How to Build a Brand People Actually Believe In

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What's up, my good people? Welcome to the CJ Moneyway Show, powered by Believe Network, the podcast that brings you stories behind the success. Today's guest is a master of movement marketing, from helping brands land and like ABC, NBC, CBS, and QSR Magazine to building the Cynical Agency into an award-winning media firm. Steve knows how to turn powerful missions into stories the world can't ignore. He's the creator and host of Wolves Among Us and 5 award-winning minutes, and he's helped scale companies to 8-figure exits through the power of media storytelling and legacy-driven strategy. Hey, welcome to the show today, my man Steve. What's up, Steve? How you doing, man?

Oh, I'm doing fantastic. Thank you so much for bringing me on. I appreciate the intro. It's always a pleasure. Yeah, anybody who loves New Era hats or just hats in general and represents their team is, is somebody that I can, you know, subscribe and get behind.

Yeah, man. Hey, Steve, let me ask you, man, because my father used to spell his name the same way. Do you say it Steven or Stephen?

So Steph Curry went and he ruined it for all of us, but it's Stephen the way that I pronounce it.

That's the way my father pronounced it, Steve. So we called him Steve, man. And so, uh, Steve, man, let me ask you, man, roots and rise. You started out an industrial engineer. What moment sparked the pivot into media and storytelling?

So it all started when I was younger, and I think my parents divorced when I was younger. I became a people pleaser. I was caught in the middle, and I was always trying to please everybody. But then that really created my power of connection. How can I connect with my mom? How can I connect with my dad? Eventually, I was still trying to figure things out, and my parents said, you should go to college for math and engineering and science. And so I did because I was good at that. But eventually, I was an engineer for a while, and it just wasn't fulfilling me. It wasn't lighting me up. And I grew up watching movies and sports TV, and I wanted to be like O.J. And that's not a good reference nowadays. Back in the day, O.J. was doing it all. He was acting, he was announcing, he was a sportscaster, he was an athlete, and then he was also doing some other stuff. Yeah. So now I say Strahan, but, or whomever, but, you know, I was really passionate about storytelling and wanted to get involved in that. So I went to school for engineering. I was an engineer, and then I got laid off. I said, look, this is my ticket. When one door closes, another opens. And so I pursued entertainment, and I was an actor in New York City, and it was some of the most finest moments of my life. And, you know, facing rejection every day, it's a challenging thing, but it's very humbling. And it built a lot of grit up. It built grit for me. I call it GRIT: gratitude, resilience, integrity, and trust. And I just kept going forward and forward. And then I figured out I need to stop giving my power away. So then I started producing my own content and making my own shows.

I like that, man. You know, if I had to make a reference like you did to The Juice, man, I would say that Tupac. I'm a big Tupac fan.

Yes.

And so like you say, Pac, man, he making all these albums, man. He doing his thing, but he in the movies, you know what I'm saying? He just changing the game, being multifaceted, man. So yeah, I would—

what, Justice Juice?

Um, the one with, uh, he was in a whole lot of movies, man. Can't think of it right now.

He was my first CD that I got from BMG, was strictly for my, you know what, I'm not gonna say it, but that was I remember when I— so I went to Penn State, and when I worked at Penn State, I was the only white kid who got to work at the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, and it was brilliant. They would have, you know, step shows and all these things. I got to learn about all different backgrounds. And so this is the time I would ask them, I said, hey, I know I'm a white guy, you know, if I'm singing a rap song, do you think it would be okay for me to say the word? And they said, if it's part of the song, it's okay for you to say it. But if it was just some random guy that I didn't know, by no means. Like, we would not allow that. But it was really cool because this is when Freak Nick and all these other things were happening. And I felt plugged in, you know, Goody Mob first was coming to the forefront. And I got really into a lot of the hip-hop culture as a part of that. It was really cool.

Oh man, it sounds cool, man. What a life you had, Steve, man. What a life from being an engineer, man, to kicking it with Goody Mob, them, uh, Who's that peeking through my window?

Wow, nobody. Now, when I play that song, it's just— and so I played tennis in high school, and we got to put our names on the sleeve. And I was— I lived in suburbia outside Philly. It was Doylestown, Pennsylvania. And I said, okay, and I put Endo. So, you know, rolling down the street smoking Endo. And so I put Endo on my shirt, and I thought that was cool, you know, all these things that you do as a high schooler where you think that That's a front.

Oh man, I love it, Steve. I like you, bro. Hey, so, so Steve, let me ask you, man. How did your Philly roots and blue-collar upbringing shape your approach to hustle and brand building?

Yeah, thank you for asking. I think you look at Rocky and you look at the story of Sylvester Stallone. Sylvester Stallone was an aspiring actor. He was so poor at one point in time he had to sell his dog. And then later on they wanted to buy his script and he said, look, You're not going to buy the script unless I'm starring in it and I'm involved in it. And he epitomizes the struggle. It's not how many times— it's not how hard you get hit, it's how many times you can get hit, keep going. So for me, it's all about that underdog mentality first and foremost. But secondly, you know, do what you say, say what you're going to do. You're only as good as your word. And for people to trust you, I think you just need to keep moving forward. Earlier we were talking about the Philadelphia Eagles, and they're good now, but back in the day they were not good. They just kept pushing forward. And having that sense of blue-collar mentality, that teamwork, and knowing that you just got to keep going. And so right now with brands and companies and organizations, one of the things that I try to do is to really distill what's your message, how can we do it in a way that's not like everybody else, because that's tired, that's plain, that's played out. And so for a while I had a company called Renegade Reporting, and that's how I first started doing my media. I would go out on the streets. And I mentioned to a friend, I said, hey, let's do some renegade reporting. He's like, I like that. I said, yeah, okay, cool. So it was renegade reporting where we don't want to be like everybody else. We want to step outside the box and find a new and interesting approach. So that's what started me in terms of branding. But when we work with a brand, I usually do a 4-step process. We want to start with your mission because we want to come from the heart. We don't want to come— we want to separate ourselves 18 inches into our heart. Then we get into what's that message. It's got to be super simple. Turn that mess into your message. Then we get into media and marketing. But lastly, we really want to build a movement. And so we were talking earlier, you were talking Boston, Philly, and some of these— it's a movement. A lot of it comes from the blue-collar workers, and they— it's a movement around sports because it brings people together. And so that's ultimately what I want to do with a brand or personalities. How can we make it so people can vote with their clicks? They can vote with their dollar. They can vote with the time that they spent with you. But you have to be building a movement that people can believe in and get behind.

I like that, man. I like that. And for the note, go ahead, show us your tat, man. Show us why you—

There it is. So there's my tattoo. I just got this a couple of months ago. I was telling you earlier, growing up, I watched Randall Cunningham and Fred Barnett. And as I move further in life, I noticed these serendipitous moments. But my favorite player was Fred Barnett. I actually had a dream. My mom told me, "Hey, your stepfather's sick." And 6 months later, I had a dream of my mom calling me and telling me he passed away. And that dream happened, literally verbatim, how I dreamt it. So it was a tough challenge. I got on the airplane to go back to his funeral, and my favorite player, Fred Barnett, was on the back of the plane. And flash forward 2014, I worked for a startup,. And then one of the gals that I worked with, she said, hey, I know you're a big super fan for the Eagles. I'm up for the Eagles, uh, marketing position. Close friend of mine. She ended up getting the job. Uh, her name's Jen Kavanaugh. She's the VP of marketing and branding at the Eagles. But it's funny, if you look for the signs, the serendipitous moments as you move forward in life, you will find them. You have to be open and aware. And then my dad ended up getting sick. So I reached out to my friend Jen. I said, hey, my dad's sick. Could you help us out? And so she sent a huge Eagles care package. And this is right when they were drafting Jalen Hurts. Merrill Reese, the announcer, sent my dad a video. He ended up passing. But the day that we were going to go to see my dad to do the green carpet at the Eagles, that, you know how when you take a shower and the window gets steamy?

Mm-hmm.

So we looked into the mirror and we saw a picture and it was a little picture of an eagle looking just like that. And so that's why I have my stepdad and my real dad tattooed on my hand as a reminder that first of all, you're never really a man until you lose your father. Secondly, everything in life happens for a reason. And when we can embrace loss and challenges and obstacles as teaching moments, that's when we truly have conquered the game.

You know what, man, and I truly appreciate you sharing that. Because just yesterday, man, I was just telling my mother, I went and saw her before I went to work, because we in a season where I lost my father November 22nd. 2015. Sorry, I appreciate it. And so like you were saying, you know, I was telling her, I was talking to somebody and they say once, you know, you got two sides, and once you able to put them together, you know what I'm saying, connected together, you can find peace within the grief, you know, because people, you know, you grieving everything, but now you find peace within the grief because you can still celebrate the time that you shared with them. And then you can still, you know, say you can still grieve, but it ain't, you know, well, I'm sobbing, crying and everything. I'm at peace with it, you know, because I can still remember the memories, man. And what you did, man, was awesome, putting the tattoo not only of your stepfather but your father too, man, as the emblem that's gonna be with you for life. And I think that's cool. The hip-hop agency guru right here, my man Steven from Watch Out. Hey, hey, so Steve, let me ask you, man, the power of media-driven storytelling. You've worked with massive brands and startups, a lot, uh, you know, all alike. What makes a story of media worthy in your eyes?

Everybody's story is worthy. So one thing that I talk a lot about is I talk about— I did a TEDx talk. It was called The Hidden Power of Grief, just to talk briefly what you were just talking about. And when we have grief, we all feel like we lose something or we're in a position, whether it's a loved one, a dog, a job, and we feel like that's gone. But really, it stays with us. Once we find that love, that love is exponential. Creativity is exponential. Connection is exponential. And so it continues. It's not something where there's any lack. And when you can reconnect and then you can rebuild relationships, and then lastly, reclaim your purpose. Everybody's story matters. It's up to us to share the story. And that's the connective tissue. And I think from a media perspective, it's about finding what that unique access point is. Too often people switch different jobs and they say, oh, that doesn't matter. Well, that's a part of who you are. And so times have changed. My dad was a boomer. He didn't talk a lot about vulnerability, tough moments. And I think that's really what unlocks it for a lot of these brands is finding out where the trials and tribulations and the obstacles that you have and really keying in on that. Because there's a famous actor, I don't know if you know him, his name's Michael Caine. He's a British guy and he talks like this. But he talks a lot about when he's in a movie, he's like, I don't want to hold up a picture and say, look at me. I want to hold up a mirror and say, look at you. And so when we can tap into these stories, everybody's story matters. One way that I tell people and brands to be great, like, every— everybody's already taken, so might as well be yourself. If you're building your own personal brand, if you're building a product or service, you need to tap into your audience, get super specific in terms of your niche. The riches are in the niches. Give them a lot of value and have a two-way conversation. Don't just throw things at them. That's where we kind of walk through the mission, the message, the media, and the movement. But I talk a lot about being great. You want to be grateful. You know, you don't have to go to work, you get to go to work. Be reflective. And so you take moments and you get rid of all the busyness and you clue in on what's really important. And then empathetic, especially with AI. And all the tools that are out there, the face-to-face, eye-to-eye, heart-to-heart. Be empathetic and find yourself opportunities to share. And A, accountable. This goes back to the feeling we talked about. If you're gonna do something, you better do it, otherwise people are going to lose trust. And then lastly, transformational. And that's where we want people to come from happiness instead of for happiness. Too often people are searching for things outside of themselves— the rich car, you know, the beautiful wife, the food, all these other things that make them happy. But when you go in and you realize what truly lights you up, when you find that flow, then you're unstoppable.

I like that, man. Hey, let me ask you this, Steve, man, real quick, because you said something that made me think. You said that when you building a brand, whether it's personal or product, you know, if I take it that it's different ways that you do it, give me one, one key aspect of building your brand.

Yes. So I had somebody that I worked with back in the day. I was an actor. And so this all goes back to connection is currency. The more that you can connect with people and be empathetic and listen and hear their story, the more successful you're ultimately going to be, because then you're building your Rolodex. For the people who don't know what that is, but it's like, you know, your group of people. So I acted with a buddy of mine. His wife started a— it was a noodle shop called Noodle Lane. And she started going to these fairs. He said, look, we're going to open up a location in Brooklyn. We want you to help us. And so, okay, we met with her and she's like, I just— we asked her what she wanted. Hey, I want a lot of people to come here. My food is amazing. But it wasn't until she felt comfortable being the face of the brand and allowing her to be the key spokesperson of the brand that she really grew. Because we put her on a video with a guy by the name of Eric Jiang, and she opened up about being bullied, about growing up in China and all the things that she had experienced. But what was really the most important aspect was when she was younger, she used to be in the kitchen with her mom. Food brings everybody together. She saw how her mom cooked. She saw how she made the noodles. She had this wonderful experience being loved, accepted. And then when she moved to the United States, she came here in search of the American dream. She pursued finance. But it wasn't until she became a mom And her son started to like dan dan noodles and various other specialties that she started cooking. And that was truly the story that unlocked her growth because she was able to tell everyone else, look, this is an American dream. Just because, you know, I came here from China doesn't mean that I can't have success. I can't have love. I can't have a wonderful family. And that's what really put her over. And she got a 5-minute segment in New York City. Free that we got this free, we got it for her, but it was worth about $100,000. But that's where you really need to honor turning your mess into the message, hard moments that you built. And that's how you catapult yourself forward.

I like that, man. And I'm listening. Let me ask you this, man. You was talking about her, the business that she opened and everything. You also, you turned Clutch Coffee into a movement, not just a business. What was the storytelling strategy behind that campaign?

So Clutch Coffee Bar is a close friend of mine. I started working in aesthetic medicine. If you know what aesthetic medicine is, my best friend worked in it. And so he's like, hey, you should come help with us. And so it's a medical field and he was working in there and he wasn't— he didn't like his job. He said, look, I want to work in a coffee manufacturer. Like, I love coffee. So he tried to do a franchise. Franchise fell through. He said, I'm going to create my own coffee company. So he started Clutch Coffee Bar in the Carolinas. He went from 1 to 20 locations. But they focus on the 3 C's: community, culture, and the customer. And with that, every time they open a new location, they give out free coffee to first responders. They give you free coffee the first day. They find a local charity and they give back. And so when you are of service and you give away the goods that you have, that's when all the wonderful opportunities come back and pay you tenfold. And so it's like, I think DJ Jazzy Jeff said, you know, I give away my beats, I give away my songs because I want to be dried up by the time I pass away. I want to give out all the wonderful gifts that I have to this world. It's not going to do me any good if I take it to the grave. And so from Clutch Coffee Bar's perspective is they come to a community, they find a local high school and they sponsor them for football games, give them free coffee, gift cards for sports. And so they're all about giving back to the community. And when you give back, you know, things come back tenfold. So that's how we did it with them, and they became, you know, QSR, a top fast casual restaurant, and they continue to grow. There are 20 different locations. And to me, it's nothing greater than working with someone that wants to empower their community. When you can create a win-win-win, a win for your company, a win for your community, and a win for your consumer, you can't argue that, man.

I like that. I like that. I was just talking to a guy right before you, that we was talking about chess, you know, we were just making an analogy. He said 3 moves, you know what I'm saying? You always got to be thinking ahead of 3 moves, 3 things, man. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? And so that's pretty cool. So let me ask you this before I go there. If you run into Jazzy Jeff, man, you know, being from the Philly area, and he giving away free music, tell him to give me that Parents Just Don't Understand.

Of course. I'll let them know. I have a buddy of mine that, uh, I used to— so when I was in New York, we used to work for a company. We all had side hustles. I worked for Hearst Publications, and we would have to get up at like 5 in the morning and go and serve coffee to all these business executives. And so what's Oprah's best friend's name? She's— what's Oprah's best friend's name? Gayle. So Gayle, she would show up. His name was Elvis Nolasco, and he would tell me a lot about how he used to go to Philly and hang out with music Soulchild and all that. And now Elvis crushing it. He's on tons of different shows, but it's, you never know who you're going to run into. Everybody has their own story and it's, if you have a dream, it's up to you to pursue it. You don't need to figure out how you're going to get from point A to point B. Just got to know that it's a dream that you believe in and keep on going for it. You got to take the first step.

Mm. Hey, so let me ask you this, Steve, man, with that being said, Agency Awards and Authority, what exactly do your agency do, let's say for a personal brand like CJ Moneyway Johnson Entertainment? And how do you measure impact?

So for CJ Moneyway Johnson Entertainment, we want to figure out where do you want to be? First of all, we need to know where you want to be ideally. What is an ideal goal that you're looking to achieve? And nobody knows we exist in this world where this world is so overwhelmed with content and push notification. And so typically from a PR perspective, we want to elevate you to the highest pages, stages, and publications. So that's where we would identify places where we can put you so that you're seen, whether or not that's Vibe, Vibe, or— I work with Coke Studio a lot where I send a lot of our musicians in LA. They go and they get a free music video from Coke Studio because they have a really wonderful space. So we find different partnerships, and at the end of the day, for somebody like yourself, it's who are the ideal brands that you're already representing? Do you want to work with them? Figuring out a path forward for impact, it's up to you how you want to have your impact. Is your impact selling products? Is your impact you know, the number of people that you see. Maybe you deliver a course. But we're going to want to try and figure out what that key metric is that we're going to drive forward and then build a plan in and around that. And that's where ideally having PR, especially now with the videos that are being created, deepfakes— nobody knows what anything is, they're questioning. So you're building trust through that connection as currency, whether or not you're working with clients, whether or not you're working with people coming on your show. You're building that trust and that integrity so that they know that you're somebody that they they can trust. And then we would just want to expand on that and then, you know, light that up so that we can go even further.

Man, I'll talk to you a little deeper on that, man.

Yeah.

Back on stage again, man. I like that. So let me ask you this, Steve, man. You've helped secure elite coverage and awards. Why do these matter for entrepreneurs trying to build a legacy?

So if you're building a legacy, it's going to go back to the story that we were discussing earlier. It's like, what are the stories? So there's kind of two stories when you think about it. And this is when we work with some of these founders and C-suites. There's a story you're telling yourself which often has a lot of limiting beliefs, thought process around sense of lack. So we need to write that, make sure that you're right from a mental perspective. And then it's the story that you're sharing so that people can get behind you and they can vote with their clicks and their dollar. And when you have awards, that just gives you an opportunity to open you up from additional platforms. But now when somebody's considering you, like CJ Moneyway Johnson, they were looking you up, they're going to go to probably 3 locations. They're going to go maybe podcasts or online to your website. They're also going to look at social media. Are you regular? Are you creating content? I want to see that this is a real person, you know, this isn't an AI or somebody that's coming out of Groupon or something along those lines. And then lastly, they're going to check out social proof, and that can show up any number of ways. That could be awards, that could be reviews, that could be you talking to people on your podcast that are sharing their experience for giving you credibility and saying, look, CJ Moneyway Johnson is the real deal. And so when you have that social proof, that gives people the wherewithal so that they can now interact with you and they could move forward. And whether it's product, service, or simply listening to your podcast, great, they're willing to spend their time and do so.

I like that, man. I like that. You know, because I was talking to a lady the other day, a branding expert, Christine. She has her own podcast and everything too. And she was saying, you know, said what you were talking about with the website, like something that she do, but she have guests, you know, like when first see her come on there, you see the guests and you know, you see the variety of people that she have, as you said, for credibility, you know, see that she's diving into other things or whatever, because she was saying that one of the major things that we overlook is our website. And you made a good point. You said 3 things that they looking for. And one of them is they gonna go to your website and see, you know, say what you out there putting out.

So like at the top of your website, ideally, I tell every— any site that I build, I put the social proof logo right underneath as featured on and There's a really easy way to do this. If you're building a personal brand, you can literally create a press release. You can use a site like EIN, which is a newswire, another press release source. Do a press release. Hey, check out CJ Moneyway, the podcast. We've had over 5,000 people on there. We're, you know, ranked 10 stars out of 10 stars. To learn more, you know, check this out. And then a lot of these publications, they're starving for content. So they're going to take that publication, they're going to rerelease it on their platform. So see NBC, ABC, all these other places, as seen on them, you could potentially leverage that. But when you come to the bottom of the website, if you see your website and underneath you see "As Seen On Entrepreneur Magazine," so Klutch Coffee Bar, we just got them some coverage in Entrepreneur Magazine. If you see that they've been an entrepreneur in a magazine, do you look at them differently versus, "Hey, I've been in Lexington Herald Times"? Which one do you think is the better brand, Lexington Herald Times or the guy in Entrepreneur Magazine?

Guy on Entrepreneur Magazine.

There you go. So that's basically what we're— And so you can buy some of these coverage and it costs you $5,000, $10,000. But really what we want to do, like we talked about earlier, is start to get that momentum rolling so that if you're selling yourself or you're selling a brand, I say selling at the end of the day, selling, influence, marketing, impact, connection, it's all kind of the same thing. You really wanted to promote positive change.

This episode is brought to you by CJ Moneyway Johnson Media. Where podcast ideas become platforms. Through the Moneyway Lab Masterclass, CJ shares real lessons from the lab for creators building their voices brick by brick. From powerful guest conversations, storytelling that inspires growth, CJ Moneyway Media is about one thing: building legacy through stories. More at CJMoneywayJohnson.com.

That's cool, man, because, you know, like you say, when you selling yourself, you out there, you know what I'm saying? You doing your thing. Because that was the thing that got me when I was going over your profile. And one thing that got me is, I think I said it in the introduction, I'm like, man, my man Steve, he been on NBC. ABC magazines, you know what I'm saying? So like you say, that does like, like, this is a person I'm really excited to talk to, and I want to be associated with him and get the knowledge of somebody that's been to certain places that you haven't been or that you dream to be, and they had the know-how, you know, saying, and been there. And so it's cool to listen to people like you, man, and get knowledge from people like you just to like, man, you know what, maybe I could do that too if I get under the right toolkits of my man Steve, who got some stuff for you, man. I hope y'all listen, man, pay attention to what my man Steve talking about. And let me ask you this, Steve, man. How do you choose the media platforms or influencers to amplify a brand's mission?

So there's a bunch of different platforms. Obviously, we know that there's podcasts, there's LinkedIn, LinkedIn's business to business usually, but for now, it's a big growth there. They're now doing vertical videos. So understanding where your audience is and how it's going to best serve you. Ideally, if you could do all platforms, great, you could do that. But just being mindful that each platform has a different set of communication where Twitter or X versus Facebook. So it depends on what type of brand you are and who you're speaking towards. Facebook is a little bit of an older generation. TikTok, it's fast moving. You need to have video content. You need to be aware of some of the trends. I think for anybody that's starting a company or a business, LinkedIn is probably— it used to be Facebook, but for now the game is over at LinkedIn because that's how you're really building your credibility, especially in business. And that's where you could share a little bit more about what you're doing, all this PR that you're getting, tag these publications, and making sure that you have a presence on LinkedIn at a minimum. And then some of the other platforms, Meta is Facebook or Instagram, TikTok, you need to be ready to shoot videos and get those things edited, and you have about 3 to 10 seconds to capture their attention. Whereas LinkedIn, it's a little bit more about how you're positioning yourself in the business world. And then once you find these influencers— so I have a company I've created, actually, it's called Gents Journey. So we created the Journey Deck. When my mom passed away in 2020, I didn't have any friends. I had friends, I shouldn't say that, but like, I moved to a new city, there wasn't a lot of people, it was the pandemic, I had a virtual company. It was hard. I didn't have any place to talk to people. So I created my own men's group. I reached out to my growth friends that were entrepreneurs, they were dads, a lot of the similar problems that I have. And so what we did is we came together and we started talking about how life was as a dad, and we asked ourselves simple questions. And so for somebody like that, for a men's group, what I would do is identify— and we have done this— who's a key opinion leader or an expert or thought leader in the men's space. And there's a guy by the name of Scott Galloway. I don't know if you know him, but he has Pivot Podcast. He has a bunch of different podcasts and he talks about young men. They're getting sucked into this world where they're playing video games. There's not opportunities to be out in public. They're not running into girls, you know, they're not going out and working. They're working remote. So they're losing this whole sense of well-being and meaning. And so when we created Gent's Journey, we reached out to him as an influencer to see if he could help elevate our brand. So it all depends on what type of brand you have and where you want to elevate it, but make sure that they're in alignment. Or you can find somebody that has an email distribution list. Tony Robbins is a really great example. He's like the master of all life coaching. So we want to help change men's lives, so we could reach out to Tony Robbins. I'm sure there's a price associated, or somebody on a smaller perspective. Then you're sharing your mission with them, and then you have advocates and ambassadors that You guys are both putting that energy together. I worked at Disney in 1998 and they were all about synergy. How can you take 1 1 and make it equal 3? And that's where you take your initiative with an influencer's initiative, put them together, and then you maximize your exposure and your reach.

I like that, man. That's some nuggets right there. Let me ask you something, man, since you brought this up. Let's get a little deeper in this, man. Faith, family, and being an authentic impact. You're a proud hashtag girl dad.

Yes, sir.

How has being a father shaped your vision for building legacy through your work?

Yeah, so when I was younger, I think I mentioned I grew up with my parents divorced. My dad was always traveling, and so my dream at a young age was I want to be a great father. It doesn't— that's not saying my dad wasn't a good dad, but he just wasn't around. He was doing his work, he was doing his thing. And so to me, I want to be a great father to my children to the next generations and also the vulnerable children that lives in us. We were all 7, 8, 9, 10. We were super vulnerable and trying to go through the world. And so with that, it's about how can I make this world a better place, because I'm only going to be here for a finite amount of time. And my mission at the Cydell Agency is to do good, give back, and make an impact. So anytime I do anything, and ideally it's working with clients, other companies, making sure that they have a charitable component, or a way that what we're doing is positively impacting our world ecologically, economically, you name it. And so as I move forward, it's about figuring out how I can deliver the most amount of impact so that I can leave this world a better place for our kids.

I like it, man. Because like you say, you can be present, but not present at the same time, you know what I'm saying? Like, a dad can be there, but not be there, you know? Yeah, it's a difference, you know what I'm saying? Live in the now. I like that.

So this is why I teach my kids to say, live in the now, because they worry a lot. It's like, you can go to the future and worry about all the things that happen. You can go to the past and worry. But if you can come to that present moment and be present— we talk in our men's group, if you're spending time with your kids, be present. Get off the phone and tell them, this is nice. Because the good times, they're happening right now. You don't want to look back on these good times and be like, oh, this is so great. You need to be present in that moment. Honor it and relish that and tell them, look, this is nice. I appreciate it when you did that.

Yeah, I mean, I try to do that with my 15-year-old son. You know, I've had some failures— not, I won't say failures, but I know about being present and not present, you know. And I know about being present as well. And I know that there's a difference raising the kid from the inside and then raising the kid from the outside. There's a total difference, man. That's a whole nother conversation. But Being present is important, man, and try to be the best that you can be. Because as you said earlier, that was a good point, because you're not just doing it for your kids, you're doing it for your kids' kids' kids, you know what I'm saying? This is a generational thing, man, because God said that's what he blessed. And so, um, let me ask you, uh, um, Steve, man, does faith influence the way you lead your agency or choose the clients you work with?

I think it always does. So for our men's group, we have 7 pillars of manhood, and they essentially go into everything that I do. On the 7 pillars of manhood, we have family, we have friendships, we have fitness, we have focus, we have freedom, we have faith, and then we have fun, because if it's fun, it gets done. So those are 7 areas that I look to strive in. And as part of, you know, the companies that I work with I'm looking to do good. I'm looking to positively impact. And so with that, we are all connected, whether you believe in God, Allah, whatever it might be. We are all connected. Whatever we do, it comes back to us. And so I try to focus on anybody that I'm working with, how is this going to impact the local community, how is it going to impact the global community, and how is my time going to be delivering a positive impact. I could work with a company like a Tom Shoes gives back to other kids in third world countries, or I could work for ExxonMobil. Who would I choose? I'll probably choose somebody that I know and can believe in is going to deliver positive change so that we live in a better world.

You know what, Steve, man? This is what I want to ask you, because you got so much going on, man. So many positive things. You know, this men group thing, that's something that touches my heart because like I tell people, when I started my podcast, that was my aim. That was my main focus. You know what I'm saying? I wanted to talk to men because that's just in my heart. And this summer, man, I want to do a podcast summit with me. And man, I would love to have you on, man. You know what I'm saying? Just give us— I'm just trying to bring, you know, different backgrounds. Yeah, I'd love to have you on that, man. So I'm sending you out that invitation right now. And when I get everything together, man, I put it in my head. I've already asked a few more people, man, because this is gonna be done, man, because people need to hear things like this.

So let me check this out here. So there's a book that I read when I was an actor. It was called The Spiritual Guide to Higher Creativity. It's written by Julia Cameron, and what she does, she tells you to do two things once a week. One thing is take yourself on an artist date so that you can lose yourself to love, to things that interest you, so that you embody that and hold that close. The second thing she says to do is to do a two-page stream of consciousness every morning. Just write down whatever comes through. Then you start to get the busyness out. You start to notice trends. One of the act— she has a bunch of activities. One of the activities she has is Go back to when you were younger. What did you want to be when you grew up? And she says, take note of those things and find a way to put that in your daily life this week. And so for me, I talked about OJ. It was an announcer. It was an athlete. It was a host. It was a firefighter. And then it was also a magician. And so one of the things that I wanted to be when I grew up was a magician. So I've always had an affinity for card decks. So we created this journey deck in our men's group. But the magic isn't in my answer. We don't have to have the answers. You just have to ask the question. So I'd like for you to answer one of these questions. Okay, down. Tell me when to stop.

Stop.

Oh, here we go. This is a really great question, and the reason we created this is so men could connect on a deeper level instead of like the BS, like your cell phone or the weather. Here's the question that I'm going to ask you to answer: when was the last time you cried?

Yesterday.

Tell me more.

I cried yesterday for the simple fact— and this is what happened, Steve— As I was telling you earlier, I use my creativity to grieve in a different way. So I use creativity, and so I made a video for my father that I'm putting out on Facebook on the 22nd of this month, you know, because that's just my way of dealing with things. And so, you know, I sent it to my mother, brother last week, and they cried. My mother cried especially. So I sent it to my auntie yesterday Because I did some more stuff and, you know, she encourages me. So I sent it to her and she say, uh, Cory, who made this? I said, you know, technically I did through Suno, you know, or whatever. I did it, but it just generated it, you know, saying like that. And she said it made me cry. And so I was texting her back. And so, you know how sometimes, man, when you be a close-knit family, Steve, and then all of a sudden As time go by, you start separating, you know what I'm saying? Sure. Thanksgiving, and like you said, I was here with no friend, and things just break off. And so I reminded her, I said, you know, Auntie, I remember when y'all was on 7th Avenue, because my cousins, we was just all together all the time and everything. And as I was writing this, Steve, just so much emotion just started coming out of me because these are things, I guess, in my So I had been holding in for so long, man, and it just touched me at that moment. So yesterday was the last time I cried.

Yeah, that's powerful stuff, man. Thank you for sharing that. And so that's the modern male. Modern man is being in touch with that. Yesterday was Veterans Day for me. My dad, he was in the armed services. He was in the Army Reserves. So my last name means beer stein, and Seidel means beer stein in German. He collected beer steins. And when he passed away, I was the last person to see him, and I was the last person to see my mom when they passed away. But when he passed away, we're like, what are we going to bury him in? We like, we should put him in a beer stein because we cremated him. And then we came home, we all went out and there was like, the door was open and it was, the light was shining right on this Utica Club mug. And I grew up, uh, I was born in Utica, New York. And so we buried him in that. But the last time I heard Taps, I gave the eulogy about my dad because I had to tell his story. He's a brilliant storyteller. Last time I heard Taps was when we buried him in that mug, and then I went to the Veterans Day performance. Hadn't been in a little while, and they played that at my, my daughter's school. And man, it was like you said, it touches you. I cried. It wasn't like I was falling apart, but it made me remember those fun memories at the time. And he used to take me to the Army Reserve as a kid, and we eat MREs, like Meals Ready to Eat, and learn all about that. And I thought to myself, Man, I gotta buy an MRE, give it to my girls. So that's what I'm gonna do.

So here it is, man. Me, CJ, and Steve, man, we both cried on the same day, man. You know, for different reasons, different reasons. Because I made a song, I had a song, man, and it said something about men, men do leak, you know what I'm saying? Like, because as you said, we had this exterior as though men don't cry, as if we don't have feelings, you know, or that we don't hurt. But we do, you know what I'm saying? And that's just real talk. We do hurt. I cried when Kobe died. I mean, let's just be 100. I've been a Laker fan since 1980.

I do not remember.

I cried when Magic had HIV, you know what I'm saying?

Wow.

Yeah, I did. 1991.

I remember I was in LA when Kobe died, and I'm from Philly. He played at Lower Merion, and man, that was—

that was emotional. Yeah, yeah, that was tough. I'mma tell you this, Steve, it was touching and humbling. Because here I am, 50 years old, and man, we watched the All-Star Game. And that's what they had, the All-Star Game in Chicago that year that he died. And Common, them, you know, was rapping, and Common was the host. And they dedicated that halftime thing or whatever to Kobe, man. And here it is, me, my wife, and my son, we watching the game. And Steve, man, I was trying to hold it in. I was trying as much as I could, man. But all of a sudden It just, I'm crying in front of my wife, man. Like, can't stop.

Yeah. We watch America's Got Talent. And so one of the things that we talk a lot about is connecting and spending time with the kids. Every time they hit the golden buzzer in America's Got Talent, I don't know what it is. I'm trying to figure it out with my wife, but I think it's seeing somebody realize their dream and all the hard work. But the story, usually it's those people that have a story that you can connect to, that they've tried so long. Therapeutic.

Yeah, it is, man. So if men listening today, man, there's nothing wrong with crying, man, and letting people know that, hey, we cry too. You know, I ain't saying I'm a— I'm soft or nothing. I just cry every day just because I don't see anything wrong with—

there ain't nothing wrong with some good old crying.

Turn it a little, uh, R&B, you know, like you say with O.J. I don't think that that would be a subject right now.

We were at a wedding, like, it was about a month ago, and they played It was a remix to Ignition, and I live in Kentucky, and everybody started dancing. It's in a barn. Like, I hope nobody's filming this thing. You're dancing to R. Kelly. But man, I don't really listen to too much of his, but Michael Jackson, I have a hard time. I mean, you can't go wrong with MJ, man.

Oh man, MJ. MJ the music star, the GOAT. And MJ the basketball star, the GOAT to me. I don't, you know, say it all though. I'm a Laker fan, LeBron. I gotta give it to Yeah, the real 23, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, I go Bulls 23. So yeah, Steve, man, only got a couple more questions for you, man. But let me ask you this before we go there. Where can we find you at besides on LinkedIn? Because I already know that you locked into that because you told us that's the place. Where else can we find you, man? Where can we find your agency and everything about you?

So I'm gonna give you two places. One is going to be professional, one is going to be personal. So if you are building your brand and you want to grow and get on higher pages and stages, go to theseidelagency.com, and that's T-H-E-S-E-I-D-E-L-agency.com/media. And I have a cool little form there where you can find 4 free platforms where you can get your own PR. So journalists are looking for experts, platforms are looking for you and your unique sensibilities, and they want to put your background in their publication. So theseidelagency.com/media. Me, @stephenseidel, S-T-E-P-H-E-N-S-E-I-D-E-L, across social media. And for all the fellas out there, we actually have a meeting tomorrow. We're doing our group meeting Thursday. But if you go to gentsjourney.co, so that's gents like gentlemen, gentsjourney.co, not com, gentsjourney.co/join, there's a Substack. We put out 3 to 4 articles a week.. We give you video trainings and we do weekly or monthly calls for men to come together and talk a little bit more like we're doing here. So if you need a safe space or you want to be with like-minded men, we would love to have you.

I tell you what, Steve, man, please, man, when we get off this call, send me those links, you know, because I did want to know about your men's group, like how do you join it, you know, like, so do y'all do it every Thursday, every other Thursday, how they go?

Myself and my founders, we meet once a week and we keep up the meetings, but we have a meeting once a month for the men if they're interested in joining. And then we also send articles on a regular basis. We do some other things to hold you accountable, but we found that if we have a meeting every week, that the attendance isn't there. So we usually do it once a month.

Yeah, because, you know, people get tied up and, you know, saying, I can't make it this weekend. But yeah, man, I would like to attend one of these meetings.

Tomorrow's question is— we have two questions that we're going to do tomorrow. One of them is, what does masculinity mean to you? And then the other question that we're going to ask is, what's your favorite sandwich? What's your favorite sandwich?

My favorite sandwich, I would have to say a U.S. Steel sandwich, man. That's come with roast beef, then they got the onions, the cheese, and everything on it. And it's a restaurant called Lincoln's. So Lincoln's, I'm putting you on the map today, and it's a wonderful sandwich.

There you go, you heard it here first.

CJ Moneyway put Lincoln's carryout on the map. Hey, so Steve, man, let me ask you this, man. Legacy Lane, What does legacy mean to you now and how does that definition evolve as your agency grows?

So I think at the end of the day, your purpose is going to change. But for me, it's simply understanding that to the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world. And that extends beyond different generations. And for me, it's just putting in the work, showing up and making sure that I'm present and hopefully things that I share can benefit you in some way. If they can't, that's fine too. But at the end of the day, I'm here to give you my share of my experience and story that I've lived. And if you can take something positive away, that's fantastic. If not, I hope that you find something else to benefit you.

He say take that messy message, that messy situation and turn it into a brilliant TEDx speaker.

TEDx, yes.

My man Steve, man, take that message and put it abroad, man. So let me ask you, Steve, for someone listening today, who's got the mission but not the megaphone.

Sure.

First move that they should make to get seen and heard.

You got to take the first step. So I think at the end of the day, you need to take the first step. And part of that is being comfortable with the uncomfortable. But a lot of times we need to rely on some of the channels that we have. So if it's a podcast, go podcast. If it's social media, go social media. We did it for Gent's Journey. We literally started to record one video a day. And we just started to share a message. You just got to get in the practice of building these powerful, empowering habits. And so at the end of the day, you want to create a character— is what people say after you leave the room. So start building that character by implementing these habits. And so start looking at these habits. And if you want to get that megaphone, start sharing your voice, sharing your story. And the easiest way to do it is do a YouTube video, do a social media video, do it for the next 30 days and watch what happens. Come back and let me know. If you've clarified your message and distilled it, if you've had a reach visibility, and if you feel more in alignment and in the flow. And I guarantee the answer will be yes for all three.

I like it, man. I like it. I'ma mess with you, Steve, man. I promise you that. I'ma mess with you, man. I got some of these inside ingredients. So Steve, man, before we get out of here, give us one thing that's on your heart, man, that you'd like to share with the audience.

I want you to reach out to somebody that maybe you had a contemptuous relationship, or the last interaction that you had with them, you know, you haven't texted them, you're like, uh, I don't know, uh, forget them. Or, you know, you've had a bad encounter with them, and I want you to reach out to them. Or maybe it's your mom or dad that you haven't spoken to. I can't talk to my parents anymore. So hopefully you can reach out to them, let them know that you love them. If you had an argument or something where you were, uh, you know, in a fight with someone, I would urge you to reach out to them, forgive them, let them, you know, you can forgive yourself, but forgive them, give them that peace that you can move forward and be grateful for having them in your life because you may not know it, but they appreciate you.

Man, you know what, Steve, man, I told you I did a song for my father. You know, I'm doing something right now. I'm working on something. So I did one for my mother and I finally gave it to her yesterday. And of course she was like, oh, I cried and this and that. But I had— I got to work, so I'm sitting in the parking lot, and one of my friends, man, that I grew up with, childhood friend, had text me and say, man— because he don't be on social media a lot or nothing, Steven— so he said, man, I'm so proud of you, CJ, man. I'm so proud of you, dog. You know, cause of what I'm doing. You know, he didn't have no idea. I hadn't talked to him in months, you know, or whatever. But because we haven't talked don't mean that we have beef or that we have any disagreements. It's just that life, you know, say it gets in the way sometimes of what we doing, man. But it is refreshing when you can catch back up, man, and talk to somebody and, you know, y'all can talk about what you doing, man. And then when people see what Steve out here doing, they can say, Steve, you know what, man, I'm proud of what you doing, man. Keep moving forward. It gives you more confidence and more strength, man, to keep moving forward too, because you really don't know whose life you actually out there impacting. So I really appreciate you, Steve, man.

Thank you so much.

You asked me what my favorite sandwich is, man. So now I see what your favorite sandwich is. From Philly cheesesteaks to CBS, my man Steve is a living example that your story, when told right, becomes your strongest strategy. He's not just a media guy, he's a movement builder. Whether you're a brand, a founder, or just someone with a mission on your heart, this episode is a reminder Legacy starts with courage to be seen. To learn more about Steve Sadel, is it Sadel Agency?

That's cool, whatever.

And don't forget to tune into Wolves Among Us, one of the top 10 Apple podcasts for entrepreneurs and visionaries. Until next time, this your boy CJ Moneyway with my man Steve. Hey, we out of here. Peace.

You've been listening to the CJ Moneyway Show with real stories Real lessons, yeah, and real perspective come together.

Remember, move with patience, move with purpose. That is the mindset of a Panther.

Until next time, keep building your legacy brick by brick by brick by brick. Music style.

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