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Tag: How Success Happens

  • Exec Who’s Launched Celebrity Brands Shares Success Tips | Entrepreneur

    Exec Who’s Launched Celebrity Brands Shares Success Tips | Entrepreneur

    On a recent episode of How Success Happens, I spoke with Constance Schwartz-Morini, the co-founder and CEO of SMAC Entertainment, an incredible talent management firm, business incubator and production company.

    Schwartz-Morini has had an amazing career — she began at the NFL, evolved into the music business and then in 2012 combined those interests to form SMAC (sports, media and culture) with NFL legend and award-winning journalist Michael Strahan.

    I was excited to speak with Schwartz-Morini about her journey, what motivates her and how she propels her small but mighty team to “hustle like you’re broke.”

    Schwartz-Morini and her team manage some of the biggest names in the business. Deion Sanders. Erin Andrews. Tony Gonzalez. Wiz Khalifa. She has also launched several businesses under the SMAC umbrella. She and Strahan launched his eponymous lifestyle brand, which sells tailored and casual clothing for men and boys, plus a new skin and shave line. The dynamic Erin Andrews has a clothing brand, WEAR by Erin Andrews. Snoop Dogg‘s new pet line, Snoop Doggie Doggs, launched this year with Schwartz-Morini’s team leading the charge. As if that weren’t enough work, Schwartz-Morini is an incredible film and television producer, with Coach Prime (Prime Video), $100,000 Pyramid (ABC) and the new BS High (HBO) among her credits.

    Schwartz-Morini and I grew up one town apart from one another, and we bonded over our experience growing up in what some call “upstate” New York (we both know better). I hope you enjoy our conversation and get inspired by her road to success. You can listen to the whole conversation below, and here are some takeaways from our wide-ranging discussion.

    Finding her way as an entrepreneur

    Schwartz-Morini’s mom owned a flower shop in Yonkers, N.Y., and although she never thought of her mom as an entrepreneur, “those flowers got me through college,” she says. Entrepreneurship was in her blood — she just didn’t know it originally.

    After 10 years at the NFL and nearly a decade in the music business (including a career-changing stint managing Snoop Dogg), Schwartz-Morini took the entrepreneurial leap with a friend. It took encouragement from those around her who told her, “You’re such an entrepreneur,” along with a bit of a kick — she was fired from the agency at which she worked.

    “When I was looking for what my next home was, I couldn’t find the right place,” she says. “People were trying to define me and put me in a box and say, ‘You should just be in sports,’ ‘You should just be in reality TV’…or sponsorships, or brand partnerships. I was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ I can combine all this, which is what I learned over the 20 years, and create [SMAC].”

    Timestamp — 19:50

    Related: How This MLB All-Star Turned a Baseball Career Into an Entrepreneurial Journey

    “Let leaders lead”

    It’s easy for CEOs to be too hands-on. Schwartz-Morini has an eye for talent and understands the importance of simply letting leaders lead.

    She recently hired a COO to add structure and forecasting, especially to the company’s myriad of celebrity-led businesses.

    But what brings her joy is seeing former interns now running departments, including Jose Diaz, who oversees the talent management team, and Koral Chen, who manages several consumer lines.

    This new structure lends itself to rapid expansion in the next 12-18 months. Letting up-and-coming stars lead is the key to that success.

    “We’re 20 people, [but] people think we’re 200,” she says.

    Timestamp — 33:23

    Related: The Founder of CAA-Backed Celebrity Brands Discusses What Makes Companies Successful

    “Earn your way”

    It’s no secret that the sports and entertainment field is male-dominated. To Schwartz-Morini, there’s still a long way to go towards equality.

    “There’s a saying that a lot of us use. ‘If there’s no seat for you at the table, build your own damn table.’ I started building my own table,” she says. “There’s still misogyny I face all the time. If I can’t be the agent of change for the generations coming behind me, then I’ve failed…this up-and-coming generation should not have to face the obstacles that get placed still to this day.

    She also reminded our listeners that the sports and entertainment industry is filled with hard work early on. “There’s nothing wrong with starting at the bottom. You’ve got to earn your way.”

    No matter your background, “As long as you can earn your spot you should have a chance at taking it.”

    Timestamp — 39:04

    Related: How Success Happened for Nick Molnar, Co-Founder of Afterpay

    Robert Tuchman

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  • MLB All-Star Turned Entrepreneur Shares Success Tips | Entrepreneur

    MLB All-Star Turned Entrepreneur Shares Success Tips | Entrepreneur

    Recently on How Success Happens, I had the pleasure of interviewing two-time MLB All-Star Shawn Green, who is also the co-founder of Greenfly, a platform for gathering and distributing short-form content for the NBA, MLB, NHL, PGA and 500 other major sports organizations. Green co-founded Greenfly in 2014 and has since turned the company into a full-scale enterprise solution — which recently underwent a multimillion-dollar acquisition of Miro AI. I was curious to learn how Green took his career from professional athlete to tech entrepreneur and how the sports media landscape has developed over the decades. Here are three of the most valuable takeaways from our full conversation, which you can listen to below.

    1. Lean on others’ expertise to showcase your own

    Green’s focus on building a strong team of experts has fueled Greenfly’s growing success. In 2013, Green knew he needed a partner to make the idea of Greenfly come to life, and that’s when he turned to the now-CEO of Greenfly, Daniel Kirschner. They’ve since surrounded themselves with some of the best minds in the business, bringing together a vast array of experience from across the industry to support Greenfly’s vision. Building and expanding the team has allowed Green and Kirschner to position Greenfly as a leader in the space and create trusting relationships internally as well as with its customers.

    Timestamp — 6:15, 30:30 and 39:00

    2. Don’t be afraid to take chances

    Greenfly’s ability to acquire Miro AI was derived from its willingness to take a leap of faith early on. By having a mindset that empowers them to expand, Green and Kirschner were able to bring this acquisition to life, allowing them to deliver even more revolutionary technology to the sports industry. Acquisitions can be complex, but they saw the opportunities Miro AI would bring to enhance Greenfly’s capabilities and market position. Taking this chance has allowed Green to showcase Greenfly’s commitment to long-term growth and sustainability in the short-form content industry.

    Timestamp — 19:15 and 33:00

    3. Listen to your customers’ needs

    When Green was in the early stages of starting Greenfly, he learned it was important to listen to his existing customers’ needs. While on the journey of excitement and uncertainty of starting a company, he realized taking a customer-centric approach would help him create relationships with other sports leagues that could also benefit from Greenfly’s technology. The feedback he received from existing customers gave him valuable insight into the preferences leagues had when gathering and distributing content and how to tailor and fine-tune Greenfly’s product.

    Timestamp — 18:30

    Robert Tuchman

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  • How Success Happened for TuneIn’s Rich Stern | Entrepreneur

    How Success Happened for TuneIn’s Rich Stern | Entrepreneur

    This week on How Success Happens, I spoke with Rich Stern, who is the CEO of the audio streaming service TuneIn. Stern has an amazing career working with some of the most disruptive media companies. I was curious to learn how he got where he is today, so we dove into his upbringing, early startups and what drives him to success. You can listen to our full conversation below, and I’ve pulled out three key takeaways.

    Personal passion over pay

    Media played a role in Stern’s life from an early age. Growing up in the Midwest, everything he knew about the world came from media. His weekends were spent all day at the movies or watching television. It pushed him to think more expansively about the world outside of Illinois and sparked a passion for entertainment that has led him to some of the top media companies including Amazon Studios, Audible and now TuneIn, which is leading the charge on the digital transformation of radio.

    Timestamp — 17:25

    Related: The Founder of a Now-Famous Candle Brand Shares Her 3 Top Success Tips

    Challenge the status quo

    Stern worked at Amazon Studios when it was first attempting to break into the film and television business, which was a pivotal moment for both Stern and the company. He was coming from a tech and product background and knew breaking into a traditional Hollywood studio would be nearly impossible. It forced Stern to ask himself who the status quo was not serving and led him to Amazon Studios, which was willing to take a chance on him.

    At that time, Hollywood’s door was also closed to Amazon, but its approach to disrupting the status quo has since completely transformed Hollywood. Now it—along with Apple and Disney—is among the largest media companies in the world.

    Timestamp — 22:44

    Related: The CEO of Gympass Shares How It’s Solving the Crisis of Well-Being in the Workplace

    With the right people, you’ll always succeed

    When Stern joined TuneIn in 2020 during the pandemic, there were a lot of unknowns. However, as people were forced to stay home, audio experienced a huge burst. People were looking for ways to stay connected. Since then, TuneIn has undergone a massive expansion on its mission to bring radio programming to nearly every device in every corner of the globe. Stern’s job has been to foster an environment where people can come together to innovate. As it continues to reinvent radio for the digital world, TuneIn’s people have taken the role of the true architects of the company’s future.

    Timestamp — 31:58

    Related: Esports Pioneer Craig Levine Shares His 3 Best Pieces of Career Advice

    Robert Tuchman

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  • 3 Success Tips for a Career in Esports | Entrepreneur

    3 Success Tips for a Career in Esports | Entrepreneur

    This week on How Success Happens, I spoke with Craig Levine, co-CEO of ESL FACEIT Group. He’s had a two-decade-long career in esports, and I was curious to find out about his path into competitive gaming, lessons learned from helping to build a nascent industry into a global phenomenon, the challenges of capturing the attention of young fans and where he thinks esports is headed. You can listen to the full conversation below, and I’ve pulled out three key takeaways. I hope you’re as inspired as I am by Levine and his career advice.

    1. Make your passions work for you

    Levine’s life is rooted in video games, from playing Nintendo as a kid in Long Island, New York, to playing games competitively and, today, running one of the world’s leading esports and video game entertainment companies. His interests set the stage for his career, even at a time when the esports business didn’t exist in the U.S.

    The lesson? Find ways to bring your passions into your business. This allows you to target like-minded employees and bring enthusiasm to the workplace — and will inspire you to always search for ways to improve your industry and your company.

    Timestamp — :30-4:55

    2. “Revenue follows relevancy”

    Levine wasn’t just starting a company; he was pioneering an industry. However, he and his team saw the beginnings of fandom around competitive gaming and a market opportunity as the audience grew.

    Levine and colleagues at ESL coined a phrase that would remain their North Star: “Revenue follows relevancy.” To turn the corner, both in esports and traditional industries, you need to establish your brand as a first-mover and a market leader. That brand awareness drives growth and, eventually, success.

    Timestamp — 14:55-16:00

    3. Play the long game

    Levine admittedly didn’t have much of a plan when he stepped into entrepreneurship as the owner of Team 3D in his freshman year of college. As time went on, though, his ambitions grew, and in 2013, ESL filled a sports arena for the first time during a tournament in Katowice, Poland.

    Vision and a commitment to what the industry could look like allowed him, about 11 years after founding Team 3D, to cement his place in the pantheon of game-changers in esports. Conceptualizing your business’ future is just as important as in-the-moment decision-making and reflection on success and mistakes.

    Timestamps — 16:12-25:12, 31:49-33:57

    Robert Tuchman

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  • 3 Pieces of Wise Business Advice From Eventbrite’s Julia Hartz | Entrepreneur

    3 Pieces of Wise Business Advice From Eventbrite’s Julia Hartz | Entrepreneur

    This week on How Success Happens, I had the pleasure of speaking with Julia Hartz, the co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite, a global online self-service ticketing platform listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Hartz has had an amazing career, and I was curious to find out how her background influenced her business strategy, what inspired Eventbrite and how she stays motivated despite ongoing external challenges. Here are three of the most helpful takeaways from our full conversation, which you can listen to below.

    1. The importance of a solid work ethic

    Hartz started working at a very early age. The second she got her permit to work she got a job at a local coffee shop and learned the significance of customer service and the value of the hard-earned dollar. Years later, while she was attending a small liberal arts school in California, she realized that to stand out she was going to need to work twice as hard. Working and going to school at night, she later landed jobs on the set of Friends and at MTV and FX before founding Eventbrite in 2006.

    Timestamps — 1:07 and 10:16

    Related: 3 Keys to Entrepreneurial Success

    2. Embrace your roots

    Hartz grew up dancing about 20 hours a week, which gave her the structure and framework to take feedback, make adjustments on the fly and improvise and showed her the meaning of human connection. It also taught her about integrity and how you always have to step up for your team and give it your all, despite any obstacles that might come your way.

    Timestamps — 1:07, 5:00 and 6:17

    Related: 5 Proven Habits to Create Success in Business and in Life

    3. The power of entrepreneurship

    Since Eventbrite’s inception, Hartz has been dedicated to helping entrepreneurs. Amidst the pandemic, some of the creators on the platform experienced the absolute most stressful environments for their businesses but have come back in a way that helps the entire world heal. Today, Hartz is focused on helping creators build a bigger audience, engage more customers and scale at a more rapid rate than ever before.

    Timestamp — 34:00

    Related: Exploring the Ten Habits of Being a Successful Entrepreneur

    Robert Tuchman

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