Shannon Houchins of Average Joes Entertainment: “They told me it was impossible and I did it…

Shannon Houchins of Average Joes Entertainment: “They told me it was impossible and I did it anyway”

We need to believe in ourselves more. The person standing in the place we want to be doesn’t have super powers or a magic button. If we work hard enough, we can get there. Don’t get paralyzed by fear of trying. Just go.

As a part of our series about “dreamers who ignored the naysayers and did what others said was impossible”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Shannon Houchins.

Shannon Houchins is CEO/President of Nashville-based Average Joes Entertainment. Average Joes is a multi-faceted entertainment/lifestyle company that includes three record labels, music publishing, artist management, the Mega Truck Series of extreme motorsports racing and Hideout Pictures, a film & tv/video production company. The company focuses on a grassroots approach, availability of product and cross-promotional opportunities to expand artist visibility.

Since launching the company in 2008, Houchins has overseen all aspects of the business. Over the past decade, it has sold in excess of 3 million albums, 4 million singles, over 1 million concert tickets, and has been nominated for numerous music industry awards. In addition, Houchins has been featured in such major media outlets as The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone and The New York Times.

Average Joes and affiliated labels’ growing roster of artists and projects includes Colt Ford, Montgomery Gentry, Bubba Sparxxx, Sarah Ross, Sam Grow, Maggie Baugh, Carter Winter, SMO, Lenny Cooper, DJ Canyon Bannon, Tommy Chayne, Cypress Spring, James Phillips, Devin Burris and the Mud Digger Series.

Houchins began his career as a producer. He went on to become a staff producer/writer for Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def Productions working with acts such as TLC, Usher and Jagged Edge, to name a few.

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you tell us your ‘backstory’?

I began my professional career in Atlanta, Georgia as a staff producer for Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def Productions. I later started my own production company that was the stepping stone to form my own record label (Average Joes). Sometime over the past few years I caught the bug to make film and television, and now I’m doing that.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

I’m currently working on a slate of alternate-reality western films that all tie into each other. I don’t know if they will help anyone, but hopefully they will be enjoyable to watch.

In your opinion, what do you think makes your company or organization stand out from the crowd?

I think we are more of a lifestyle brand than a record label or a film entity. We’ve found a core audience that is specific to what we create and our job is just to feed that audience. So basically we’ve found a niche’ space. What’s different about us is that space itself.

Ok, thank you for that. I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?

I was told that coming from a small town it would be impossible to make a mark in the entertainment business. When I wanted to start Average Joes Entertainment, I was constantly given the terrible odds of the label being a success. When I wanted to create and produce a tv pilot, I was told the chances were nil we could sell it. There are several more instances that arose as I kept coming up with things I wanted to try (mainly to keep myself from getting bored.) The naysayers usually just say “who knew.” I don’t hold those opinions against anyone. From a probability standpoint, they were probably right in saying I’d fail. But if I didn’t try, then my chances were zero.

In the end, how were all the naysayers proven wrong? 🙂

When my venture worked. Sure I’ve had to stop, take three steps back and re-evaluate at times but that’s what makes the process so much fun. It’s all about the journey, right?

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

There are several. Too many to name. Life is a team sport.

It must not have been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?

I played alot of sports and I hated to lose. I never understood the term “sore loser.” Isn’t that redundant? If you play, you want to win, right? So, of course, you are sore when you lose. I was fortunate to play sports on teams that won and when I quit playing, I still had that thrist to play. To win. I just applied it elsewhere.

Based on your experience, can you share 5 strategies that people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)

I’ve read so many testimonials of how so and so became successful. To me everything you attempt has a different path, and every person’s starting gate circumstance is different. There are so many factors to consider that I never like to give any standard “how to” advice. If anything, I like to think of each venture like one of those puzzle mazes. You know where you are. You know where you want to go. Then you make a plan and go. You hit a wall, you adjust, go the other way, climb it. Just keep going.

What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?

“To believe a thing impossible is to make it so.” I’m not sure who said it, but I like it.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Well I don’t know if I’m “of great influence,” but if anything I think what the world lacks most is confidence. We need to believe in ourselves more. The person standing in the place we want to be doesn’t have super powers or a magic button. If we work hard enough, we can get there. Don’t get paralyzed by fear of trying. Just go.

Can our readers follow you on social media?

Not personally, but our Average Joes and Hideout Pictures socials are below:

Instagram,Twitter, Facebook: @averagejoesent

Instagram: @hideoutpictures

Facebook: @hideoutpics

Thank you for these great stories. We wish you only continued success!

Thank You.

Shannon Houchins of Average Joes Entertainment: “They told me it was impossible and I did it… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

AJ Cartas of Syzygy Social: “5 Ideas That Influencers Can Use To Monetize Their Brand”

As influencers, people look up to them for a reason. Some of the most common types of courses sold are workout routines, recipes, and other how-to’s and DIY’s.

As part of my series about “How Influencers Can Monetize Their Brand” I had the pleasure of interviewing AJ Cartas.

AJ has been a social media influencer since 2013. By the end of 2015, he had over 1.2 million followers across Instagram, Vine, YouTube, and Twitter. AJ used his social media skills and started consulting for brands from startups to multi-billion dollar corporations. He has led influencer marketing for both domestic and international campaigns. Currently, he is the Founder & CEO of Syzygy Social, a social media agency that specializes in growing online communities for brands using unique engagement and content strategies as well as global influencer marketing campaigns in China, United Kingdom, and Australia.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! What is your “backstory”?

My name is AJ Cartas and I am an entrepreneur, a social media influencer, an author, and an investor. Currently, I am the Founder & CEO of Syzygy Social, a social media agency.

I was born and raised in the Philippines and immigrated to the United States on October 3rd, 2001. I lived in the Chicagoland area for more than 14 years until I moved to California in 2015.

I started creating content for social media in early 2013 and fell in love with the ability to grasp people’s attention and drive action. That’s when I was introduced to social media marketing and influencer marketing.

As I attended my third year of college, I realized that it wasn’t beneficial for me to continue giving my time and money due to the fact that I was doing what I was learning in my classes. After I finished the semester with a 3.9 GPA, I dropped out and took the risk of moving to Silicon Valley for an internship.

That internship actually turned into a huge scam and I had to claw my way out of that hole. I started reaching out to brands to do their social media and my Instagram was literally my resume. Eventually, I landed a client, and then another, and then another. Later on, I became the Director of Social Media for Bytedance, a $78 billion company (parent company of Tik Tok), and was Director of Influencer Marketing for Calm.

I filed a lawsuit against the company that refused to pay me and used that as a learning experience, which shaped into the type of person who I am now. I actually wrote about my experience in my book, Startups and Downs, which I published in May 2019.

As I advanced in my career, I launched my third agency, Syzygy Social, (after having the previous 2 acquired), that specializes in helping Western brands be introduced to Chinese consumers.

Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that happened to you in the course of your career?

One of the most interesting stories I could think of is what I mentioned earlier: how that one company scammed me. It was a very vulnerable moment for me, but I gladly share it so others can learn from my situation.

I was offered a summer internship in 2015 that required me to relocate to San Jose, California. I was offered a pretty good salary as well as accommodations as a package.

I rented out this apartment that was $3,000 per month and purchased furniture with a promise that the company would reimburse me. I was also told to lease it for one year and that the company would take over the lease after my three months was up.

Week after week, I asked the founder when I would get paid and reimbursed and he would say as soon as there’s funding and that it should be next week. It all became empty promises and eventually left. The whole process took almost three years until a judgment was filed with the company. The founder was ordered to pay me back, but it was nearly impossible to because there’s no money.

I decided to pursue the judgment so that others don’t fall victim and will see that the company hasn’t paid me back.

In my book, I also gave tips on how to spot red flags during the interview process because I wish I knew the right questions to ask and maybe I wouldn’t have landed in this mess. However, I don’t regret it at all because it was one of the best learning experiences I’ve ever had. I truly believe I wouldn’t be where I’m at now if it wasn’t for that misfortune.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

Before I moved to California, there was this middle school student that reached out to me from Garland, Texas to be part of a charity event for cancer. They offered to compensate me, but I refused and paid out of pocket since my grandpa died of cancer and wanted to do it in his honor.

I flew out there with a friend and did a meet & greet for the event and donated everything I potentially could’ve made. I was told by the counselor that the district has one of the highest rates of cancer and that the event became the biggest in the district!

I’m glad I was able to use my social media platform for something great.

If someone would want to emulate your career, what would you suggest are the most important things to do?

  1. Never stop learning
  2. Never regret anything
  3. Always find solutions to your problems
  4. Be resilient
  5. Learn when to spend your time and your money efficiently

These are some of the things that someone should do on a daily basis.

Is there a particular person that made a profound difference in your life to whom you are grateful? Can you share a story?

Yes, his name is Sumant Pendharkar.

When I moved to California, I literally had no one in my network and knew no one. Luckily, I met Sumant when I was at the lowest point of my life.

I was deep in debt. I didn’t know where my career was going. I didn’t want to go back to Illinois as a failure.

Sumant took me under his wing and offered me invaluable advice financially, professionally, and personally. He’s one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met and I’m glad I can go to him for any advice.

So what are the most exciting projects you are working on now?

I’m running influencer marketing campaigns for brands that are established in the U.S. and helping them expand in China via influencer marketing. There, influencer marketing is called KOL marketing, which stands for key opinion leader.

It’s exciting to me because China is a completely different field because Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and all of the other social media platforms that are available in the US are not available there. Instead, they have their own platforms such as Weibo, WeChat, XiaoHongShu, Taobao, and Douyin.

I’m able to expand on my marketing acumen by familiarizing myself with how to launch campaigns in China.

What are your “Top Five Ideas About How Influencers Can Monetize Their Brand”. (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Brand collaborations

One of the most common ways to monetize an influencer’s brand is by collaborating with a brand. The brand either sends the influencer products to promote or pay the influencer to promote their product or service.

2. Affiliate marketing

Some influencers regularly curate products that they like and regularly use. Through this method, they’re able to sell these products (without direct relationship from the brand) and get a percentage every time a product is sold using their link or discount code.

3. Selling courses

As influencers, people look up to them for a reason. Some of the most common types of courses sold are workout routines, recipes, and other how-to’s and DIY’s.

4. Creating exclusive content

You can monetize your following by signing up on platforms like Patreon or Paid Followers. Your most loyal followers can subscribe to your account and pay per month, per week, or whatever the platform allows you to.

5. Launching their own business

The biggest influencers launch their own business, which is actually one of the smartest things an influencer can do because their revenue stream is not just stuck into their social media platforms. They’re able to move their followers to other areas either online or offline. Some examples of successful influ-preneurs, (a term I coined; a portmanteau of influencer and entrepreneur) are Nikita Dragun, Bretman Rock, James Charles, and Logan Paul.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this. 🙂

Arlan Hamilton!

I’d love to have a sit down with Arlan, Founder and Managing Partner of Backstage Capital which she built while homeless, who focuses on investing in founders part of underrepresented communities. As a first-generation, gay, Filipino-American, she’s uplifting those who are people like me.

We need more Arlans in the world and I hope to follow her lead and amplify those who part of underrepresented communities as well.

What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?

The best way you can follow me is on:

Instagram: @aj.cartas

Twitter: @ajcartas

Facebook: AJ Cartas

AJ Cartas of Syzygy Social: “5 Ideas That Influencers Can Use To Monetize Their Brand” was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Steve Richmond of Projetech: “How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing Impostor…

Steve Richmond of Projetech: “How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing Impostor Syndrome”

I always try to take people for what they are. Even though a company might be small, or they might be relatively inexperienced, if there’s an opportunity where we can collaborate or where I could make use of their expertise, I go for it.

Ihad pleasure of interviewing Steve Richmond of Projetech Inc. Born in Los Angeles, California and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Steve Richmond founded Projetech in 1990 and has led, driven and grown it to its present day success. Pioneering IBM Maximo as a Service in 1999 he transformed a traditional consultant-based organization into an award-winning IBM Gold Business Partner.

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?

I find it a little ironic. I was educated in mechanical engineering and my company morphed into a Software-as-a-Service business, which at first it doesn’t seem to parlay very cleanly, but 30 years ago it made sense to me.

It occurred to me at some point that making money and managing and maintaining assets were just mechanical systems. Just thinking about boilers, chillers, air conditioners, and heating systems, it struck me that there was only so much money that could be made fixing those things and that you’d always needed a strong back and a ladder.

I thought that if you had better information about those assets, that the information itself, at some point, would be of greater value than the work you were doing. That’s what sort of drove me towards Asset Management.

The question then became: did I want to run a contracting business and fix things? Or did I want to develop an Informational System that would make people smarter about how they fixed things?

Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

I always like to talk about one of my earliest clients. They were looking for a software product, something that I had not yet delved into a great deal. At that point in my career, I tried to do a little programming with some flat-file systems and I realized pretty quickly I wasn’t a programmer.

I was hired by a manufacturing company. They wanted a system that could differentiate between various variables of a specific product — they were making silicon wafers for the chip industry and were running their systems 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, but needed more information. Texas Instruments was buying every wafer they could make at the time, so their key thing was “uptime”. They never wanted to turn their systems off but they needed a software product to help explain and help them manage these assets to be more productive.

I learned a great deal researching various products that were available at that time. And at the end of the day I made a recommendation; I wrote a report but they never bought the product.

The company I recommended in my report ended up hiring me to sell that product a year later and that’s how I kind of tripped into the software business.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

I think it’s the service-oriented nature of the people that work there. We’ve always tried to put Customer Service first. We all understand that we wouldn’t be in business if we didn’t have clients. We have to keep them happy.

Many times, we are approached by companies where they have very constricted timelines. For example, they’re required to be up and operating in a power plant in 60 days. They have to hire people and transition and train and do all the documentation that’s involved in making such a transition happen. Our ability to pivot and move quickly enough to support those kinds of timelines has always been a differentiator for us. There are very few companies that can take a system that’s on-premise, that is, perhaps a legacy in terms of its version or has less than pristine data. There are very few companies that can clean that data, upgrade that software and deploy it from the cloud in 30 days or 60 days, and we do it quite often.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I don’t have names of specific people. What I found helped me the most were groups of people.

When I first started, there was an organization here in Cincinnati called Score, S-C-O-R-E. It was a service corps of retired executives, just a group of guys that got together to try to help startup companies.

They weren’t specifically technical companies in the early 90s, they were just trying to help people with their businesses, whatever those may or may not have been. I got a lot of good advice from people who had worked for many years for Procter & Gamble or General Electric.

Four or five years later, I began participating in what was called a “Round Table”, where a group of people were brought together, at the time, by the Chamber of Commerce. We all owned our own businesses, we were all diverse, but every 30 or 40 days, we would get together.

It was half therapy and half education. We all had similar problems, whether they were personal or financial or something else. I just learned a lot about being in a room with a lot of smart folks.

You know, the old saying “You don’t want to be the smartest guy in the room”? I think that’s what’s helped me the most.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. We would like to explore and flesh out the experience of Impostor Syndrome. How would you define Impostor Syndrome? What do people with Imposter Syndrome feel?

I think young companies are faced with this often. It’s difficult, for example, to justify hiring a very young consultant because they may or may not have the level of experience you might need depending on your challenges or the area of expertise you require. So both of you may end up questioning your roles and abilities. The parallel also works when you just talk about size, if you’re a two or three-person company and you’re trying to sell a service to a multinational, it’s very difficult to be taken seriously.

A lot of smaller companies feel that they need to overcompensate, through elaborate websites or titles, trying to look bigger through things that give the impression that they’re a bigger organization, when this isn’t necessarily needed.

How can the experience of Impostor Syndrome impact how one treats others?

I always try to take people for what they are. Even though a company might be small, or they might be relatively inexperienced, if there’s an opportunity where we can collaborate or where I could make use of their expertise, I go for it.

I feel, having grown a small business, that I have some level of wanting to give back and allow those people the opportunity to take a little bit more rope than somebody else might have given them.

We would love to hear your story about your experience with Impostor Syndrome. Would you be able to share that with us?

When we were younger and smaller, there were oftentimes where we would hit the wall with negotiations because of the size of the business. Well, both in size and experience. It’s just hard for a large company to take a small one seriously, or hard for an important project to be handed off to a rather young inexperienced resource. And this can be demoralizing but it can also be the fuel or motivation needed to succeed.

Did you ever shake the feeling off? If yes, what have you done to mitigate it or eliminate it?

If I can help someone along, and it’s not really risky, there’s nothing wrong with letting somebody fail and picking them up and moving them forward. Failures are just great little learning opportunities. It’s all it is, really.

You always have somebody apply for the job and you’re looking for experienced, and they don’t have any experience but they want the job and its challenges. Until somebody gives them that opportunity, they’re never going to have the experience. So, at some point, somebody has to be willing to take that chance.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I’m terrified by the lack of women in technology. It’s just too much of a “Boys’ Club”.

So, if I could influence anything, it would be to have more women in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) sectors. I’m the father of two daughters and I feel that it would have a great impact on them, as well as companies and organizations. It’s a win-win. I think there are a lot of really talented people out there that are not being taken seriously and some of that is definitely based on biases from a young age.

There’s a WIT (Women in Technology) program at the University of Cincinnati that we’ve helped and offered support to as a way to push for change.

We are blessed that some very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them 🙂

Ah, T. Boone Pickens, I’ve loved him since childhood. He was a great guy with many great lessons.

Also, I am a big fan of anything Elon Musk does. You can see that in the Projetech offices.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevekrichmond/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/projetech/

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Steve Richmond of Projetech: “How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing Impostor… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.