Tag Archives: Entrepreneurship

The Thinking Class: K-Swiss

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Kswiss-Home

Photo via Kippered.

On Tuesday July 11, 2017, I was listening to Gary Vaynerchuk’s interview with Barney Waters (President) and Patrick Buchanan (Global Marketing Director) of the globally iconic brand, K-Swiss. Throughout the course of this 43 minute interview and call-in session, a lot was discussed. In particular, I was personally intrigued with the overall conversation on entrepreneurship and sneaker culture.

With the market domination of sneaker brands such as Adidas and Nike, Barney shared his following philosophy, “If you can’t be first, be different” (10:46). Barney also went on to mention that Nike pretty much owns the athletic category while Adidas owns the cool kid celebrity category. So…what does K-Swiss plan to do? According to this interview, K-Swiss aims to cater to entrepreneurs who are creating and leading their own businesses. In fact, as I’m writing this article, I just thought of the following idea:

In addition to aiming to cater to entrepreneurs, how about we add the category of “Thought leaders” to this conversation? These “Thought leaders” are those who aspire to create their own cultural movements and shift society through advocacy, business, education, health, social impact, etc. I believe that as a collective, the future leaders of society will be as diverse and multi-faceted as we have ever seen in the past. If I had to come up with a name for this category, I would entitle it… “The Thinking Class.”

Imagine the day we live to see the President of The White House casually rocking a pair of sneakers on a daily basis. What will these sneakers look like? What will these sneakers represent? Most importantly, what brand is going to be responsible for creating these sneakers? Due to my natural curiosity and passion for wanting to bridge the gap between brands, communities, and culture, I ask myself similar questions all of the time.

If K-Swiss is to really invest in the philosophy and process of entrepreneurship and thought leadership, I do believe that they can successfully create and dominate their own lane. Will the products have to be stylish and stellar? Absolutely! However, what is it that can potentially bring K-Swiss to the next level? Supporting the culture and lifestyle which they aim to engage with. Selling products is transactional. Yet, engaging with and supporting the development and growth of the culture and lifestyle around those products is transformational.

As Gary always says, “It’s thinking marathon over sprint.” Living in accordance to creating our own legacy is determined by our daily actions. When our behavior is in alignment with what we want our legacy to be, our true greatness begins to rise to the surface. So, what might K-Swiss want to consider doing to spearhead a new revolution of emerging leaders?

Leaders Create Leaders

Photo via Gerard Adams.

1. Ask Questions – I believe that all of the right questions eventually lead toward the right answers. Communication is vital and often overlooked. When brands express an interest in actually listening to and learning from their current audience and potential consumers, gains are usually made. Consumers always want the best products. As consumers, we would usually stay with a brand that receives feedback well and improves on something that we like as opposed to spending energy to entirely taking our business somewhere else. It’s natural, we’re creatures of habit…at least for the most part!

2. Address Challenges – With all of the challenges and problems that currently exist across the globe, what brands are endorsing and supporting the thought leaders across various industries who are working to address these challenges? There’s so much great work happening. I’m sure that authors, architects, doctors, educators, engineers, etc would love to be acknowledged, appreciated, and supported for the amazing work that they do on a day to day basis.

As Gary often says, “Every business and brand should be thinking like a media company.” I often like to say, “Content creates conversation, conversation creates opportunity, and opportunity creates impact (educational, financial, social, etc). As a consumer, when I see brands that align with and support causes which address challenges bigger than the products and/or services the brand sells, I feel more inclined to trust and engage with that brand in some capacity or another.

3. Provide Tools and Resources – In order to effectively address any problem or challenge, we must always be equipped with the proper tools and resources. This may include capital, insight, relationships, etc. I believe that the brands who are helping to connect the world are also the brands who are helping to change the world. One of the reasons why I believe that content production is so important is because it adds value in ways that products do not. Content can educate, empower, entertain, inspire, and inform. Audio content is just as important as video content which is just as important as written content.

Should K-Swiss become more than a sneaker company? Should K-Swiss become a media company who just happens to sell sneakers? Should K-Swiss aim to equip and empower thought leaders with the tools and resources necessary to shift culture and change the world at large? Should K-Swiss begin to identify and partner with organizations and programs across various industries and sectors such as The Aspen Institute, Ted Talks, SXSW, and Zeitgeist? Picture K-Swiss as not only the official sneaker, but more importantly a cultural contributor and supporter to platforms such as these. How might this look? I guess we shall see…

Lastly, it’s only right that I share some of my favorite looks:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNKDiefAwVn/?taken-by=kswiss

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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking brand strategist, curator, and educator. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development and social impact. Aquaus has worked with companies and organizations such as Behind The Hustle, Cornerstone Agency, City Year Miami, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about bridging the gap and building value between brands, communities, and culture. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership.

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3 Ways To Get Unstuck: Chase Jarvis

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When Lewis Howes recently interviewed Chase Jarvis on Episode 321 of his “School of Greatness” podcast, they discussed many topics. Some of what they discussed include the topics of creativity and the art of entrepreneurship. In particular, they also discussed what it takes to get unstuck and overcome creative blocks. “When it comes time to overcoming our creative blocks, it’s important that we have many solutions” says Chase. We at A Lovers Ambition couldn’t agree more. Facilitating creative ideas requires a certain type of freedom and headspace that as Chase mentions, “Requires us to have a variety of tools in our toolkit.”

Thanks to Lewis Howes, here are Chase Jarvis’ 3 Ways To Get “Unstuck:”

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1. Have Many Solutions

As creative people, it’s important that we learn how to extend our artistic expression across various mediums. For example, if we are a writer, we may want to have an essay, a journal, a novel, some poetry, and a short story. Having multiple activities to tap into within the same main sphere of artistic expression allows us to stay fresh and shift gears from one project to another when necessary.

According to a study read by Chase, he mentions that the ideal number of creative projects to have for a designer is five. It’s important to keep in mind that there are certainly different levels of attention, development, and intensity required for each project. However, if we’re stuck on one thing, having a few options allows us to shift gears and work on something else.

2. Get Away

Sometimes walking away from something allows us to come back with a fresh state of mind and a fresh set of eyes. At times, this may require going to bed. At other times, this may entail seeking adventure, exploration, and discovery. As author Charlie Hoehn would say, “Play It Away.” One of the best strategies to relieve anxiety and stress is to get outside and let it all go. We must ask ourselves, what gives us joy? Is it playing frisbee, going for a walk, people watching, etc? The choice is ours!

3. Tap Into Our Creative Community

“Whether we have mentors, friends, business partners, or teams, we always need people to exchange ideas with” says Chase. Through communicating with other people and sharing ideas and perspectives, we are able to see the world from a different point of view. What better people to reach out to and seek inspiration from than our own creative community? Keep in mind, this doesn’t have to be limited to the people we know in person. Why not seek out some “Virtual Mentors?” There are so many creative and inspiring thought leaders across each and every industry who are delivering highly valuable content on a daily basis. As we like to say, “Find the leaders, learn from the leaders, become the leaders.”

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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Brand Strategist, Educator, and Music Publisher. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies and organizations such as Cornerstone Agency, City Year Miami, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and their consumers centered around love. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership.

7 Days of Wisdom (Episode 23)

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7 Days of Wisdom is an original weekly video series presented by A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group and hosted by Aquaus Kelley. Our mission is to foster growth and create a community of success and significance. Through sharing meaningful advice, knowledge, and insight gathered throughout our daily experiences, we aim to empower, encourage, and inspire our community to achieve their most passionate aspirations.

In This Weeks Episode We Discuss:

  1. Protecting Our Energy (0:57)
  2. Asset vs Liability (4:48)
  3. Busy vs Productive (9:22)
  4. Quotes of The Week (25:49)

This Weeks Resources Include:

  1. Rita Pierson: Every Kid Needs a Champion
  2. Entrepreneurship + Innovation: Troy Carter

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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Brand Strategist, Educator, and Music Publisher. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies and organizations such as Cornerstone Agency, City Year Miami, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and their consumers centered around love. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership.

Entrepreneurship + Innovation: Troy Carter

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We originally came across the amazing work of Chris Denson and his podcast, “Innovation Crush” through our work with Behind The Hustle. Chris has interviewed the creator of Behind The Hustle, Kenny Mac on his Tastemakers and Influence episode as well as our guy Anthony Demby of HumbleRIOT on his Consciousness of Cool episode. This time around, Chris makes time to sit down with one of our favorite movers and shakers in the entertainment and technology space. He happens to go by the name of Troy Carter.

As the founder of Atom Factory, Troy has an A-1 resume. Not only was he responsible for managing Lady Gaga throughout the height of her career. He is also an investor in superstar companies such as Spotify, Warby Parker, and Uber just to name a few. In this episode of Innovation Crush, Chris chats with Troy about the importance of using our common sense, being tough, opening doors, and caring about the consumer.

Here are 5 tips we learned from Troy Carter on entrepreneurship and innovation:

1. Use Common Sense: 

When Troy was asked what he looks for in regards to potential business opportunities, he mentions, “First and foremost, I’m a consumer. I ask myself, would I listen to this? Would I understand why people would want to listen to this? Would I buy this? Would I understand why people would want to buy this? I didn’t go to business school or anything like that. My analytics is just through common sense. I can listen to an idea and break it down to it’s simplest form. From there, it’s just a matter of whether or not I would write a check.”

2. Be Tough 

“You have to be a tough founder in order to challenge and compete with incumbents” says Troy. “We look for leaders with tenacity, wherewithal, and strong teams. No one is born an entrepreneur. It’s something that we develop over a period of time. Our grit is a result of the difficult experiences we deal with in our daily lives. This toughens up our muscles in both our stomach and spirit to help us get through the tough times.”

3. Open Doors

Troy mentions, “It’s important for me to create a pathway toward success for kids who come from where I come from. It was people like Russell Simmons, Reginald Lewis, and Puff who I modeled myself after. I looked at them and told myself that if they can do it, I can do it. They all helped to pave the way for me. In return, I’m just looking to blast open the door for 100’s of thousands of kids.”

“I was recently told that some investors didn’t invest in our fund because they thought that we were only going to focus on minority founders” says Troy. “This blew my mind and caused me to ask myself, who said a black guy can’t build a billion-dollar company? Based off of this conversation solely, now I feel obligated to open up doors and give minority entrepreneurs a chance. There are multi-billion dollar opportunities out there. Lets find them and lets get it!”

4. Care About The Consumer

“If you’re still building your business around carbonated beverages, you are in trouble” says Troy. “It’s no coincidence that the soda category started to erode when the information age hit. When people can read and see a direct correlation between health issues and ingredients, they are going to make smarter decisions. As a result, they will eventually gravitate toward the products and services that are in their best interest.”

5. Judge People By Their Intent

When Troy asked the CEO of Sony Music, Doug Morris how he handles executive talent, Doug told Troy, “Judge people by their intent. When people make a mistake, look at their intent in that decision. If it was intended to be beneficial to the company, let them make that mistake and learn from that mistake as long as it wasn’t malicious.”

What does innovation mean to Troy Carter?

“It means living around the corner. Be there before everyone else gets there. See what happens before everyone else sees it.” – Troy Carter

Thanks to Chris Denson, this article also appears as a guest post in Inc.com as the “5 Uncommon Skills Every Entrepreneur Needs to Win Big.”

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(Uh • Kway • Us) Aquaus Kelley is a forward-thinking Brand Strategist, Educator, and Music Publisher. As the Founder of A Lovers Ambition Lifestyle Group, he specializes in identifying talent and creating opportunities for brand development, exposure, and growth. Aquaus has worked with companies and organizations such as Cornerstone Agency, City Year Miami, Universal Music Group, and W Hotels. He is extremely passionate about helping companies adapt to culture and building value between brands and their consumers centered around love. His ultimate mission is to use his influence to project positivity across the globe and invest in the collective future of society through the arts, education, entertainment, and leadership.