna go here, and you want to go there, you're gonna go there. I talk to those owners. Hey, I'm here, but I'm bringing you clientele. So we need to figure out a uh a percentage of my clientele what I'm getting. And I would type them a contract and then they sign, and then y'all like you just do business the right way. And that's why I have a lot of res like a lot of the club owners have respect for me because I never did anything shady. I never tried to steal, I never try to undercut their minds or anything like that. I just tried help. And if if I stopped promoting, it was just based on the the people that were going in there, the clientele. Like, don't get me wrong, I like going to the hood bars and all that. I'm there still this day. Right. But would I promote it? No. Because it's not my clientele, you know? So even with the the new clubs nowadays, I get I just got recently three different places uh just recently hit me up and they wanted me to come promote for them. I was just like, no, I'm done with the promoting of the clubs. So I I transitioned to the festivals.

SPEAKER_02 48:45

Plus, I was gonna ask you next, how did you transition? What's the transition? Because you were from 2000 and call it 10, 12 all the way till pretty recent. I mean, I got started in 2021 and you were still pretty active at hotel before they had the transformation. Um so what was the big switch from you? How did you even get into the festivals?

SPEAKER_03 49:03

Uh based on just thinking about brunch, it was really just the love for brunch. The love for brunch and doing smaller events to where Adrian and I were at one of his locations and in his basement bar, and we were just talking, and I just said, Man, I really want to do a brunch festival. He said, Let's do it here, let's do it in two months. And then he goes, You have the connections. I was like, Yeah. And then obviously having a best friend that owns one of the most popular brunch restaurants, I was like, Yeah. So we did it, you know. Granted, I didn't know SA Current, shout out to SA Current, um, has their own brunch event, which is called United Rebrunch. So I found out based on Kin's Five, mixed our events together. Some way, somehow, they just mixed it. And then that's when I was told, hey, there's there's already a brunch event, but it's not called San Antonio's brunch festival, it's called United Rebrunch. And if I'm not mistaken, if I don't know if I'm uh saying this correctly, but I believe United Way is a nonprofit, and that's that was their way of launching this event. And I I don't know if that's correct, and I just I think I remember that part. So when I thought of the concept of the brunch festival, I actually had so many different names. And then finally I said, wait, why don't we just give it to the San Antonio? Like, why not just San Antonio Brunch Fest?

SPEAKER_02 50:27

It's a much better name, by the way, than the guy that we brought.

SPEAKER_03 50:29

Yeah, and so it just worked. And everyone loves brunch.

SPEAKER_01 50:34

So what are the uh festival coming up that you're really excited for?

SPEAKER_03 50:38

Uh this Saturday, March 14th, the first ever hot Cheeto festival. So you're talking about 16 different hot Cheeto vendors that are using in that are using hot Cheetos to infuse into their snacks. So that's gonna be it should uh for jokes, it should be called the Hood Rat Festival, but no.

SPEAKER_01 50:59

What are some of the uh foods items that's infused with hot Cheetos?

SPEAKER_03 51:02

Uh you're talking about like chicken on a stick with uh hot Cheetos, you're talking about hot dogs with hot Cheetos, you're talking about uh chamoy pickle with hot Cheetos, you're talking about Cheetos with hot cheese, like you there's so many different ways of having hot Cheetos.

SPEAKER_02 51:18

When you walk in the door, they're gonna be handing out the big gold hoopiering. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 51:21

San Tony Riddles are hot Cheetos.

SPEAKER_03 51:23

So yeah, that's coming up. That's coming up March 14th, and then we have uh the third annual Taste of the Medical Center uh inspired uh unofficial uh Fiesta event uh on the property of Alamo Biscuit Company. Service our third year doing that. We have a Nashville country star named Tay Lewis, he's gonna be headlining. So shout out to my business partner, Blake. Um uh shout out to my business partner Blake. He him and I are doing a country festival later on this year in October. And then uh after that we have the steak festival.

SPEAKER_01 51:54

That's the one.

SPEAKER_03 51:55

Now we're talking the steak festival, you know.

SPEAKER_01 51:57

So consider me a steak expert.

SPEAKER_03 51:59

So yes, and uh you will be a judge. There we go. Mike will be a judge. Excited for that, man. You know, for the steak festival. So that's uh April 25th, I think, on the Saturday. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:13

So how does that work? Like when it comes to a steak, I don't know how much you can share on the podcast, but when it comes to a steak festival, who is gonna be there? How does what does how does it work for the people? How does it work for the restaurants?

SPEAKER_03 52:24

So restaurants, uh, absolutely no vendor fee. Uh any of my festivals, absolutely no vendor fee. Your investment is to provide samples. So if we're talking about steak festival, then you cut up, you know, different steaks and you put them in a four-ounce tray and you're sampling those out. And you're allowing the audience to go ahead and taste it. And you know, this this I was actually inspired by Taste of Northside. So Taste of Northside, I absolutely love that event. It is more in the upscale bougie, you know, they're$250 for the tickets. So I actually like that concept. When I would go, uh, shout out to Hetty with Social House. I used to do the after parties at his his uh his lounge in Stone Oak, and we would do the pre-party and the after party there, and we would go and you know, I would just get in, and it was just a lot of fun, and I like their concept. And I remember just talking to the vendors, they're like, Yeah, we don't pay a fee and we sample out. And then John participated with Burger Fi when he had that. So he told me the same thing. I was like, damn, that's pretty cool. So then it's marketing, you know, at the end of the day. So even if you're a pop-up or a food truck or even a nice restaurant, you can't say no to marketing. You can't say no to being in front of hundreds and hundreds of people. You always have to market yourself. I mean, look, you brand yourself every day. You know, it's all about branding. So it's all about networking and building relationships. You're just you're one person away that can change your life, you know. This pop-up, they they join. You may like it to say, hey, let's open up a steak restaurant, you know. So I mean, I don't think I'll do that again, but a lot of work having a steak restaurant.

SPEAKER_01 54:10

Yeah, but steak, man, I love steak. So how does it work? So people come in, we're gonna try different steaks. Yep. Now the people get like a people choice award, or they get to be doing it.

SPEAKER_03 54:17

Yeah, so there will be a People's Choice Award and then judges. So you're one of the judges, so we will have uh a panel of judges where they get a taste all the steaks, and then they have a scorecard. So you get it to rate who you like the most. And then the people get a uh a voting ticket, and every booth has a voting box, and you get to go ahead and taste all the all the stakes, and then you get to put the vote in there, and then there will be first, second, and third place uh for each category.

SPEAKER_01 54:45

How many vendors, how many steak vendors are we expecting?

SPEAKER_03 54:47

As of right now, I have want to say eight. Uh I want about sixteen. Yeah, we're still far away. You know, we're we're a month away, but I I I I want at least 16. You know, we have 16 hot Cheeto vendors, so 16 is the magic number to have for any of the festivals. It doesn't matter if it's the steak, uh, to where it's uh uh the chicken wing festival, the fried chicken festival, the burger, the sushi. So the magic number is 16 uh of really good vendors that want to compete. And again, it doesn't matter if you're you know a restaurant, if you have a passion for cooking and you're just wanting to get your name out there, we want you. You know, as long as you have the canopy, as long as you have your tables. Uh, as an organizer, anybody that that does an event, you as an organizer have to go and get your food uh permits, your temporary food permits. So I go uh register those and then I tell the the vendor here's$40 or the$40 I spent, just reimburse it, and that's it. You know? So if they're selling. But typically, if I would encourage people if they did want to start their own events, just have vendors do samples because then you avoid all of that other stuff because you can't there's you're not doing anything but sampling. So and then you gotta also think about it this way too. If nobody knows who you are, then how are they gonna know if they're gonna like it or not? Why do you think HE B and Costco are so smart during the weekends? I mean, HEB gets me all the time with chips and salsa. They every time I'm out there shopping, they have a new bag, a new salsa, and here you go, here's your free sample. You're not gonna say no. I'm like, yeah. And then be like, damn, I'll get this too. Put it in my cart. So vendors, some vendors understand, some vendors don't, to each own, you know, and some vendors don't want to join because it's a friendly competition, so they don't want to lose. And and and I I experienced that the first year with the Brunch Fest. So a lot of the high-end names that didn't place first, second, or third place and lost against people that they didn't know or nobody knew, they took it that personal. So they didn't come back.

SPEAKER_01 56:57

How many judges typically are per principal?

SPEAKER_03 57:00

Uh anywhere between minimum three, max five. So yeah. Good different variety.

SPEAKER_01 57:06

No one's biased, and they're all just tasting the the steak.

SPEAKER_03 57:08

Yeah, no one's biased. You know, I don't, I mean, that also depends if you know the vendors, you know. If you actually know the vendors, then that's that's on you, you know. All I can tell is that nothing's rigged on my end because I don't vote ever. I've never voted for a festival.

SPEAKER_02 57:25

They're being judged by a panel of their peers.

SPEAKER_03 57:27

Yeah, so and then I mean, also you the the people's choice award, you know, that's more of a popularity contest in a way. So if you're if you are one, two, three stakes and you have a hundred people supporting you, what do you think is gonna happen? You think those hundred people are gonna vote for someone else? No, it's it's at the end of the day, we all have to do the marketing and the promoting and try to get our people in there. So, and and that's why this way, what I've learned from my other festivals is every vendor, they get 50 tickets to where they can sell them and they could keep 100% of those sales. And so a lot of people are like, wait, why are you giving the vendors 100%? I said, because they're investing their time and they're sampling out. I was like, I want them to make money. These festivals, these festivals are not always target to for them to make money, they're to network, build a relationship, and to get their name out there. So for me, I was like, if I give them 50 tickets and they just say hypothetically, just using this number, and I'm saying that this is what they charge, but they just say they use$25, right, for a VIP ticket. That's$1,250 that they can make off the back by selling that. So then you have 20 vendors with 50 tickets, that's a thousand people. And on top of that, I give them X amount of complimentary tickets. So it's a volume for me. I look at volume when it comes to festivals. Anyone that's putting events together, stop looking at the numbers of what the tickets cost and what you potentially can get. Don't look at it that way. People think I have an event, I'm gonna charge$55 and a thousand people are gonna be there. I'm gonna make$55,000 on that event. No, that's not how it works. That's not how it works. Unless you have a big artist or a big attraction, then it will work. But if you're doing everything locally, it doesn't work like that.

SPEAKER_01 59:13

Well, I will tell you, man, I am excited for this steak festival.

SPEAKER_03 59:15

And yeah, I don't know who the That's a free game too, y'all.

SPEAKER_01 59:18

I don't know who the competition is. Um, but it's open to anyone with steaks, right? Mm-hmm. Someone told me that sugars, whether steak and fries should be part of this competition. You told yourself that. Sugars has steak and fries in it. That's what it is.

SPEAKER_03 59:33

And then steak is a steak. The steak's a steak, man. If sugars wanted to fill out the application for me, I don't see why not. You know, sugars? You know, you hear that, sugars? You got a sponsor right here, Direct Lund. He's like, I'll speed down them right now. So I'll tighten them up right now.

SPEAKER_01 59:48

So you got people like Sugars, where people won't expect a steak from Sugars, but they do have steaks. You gotta have your prime steakhouses. I don't know who's all, and I'll I kind of want to be uh blind to it until the day I showed up, right? I don't want to be biased or whatever. So I'm really looking forward to that steak now. For you have all these festivals as the hustle mindset. How do you run smoothly 20 different festivals as a hustler, as an entrepreneur, and as a promoter all in once?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:13

Systems. You know, you gotta be disciplined. You gotta have structure. You all know that as hustlers yourselves, you know, you gotta wake up, gotta sleep less, gotta have patterns, routines. You know, you have to have the right people that see the vision. Shout out to my entire team. I mean, 40 plus people. 40 plus people. Yeah, 40 plus people. A lot of people. I mean, that's a lot of promoters and and DJs and artists, you know, that are part of the team. And they have that driven, they have that drive, you know, and and they believe in the vision, you know. They all can make a lot of money. So it just depends on on having the right people.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:51

Do you have one specific event coordinator that helps you with all of them? Are you the head of events or who does all the coordinating?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:56

So I have people uh delegate some of the work, yes. So uh Aja Brown, shout out to her, my event content director. Uh so she helps a lot. Uh then we have Kevin McGee. He's uh he has this platform called Where We At. So content creator as well with food. And then, you know, we have uh AR, she handles all the uh like she does her own set of artists in different events, so it allows me to learn who the artists are in San Antonio, then entertainment director, DJ Mystic, and he handles all the DJs that are part of the events, and also the artists and bands, you know. So everyone uh it goes down to different people that have different uh jobs of what they have to do, and then of course my videographers and photographers and my marketing team. So it it yes, I don't do everything, no. I just overseek everything and make sure everything's smooth, and then you know, just be the one that that's there to help guide them so that they can close deals or just continue to build these relationships. So I'm trying to teach everyone to understand like if you bring in a vendor, like you be responsible for that vendor. I'll do the talking, but at the end of the day, that's your relationship that you're gonna build strong. So you don't have to worry about, oh man, they're always talking to me. No, because I can't talk to you 400 plus people all the time.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:16

Right, right. Well, it seems like you really had this whole thing patent down is years of experience. You took what you learned from the promotion side and applied it to the festival. It's really good for the city, man, because someone like you doing 20 plus festivals in the city all different from hot Cheetos to steaks to brunch to all kinds of stuff, man. It's really cool to see that. Earlier we kind of took a pause on CBC. Um, how'd you find about CBC and what's your role at C B C if there is one?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:41

Uh role is just to be, you know, there to get people in there. I so I was you you hear the term bar hopping, I was church hopping. So I was going to a different church, and this is when my mom passed away, and I wanted to find a church. A friend of mine, Vanessa, invited me to CBC. I didn't know that I was considered a mega church. I did not know that because I didn't grow up in, you know, a Christian church, Catholic, but I didn't know that was considered a megachurch. And I remember Robert Emmett being the pastor, and he had a really good uh service, and I was like, okay, I'm gonna be here. Second time he goes and says he's gonna retire. And I'm thinking to myself, man, I'm gonna go church hopping again. And so the third time he introduces Pastor Ed, and before Pastor Ed even spoke, I just like his swag. I was like, dang, like I like his swag. And then he started speaking, he articulates his words, he makes you feel he's talking to you directly, doesn't matter what age group you're in. And I made it a point to meet him, and I met him, and then one day we ran into each other outside of church and got his number and just started building a really close relationship with him. And so Pastor has been a huge part of my life, and CBC has been a big big part of my life too, as well. Uh, so I'm blessed on that part. You know, when you're in your early age in the club scene, you want to get to know all the club owners. Getting older now, you just want to get closer to God and closer with your family and closer with the more important things in life. And so for me, it's been a blessing. And I remember one time, I remember one time um after the club, I would always be the one telling the people where you're gonna go tomorrow. I would convince them to go to CBC. And then Pastor Ed and during the service, he was like, Man, there's a club promoter telling people to go to service to CBC, whoever you are. And I was in there that day, and I remember my friends texting me, like, hey man, did you see Pastor Ayers talking about that promoter telling people to go to that was me?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:45

So was definitely cool, man, to see full circle from a little kid when we first started to the felonies to the eight arrest 20 festivals to now, you know, going to CBC and really promoting CBC and using that as your influence to the city and really getting people closer to God. Now, this is Trump the Hustle Podcast, right? So Trump the Hustle to me is not a slogan, it's it's a way of life. What does Trump the Hustle mean to Mike Anthony?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:10

Uh be real at all times and and be transparent and and be accountable. Like just be real. To me, I think that if you have discipline, consistency, the right people around you, but also just be mindful of others and being transparent and being real, that that that should set it off, you know. You can't you can't be someone you're not. Be happy where you're at in life and find peace in your life, whatever you do. Just find peace and happiness, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:44

Very well said. So for anybody who, if this is their first time seeing you, they want to get they want to go to a festival, they want to get in touch with you, they want to hire your marketing agency, your bus uh party bus company, how do they get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:55

Uh you can go ahead and text directly 210 677 5289. You can also find us on social media on Instagram and Facebook. The handle is AllAxesMA. And then you'll see all the festivals under the All Access brand. And then personal page is officialMikeAnthony.torus as well. And just uh uh before I get off, I do want to say uh thank you guys for inviting me to be on y'all's podcast. So it's a really good setup. I like what y'all are doing. Uh this is uh I think San Antonio needs this. I think San Antonio needs people to to learn from one another, not to judge people based on whatever they hear, but to sit down and really have real conversations that are not scripted and to really just dive into the conversation of meeting that person and who they are. Because a lot of times people around the the circle of who we're in front of, people can say this and that about each other. But once you start sitting down and getting to know that person, you it opens a different perspective in your life.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:53

Definitely appreciate that. We've uh we've experienced that with a couple people we've had on already. You hear stigmas and hear stuff around town of what you know they may be or what they may be like, and then you get to sit down for an hour or so and have a conversation. So it definitely is cool to see see everybody's.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:07

So you're judging steak. Which one are you gonna judge this year? You tell me, pizza. No, hot cheetos. I'll do the pizza. Pizza, man. We have the teenage mutant ninja turtles there all the time. So that one's the last one. That was that one's fun. But also we tie in nonprofit organizations throughout the entire year. So if anybody, if y'all know any good nonprofit organizations, please let us know because that's part of the Keras program that we have. We give a portion back to every single nonprofit after the festivals. And then uh we invite everyone at the end of the year to our gala. So nice.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:40

We'll definitely be there. We'll count us in. So well sounds good. We appreciate you joining on this episode. And for you viewers that are out there watching, we appreciate you watching another great episode of the Turn Up the Hustle podcast. Make sure that you always like and subscribe if you like what you're seeing here. And as always, as always, make sure to turn up the hustle. We will see you on the next one.