Episode 003: The Fearless Entrepreneur: Boscobel Williams
31 Jan 2017 · 47 min
In this episode of the Fearless Entrepreneur Podcast, host William Featherstone interviews Boscobel "Bosco Bell" Williams, founder of the sneaker resale operation that funds his software and marketing agency Creative Future. The conversation begins with Bosco’s childhood fear of failure and how he reframed fear as a catalyst to "rise" rather than run. He recounts early hustles selling CDs, his love of sports, and the pivotal moment when he realized entrepreneurship was his path. Bosco explains his core business model: buying limited‑edition sneakers at retail (e.g., Yeezy Boosts) and flipping them on the resale market, using the profits to pay developers and grow Creative Future, a full‑stack software, design, and strategy shop. He details how he leverages social‑media platforms (Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) to generate sales, the importance of being the "plug" (supplier) rather than a retailer, and how networking—college contacts, New York sneaker hubs, and a COO‑type friend—helps him secure inventory and discounts. He shares a stressful legal dispute over a shoe sale that, paradoxically, gave him time to travel and expand his network. The interview moves into rapid‑fire “Fearless Five” questions, covering his biggest fear (failure), best advice (don’t let your problems become others’ problems), a recommended book (The Third Wave on IoT), and a hypothetical scenario of having $400 and his current knowledge to bootstrap a business. Bosco concludes with practical contact information (social handles, websites) and a final piece of advice: face everything, choose to rise, and maintain positivity. Throughout, the host reinforces themes of overcoming fear, supply‑and‑demand dynamics, and using short‑term revenue streams to fund long‑term passion projects.
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Hey there, Fearless Family! This is Will checking in with you with the Fearless Entrepreneur Podcast, where I interview some of the most influential people who have conquered their fears to pursue their passion in entrepreneurship. So kick back, relax, and let's unleash your fearlessness. Fearless Family, if you're looking to start a business, one of the things that you need to have is an online presence. Well, I have a secret for you. Right now, you can go and purchase your first domain for 99 cents at GoDaddy.com. Just visit our link, www.thefearless.co/godaddy, and you'll have the opportunity to purchase your first .com for 99 cents. Again, that's thefearless.co/godaddy. Basco Bell, are you prepared to show us how to become a fearless entrepreneur?
I'm definitely prepared because I feel as if I just went through that process for sure. So, you know, I've dealt with a lot of— I'm not going to necessarily say self-doubt, but we've all kind of went through that type of stuff. But I went through a lot of struggles over the past year that I learned how to kind of break through myself. So once I learned that and then applied those same principles to, you know, whatever it really was that I wanted to do, because really what I'm doing right now is what I want to do. So the fact that I'm doing what I want to do and applying those principles that I learned when I was at my lowest point, I'm able to kind of multiply, if you will, like I'm multiplying, um,, you know, my capabilities based off the simple fact that I'm able to now have more belief in self. Because that's what it's all about. Half of it is just believing in yourself first. So once you believe in yourself, your fear goes away. And I will— I feel like I'm the biggest testament to that. Uh, you know, nothing— like, nobody can tell me anything. Believe in yourself, do the right thing, you know, the sky's the limit. And that's what we at Creative Future try to get you to believe in, because once we convince you, then you will— then, you know, you're unstoppable at that point. So that's kind of our premise in a nutshell, if you will.
Awesome, awesome. So before we dive all the way into your business, um, what I want you to do right now is take a moment and And let's take a second to tell us a little bit about, you know, who you are, uh, who you were as a kid and some of the fears that you may have had, some of your biggest fears that you may have had, you know, back then.
Okay. So when I was younger, I would say I had a big fear of failure. So I would not try a lot of stuff based off the fact that I didn't want to lose. Like I didn't want to fail. I didn't want to get it wrong. Which, what I've come to learn, is the exact opposite of what you should actually do. So fear, there's two forms of the word fear. Face everything and run, or face everything and rise. And that's how I view fear. So at the end of the day, you gotta face everything. That's the constant. You have to face everything that's presented to you, but you either rise or you run. And that's a conscious decision that you make. And once I understood that, it was very simple to me. So I understood that everything was me. So that's kind of where I'm at now. So now I just rise because— I mean, I don't know, you know, it's just like— so I started getting into different terms and wordplay. So like the word elevation means a lot to me. So like rise, elevate. I feel as if I'm at an elevated state of something. I don't know exactly what it is, but I've elevated. I get I'm in tune with something, you know what I'm saying? So I'm rising. I'm not going down. Like, I'm, I'm receiving blessings or whatever those things may be, you know what I'm saying? Like, that's how I look at stuff. So I choose that. It's— I know that it's a conscious decision to rise. So that's what I do every day. So because I was at my lowest point, trust me when I say this, a year ago I was low.
Awesome.
Awesome. I'm high. I'm high. How life, you know?
We're definitely gonna dive into those low points, um, a little bit later on in the future. Um, and you kind of answered the next question, but, uh, kind of reiterate, you know, how did you overcome, you know, that fear of failure that you had as, uh, as a young kid, you know?
Right. So I don't know, man. I would say it definitely took a lot of failing to get to that point. So once I was okay with failing myself, and, you know, because I don't know what it is because I just felt when I was a young kid, I actually was very shy. So being a shy kid, you feel like everybody's looking at you, or, you know, like everybody's— everything that you're doing, somebody is watching, or kind, you know, you, you feel me? Like, that's how I feel. So like, once I got to the point to say it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks, it's really how I feel about stuff, right? That is the key turning point to the whole thing. And I don't want to make that seem selfish, but that is reality. For instance, people that always try to preach to you or try to tell you do right and wrong, a lot of times have a lot of issues themselves. So they're telling you this based off of social norms or different things that they may have believed But at the end of the day, what I truly believe is you fix yourself, everything fixes itself. So you handle your own business, you do the right thing yourself, fix yourself, then you go and do fix the world or whatever it is you want to do. But it starts with you. And that goes back to that conscious decision that I was speaking about earlier. Everything is a decision. Am I going to succeed today or am I not? Am I gonna fail? Am I not? Am I gonna get mad about Donald Trump winning the election, or am I gonna just say it doesn't matter to me? You know what I'm saying? Like, personally, yes, the president matters for sure, and I'm going off on a little tangent, but at the end of the day, it's what am I gonna do tomorrow to set myself up. It has nothing to do with with one man in a particular position. So you feel what I'm saying with that? I feel it all starts with self.
Definitely, definitely. What I gather from that, Fearless Family, is that everybody goes through their own experience and everybody has their own story. Sometimes people will put their fears, their experiences that they felt throughout their life on you, But at the end of the day, you live this life on your own. So you have to live that life. You have to have those experiences. You have to have those failures and you have to put yourself out there regardless of how you feel other people may think. But, uh, I think this is an awesome story, man, in itself. So it was an incredible story and I'm glad you was able to share that with us. Um, let's talk a little bit about, uh, your business today. So right now, today, how do you make money in your business?
All right, so right now today, the most of my money is actually coming from, um, e-commerce, or, you know, my apparel that I am slanging, if you will. So look, I've got all the shoes that you can think about, you know what I'm saying? So look, what I specialize in is the resale game. So you got— in the, in the game that I play in, you got retail and you got resale. So I specialize in the resale when the retail sells out. So the way I make my money is I get as many shoes at retail as I possibly can, and then I turn around and flip them when they sell out for resale. For instance, I'll give you an example, and everybody knows this, it's not a secret because this is just public information. So like the Yeezy. So I actually, you know, big milestone for my company today. I got the first pair of Yeezys in that I purchased legit. These actually are from the UK store. I got a pair of Black Pirate Yeezy 350 Boosts, and I got the, uh, what's it called, the Turtle Dove. Got the Turtle Dove 350 Boosts. Both of those I got, and the thing with those are they, they only cost $250 or whatnot around that. When they retail, but the Yeezy sells out in 30 damn seconds, you know what I'm saying, right? So you have to be ready with your card information, all that stuff in there to get your hands on one. So you know what my team has figured out is a way to get our hands on a lot more than one. So that's what we do. So that's how I make my money. I get it at retail at $250, but the Yeezy in 3 hours after the drops it sells for $1,200. So like $1,000 for a shoe that you buy for $200, that is a no-brainer. So that's how I make my money. But I'm only making this money to build my business. So anybody that's in business, it's about making money or you have no business. So I— or no, I'll take that back because you got nonprofits and different things that have different purposes, but I mean Real business is about providing a service or having goods and then making money for it. So my real service is Created Future, which is a platform to help entrepreneurs create their future. With that is really a software development shop, a full-scale software development shop that has marketing product strategy, design, and overall technological capabilities. So that's what Creative Future is, and that's how I make my money. The shoes is just to allow me to pay for my developers, pay for my project management, you know, pay for my app developers, all that stuff, you know. Like, I do a lot of it myself, but if you're going to be legit, you need to pay for consultants to help you bootstrap your business, if you will.
Awesome, man, it makes sense, you know. Um, so Fearless Family, what you need to— what you need to take from this is that at the end of the day, it's okay to have different aspects of your business so that you can fund the main thing of your business. Uh, one of the things that I was able to get from, you know, just what Bosco Bell said was, you know, it's supply and demand. Everybody knows what deal is when it comes down to business. You know, there's, there's a demand for a specific product, and at the end of the day, you have to be the supplier if you're trying to be a true business person.
The plug, if you will.
You gotta be the plug.
That's what it is.
So at the end of the day, you don't ever— you never want to be the retailer for the most part. You want to be the plug where everybody comes to, to try to be the supplier for what it is. So Makes sense, man.
That's a good point that you say that, because look at it like this: I actually have about 30 retail operations going, but me being the plug allows me to plug in the products for those, um, those different ventures. So when I say that, look, so look, I sell shoes, I've got my hands on all the shoes, I've got my hands on all the designer clothes, Louboutins, Balmain, Balenciaga, whatever it is that you think, like, you know, but definitely like the Nikes, the Jordans, all that stuff, you know. I just know people, I understand how to get it, I just get that game. But what it— he was— he said the perfect thing. The retail, the retail actually is nothing because what I'm saying is I've got 20 to 30 different storefronts, if you will, that provide specific niche products. So what I thought the best way to do it was with technology, because I'm a software developer, I'm a software dev guy. Like, I've been in a tech game for some years. I went to James Madison, I studied CIS. We were a top 10 CIS program in the country at the time. Um, I did that, but I was also playing football, and I was, you know, I partied, you know, whatever. Everybody knows that. Um, whatever, you know, like, so I did all those different things, but I'm able to, let's see, segment my day a little better than I feel other people are. So I get more bang for my buck out of the hours that I'm actually doing stuff, just because I know how to replicate hours, if you will. But that's something for another podcast. We'll get into that later.
So cool, cool. Tell me this, how did you get started into your business?
Okay, so again, I mentioned CIS. I want to— okay, so before you jump into this, explain what CIS to the viewers. Sorry, yeah, CIS, Computer Information Systems. A lot of times it goes hand in hand with Management Information Systems. So a lot of business schools have a CIS or an MIS program, you know, it's the same thing. But it's the way I, the way I dumb it down, or the layman's terms, is the computer business, uh, no, actually like the business of the computer game or the business of IT. So look, you got IT, which is this term for just technology. IT is such a vast term, you know what I'm saying? Like IT is everything, but we are the business of IT. So computer information systems, like an information system is anything that provides someone with information. Typically it's a computer system, it's an app, it's a software, whatever, but it's the business side of that. So that is what I went to school to study. So I've got a knack for IT. So let me— all right, let me preface this, let me preface this. When I was younger, to stay out of trouble, uh, so my dad, you know, he was a cool guy in the community or whatnot, he was able to get me the old computers from the computer lab at the school. So I had about 4 to 5 computers, I don't remember. So I was taking those apart, rebuilding them, and then learning how to do networking and different things. So like circuit boards and stuff like that. So when I was in high school, I was playing football, I was doing that, and I was trying to rap, you know, like I was doing music. Like every freaking— I don't want to say this, but you know, every Black kid was trying to rap coming up in the area, era that I came up. But it was just You know, it was good, clean fun. That is really where I learned the business. So Jay-Z, I'll say whatever you want to say, but he got— really got me into doing business. So like Jay-Z came out, switched the game, it's all about business. He went Corporate Jay, Def Jam, whatever. I was very intrigued by that because I'm like, this is not killing, this is not all this other stuff, this is something totally different, something that I could identify with. Because when I was younger, I used to slang Jay-Z CDs because I'm a hustler at heart. So I had the first CD recorder. My sister's about 4 years older than me. She was a little more hip to the game. She was like, yo, the CD recorder is about to drop. So we like, dad, we got to get the CD recorder. So look, once we got that, look, I was burning the Eminem, I don't know, the Shady LP. You know how long ago that came out? You know, I'm like, I'm like 8, 9, 30. I'm like 8 or 9. I got the Shady joint, I got the Jay-Z joint. Like, I'm slinging all the kicks at the school, at the Spotlight parties, whatever. We, you know, we used to go— we used to do Spotlight, laser tag at night, and all that type of stuff. So I'm out there slinging CDs for $10, $15, you know, because these CDs are $30 at this time. So I had the first recorder, so it's just hustler mentality, you know what I'm saying?
So Good deal, man. So it makes sense, man. Um, so number one, the first thing I got from that is, is the Jay-Z quote was the first thing that popped up into my mind. Jay-Z says, until you own your own, you can't be free. Until you own your own, you can't be me.
We still say the 2016, you know what I'm saying? Like, so seriously.
Yeah, man.
So you can get into that if you want.
Hey, you, you, you definitely have to, to understand the opportunity that is put in front of you. Um, so how were—
how old were you when you, when you realized that, that you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
When you started slinging CDs, when you—
okay, so let me think, how old was I? So I remember I was at— what's this called— it's Clifton Forge East School. I had, uh, pencils and notepads for sale. So East School was 3rd to 6th grade, so whatever you are at that time. So I used to slang those. Then I started slinging, you know, when I was a 5th grader, you know, because you big man on campus, you're a 5th grader there. We third through sixth. So, you know, I was a little bigger, bigger man, you know. So I had the CDs on deck at that point, you know what I'm saying? Then the next year, you know, I just had the whole game on lock, you know. I'm in sixth grade, you know what I'm saying?
You know, around fifth to sixth grade, a little bit. That's great. Awesome, awesome, awesome. So, uh, a little younger kid, I guess around the 10, 11, 12, 13 area. Um, it depends if you pass your grades or not. I don't know how many people didn't pass their grades. Great, but, um, awesome, man. Um, so we here at The Fearless Entrepreneur like to talk a lot about taking that, that leap, you know, into pursuing your dream. Um, take us to a moment when you started your entrepreneur journey, that point in your life where you, where you realize, hey, this is what I really want to do, right? What was the biggest fear you had to confront when taking that leap? And explain what that felt like to you at that time.
Okay, so let me say, the biggest fear is your job, your 9 to 5, you know what I'm saying? Look, and I'm just going to be 100 with y'all, I make a lot of money in my 9 to 5, but I was not fulfilled. I wasn't happy, you know what I'm saying? You get to a point, you make 6 figures plus and do different things like that, and it's just like, what is this? I'm I'm going to buy more bottles at the club. I'm going to buy more tennis shoes. I'm going to buy more clothes. It gets to a point that like, what does that stuff actually mean to you? So I got to that point. And that was a part of my— when I said I got to that low point is I got to a point where I could buy my way through a lot of stuff. I could talk my way out of a lot of stuff. But at the end of the day, was it genuine? So I flipped that. I said everything that I do has to be genuine from the heart. So it's not about making money. So the leap of faith is about going out there and, you know, turning down $3K every 2 weeks to survive on and saying, oh, I might make $200 in a week or 2, $300 trying to get started up. Like, I'm out here grinding every week. I gotta— I don't know what I'm gonna make. You know, it's easy to go into that 9 to 5, and that's what I started realizing. It's easy to get into this routine get you a girlfriend, get you a dog, go to church every Sunday, whatever it is that's a routine. It's hard to do this shit every day when— sorry for my friend— but it's hard to do this stuff every day when you have no idea where the money's coming from. You have no idea if you're gonna make it. So, but once I stepped down on— stepped out, I started making $3,000 a day. Like, not that I make it every day, but like some days somebody might buy 3 shoes. That are the Yeezy, that the Yeezy goes for $12,000, you know what I'm saying? Like, somebody might buy 6 Jordans one day, you know what I'm saying? Like, I got a lot of— I've got a big network is what I came to understand. So when I grew up, when I was younger, I was very good at sports. I was All-State in a lot of different sports— track, football, basketball. Could have been All-State probably in whatever sport I played. I was just good at sports. But with that, I learned and I met a lot of people. So that networking started as a young guy. So I'm from the freaking country, like, I'm from Clifton Forest, Virginia, bro, like Southwest Virginia. I'm 10 minutes from the West Virginia border. I don't know if y'all heard of this joint called Green— the Greenbrier. We are like— the Greenbrier is where they do the PGA event, uh, every whatever. And I got a great story for that because I was working there breaking down the dam bleachers for the top, the damn PGA event. And I said, yo, this is not for me, bro. I did that for 3 days, I quit. I went to DC on a whim, got a job. 8 months later, got a job that doubled my salary in Charlotte, which is half the damn living expenses. So I was able to come up from that. So look, I can tell that story later. But what I want to say really though, you know, it's, man, you just gotta go. I mean, I don't know, something just has a trigger in each one of us that tells us go and do that thing. I don't know what that thing is. Everybody has their own talents. Do not— do not do what I did because I understand this. I went through a certain life that makes me understand the shoe game, how to hustle, whatever. Everybody can't do it. And I'm not saying that I'm special, but I don't know what you know about. Don't try to do what the next person did. Figure out what it is that you're doing. What I'm doing to me, nobody else has done it. And the reason I know that is because I don't conform to that stuff. And that's what my father— if my father taught me anything, it's that. It's you're an individual. Like, my parents came together and made me. There's no other two people like my parents. So what they made is an individual person that cannot be duplicated. Honestly, that's what everybody is. Yep. Unless you're a freaking twin, identical, which even y'all have your own differences. You might look slightly alike, but at the end of the day, you all are different. So you gotta figure out what does for you, what moves you. Don't conform to everything.
Mm-hmm. You're exactly right, man. At the end of the day, everybody is an individual, and what you got to realize is that, you know, you may not fit what every— what the norm is for the most part, but people don't buy into you being normal. They buy into the perspective that you come from. So the life that you lived and the story that you would tell throughout it to say, hey man, this is where I come from, and they can relate to it. So it's an awesome thing to start to understand that. So what are some tips? So give me maybe about, you know, 3 or 4 tips that you have to give the people to kind of overcome their hesitation or their fear that they have of taking that leap of faith.
Right. So what I would say is, I mean, at the end of the day, you just got to do it. So look, I sell Nikes, so Just Do It is the, is the moniker, right? Yeah, but the leap of faith is all about having the confidence again in yourself to take that step to then do whatever it is that you kind of desire, you know what I'm saying? So what I mean by that is, you know, just have, again, have faith in yourself, have faith in your idea. With those two things, you're able to kind of catapult your future. Like, that's just my premise. Makes sense. Faith in self, faith in idea, but we provide the tools to also allow you to make it happen, if that makes sense.
That definitely makes sense, right? So, um, how did you get your business right now from just open to actually thriving?
Right, so I was able to— I don't know, like, okay, actually I do know. So social media, so social media is everything right now. So, you know, I sell most of my products off of Snapchat, off of Facebook Story, off of posting on Instagram, off of— so what I post on Instagram and that shares to Twitter and Facebook. So when I do that, I, I literally get about 5 to 10 messages every single time I make a post. So, you know, with that being said, that's why I kind of do it, you know what I'm saying? Like, some people get aggravated with me, and that's fine. And if you don't like the content that I'm giving, I have no problem with kind of removing you from my list. Like, currently my accounts are about my business, so my friends need to understand that, you know, whoever, whoever needs to Whoever is dealing with me kind of needs to understand that. So like, I mean nothing malicious by— look, I got— actually, let me tell you this one thing. So somebody told me today, if you send someone a direct Snapchat and post it on your story, that that is disrespectful. I was like, are you serious? Like, is that what we are at nowadays? I'm like, I'm like, you guys are worried about Donald Trump being a president and then you're gonna tell me that is disrespectful to send you a direct Snap message and put on my story.
I was like, I said, I must not know the rules, but you know, you know, so what I realized, man, and what I get from that story is that there are no rules. Rules are made to be broken in order, especially when you're in a business and you're an entrepreneur for yourself, you know, you can't always go with what the norm is and what everybody else is accepting. Exactly, you know, so it's okay to put your promotions out there. And at the end of the day, you got to understand that you got to put at least 7 impressions out there to people before they take action on anything that you're doing, right? So it's important to stay in front of your audience, important to stay in front of the people that actually matter and want to take action on some of the things that you're offering for them. So, um, that's, that's an awesome story, man, and it's very insightful for people to kind of understand and, and take heed of. So my next question is, what's been your most successful story as an entrepreneur thus far?
Okay, this is how I kind of got started in the shoes. So my buddy hit me up, kid, you know, he spent some time overseas. He plays professional basketball overseas. So this guy had a store in Australia. So he kind of hit me up, you know, he saw that I was doing my, you know, marketing and all that stuff. So he hits me up, and from that point he said— no, this is what he told me. He said, hey bro, my boy's got about 150 of the OVO Jordan 12s that came out, I guess it's like 3, 4 weeks ago, and then the V2 Yeezy Boost. He said, man, I got these two shoes, bro. He was like, yo, just put a post out, see if you can move them. So I said, all right, let me just try, throw a post out there, you know. I get about 3, 4 likes. Then, you know, I kind of just started pushing a little more. Next thing you know, that weekend I sold 25 shoes. So like, you know, 8 or so, 9 of the OVO Jordans, you know, 18 freaking Yeezys. So like, you know, I'm like, well, maybe I should do this again. So from that point, I just started kind of posting a lot of different graphics and images of the different products that I know that my source has. You know, so he'll tell me what he's got, and then once he tells me, then I'll go ahead and post it. So, because, you know, if he tells me that he's got it, I know I can get it from, you know, within at least 14 days at the latest. That's if it has to be international, but if it's anything in the States, I can get you in about 3 days or so. So when people look for exclusive stuff, they need to understand that it takes a little longer to get because Man, like I got the Yeezys today. The Yeezys came from the UK. I've never been to the UK.
Right, they're exclusive. That's why they're exclusive, right?
Right, I don't, yeah, you know? So, and I can't go over there and get them. So one thing that I did with my first big order was I had ordered them in New York. I met with a bunch of different companies up there, Flight Club being one, Stadium Goods being another, and someone else that I can't necessarily name yet. But I met with those guys and then I went and purchased the shoes kind of at a slight discount for me. It's a little slighter than what you could go in and just buy if you weren't— if you don't have a relationship. So I've got a pretty good in with Flight Club. So, you know, I was able to get a pretty good discount where they claim they give no discounts, but everybody gives a discount, right? You know, everybody's got a markup. So with that being said, I did that, went up there, got my first shipment. And then I hand-delivered my first orders because I didn't want any issues with it, you know. I thought that would be a cool thing to go up there, secure the purchase, secure the deal, bring them to people. So I flew up there, $80, Charlotte to New York, $80. Got— oh, oh, great story. Get to the freaking Hertz. I've got 3 shoes on me. I sell the girl at Hertz a pair of shoes for her boyfriend. She puts me on her plan and I get a $250 a day rental for $999. Awesome. You know, success story in itself. To me, that's 2 shoes sold already. All right, before I leave, you know what I'm saying? Like, it was just a great weekend.
Paid for the trip itself. Paid for the trip. Listen, listen, Fearless, Fearless family, if you don't understand anything else When you see the opportunity, take advantage.
Take advantage of the opportunity.
Why? Because in your journey, it'll always work itself out, right? At the end of the day, he took the leap of faith, understood what it was, went out to New York on a whim, spent $80, but made his $80 back.
How much I made?
Made his $80 back. Plus paid for his rental in itself. It had to. His whole trip was taken care of off that one.
Let me tell you the other thing. So my buddy— I got a lot of friends in New York, so when I go to New York— so James Madison, they put a lot of people— to me, they go to DC, they go to New York, you know. So most of my contacts are from JMU, Daryl, in New York. So my buddy He let me stay at his house for 2 days. I give him a free pair of Huaraches, $125 value, for a 2-night stay. You can't beat that. He gets a free pair of kicks, fresh kicks, no sweat off his back. I sleep on the couch, you know, win-win. I go up there, I pay for no room, I pay— I barely pay for a rental, you know. But that's what you got to do as an entrepreneur. You got to get in there You gotta bootstrap, you gotta get in there, you gotta utilize your resources. That's what it's all about.
So makes so much sense, man. Um, well, that, that is an awesome story in itself, man, to, you know, step out there on faith and end up doing some of the things that you want to do and then be successful in that. But as an entrepreneur, you know, you got to understand that adversity is going to happen and it's It's always gonna happen. So when it happens, no matter amount the achievements that you achieve and the successes that you may see in life, it's usually when you're able to get through those adversities that you're able to, you know, become the person that you need to become. Take us to a point where you consider to be the most pivotal moment in your business where you realize that it was stressful.
Oh, oh, I got it, I got the point. And then it became successful. I got the point, okay.
Awesome, let's get it.
All right, check it out. So look, okay, so what, 2 months in? So okay, I had a close friend, he will forever remain nameless, but this kid was very close to me, very good in his professional life, close to a quarter— well, over a quarter million dollars a year salary, one of the first person of a certain nationality to have a particular position at a particular big bank in the city. He is someone that I decided to name my COO, right? This kid turns around and sues me for $250 for a pair of shoes that really cost $1,200. So that honestly was a very pivotal point in my business because it actually set me back at least 3 weeks. So it— all right, at the same time that it set me back, it also helped me catapult it because if it wasn't for that time, I wouldn't have had a week off of work of my regular job, and then I wouldn't have had the ability to go to New York and make the different connections that I had. So it actually was a blessing where that— because that's the type of person that I am. So like, I don't let anything at this point in time really get me down. Because none of this stuff is really real. Not that it's not real, but none of this stuff means anything. So that little stuff was very small change. So that's what you gotta do, is you gotta look past those little basic baby steps, those little small hurdles, jump over the little hurdle, and then get to business. So that's what I wanted to do. I went to business, and then I catapulted myself into be the person that I am. I'm— I've met like 10 to 15 of the people that used to be the— not that they are the plug, right? So, you know, I got women's designer shoes. I don't know, uh, what's they're called? Christian Louboutin, um, all those names, you know. That's not my thing. I'm from Clifton. I know Michael Jordan and I know Kanye, you know what I'm saying? That's about it. But I do know as a businessman, that is what the ladies want. That's what sells. So what I'm going to do is fly to Italy and I'm going to try to meet these people or I'm going to, you know, do whatever I've got to do.
It makes sense. So slowly educate yourself throughout the process. You know, sometimes you just have to dive in there sometimes, guys, um, and not necessarily try to, uh, know everything prior to, you know, maybe you, you are from Clifton or maybe you're from like a little small town over here, South Carolina.
Clifton Forge, Created Future. I don't know if people have caught that. I mean, I'm sure they have by this time, but Created Future, Clifton Forge. So I'm from CF, I'm from CF. So it's always been CF on my back, you know what I'm saying? Like, and that's just a little small— being from a small town, you just have this pride about you.
But I definitely understand, man. I'm from Rock Hill, South Carolina, a little small town, but they call it Football City USA. We put out the most NFL players per capita. Where is it at? It's right, right down the street in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Oh, so is that where, uh, what's the space?
Uh, yep, Clowney. We got Jay Joseph. Shout out to Jay Joseph.
Who's that?
Who's that?
Is he—
hey, Jason, basketball. The dopest cornerback in the NFL.
Thank you, another guy for Toronto basketball. But no, I know you're talking about Yeah, man.
Cole Simpson, Jonathan Hefney.
Yep, I know these names.
Chris Hope. I know we can keep going through, man. I'm not going to go through, you know, Dixon.
I get it, I get it, I get it, I get it. But yo, you said small city, small cities, you said clowny, so that's all, that's all that we need to talk about.
Yeah, man. So good stuff, man. Well, we have the Fearless 5 questions coming up, but before we go into that, we're going to take a few moments to thank our sponsors. And then we'll hop right back in. So hey, did you like some of the books that were suggested? Head right over to thefearless.co/books and find out where we get most of our book selections from. And wait, do you hate waiting to get your book in the mail? Well, here you'll be able to read thousands of ebooks available to you immediately. Just head over to thefearless.co/books. That's thefearless.co/books. Books. So Bosco Bill, are you prepared for the Fearless Five?
Hey, I'm ready for the Fearless Five, my boy.
Good stuff, good stuff. Let's get it. So, okay, what was holding you back from becoming an entrepreneur?
I would just say fear in itself. So fear itself was holding me back. So again, like I said earlier, I was a little scared of failure, you know, so I just didn't want to step out there and do certain things based off of what other people would But I would say that is the key thing that held me back.
Cool. So what was the best piece of advice you've ever received?
It was, do not let your problems become someone else's problems. So my college coach told me that, and me and my college coach did not have a great relationship up until that time. We had this kind of come-to-Jesus meeting. Mm-hmm. But in that meeting, he told me some of the most real things that I've ever heard in my life. Mm-hmm. And I will never forget it. And then from that point on, I respected him. So he's a great guy. His name is Mickey Matthews, but he said, do not let your problems become someone else's problems.
The one book that changed my life and kind of opened my eyes and opened my mindset was The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. If you could recommend one book that opened your eyes, what would that be and why?
So one of the latest books that I read was a book called The Third Wave. Mm-hmm. The Third Wave was about the prediction of the next big thing. What that is, is, okay, so the first wave and the second wave— the first wave was building the infrastructure of the internet. These major players like, you know, IBM, Apple, these big guys play parts in that, Microsoft. The next wave was the different applications that were created on top of the infrastructure— Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, whatever those are. The— but the third wave, the third wave is about internet-enabled devices. So like smart TVs, smartwatches, stuff like that. So the person— I forget his name, um, Alan Cohen, for whatever reason, is coming to my name, but that could be false. But whoever the man that founded AOL is, the person that created this book, and I'll look them up in a second, but it's called The Third Wave. The Third Wave is about what they call the Internet of Things, that industry of stuff. Steve Case, the founder of AOL, And the author of The Third Wave, that is a great book to go and check out.
So, okay, this is the last question that we have. Imagine that you woke up one morning, okay, except you were your younger self, you know, that, that 6th grade, 5th grade, 7th grade self that you were when you realized that, uh, you wanted to be an entrepreneur.
Okay, right.
At that pivotal moment where you realize that you really want to be an entrepreneur, all your bills are paid, You're by yourself, right? Food and shelter is taken care of. Now you still have the knowledge that you have now, right? All right, you still have your laptop. You still have, have all the experiences that you've overcome, all your fears that you were able to face, right? And realize that weren't real fears, right? And you have about $400, right? What would you do in the next 10 days in your life in this experience?
Okay, next 10 days I've got the same knowledge that I've got now. I don't have the money though. I got—
you said I got $400? No, you have $400 though.
Okay, $400. Okay, look, $400, knowledge that I've got now. But how old am I again?
Sorry, you're, you're in your— you're at the age where you realize that you really wanted to be an entrepreneur. So you know this is what you want to do.
14, 15 maybe. Cool.
And you know this is what you want to do. You already have all the experiences that you have. Okay, what would you do at that point? What would I do?
The next 10 days, that's what I would do. All right, I'm gonna keep it 100. So the Yeezy goes for $225. I'll buy 2 pair of Yeezys. Well, I would try to borrow $100 from my mom because my mom always holds me down with the bread if I need it.
So now you got $500.
Now I got $500, right? So I say, Mom, um, I call her Mommy or Mama. So I'll be like, Mama, let me get $100, you know what I'm saying? You know, she'll give me a little speech. Then she'll give me the money. So then I'll buy 2 pair of Yeezys, then I'll sell those Yeezys for the premium, so at least $1,250 a pop. So I have now $2,000. So with that $2,000, I could either do it again. Um, how many times can I do that? $2,000, let's just say $225 times— I could do it 8 times potentially at $225. No, maybe, maybe that's not a little off, but you know what I'm trying to say is 4 shoes per $1,000. Yeah, that's $225. $225, I come out with 8 shoes. Now then, I would sell those and I have about $8,000. Then I do that again, then I had $16,000. You know, I'll just continue to double that because that's what a hustler would do. That's what the— that's what the freaking market's telling me to do. Or I'll sell a Jordan that costs $1,750. They have Jordans that cost a lot of money too, right? You know, but that's what I would do. I'll just keep doubling, doubling, doubling, doubling, because that's the thing that you should do if you know that the money's there, right? That's just a smart thing to do. Don't go away and try to do this crazy stuff until you have the means to do it. Mm-hmm. So once I get the means, I can do whatever I want to do, which is that creative software development company that I want to do.
Makes so much sense, man. You know, at the end of the day, you know, as an entrepreneur, you got to understand sometimes you have to take small steps in order to get towards your passion, you know. And it may not be something that you necessarily always want to do fully, but it works for what you needed to do. And this makes sense, you know, work the things that are making you and are driving revenue to fund the things that you really want to do. Am I right?
Yep.
You're exactly right. Awesome. So Bosco, let's end this killer interview with a piece of advice you'd like to give to the Fearless family. Okay. The best way we can connect with you.
Okay.
And then we'll say goodbye.
The best way to connect with me is Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook. Instagram: BoscoBell3, as well as Twitter: B-O-S-C-H-O-B-E-L-L-3. BL3. That's my Instagram, Twitter, and my Snapchat. You can look me up on Facebook by either Bosco Williams, B-O-S-C-O Williams, or Bosco Bell Williams, something like that. Or look for CF Status. But also I've got a few websites, so check those websites out. CFStatus.com, that is where you're going to get all of your exclusive apparel. KickKing.co, Kick King, K-I-C-K king.co is where you're going to get the exclusive shoes. And then we've got createdfuture.net, which is my company's website. Created— createdfuture.net. So that's where all the CF stuff comes from. Everything CF is createdfuture.net based off of that premise. So Created Future has CF Music, CF Events, CF Sports, all these different things. So be on the lookout for those things.
And also give the one piece of advice that you would like to give to the Fearless Family.
Alright, sorry about that. Yeah, okay, again, the one piece of advice is face everything and rise. You've got the choice, you can either run or rise. Please rise and take everything face on. Look at everything as a challenge. And put positivity in every single thing that you do. 'Cause even the worst things that have ever happened to you could actually be the most biggest and greatest blessings that you could have ever thought about because of the knowledge and because of the fact that you already went through what you think is the worst. So from everything from there on is nothing but goodness. So look, it's all about positivity. If you're giving negative energy, please stay from me, stay from anybody that I like and love and care about. Because we don't want you around. It's all about positivity. We out here, baby.
Yeah, man. So at the end of the day, the FEAR— you heard the acronym that Bosco Bill let us know about. At the end of the day, fear and the unknown can basically kill your dreams, man. So definitely continue to aspire to rise up, rise up, replace that fear with knowledge. Instead of fear.
Yes.
And today you guys have been kicking it with Bosco Bell and Will. And Bosco, what we want to do, we want to encourage you to continue to step out here and conquer your fears and continue to create with no fear. We're signing off with the Fearless Entrepreneur family. Thank you guys for checking in, and we're out. We out, Fearless family! Thank you for joining me for another episode of the Fearless Entrepreneur Podcast. Take a moment to visit thefearless.co/podcast, like, share, and comment on our channel.