EP1: Mastermind Your Way into the Market with Corey Arvinger

What I'm first trying to do is fire myself as a CEO and hire myself as a CMO. I think that there's somebody better that can actually run the company.

Yeah.

Operations, hiring. I don't like doing any of that stuff. I want to focus on what I do best and what comes easiest to me and what also makes us the most money, which is marketing in all different forms.

Welcome back to another episode of True Wealth Conversations. I'm your host, Dominique Broadway, and I am super excited because we have a special guest today. Now, I'm gonna be honest, I met this person a few weeks ago. I did not know who he was, right? But little did I know, he has one of the most amazing e-commerce brands and one of the most, like, popular and easily noticeable brands in the country, I would say. So I'm really excited for my guest today, Corey Arvinger. How are you?

I'm good. I'm blessed and highly favored. How are you?

I'm very, very good. So I'm super excited to be here with you. Can you tell everyone a little bit more about you and what you do at Support Black Colleges?

Yeah. So my name is Corey Arvinger, like she said, and I serve as the CEO of a company called Support Black Colleges, where we focus on getting our Black kids back to our Black schools through merchandise. So I actually tell people a lot of times that we're a media company that sells clothes, because we focus on the media first. We push a lot of media out, and then the clothing is just something that you can wear and, you know, support proudly throughout the day. So that's what I do. You know, in the meantime, I'm a dog dad, and, um, I am a professional LA Fitness basketball player.

Wow, LA Fitness specifically?

Yeah, specifically. I only have one membership there.

That's good. That's really good because some people have like a lot of memberships.

No, not me. $35 is good for me.

That's good. Very affordable. And you're Okay, frugal, it sounds like.

I'm not like everybody hates Chris dad frugal, but I'm like, I like to watch my money. Yes.

Okay. So talking about money, right? I know at Support Black Colleges, you guys have just done and broken like a lot of, I don't wanna say records and just had really great days in sales. And I will say after I met you, I was really impressed to see like how the numbers and revenue-wise that you guys are able to generate in the e-commerce space and me Specifically, one of my goals this year is to launch an e-commerce brand, and I've been wanting to do one for a while. I specifically want to do dropshipping. So I would love if you could provide us with some insight because there's a lot of people that are like me that want to get into the e-commerce space and don't know the first step. So what would you tell someone who maybe is like me that is like, hey, I want to launch an e-commerce brand this year? Like, what's the first thing I should do?

So I use this acronym called SIMPLE that I use to talk about how to go from zero to a fully running business. So S is Shopify. I always say start with Shopify. You can do it for free if you don't have any money, it's free, or like a dollar for like the first 30 days. Yeah, I wouldn't actually start that Shopify until I get the other things on the back end done so that when you're ready to launch, you're paying a dollar, right? And so Shopify is the first thing. You have Wix, you have, um, I mean a lot of different, but Shopify is just the most And they're like the most easily like, it's integrable with other things, right? They have a bunch of other things, and it's funny that you say that because the I in SIMPLE is integration. So that's the apps and everything that you're including in it. So you would do something like that. Uh, if you're trying to do dropshipping, depending on what you're trying to dropship, Printify is a really good, uh, place that you can, uh, or Printful, both of those, where you can get a t-shirt made, a hoodie, a scarf, a mug, like literally anything, just about a bag, notebook, anything. And you don't have to have upfront capital.

Yeah.

So So the person buys it and then what happens is the company says, somebody bought this, I'm going to put part of this money towards the product. I'm going to put part of this money back into your account. And they make it and fulfill it for you so you don't have to worry about it.

So really, that's dropshipping.

Dropshipping. And you just serve as like the marketing head, essentially.

Yeah.

You find a way to generate sales through social, email, text, whatever that might be. And then you let them do all the hard labor.

Yeah. So with your business specifically, do you do dropshipping or how do you—

I do not do dropshipping. So we have our own warehouse. We have a warehouse in Miami and one in Colombia. So it did start off as me doing it myself though. So I think a lot of people want to jump to that but don't understand that there was a process that got to that.

Yeah.

So we found out what it took to make, you know, what does it take from idea ideation to getting in a customer's hand? So it starts with I want to do a hoodie. Okay, well, what kind of fabric do I want to use? What colors do I want to use? Okay, I want a patch. Is the patch heat press? Is it sewn? Okay, then is it folded? Is it bagged? Is it—

so many options.

It's all of those things that people just think is like, oh, I want to start a brand and it's easy.

Yeah.

But it's so many little minute things that you have to really consider, especially if you want to separate your brand from the average salesperson.

Yeah. Okay. So obviously there's dropshipping as a method. And what's the other method that's not dropshipping? What do you call it? Direct sales?

Like fulfilling, self-fulfillment, I would say.

Okay. So you hear a lot about dropshipping, right? Can you give us like the pros and cons of dropshipping versus self-fulfillment? Because you're more in the self-fulfillment space.

Definitely. I mean, I think that because people think that dropshipping is just like the end-all be-all, the best. And it's cool. So like, let's just say you work a 9-to-5, but you want to have a brand as well, but you don't have time to fulfill orders. Well, dropshipping is easy because like I said, you just serve as the marketer.

Okay.

So that's always good because you can just market, brand, get influencers in it, and then everything else is handled. So that's cool.

Yeah.

But on the opposite side of that, your margins are drastically decreased.

Yeah, because you're having to pay.

You have to pay for everything. And generally, let's just say a shirt wholesale, if you buy it, might be $2. But if they sell it to you, it's going to be $3 or $4. If you look at that from a large scale, well, you're going to lose a lot of money. So I think the margins are one thing. It depends on your time.

Yeah.

Do you have time to do so, right? And then on the outside of that, it's just like, I like to touch the quality of my stuff.

Yeah.

So I want to feel it. I want to see how they package it. You know, sometimes when people are dropshipping stuff for you, they don't have the same affinity for your product as you do. So I'm like, oh, this string is a little off. Let me cut this real quick. Or let me do this. They might not be doing that, but you don't know. So the customer experience is better when you do it yourself, but it comes down to time, finances, and, you know, how you want to operate the business.

Yeah, but let's say like in your scenario where you're self-fulfilling, there's still a lot of expenses that go into that as well because then you have more human costs, right? What are some of those human costs that people might not be thinking about when it comes to self-fulfilling?

One of the things that, um, I realized that really upset me is like when people are sewing or stitching, and let's just say the sewer like goes off track, then they put like a line through your patch. Hoodie's done.

Really?

You can't.

Oh, that's like the stuff that ends up at like Marshalls and TJ Maxx.

Exactly. Or like the stuff we give away to our friends and family who always ask for something for free.

Yeah.

So like that happens all the time. Or the heat press maybe burns the patch. Like those kind of costs. Or like, you know, this is not a direct cost, but like somebody who is supposed to be heat pressing that day doesn't show up. Now I have to step in the heat press because we have a deadline. Well, now I'm taking away from marketing, social media, meetings. And so the cost long term actually hurts us because now I'm not doing something I should have been doing in order to help us, you know, move forward at a higher rate.

But do you feel like the cost for like— I know you say like you have like a warehouse manager and then the people that work in the warehouse, um, do you feel like those costs are lower than if you were doing—

Yeah, definitely direct. Because I did the math.

Okay.

At one point in time I did the math and it was like, oh, this is actually cheaper. You know, they might, you know, they might get paid I don't know, 30 cents per package they ship versus, you know, the wholesale company getting paid, you know, $5 per package they send. Yeah, it's a big difference. It really is different. And then the quality, we still get to touch it, we still get to participate in it, we still get to be a part of it. So it's still mine and I can kind of negotiate those rates too.

Yeah.

When you're dealing with a dropshipping company, this is my rate. We service over a million clients. You are just another client. Yeah, really. I don't want to be in that. I want people to feel like, hey, I get on the phone with you and we can really talk about like what this should look like and we can work together as partners versus just I'm your, your partner in dropshipping, essentially?

Okay, so, all right, so I'm new to the space, I'm trying to start my little dropshipping company.

Not your little company.

I mean, maybe, I don't know, little not meaning the size, just, you know what I'm saying, little as in— but anyway, so I'm just starting my little company and I say, hey, based on my current lifestyle, you know, I got two kids, I have run all these businesses, I don't necessarily want the stress or pressure of having to have the facilities or what do you call them, the warehouse and stuff like that, right? So I'm deciding that, yes, I know the margins are lower, but I think dropshipping is for me because I want this to be more hands-off. So my first step is to go to Shopify, get the site, and then also picking, you said between like maybe Printful or Printify.

Printify, Printful, yeah.

Okay, and then what about, I know people always mention like Alibaba, right? Do you like— do people drop ship from there?

Not typically, because they're generally people that are overseas. And so, I mean, you can ship stuff from overseas every time, but that's a lot. Okay. They're more like wholesalers, so they can make anything for a lower price, and then you can even ship that to a drop shipper.

Okay.

So there's, um, there's a company called ShipMonk. We used them for a little while.

Okay.

You send your product already made to them. It's kind of like an Amazon fulfillment warehouse.

Oh, okay.

Where you ship them stuff, and then whoever buys it, they handle that. Okay, that's another option. It's still dropshipping technically, but you are—

but you're still receiving the product at some point.

No, you can get it shipped directly to them. You could either way, because I wouldn't ship it to myself and then ship it to them. That's just unnecessary cost. But I would ship it to them and maybe go meet them when they get it to look at it, you know. So that's technically still dropshipping in a certain sense. Yeah, because they're taking your product and fulfilling it for you. But there's so many ways. But Alibaba, back to that point, is more of like a wholesaler.

Account. Okay, okay. So I go, I grab my Shopify site, maybe I decide connect to Printful, um, get the little backend integration set up to make sure Shopify and Printful talk to each other. And then what do I need to do then?

Market.

Market.

It's time to sell. So email marketing, it takes marketing, um, influencer marketing, social media marketing, and grassroots— excuse me— and grassroots marketing. That's what I focus on. So I take those things The combination of all of them is what make our brand grow.

Yeah.

So email marketing, text marketing, social media marketing, influencer marketing, and grassroots marketing.

Okay. So I know if you go to Corey's page at Corey Arbinger or Support Black Colleges, you'll see that like all of your favorite celebrities are wearing his brand. So how does someone that does not have these connections, like, how do you get these influencers and big names to like wear your stuff if you're just getting started?

So there's a lot of ways, because people think it's so hard to get influencers and celebrities to wear stuff, and it's not.

Okay.

I think the thing is we think that we send one DM and we'd be like, oh, Beyoncé didn't respond. Well, duh, Beyoncé's not responding to your DMs. She has 100 million followers. But there are steps you can take that are very easy. So I have a few things. One, I have a method called the pull-up method.

Okay.

Where I literally will pull up on any influencer.

The pull-up.

No, not the pull-out, but that's another conversation that we won't talk about here.

Yes, go ahead.

But the pull-up method, there's 6 Ps to it, but essentially what you do is if there's a celebrity having something in your city— so give me an example, give me somebody, any celebrity, not Beyoncé though.

Okay, Issa Rae.

Okay, so Issa Rae is in Miami.

Okay.

And she is having, um, an event at the SoHo House, okay, in Miami. So what I'm doing is I'm taking my hoodie, I'm putting it in a bag, and I find a way, first access entry point to get in the SoHo House. So I either know somebody—

I'm a member, so you can call me up.

Okay, so you're a member. So I'm like, hey, you know what, I think Issa Rae's here. Like, I'm trying to get in there. So I'm in with you now. So now what I'm doing is before I even do that, I'm doing research on Issa Rae and I'm figuring out what we have in common.

Okay.

Oh, Issa's from here, or she likes this, or I might have— I know she has a lot of Howard University people on her staff.

Okay.

So I know some of their names. So when I talk to her I'm like, hey, man, like, I know, you know, so-and-so, I'll give 4 names, 5 names. I went to college with them and she's like, oh yeah, I love them. And it's like, so now we're having a conversation.

Yeah.

The first thing I want to do, I want to break the ice. She's going to be there. The Soho House is a place where she doesn't expect people to be like super thirsty or like all in her face. So her guard is down a little bit. And then after that, I'm breaking that last guard down by finding something in common with her. Then it comes to a point where I'm like, yeah, I know you love HBCUs. I've seen Insecure, I see how you like root for the Black girl, like things like that. This company is something that fits your motto and what you do. And so then I give her the merchandise and then we take a picture and then, you know, that's really it. I mean, and it sounds like it's easy because it is really that easy.

It doesn't sound super easy, but there's a little bit of, um, stalking involved, it sounds like. So like the pull-up method, it involves a little, like a little light light stalking, like—

I don't think stalking is the word. I think like research is the word.

So like, for instance, I'm being sarcastic with the stalking, but it's like, okay, I have to find where this person's going to be, find— do some research to find the commonality, and then pull up on them and act like— not act, but like, you know, hey, I see you like pink, I like pink, like, here's a pink—

so I say it like this: when you go to a job interview, what do you do?

You research the company, you research the company, you might even research the interviewer. Yeah.

And you might say, okay, or you ask somebody who's already been interviewed by that person, how was it? What did they say?

So that's good. It's not stalking, it's researching. So you're researching, but also making sure that you're like aligned with where they're going to be, but also making sure that whatever brand you have aligns with their, their goals, their morals.

Yeah, because you have to do that research in that standpoint too. I'm not going to ask anybody to represent my brand who I don't feel like aligns with my brand.

Of course.

So I'm not asking Miley Cyrus to wear a Sportback College hoodie. Yeah, it doesn't align. So it could, it could, anything, anything, anything.

But I get what you're saying.

So I have to start with that research first, which is, you know, it's all a part of the process. But sometimes it's like people are getting, people are trying to sell steaks to vegans.

Yeah.

And they're like, why are you not taking this? Why are you not posting it? I mean, I don't eat meat.

Yeah.

So are you surprised that I'm not interested in your product?

Yeah.

So that's why the research is so important.

That makes sense. Okay, so we got all the backend technical stuff set up. So now we're just focusing on marketing, right? And so The funny thing is like, that's not easy, right? Marketing is definitely probably one of the harder things unless, you know, unless you really enjoy it and you do it very well, right? So that's why it probably comes more natural to you. So the influencer marketing, the email marketing, the text marketing. What has been with your e-commerce brand, with all of these marketing efforts that you do, what has been like some of your big sales goals that you've been able to hit with these strategies?

So I always say that I don't make sales goals, I make impact goals. And because a sales number can be reached and then you just go for another one. So it's one of those things where there's never any real fulfillment because you just keep going up and you're never really satisfied. So for me, I like impact goals. So instead of making $1 million, I want to impact 1 million people because when you impact 1 million people, that money is way crazier. Like, think about a real impact on 1 million people versus just making $1 million.

But let's talk about the money for a second because I mean, people, they trying to make money. So I want people to know, like, hey, if I start this e-commerce brand, what is the possibility, right? Am I bringing in $100 a day, $1,000 a day, $50,000 a day, $50,000 a month? Like, what have you seen in your business? Because you have a successful e-commerce business, right? What have been some of your bigger wins that you've had?

Well, I'll first start by saying this. I remember when my goal was to make $5,000 a month. I remember having that conversation like, Bro, if we could just get this to $5,000 a month, like, we're gonna be lit. Yeah, I remember the conversation. Um, and so since then we've been doing it, we've been able to do a lot of different things. But I would say our biggest win was doing $1 million in a day twice.

That's awesome.

So Black Friday, we run a buy one get one or $30 hoodie sale, partner with— so here's a little hack if you want to have a big sales day, especially Black Friday. Yeah, you discount your most popular items and then you drop a new item at full price.

Oh, that's smart.

Always do that because people are like, oh, I got the hoodie for $25 instead of $50. Well, this new product is $60, but I really got $25 off. Yeah, a lot of people look at it, it's like they're tricking themselves in their mind.

So there's also a sales psychology that goes into this as well.

Of course, of course. Okay, and so you partner those two. You have a discounted product and then you have really an overpriced product, but it can be— it could be— that's fine because they're getting a discount. And then you add free shipping with orders over $250. Well, now they spent $220, but they're like, I want free shipping. That's really $10 off. Yeah, but you're going to spend the extra $40 to get the $10 off.

Why do we do that? That's so true. And this is interesting because like even with, as you guys are like thinking about starting your e-commerce brand, and even me, as you're saying, it's not just put the thing out and they'll come. No, it's like the marketing is going to be very, very important, but also the sales strategy as well. Also little things. I know we just implemented one thing in my business like a few weeks ago, adding one little like, hey, you can sign up and join this, this, this this class. But if you, you know, which starts next week, but if you want to get started right now, you can buy this one little bundle, that one bundle is literally completely eliminating all of our ad costs. Like, literally, right? So yeah, and so it's like, but that also comes back to that psychology, psychology of people want things now, they also like to feel like they're getting a discount or a deal. And so that's really important as well as people are starting to like, think about their, their, their, their, their e-commerce businesses or just business in general, right? I mean, that's really important.

I think the reason why we've been successful in the marketing space is I think about how I like to shop.

Yeah.

So I'm like, okay, think— so I love this method. I talk about this all the time, and it's the, um, the food court method.

Okay.

So when you're walking through a food court at the mall and they're like, sample, sample, sample, you start taking a sample. You're like, dang, this chicken was kind of— yeah, I like that.

Like, what's that one chicken that, like, they always have?

General Tso's or something? No, it's—

yeah, but it's, it's like, I feel like it's like a honey chicken or something. It's always like a honey chicken, something you ain't even— like, I'm in a food court for like an Italian sub, right? The girl pulls up, try this honey chicken. You're like, no, I'm here— I know I'm here for like the steak and cheese or whatever. And she's like, no, taste it. And you're like, oh my gosh, now I need honey chicken, right?

You gotta get people just a little bit. And so that's why I like—

also, um, drug dealers did that too, right? Give them a little something something, get them hooked.

That's— your experiences are different than mine.

I'm just saying. So that's also what drug dealers did back in the day, give you a little bit.

Back in the day or like recently for you?

No, back in the day. Back in the day when the big, like, cocaine epidemic in the DC area— I was a baby, obviously. Yeah, interesting. And they would give people a little something something, they would get hooked, and then boom, they got a lifetime— well, as long as they live, um, customer. Yeah, sample. Similar food court method but for drugs.

Yeah, so we're talking about clothes here.

I'm just saying, I don't want to take you back to the place. No, no, but saying like that psychology of the food court method is it doesn't just apply. It's just a little taste. It's a little, it's a little taste.

I mean, it's also, uh, people like a sample, a free trial. People like free things.

Yeah, and that was, that was actually interesting. One of the things I implemented in my course business last year, we tested out free trials.

Oh wow.

And we were getting, um, 7-day free trial to try out the course, join a community. We were getting like 80% of the people that signed up for the trials would activate and pay full price.

Wow.

And I was at first—

it was too good to leave.

Yeah, it was like, I'm here, I don't want to get out. And it was really interesting because at first I fought it. I ain't gonna lie, I fought my team. I was like, we ain't giving out no free trial because there's so much value you can get in a week, right? And I was worried. And there are some people who just take advantage of it and they leave, or, you know, but that was never your customer in the first place. Exactly. But I realized that it allowed, especially like someone like me in the finance space, giving them that taste, right? Because a lot of people have been burnt with really bad products and services, and they were able to get in and see like, wow, this is amazing. I am enjoying this. I want to stick around. I see the value, right? And so I think that that food court method actually works in multiple types of industries.

Literally every industry. Yeah, literally. But the key is, and the key that we've both been saying, is you have to have a good product after the sample. Because some people get lost on the sample.

Good point.

That was not good. I'm definitely not coming here. So sometimes people want to give their worst to the people for a sample. I want to give my best. Yeah, because they're like, dang, if this is free, well, good Lord, imagine what I pay for this. So that's why when I do, when I speak and things of that nature, I'm always giving 100%. Yeah, no matter what it is, because they're like, I gotta buy something from him. I don't even know, I don't even know if he got anything to offer, but I'm gonna buy some. I'm leaving here with something. Yeah, that's what they say. So, you know, I, I say that in the clothing spaces, you know, I have a, um, I have a free ebook that I do, um, it's called The What If Method that I talk about, like, how do people get that? Just go on my website.

Okay, um, what's the website?

It's— I don't, I don't like promoting products, first of all.

What's the website?

But it's my name.

What's the website?

Coryarvenger.com.

Coryarvenger.com to get your free ebook.

Let me tell you what the ebook is about.

The link will be below.

It's called The What If Method, and what it does is— so we were able to get a partnership with Urban Outfitters through this method. So what I do is I say, what if support Black colleges work with Urban Outfitters? What would that look like? So I'll take their marketing, their branding, their style of t-shirt and I'll combine it with our branding and I'll put it out and say, hey, everybody tag Urban so we can get this done. So we actually did that with Urban Outfitters and it worked. And now we're in Urban Outfitters across the country. But I say that to say, I give that book away for free and it's got some game in there. It's real game in there. But I use that as a lead to get emails.

Of course.

Because everybody wants free stuff. So that book probably took me like, I don't know, 2 days to make. And it's full of stuff, but it was easy.

But it's like valuable information that is also proven to work.

It's valuable. And then like when people say, man, I was, I did that and I got a partnership with this, or I did that and I at least got on a call with this person that was easy. And so that's my sample to you to get introduced to the rest of the things that I have to offer. And I never like— I don't— like you said, I don't even like to push it. I just— if you see it, you see it. If you don't, you don't. Yeah, but you get something for free, cool. Now you feel like, oh man, I done found this free thing. You feel like you really found something, and all the time it's just a part of a funnel. Yeah, so even within—

we're all in the top of somebody's funnel, the bottom of somebody's funnel.

Everything in life is a funnel.

I mean, you look at the school system, You look at everything, you look at anything that you do is a funnel.

So it's all based off of how you use and manipulate the funnel for yourself.

Yeah.

And so even like just go through your everyday life and be like, man, what does this funnel look like? Okay, so I wanted to come to this resort, so I had to see an ad, so then the ad took me here, then I got a discount code if I use it today, and then like it's— that's how everything is.

You get to the resort and then they want to sell you 15 excursions.

Exactly.

And then you got to buy 15 spa treatments.

But if you don't do the upsell, it can be a downsell. You don't have to do the 90-minute, but you can do the 30-minute and I'll do it for so-and-so price.

We can just do your shoulders for $10.

Exactly. So, I mean, and that's how you have to operate in your business. When people say no to one thing, give them another option that might fit what they want to do better. And I think a lot of times people lose out on money because you don't give them that second option.

That's true.

You need to have a downsell or something that's equal to value or that's more. And that's important to know your customers well. A lot of people are not converting on sales because they don't know who their customer is.

Very true.

So that's a whole nother topic.

Whole nother, whole nother, whole nother, whole nother class. Hopefully we can go to CoreyArbinger.com one day and attend that course. So I know you don't like to market yourself, but you've done some amazing things in the e-commerce space and also in the apparel space and worked with tons of amazing celebrities. Additional— what's some other brands you've worked with?

So we work with— we actually just did a partnership with Mountain Dew.

Okay.

We made some merch for the HBCU gaming space. They're doing a $500,000 prize and we did all the merch for that. We just got done with NBA All-Star Weekend, so we've done some partnerships with the NBA doing their merchandise for not only the players, for the store, and also for their Players Association. Okay, so we're currently working on that. Uh, Foot Locker, Jimmy Jazz, Snipes, um, Slutty Vegan, the Braves, the Falcons, the Hawks. Okay, a lot of sports teams, just a lot of different stuff.

Okay, so as I said, I know you don't like to promote you, but you've done a lot. So I'm sure you're highly sought after by brands, business owners, entrepreneurs, whatever. Everyone's like, hey, how can we get a piece of what you're doing and really be able to tap into your experience that you've had because it's very invaluable. So what is next? Not just for Support Black Colleges, but what's next for Corey Arvinger in this next stage after you've already accomplished so much at a young age?

Um, so it's so funny because I feel like I'm only working like 10% of what I could be doing. So what I'm first trying to do is fire myself as a CEO and hire myself as a CMO. I think that there's somebody better that can actually run the company. Yeah, operations, hiring. I don't like doing any of that stuff. I want to focus on what I do best, what comes easiest to me, and what also makes us the most money, which is marketing in all different forms. I would like to do that. I would love to get a partnership with Barnes Noble. They're directly on the college campuses so that I don't have to like— I want to just be able to go through them, give them all our stuff, and they sell for us.

Oh, that makes sense.

Homecoming time, I don't want to sell.

You hear that, Barnes Noble?

Yeah, come on, Barnes. I might do a what-if method for them too. Yeah. But Barnes Noble's— and that's more on the brand side. I really want to focus on giving back and like more partnerships. So finding businesses and companies and things that align with what we are doing. And going from there.

Um, aren't Amazon— the Amazon bookstores, aren't they on some college campuses now too?

They are. So, um, HBCUs, I don't know as many.

Okay.

But I mean, I'm sure, I'm sure they are. I mean, yeah, the Amazon lockers and things of that nature. Um, what else? I would like to sign my first athlete, um, our first like major influencer. So Chris Paul has been a huge champion for the brand. I would love to sign him to a deal.

Yeah, yeah.

To where like We do, you know, 4 releases, a collab, but he signed with Jordan Brand, so I don't have as much money as Jordan Brand. So, you know, I just have to, you know, maybe I can get like the player on the bench that doesn't play. Yeah, but I would like to sign an athlete, a college athlete and a professional athlete, and I would like to sign like an artist or something to champion the brand. So that's the business side. Personally, I don't know, I'm just kind of going with the flow of life right now.

Okay.

I'm one of those people that feel like you I'm in the right place at the right time at all times.

Yeah.

And I'm just doing what I'm supposed to do every day, and I feel like everything finds its way towards me that's supposed to.

That's good. Not too much pressure. I think sometimes people put too much pressure on their personal lives, like trying to set these goals and do these things, and sometimes you don't accomplish them and then it makes you feel like a failure or less than and things like that.

And there's nothing wrong with that either. Like, please set your goals. Don't, don't listen to me.

No. And I— but I also think that there's a lot of value in just going with flow, right? I know, like, me personally, that's why right now I was like, well, I've done a lot of things right now. I'm just like, whatever happens, happens, right? Like, go with the flow, not putting too much pressure. Um, because I, I personally feel like a lot of times I, I do put a lot of pressure on myself. Like, I'm an overachiever, and if I don't accomplish certain things or if things don't go the way that I anticipated for them to go, you know, it allows me to like maybe sometimes get down on myself and feel like less than, you know, things like that. And those are all self-inflicted, like, thoughts, right?

We make those goals and then we don't— do we— don't get them sometimes, and then we're mad at ourselves. We think people are judging us, but only you know about that. Yeah. And so for me, I think, I think one of my goals I would say too is though time freedom.

Yeah.

Like, the money's cool, like, I'm cool with that, but like, I want my time back. Yeah. I want my time to do whatever it is.

You got a lot of time.

I do got a lot of time, but I still got to worry about stuff that I don't want to worry about.

That's true.

So it's like I be having things over my head that I gotta knock out that like no one else can do. And so to have that time freedom, um, would be something that's really amazing.

So it sounds like Support Black Colleges is hiring a CEO.

I mean, eventually. I gotta, I gotta get some paperwork straight first.

So once you get that paperwork straight, everyone submit your resumes to supportblackcolleges.com or at whatever the email address is, because he's gonna be hiring a CEO because he's not a good CEO. I ain't gonna lie, I'm not a good CEO either. So this is actually one of my goals.

I didn't say I wasn't a good CEO.

I'm not that great of a CEO. And it's interesting. I was talking about this. I was at the Rachel Rogers event and I was saying like, I didn't really start this to be— I didn't really start my business to be CEO. I'm a finance nerd and I just want to like talk about finance and teach it and preach it and market it. But all that other stuff, like you mentioned, it's not what I'm good at, right? I feel like even my chief of staff would probably be a better CEO than me. And so I think that's also really important over time is to learn like what you're good at, right? So even my other businesses now, I'm literally putting other CEOs in place because I don't want to do it. And I also can already see like having those other people in the roles that are really, really good at that, the businesses perform better.

Yeah, because that's what they do.

Exactly.

Putting somebody in something they do and enjoy is so much better than you doing something that you don't actually want to do.

But the thing is, as entrepreneurs, We feel like because we start something that we are supposed to be the CEO, and that is not the case. And it's interesting because you see, like, when Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon, or I think Steve Jobs has— or got kicked out or stepped down from CEO of Apple, you know, before he passed and then came back. But not everyone needs to be the CEO. And I think that that's something that's really important. So thank you so much for sharing that. That is like one of your goals. That's That's a goal of mine as well. I don't like being a CEO.

Listen, I tell people all the time, to me CEO stands for capping every day online. Literally, people just be online just acting like this. Oh, I'm a CEO.

Not me, because I'm a real CEO.

I have no idea what that means.

I don't have time to be online because I'm a real CEO.

That's what that means to me. So I don't want to be that.

I feel you, I feel you. I feel like the real CEOs, they, they don't be online. It's some fake ones, it's some fake ones. They be online all day long, bro. When you gonna go CEO? Always on the internet.

Get them on the podcast.

We gotta find them, put them on the podcast. They so busy online though. All right, so, um, this has been really good. Is there— okay, so last question before we wrap. Uh, so the name of this conversation, this podcast, is True Wealth Conversation. So I want to know, when you hear of true wealth, what does that mean for you?

To me, um, true wealth is— it means a few things. And for me personally, I think it has to do with family. Um, I want to see my family happy and able to do whatever it is they want to do in life.

Yeah.

So, you know, wealth for somebody might be making $20 million and having a big house and a big car with a nice dog.

And you have all of those things.

Somebody else might be, you know, just to not have to worry about rent for the next few months. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So wealth is, for me, whatever makes your life comfortable and easy. I don't want to have to think about paying bills.

Yeah.

I don't want to have to think about, like, I'm in a— I had an argument with some of my guys earlier because we're planning this bachelor trip for my friend, and I was like, all right, the deposit is like $350. And people were like, well, can we move it to like 4 weeks from now? And I'm like, it's $350. I'm like, I said, what are you guys doing to where you don't have $350 disposable? And I said that, that to me, I was like getting upset. Yeah, because it's like, I'm not upset about the trip, I'm upset that you have yourself in a situation that you can't afford to where you can't even put $350 down and without feeling like, dang, I'm not gonna be able to eat this week.

Yeah.

And so that's what I really care about, teaching other people wealth and how to be wealthy and how to use e-commerce and digital products or options or whatever it is that you're doing. It's so much money out here and you worried about $350. Like, why are you not getting more money? That job that you're working, that you go every day to, something's not fulfilling you there. Yeah, but it's time.

That also comes back to like money management. Like, a lot of people are just really bad with managing their money. I had a similar situation. I was planning a bachelorette party for one of my friends, and you know, I, I do pretty well for myself. And so I had to like— I'm like, okay guys, we're putting this together. I picked stuff that I felt like was really economical, and I even decided that I was going to front some of it just so more people could come, right? Just because I'm like, I got it. I ain't doing it, man.

Somebody else would do it.

It was like, all right, y'all, all in, like $750 or $500 for everything, like the house, the chef, you know, like, and people couldn't afford it.

And you said economical, then said chef.

No, I— but like $750 to go somewhere to another country that includes your hotel and your food, that is impressive. Come on now. That's good, right? Your hotel and your food for like 5 nights, that's actually really good.

That's pretty good, actually.

And so like private villa, oceanfront, and people were like— I mean, you would have thought I had asked them to give like their firstborn child, and I couldn't believe it. And they literally wanted to like change the location, and I'm like, well, she expressed that this is what she wanted to do. Now you're saying that because you can't manage your money all year, now my friend got to go have her bachelorette party in— I don't know, it was like, we were like somewhere like Tennessee or something. Like, yeah, come on now, like, what we doing?

Literally in that same position. Literally, we went from Colombia to Miami to now Atlanta.

Oh, you're in Atlanta? Oh wow.

So I'm like, I'm going to stay at home.

So you're just driving up the street? That's convenient.

I mean, I'm, I'm cool.

Okay, but, but it's frustrating too, but it also, it's interesting because, you know, a lot of times many of us are in like these social circles where You know, many of us are doing okay, you know, doing very well or doing okay, above average financially. And then so you have your other friends that may not be doing as well, but you don't typically do a lot of things with them. So it was like that one time every couple years you'd be like, dang, people really can't afford $250.

It's ghetto over here.

It was like, yo, I had set it up. I was like, yo, just send a deposit of $100. I had 2 people send a deposit of $100, and I was like, y'all got 6 weeks to give me $100. Like, I'm talking I was like, what are we doing?

You know, it's crazy.

What are we doing?

And that's why I say this, like, um, and not to go too long, but yeah, that's why I say this. You have different friends for different things. That part, you got to turn up.

I don't travel with you.

You got your business friends, you got this friends. So my friends that I'm going to The Bachelor, those are my childhood friends. Yes, those friends I've known for a long time. So that's them. Yeah, I have my business friends, my entrepreneur, my CEO. If I say tomorrow we're going to Cancun, yeah, folks got the money and we booking flights, you know. So like, I had to understand that, okay, this is, this is a group of friends. Let me actually take a step back and not lead this. Let somebody else lead it who may be more aligned with you all, and I'll just participate and give where I need.

Yeah. And so, and that, that's important too, just to— because we all have different groups. Like, you have, you have the groups, you're like, hey y'all, you trying to pull up to Puerto Rico tomorrow? You have the other group, it's like, hey, do you just want to go to the Waffle House for breakfast? Like, and that's all that they can do. I like the waffles.

Is that what you think we do in Atlanta?

No, I go to Waffle House in Miami.

You sit inside?

Do I sit inside?

For breakfast?

Where are you supposed to sit? They don't have no outside.

Waffle House is like a 2 AM thing. That's not like a—

Oh, well, you know, I'm a little bit older, so I like to go in the morning at like 8 AM, really early before like the crowd. That's what I like to do.

I'm learning a lot about you.

But I have my other friends that like to join me at 8 AM to go to Waffle House before the crowd gets in. The food is freshest that time.

Give me all their names so I can block them from social media.

Oh my gosh, there's different groups for different things. Okay, more of that story. We also— anyway, so with that being said, there's different groups for different things, and you don't have to dumb down your life based on one group. You got your friends that can hop in the PJ, you got your friends that's not— they want to have their bachelor party. Oh, split an UberX? Is that a— that's a thing? Oh, you can split the— okay.

Yeah, you said PJ, so I was like, the other thing is like splitting UberX.

Yeah, I only do Uber Black, but I get it. I get it, I get it, right? So there's different levels, right? It's different levels. All right, so this has been absolutely amazing. How can people find Support Black Colleges? I'm sure just go to Instagram, but any other ways to find Support Black Colleges or to follow you in your personal journey?

Yeah, I mean, you can find Support Black Colleges at supportblackcollege.org or Support Black College on Instagram. And then myself, which is my name, Corey Ervinger.

Okay, well, thank you so much, Corey, for coming on and showing us a whole nother way that we can build our wealth and also for giving what true wealth really means for you.

Thank you.