Konnected Minds Podcast
Konnected Minds: Success, Wealth & Mindset. This show helps ambitious people crush limiting beliefs and build unstoppable confidence.
Created and Hosted by Derrick Abaitey
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Konnected Minds Podcast
Becoming Great: Your Path to Greatness Is Always Your Responsibility - Richie Mensah
Meet Richie Mensah, the visionary founder who transformed Ghana's music landscape with nothing but a $12 computer microphone and unwavering self-belief. In this profound conversation, Richie reveals how he built Lynx Entertainment from a bedroom studio into a multi-faceted media empire that's launched some of Africa's biggest musical talents.
What separates Richie's story from typical success narratives is his radical philosophy of personal accountability. "Whatever you are right now, if you are poor, you are a self-made poor man. If you are rich, you are a self-made rich man," he asserts, challenging listeners to stop blaming circumstances and start taking ownership of their choices. This refreshing perspective frames success not as luck or privilege, but as the natural outcome of disciplined decision-making.
Richie shares intimate details about his journey - from disappointing his doctor father by abandoning medicine for music, to his mother taking out loans to support his dreams, to the countless financial setbacks he overcame through strategic thinking. His insights on partnership, scaling businesses, and financial knowledge provide a masterclass in entrepreneurial thinking that transcends the entertainment industry.
The conversation illuminates Richie's counterintuitive wisdom about branding ("There's no good brand or bad brand - every brand works"), mentorship ("It's not the actions I took that you should take, it's the belief and consistency"), and achievement ("To succeed is simple, but it's not easy"). These principles have guided him through building multiple successful companies under the Lynx Group umbrella.
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, creative professional, or simply someone seeking to take greater ownership of your life, Richie's story will transform how you think about success, failure, and the power of unwavering belief in your vision. Listen now to absorb the mindset that turned a passionate music lover into one of Africa's most influential entertainment moguls.
Watch the video episode of this on YouTube - https://linktr.ee/konnectedminds
There's no good brand. There's no bad brand. Every brand works Anywhere you decide to be be there and be there as the best. This is what I did that worked for me. I am what every human being in this world is when I share what I did. You cannot do exactly the same thing to succeed. What, then, is the purpose of mentorship? So mentorship gives you.
Speaker 2:Making this decision was going to be an immense success. Did you think so?
Speaker 1:I was so confident I was going to succeed. Wow, two brothers invented flying In a time when no one had thought of the ground. I know, somewhere in the world right now somebody is trying to invent teleportation, and they will achieve it. A winner's mindset does not give allowance for what if it does not work out? So, whatever you are right now, if you are poor, you are a self-made poor man. If you are rich, you are a self-made rich man. Life will happen, but what you do to life after that is your choice. To succeed is simple, but it's not easy easy. So anyone who doesn't succeed, it's because they chose the easy way out you're welcome to connected minds podcast.
Speaker 2:My name is derek abayte and I tell you something exciting We've just hit 104,000 subscribers on YouTube. It's very difficult to hit those sort of numbers with long-form content, especially with what we're doing, and you guys have been so good to the brand. So thank you so much. Thank you so much. So many years ago, a young guy set out to change the face of African music essentially, but started off in Ghana. This man built a studio from his bedroom, producing music and with the aim of becoming a multimillion dollar empire. Today, that company has grown To become Lynx Group, and the conversation I'm about to have today Is the man himself who started this entire journey, richie Mensah.
Speaker 2:Do you know what is even more exciting? There is a book that I have read in two hours. It took me two hours to read this book. I usually don't talk about other people's books on this podcast Because it almost sounds like it's advertising, but I must tell you the honest truth If it takes me two hours to read this book, it will probably take you. That's because I was busy, but it will probably take you about an hour to finish this book. And this is what I like about it Every chapter of the book has got key lessons, tips and tricks, and then some story about him and then also research. So I really do think you put a lot of time in this book. While I was reading I was like this is a lot, and I'm wondering how much you're selling it for, but it's so much so. If you are ready to step into the whole self-development, self-improvement, this is the book for you, and you're welcome to my studio, richie Mensah how you doing.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, derek. I'm excited to be here. So you guys know I'm actually a fan of this podcast, thank you. You know, I chanced upon it by luck on Facebook, so it was one video I was like, oh, that's insightful. Then, a week later, another video is like oh, that's insightful. Then, a week later, another video was like oh, that's insightful, who's this guy? And I just kept watching and watching and you're doing a very, very good job, thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 2:I read a headline article that said that um, richard Nii Amakwe bought the first copy of this book for 200,000. The first copy of this book for 200,000. So while I was reading it I was thinking why would he pay? When I was starting I said why would he pay 200,000? At the end I realized why he did. You know and I'm not even trying to make make it sound, you know, blown out, but it's an awesome book.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Thank you very much, and you know usually when you read Ghanaian books, it's for them yeah.
Speaker 1:But this is for the people, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's a self-help book for the people.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you've taken my dream out of my head and you've done it for us.
Speaker 1:Oh, thank you, Thank you Pa.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, where do we start from? When you started this, did you think it was going to be worth as much as it's worth today?
Speaker 1:I actually hope it will be worth more than it's worth already. I'm a big dreamer, you know. I've always been a big dreamer. You know go big or go home.
Speaker 2:So right from the day, from day one, I had a vision of where I was going and nothing was going to stop me. Okay, so, young man, growing up, your father lived in Bemakam this is where you guys lived exactly the same story in the book. What were the circumstances around that time that drove you to start thinking the way you are today?
Speaker 1:actually that time I wasn't thinking like this. So that time I was thinking the normal route, I was thinking the go to school, do science, you know, become a surgeon, you know I'm an intelligent boy, so intelligent boys become doctors, you know. That was my trajectory. Then I think my love for music and creativity just kept coming in more and more.
Speaker 1:But I would always say I say this everywhere I go that the one thing that has attributed to who I am the most was my mom, because my mom's a teacher and my mom kept telling me something very valuable that it is better to teach someone how to learn than to even teach them a subject. So right from childhood she made me hungry for knowledge. She always made sure I ask why always made sure. I was very inquisitive. So if she's sending you to do something, she doesn't just send you, she lets you understand why you are doing it, so that even if she doesn't send you the next time, you know to go again because you understand why you went the last time. So that inquisitive mind just kept changing everything more and more for me till it brought me down this path.
Speaker 2:I kind of really understand that you have a good relationship with your mom. So I've got a whole chapter about that that I want us to talk about. But I really want to understand your relationship with your father.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:In the beginning. You know what sort of a dad was he. What values did he also instill in you before we even get him up.
Speaker 1:So my dad was, he's a doctor. I mean, he was a doctor, he passed away and he was also in the army. So disciplined medical research, that kind of stuff, biochemistry, um, at the point we even had a clinic in the house. So I think that's even part of what made me get more into medicine, because seeing different people come to the house with their conditions then he would diagnose them and it was was very exciting for me. And the truth, my dad is actually a people's person, okay, cracks jokes a lot. You know the, the bell of the ball, like he keeps people very excited. And also I did learn those things from him. I actually picked that up before I went to senior high. I was the studious, shy type. Every day I'm behind my books and all. When I went to senior high I reinvented myself by becoming the guy who cracks jokes and the guy who you know is able to get people captivated and stuff, and I think I got that from him.
Speaker 2:Yeah did he really support you becoming an artist? No, no, no, not at all not at all.
Speaker 1:Not at all. As of the time I released Prima, he still brought me forms for medical school. That's not too late. Why do you think he did that? Because he felt that was a better path, and I don't blame anyone who does that. You know, like everybody, every adult in my life was doing that. It's only my mom who sort of saw the vision, but everybody felt it was bad, and I was known to be a genius kid, so it felt like I was wasting my intelligence to do music. That's how people saw it, so I don't blame them for that.
Speaker 2:Everyone just wants the best path for you and they always choose the safest path, but you know how did that make you feel in the moment.
Speaker 1:Horrible. It made me feel like they don't see the true potential. Do you get it? But I think one thing I've always been able to do is push aside the noise and just stay focused but it felt.
Speaker 2:It felt horrible. Were you able to communicate your, your vision to dad?
Speaker 1:I tried but I'm, I'm a, I'll communicate it. If you don't understand. We move kind of person. You know I don't dwell too long on the negative, I dwell longer on the positive. So if I'm telling you something and you're supporting me, you're ready for us to go. We'll have a long conversation.
Speaker 2:If you're not ready, it's fine, it's cool, then we move so a lot of ghanians would say that you came from a privileged home. I like how they think that. Would you agree? Not at?
Speaker 1:all okay, not at all, okay, not at all. So I had to fight for everything that I have right now. Let's say so. We were at Burma camp, like you know. But once we moved from Burma camp, you know, in Burma camp life was awesome and when you stay in Burma camp you have the library, you have the. You know everything is right there. You are at gonna be in a nice way. When we moved from bernard camp, life just turned upside down real quick. We moved to a house in medina where we didn't have electricity for like three to four months or something like that. You know, um, at that time. So bernard camp schools are very, very good.
Speaker 1:Then the first term I was in class one at this time. Okay, the first term my mom tried for us to keep going to bama camp, but the journey, the traffic, it was too much. So the second term we went to a site, to school, near the house, you know, and I kept complaining like, oh, me too, I was a stubborn child. I would come home and complain that they didn't teach me anything in school. Am I wasting my time? The third time they took me to another school too.
Speaker 1:I was complaining that like they were wasting my time, I might as well just stay home and learn on my own. Hey, I was stubborn. So my mom actually went to get a job at Christ the King Because we couldn't afford the fees. But if you are a teacher at Christ the King then they slash the fees, so I think you get like a 50% discount or something. So she kept applying and she got a job at Christ the King so she was able to move as the kids there. So our education got better During these times what was your dad doing?
Speaker 1:He had the clinic and everything Okay, and the clinic was not. It hadn't reached yet. Because you've gone from Burma camp where you're getting a salary, your house is paid for everything, like when you're in the military. Everything is taken care of for you.
Speaker 1:So you are not rich, but you don't need you get me. You think that can fool people a bit. Yes, it can, because everything is done for you, you're comfortable, you know. So when you switch from that to you're on your own, it's a bit of a you know a bounce back. So when we went to Christ the King too, now the new problem came. So now I'm in a good school, but I'm the poor kid in a good school. I remember months of being laughed at because my shoes were this, but we go with it. I think one thing that I never saw those things as challenges. I just thought, ah okay, and just kept going. Peer pressure never got to me. I was stupidly focused. I don't even know where it came from. Now that I'm sitting here, I don't know where that focus came from.
Speaker 2:But how could you have been? Because, look, dad wants you to become a doctor, mom is willing to support you in whatever you think you want to do. How could you then be that focused and still get?
Speaker 1:things done because it sounds like a lot of distractions, a lot of distractions. But at that time, actually, I wasn't focused on the music. At that time the music was a part-time love. So I was on the on track to heading towards medicine and then I love music. So it started with when I'm watching cartoons, you know tom and jerry, then the score like oh, wow, okay. So all those kind of things caught me. Then I watched sound of music, then I watched blues brother. So the sound from movies was my first attraction to sound. Then I started singing, started singing with my brother and sister and everything. So all those things started like capturing me. But it was just a passion, it was like a kid having fun.
Speaker 1:It's when I went to senior high that I actually took the music serious. Huh, I, I, I was told to join the choir. I didn't take them serious because I'm like child. I came here to you know, learn my science, pass, go to knust, do my medicine and continue. Don't come and distract me with the choir. But eventually, when I heard the, the choir master himself asked me to come and join. It's like okay. So I went and I joined the choir.
Speaker 1:Then one day he asked me that why am I so talented and I'm wasting my talents doing science? I told him I love music, don't get me wrong, but I'm also a scientific person, like I'm the kind of person that I break things down, you know, make sure everything is on point. I'm always doing research and stuff. So I don't think I can move away from that style of life. And he asked me have you heard of sound engineering? That's the science of music. I was like, oh, I think that's the biggest aha moment in my life. Yeah, but it showed me, okay, so there's a path where I can combine my two worlds. So from then I just started doing research into sound engineering and led me to sound production. Then I learned about record labels. So I started seeing the structure in the entertainment industry and I realized, okay, there's a place for me here, you know.
Speaker 2:Richie, was your father ever proud of you for doing music? Oh yeah, eventually he was.
Speaker 1:Did you guys have the conversation? No, we never had the conversation, but he was, I heard, because he was lecturing um some students. He used to teach medicine and conferred at a point and he used to brag about me to his students.
Speaker 2:I'm like look at this guy.
Speaker 1:He said my son is rich. Okay, it's like that. I tell people this all the time. It's happened to a number of artists. I've had artists whose parents have disowned them because they were doing music and then two years later their parents are hailing them because they're doing music.
Speaker 2:But do you understand that the era you were coming from baby boomers.
Speaker 1:Yeah. They were quite Please, please, let's make it clear I'm not a baby boomer. No, no, no, no, no, no. The way you said it. Don't think I'm baby boomer. No, no, no. Our parents our parents were baby boomers right, I know, I know, so our parents right.
Speaker 2:So they were very stubborn in what they wanted their kids to dreams through their children and I always say this everyone has a perfectly logical reason for what they do.
Speaker 1:Nobody is unless the person is actually insane. Everyone has a logical reason. So if you disagree with someone, you just have a different reason, it doesn't mean that they are not reasoning. So our parents were doing the best they could for us because, as per all the evidence, the path I wanted to go on was going to lead to failure. So you can't get angry with somebody for just trying to move you in a direction they feel is good. It's up to you to prove to them.
Speaker 1:Like even my mom supporting me, it wasn't automatic. Okay, when we finished senior high and I told her, like she always supported, when we're doing the music thing as fun, it wasn't going to be a profession. So when I finished senior high and I told her I wanted to do the music, she was scared that I'm going to throw away your education, throw away everything for this. So we struck a deal, said, okay, I have one year between senior high and university, so within this one year I'll set up the studio and see what I can build, and if we both feel I'm on the right direction, then I'll concentrate on the music. And within three months she went to take a loan to buy equipment for me.
Speaker 2:You know there's something about when mothers decide to support their kids. Sometimes I think they can reason more and be more accepting than the fathers can.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the truth is men are more logical, which means that we don't have time to look at things like gut feeling, intuition, certain possibilities. We are just calculating the numbers and what can work. So, whereas women feel more than men do, so sometimes, especially a mother who has so much love for her son can actually feel the possibility of success. There's a lot that we don't understand, but we pretend to understand it.
Speaker 1:But gut feeling is real and there's a lot that can be achieved by trusting your gut. It's actually been scientifically proven now that your gut actually has a lot of nerves and is able to think the way your brain does. So sometimes when you have a gut feeling, when you meet somebody and you have a gut feeling, this person, you don't click with this person. It's telling you something. You just can't interpret it the way you can interpret from your brain, but it's telling you something you know.
Speaker 2:You just can't interpret it the way you can interpret from your brain, but it's telling you something. You definitely listen to Alan Watts. You definitely do. These things are real man. It's wow. I want to believe that. You think you thought at the time making this decision was going to be an immense success did you think so at the time?
Speaker 1:how, I have no idea. I just had so much confidence.
Speaker 2:How many things have you done during those times where you were thinking music would be a great success? How many things did you do that failed? How many other things?
Speaker 1:I don't think I've done anything that's failed before. I personally don't believe in failure. Okay it's. It's either I win or I learn a lesson. But never fail. And I was so confident. Look, there's something I used to say um, those days, you know, we finished ss, fresh boys. Boys will say each other let's go to the club and stuff. And I would say something. It sounds so arrogant when I think about it, but I was so sure. I would say I don't want to go to the club right now for some bouncer to flex me, because I know I'm going to be a superstar one day. I don't want some bouncer to have it on his record that he flexed me when I hadn't hit. I was so confident I was going to succeed. It's weird, I know, but it's like I just knew it, I felt it.
Speaker 2:Well, especially with music, it's almost a thing of a chance.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So for you to be that sure, it's like a footballer that starts out playing in a team of 11 people and says that I'm going to be a superstar.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's exactly what you said. It's so damning right. It's a thing of chance, which means somebody will have that chance, so why not me?
Speaker 2:Wow, what if it had not worked out?
Speaker 1:It would work out. And that's the thing I always say that there's a winner's mindset. You know, a winner's mindset does not give allowance for what. If it does not work out, it will work out. The only question is how long will it take to work out? You know, like I keep saying, two brothers invented flying yep in a time when no one had thought of the ground something as crazy as let's fly. They did that. How much more getting a hit song. Come on, it's possible. You just need to believe it's possible. I know somewhere in the world right now somebody is trying to invent teleportation and they will achieve it.
Speaker 2:It's only a matter of how long now let's talk about this thing, about your mother being a huge support to what you started and even now, you know she's still very much in support of what you're doing. Yeah, how did you win her over to say that? You know, I'm on this journey, mom, you know, give me some resources, because I read in a book that you know loans had to be taken here and there.
Speaker 1:I didn't win her over. It's more, she won me over. Okay, my mom just always instilled in us that you can do whatever you want to do, just do it really well. She always told me this thing that her grandfather I mean her father, my grandfather used to say so when you're eating fufu, if all you know how to do in this life is cut the fufu, cut it. Well, one day, one day, they'll be looking for someone who can cut fufu and they will call you. And it's actually true.
Speaker 1:You know, when you do research on professions, there's a man out there who's an island sitter. He takes care of people's islands. That's all he does. He will come and live on your island, supervise the workers. He's not even working, no, he will just supervise, like the cleaners, the gardeners and stuff for you, and he gets paid $600,000 a year to take care of your island. Is that a job? Isn't that like a dream vacation?
Speaker 1:Somebody's a wine taster getting paid three hundred thousand dollars a year. The best wine, charlie. Some boys have been going to ace every night. They quaff. Won't you take it serious and become a wine taster? So anything? I tell people this all the time. A lot of people talk about this person has a good brand, this person has a bad brand. I say it's never true. There's no good brand, there's no bad brand. There's only good branding and bad branding, because every brand works.
Speaker 1:There's a day you are looking for coca-cola and you will drink coca-cola. There's a day you are looking for a healthy option and you will drink pineapple. There's a day you are looking for a healthy option and you will drink pineapple juice. There's a day you are looking for expensive alcohol you know which one to pick and there's a day you want something cheap that will still give you a kick. You know which one to pick. So, anywhere you decide to be, be there and be there as the best. What most of us do is we go there halfway. Do you get me? So it's like oh, I'm a healthy drink, but I also have a lot of sugar. Oh, I'm a soda, but you know I have pineapple flavor, so I'm healthy. No, it doesn't work. The person who's looking for a sugar boost is not looking for a healthy option, and the person looking for a healthy drink is not looking for a sugary drink. So, be there Wherever you are, be there and be the best.
Speaker 1:Excellence. I believe in excellence. So my mom kept teaching me that. So I was just practicing what she taught me, right? I could have said oh, mommy, I want to do music, I'm going to sing, I'm going to sing. But no, I opened a studio, I opened a record label. In a short time, she saw a Taiwanese coming to the studio. A man's, a boy is coming to the studio. So it's like, okay, he is being the best at what he's doing. You know, I've carved a path and everything. You're through the app on your piano. That's true, exactly so if you want to be pushed, climb the right tree, but don't be standing at the bottom of the tree and shouting I need help, come and lift me up.
Speaker 2:Let me stop you here for a minute. If you've been watching this show, I want you to subscribe and become part of the family. We are on a journey of changing the lives of people on this channel and we appreciate you for being here. But if you haven't become part of the family, connect with us, hit the subscribe button and let's carry on the conversation. You know this feeds very much into what you've spoken about in your book. You know taking ownership of your life yeah, you know being the best at what you do. Essentially, you know. But you see, what I'm also picking up is you can be very stubborn with your dreams Rough, but why do you think that is important for success?
Speaker 1:I think it's important because everyone has a path. You have to be stubborn about your path. It's your path, it's no one else's path. Don't expect people to understand your path. Don't expect anyone to know your journey. You have to know your path. Don't expect anyone to know your journey. You have to know your journey, be sure and then do everything possible to get it. You have to be stubborn. Henry Ford was stubborn. Elon Musk is stubborn. People are waiting for Elon Musk to drop. He just hit 400 billion and he's on course to become the world's first trillionaire. You have to be stubborn Because only you know why you believe in what you believe.
Speaker 1:Your higher self is telling you things personally. It's not telling the other guy, so don't assume they understand your path. When somebody is giving you advice, they are giving it to you from their point of view, not from yours. That's why I say, even all this me, I don't believe in motivation. It's funny because I keep motivating people, even what I'm telling you. You need to take it and then find your own path, but not follow what I've said. You know somebody said something so wise. Sorry to say this, a lot of rich men will get angry at me. They said. Here are the numbers.
Speaker 1:I used to win my $5 million lotto, said every entrepreneur, motivating others. You see, this is what I did to succeed. This is what I did that worked for me to succeed, when I share what I did. You cannot do exactly the same thing to succeed. The conditions are different.
Speaker 1:What, then, is the purpose of mentorship? So mentorship gives you a guide to let you know that it is not the actions I took that you should also take. It's the belief, it's the consistency, it's the fact that I took an action, do you get me. It's the mindset. So mentorship is normally about passing on mindset. But a lot of people think mentorship is about getting a template to follow. It's not that you cannot follow a template. You need to carve your own path. You can follow a template to mediocrity. That that's just fine. You know go to school, graduate, get a job, work hard for the rest of your life, retire. Template mediocrity, just fine. But if you want to be great, you have to carve your own path. So you get information from so many different people, different mentors, different books, different podcasts, grow your mind and then, after the external influence, you now turn into the internal influence and build something greater right? What's that?
Speaker 1:internal influence you that's why it's your fault, because the truth is going to sound kooky a bit. Knowledge comes from within, not not from without. We know everything already when you were born, as a baby. I personally believe the most knowledgeable people in the world are babies and then, as we grow, we unlearn everything we know. So your job is to go back in and figure out what you know Like. Look at the universe. Scientists are in and figure out what you know like. Look at the universe. Scientists are trying to figure out the universe, forgetting that we were made of the universe. We are part of the universe. So, the same way that, have you noticed something that a dog naturally knows how to swim?
Speaker 2:oh my god, he just took my mind on it yeah, even a dog has never entered water.
Speaker 1:Drop it in water and it will swim. Try that with a human being and most of the time, when you're learning how to swim, you understand. The reason people drown the most is fear, because naturally the human body floats, which is why a dead body floats. So the only reason you can't float is you are afraid and you are trying and you are trying wrong and you fail. So true knowledge comes from within. So when you are able to tap into mentors and books and stuff, what happens is what is meant for you will come to you. You know somebody will read my book. I have 15 chapters. Somebody will only grab one chapter. Yes, because that chapter is meant for them. Yes, and that's just fine.
Speaker 2:It's like a sermon. Thank you, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. Now you mentioned fear, mm-hmm. Now you mentioned fear when you read the book and you hear your story and the journey you've taken. It's almost as if fear was eliminated from the whole picture and that you were on a freeway.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Just moving at whatever mile per hour you wanted.
Speaker 1:How did you do that? As I learned more and more, I came to realize the opposite of fear is actually what should be the goal of everyone, and that is acceptance. Acceptance means understanding the fact that I don't control everything, but I can control whatever happens next. Okay, I'm driving. I don't control that person in his car who could be coming to hit me, but I can control if I'll swerve in time. I can control if, even if he hits me, I can control. Am I going to the hospital instantly? Do you get me? So you eliminate fear when you come and accept that life will happen, but what you do to life after that is your choice. You make the right choice. A lot of people. When you say yes, it's your fault, the first thing that comes in people's minds is but someone did this to me. It wasn't my fault, this thing happened. Comes in people's minds is but someone did this to me.
Speaker 2:It wasn't my fault, this thing happened to me, it wasn't my fault, but your response was your fault I was having a conversation with a bunch of young guys and I said we can all point fingers and say he is the bad leader, or we can all point the fingers at ourselves and then awaken each other.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He won't become a leader anyway.
Speaker 1:Exactly who made him a leader. You hear a girl saying he's a bad boyfriend. Who made him the boyfriend? She's a bad girlfriend. Who started? Who went to court her? As for yours, there's even worse. You know, I hear so many things and I realized that you just don't have enough knowledge. Let's say, you hear people talk about the government and how horrible the government is handling our finances, blah, blah, blah. Inflation rate is so high. Here's the funny thing. I don't know if you both have this knowledge. At every point in time, the interest rate of treasury bills is higher than the rate of inflation. So if inflation rate is high, put your money in treasury bills. Currently, inflation rate is, I think, 13%. Treasury bills is 14%. When inflation rate is, I think, 13%, treasury bills is 14%. When inflation rate was 25%, treasury bills was 27%. So, yes, the government may do a bad job with inflation or whatever it is, but there's treasury bills options.
Speaker 1:So if your money is losing value. It's not the government's fault. It's your fault for not investing it. Look me losing value. It's not the government's fault.
Speaker 2:It's your fault for not investing it. Look me, I've read this and many other self-improvement books so I understand what you're saying, yeah, but a 20 year old busy on the street, things are not happening. You tell them that everything is his fault. How do you really want to break it down, for them to understand it, to come to that self-realization, to say, nah, what Senior Rich is saying is true let me say it like this to succeed is simple, but it's not easy.
Speaker 1:Let me say that again.
Speaker 1:To succeed is simple, but it's not easy. So anyone who doesn't succeed, it's because they chose the easy way out. If I wanted to be a macho man, I know what I need to do. I need to go to the gym every day for years. So if I'm not a macho man, it's because it was not easy. I went to the gym one, two, three times and my body was hurting and I stopped. It's simple. Everyone knows you want to be macho. Go to the gym one, two, three times and my body was hurting and I stopped. It's simple. Everyone knows you want to be macho. Go to the gym. You want to be healthy. Stop eating late, stop taking sugar. It's easy, it's very simple. But it's not easy. But it's not easy. So when you are failing at something, know that you chose the easy way.
Speaker 1:Let me use money as an example. Back to the basic treasury bills. Right? Anybody, anybody can become a millionaire if they save, if they invest 500 cities a month in treasury bills at a current rate of 14%, it will take you 24 years. So which means if at 20, every month, you invest 500 cities, nothing more. When you get more money, don't do 2,000. If only 500 cities consistently for 24 years, you will become a millionaire. So if you start at 20, by 44, you will become a millionaire. So if you start at 20, by 44, you will be a millionaire.
Speaker 1:Very simple, but it's not easy. And when you say this, the first thing somebody will say is hey, 24 years, but it's longer. But guess what? You will turn 44, no matter what those 24 years will pass. The only question is did you become a millionaire or not? That's in between, in between what is happening there. Because it's not easy, because you know this man chalet, I won't go chill small and and this month I get some new girl, I won't buy something for arm. You will lose discipline and you will never become that. And then you will blame the girl, you blame the friends you went with, you blame the person who took your money, you blame everybody but yourself.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:You make the decisions. It's just very difficult to make those right decisions. But once you start taking responsibility, then every time something goes wrong you ask yourself two important questions what did I do to contribute to this going wrong? And then what can I do to contribute to this going wrong? And then what can I do to make it better? That's accountability.
Speaker 2:When you're starting off with this, these two questions, it can be very painful, very. It can be very difficult to accept.
Speaker 1:How do you calm yourself?
Speaker 2:to come to that place of acceptance.
Speaker 1:It's by realizing that, even though it's painful, what you get at the end of it is more pleasure. There's a saying that says that make the tough decisions to live an easy life, or make the easy decisions to live a tough life. So I just keep that in my mind all the time. So let's say, like I mentioned to you the club thing. So while my mates were chilling all the time from 17, 18, 19, they're going to the club chasing girls, doing all those things I was locked in my room learning how to play beats, learning business, learning, sound engineering, and I worked consistently and after succeeding, now I was being paid to come to the club. Okay, so I made the tough decision and so I just had to wait and what I would have wasted my time on now I was being paid to do it.
Speaker 1:but if I decided to go out every day you know, chase girls all the time, do this, do that then I wouldn't have become who I became and life would have been difficult for me, you know why I admire what you do?
Speaker 2:Why? It's because we see a lot of creatives. After they shine, they end up begging. You have decided that I'm going to be an artist Great. But it's not just for me. I need to be an artist great.
Speaker 1:But it's not just for me.
Speaker 2:I need to empower other artists, other creatives. And now you are taking it to an even higher step, which is let's empower more people beyond artistry. And that is, you know, when the dream is beyond you, the divine helps.
Speaker 1:There's actually more fulfillment in giving to others than there is. The dream is beyond you. The divine helps. Yeah, there's actually more fulfillment in giving to others than there is in taking. So when your dream involves helping other people, like it's like the universe conspires to help you achieve it. Like somebody is a CEO with 1,500 employees, when the end of the month is coming and his company is not making money, the universe is helping him make money because 1,500 people can go broke, versus you, who are doing your own small thing on the side and you are ripping people off. No one cares about you. And even personally, like there's no greater fulfillment than helping other people. I wish everyone would try it. You know we look for happiness everywhere, but most of the time we look for happiness in pleasing ourselves. But when you help others, the happiness you feel is unrivaled. There's this peace and calm you feel like you've contributed to. You know life.
Speaker 2:You know, if you had not taken other people's careers on, did you think you would have still become?
Speaker 1:No, I don't think I would have still become. No, I don't think I would have. I would have just taken selfish decisions and would have withered away by now. But like now, when I wake up every morning, I'm thinking for so many other people.
Speaker 2:But wasn't there that temptation in the beginning?
Speaker 1:oh, it was there.
Speaker 2:Okay, it was there, but and how did you turn it around? Discipline, you just have to be disciplined. Who spoke to you, though? Because, Freema, you know a few other songs you know. You did pretty well for yourself. Right. You could have easily said and we see that a lot, a lot of artists, they blow and boom. You know bodyguards here and there, you know, do a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1:And then after maximum, between seven to 11 years, and we don't see them again. So I noticed something that I started this company, I started this family right, and it reached a point when my success demanded so much like my success as an artist demanded so much for me to keep going, and the success of the company also demanded so much from me and I wouldn't be able to do both. So I had to choose if I was putting my energy in continuing to build myself or my energy in building everyone else.
Speaker 2:But did you always think of this as a business? Always from the beginning?
Speaker 1:Not. In the beginning I didn't even know what a business was. I saw it as a passion, but I saw it as I was building something larger than me. So maybe not the word business, but a movement, a family, a cause, like whatever it was. I never thought I was doing this for me. I was building something bigger Because I know a lot of producers.
Speaker 2:You know, they just make the songs in their, their bedroom or the little studio they have. Artist picks it up, you know, record goes out, boom, that's it they're not thinking of you know, let's develop, let's put this structure in place, nothing like that. So I really want to understand, because you're not a business student either? No, I'm not, so where did I come from? I're not a business student either? No, I'm not, so where did that come from?
Speaker 1:I'm not a student of anything.
Speaker 2:Everything I've learned, I don't use it.
Speaker 1:I can tell you about the egg dices of a cockroach, seven stages, where it sheds its exoskeleton, but when I see a cockroach, I step on it. I am what. Every human being in this world is Self-made. We are all self-made. So, whatever you are right now, if you are poor, you are a self-made poor man. If you are rich, you are a self-made rich man. If you are a womanizer, you are a self-made womanizer. If you are a loving, devoted husband, you are a self-made, loving, devoted husband. So everything I am self-made, loving, devoted husband so everything I am.
Speaker 1:That's painful, man, very painful. I know somebody's in the comments insulting me right now, but it's cool. You're a self-made hater. Wow, because you have the choice. We all have choices. We are filled with choices. In a day, the average human being makes 2,000 choices. How can you tell me that these 2,000 choices with compound interest is not what has put you where you are, but it's somebody else's choices? No, do you know how many people have gotten inheritance and won the lotto and gone back to being broke? 85% from the last statistic I checked. So you have no excuse.
Speaker 2:At what point in this beautiful journey did you think at the initial stages? Maybe I want to leave this and go back to medical school.
Speaker 1:Oh, never. As for music, the number of times I've thought I want to leave this. I back to medical school oh, never. As for music, the number of times I've thought I want to leave this I think yesterday I thought it, but never because you have to. I don't believe in leaving, I believe in adding. I'm not the person I was five years ago. I'm more, and in five years time I'll be more than this. You get me. So, as much as it's been tempting, this is too difficult. This is too painful. I'm never leaving. What makes it difficult everything makes it difficult financially is difficult. Managing human beings is one of the toughest things in the world, because not only do you have to control yourself and control like uncontrollable things, now you have to control human beings. Getting someone to understand this path is meant for you so stressful. It's your fault. It's your fault, it's my fault for choosing the job.
Speaker 1:So once you just have that understanding, you know you take it like that and you just keep going with the punches.
Speaker 2:My viewers and listeners want to know what was your initial investment in Lynx Group.
Speaker 1:My initial investment. Yes, is there a? Okay, I think I bought a computer mic for 12 CDs. Okay, yeah, it was 12 CDs. You see those computer mics, the one that has a long stem, and you can bend it like this Okay, yeah, it was 12 cities. You see those computer mics, the one that has a long stem, and you can bend it like this oh, my God.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's how I started. We used to use that for Skype.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was exactly. It was a mic for what do you call it? Video calls? That was my recording mic, so that was my initial answer, Please don't go and say that Richie said he started.
Speaker 2:He became successful from 12 cities.
Speaker 1:But I don't get why people get angry with those stories. Everyone needs to start at zero. Do you think somebody started at a million? Nobody started at a million. Even if somebody started with an inheritance, his father made the money and gave to him. Everything starts at zero. So don't cry that you started at zero and you're only at two and somebody. Everything starts at zero, so don't cry that you started at zero and you're only at two. And somebody started at zero and they've reached 500. It's it's once again. It's your fault. Do something about it. Let me give you guys some free knowledge right now. Your level of money, your level of riches, is directly proportional to your level of financial knowledge. Simple as that. How much money you have is equal to how much knowledge you have about money simple and for you.
Speaker 2:Where did you get that knowledge from?
Speaker 1:I'm still getting it. I'm not as rich as I want to be yet, so I'm building my financial knowledge when I reach you know. When I reach you know. Yeah, that's why you see different people. You see somebody like, um, somebody had 200 million dollars and now they are down to 400 000, and somebody else started slow and is now at 10 million dollars over the same amount of time. Do you get? Because one had more financial knowledge than the other. Anytime you hear the story of this person became very rich and they lost it all. Then they didn't have financial knowledge, because how can you lose it?
Speaker 2:all do? Do you think within your industry they have financial knowledge Some?
Speaker 1:do. Okay, those who do are still around, because the unfortunate thing about money is as much as you hear. You know, money doesn't solve all problems. Money doesn't buy happiness and stuff. Money is a tool and with that tool you can do more. So when you don't understand how to make money, what you can do is now limited. So I keep saying all the time I don't know why, like money is not a cost in school. It's almost like they intentionally do it, but that's, that's a topic for another, I guess. I guess yeah, so I've thought about it as well in it.
Speaker 2:So I I guess the purpose of school is for the government. Yeah, right, and the government wants workers so that they can keep their GDPs up. You know Exactly, but me and you, what we are doing now. It's not for the government, yeah, it's for us. So, really, that's why, if people want the knowledge, they should be reading for themselves. Yeah, would it ever be in schools?
Speaker 1:I don't think so. I don't think so think so?
Speaker 2:I don't think so. I don't think school is there to teach you what you you need to know to become independent. I don't think the purpose of school is for people to become self-reliant.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no, you know if it was taught in school, I wouldn't need to write this exactly exactly, and this really should be a course like it should be a course in a class extra curricular activity or something you know that people can do, and, yeah, maybe I'll speak to dr charles yabua about it and see what that would be great if we could start this at a like fundamental level yeah if from growing up like this.
Speaker 1:The way you see, when someone says I'm entitled, I was entitled, I mean I am I. I was born into entitlement based on the fact that I got this knowledge from childhood. So I wasn't born into money. I wasn't born into riches or good luck or good fortune. I was born into a family where I had a mom who made me understand you have to fend for yourself and do great things, and if everyone has that fundamental knowledge, you would be amazed at how the world would be moving. You'll be amazed If all the people hustling out there really knew that the power to stop hustling is in their hands. You'll be shocked what will happen in two years. But nobody's telling them, so they just need to keep blaming it's my boss, he's not raising my salary.
Speaker 2:You know, in the beginning you were doing it because of passion. At what point was it because of money?
Speaker 1:It never became because of money. Like I mentioned, money is a tool. Money is a tool. That's like saying I'm a gardener because of my hoe. No, the hoe is a tool that I'm using to garden, like. One thing people don't understand about money is money is worthless. Money is just exchange for value. So I never try to make more money. I always try to increase my value. When you increase your value, the money will find you. Like somebody said, it's not that you don't have money, you don't have an idea to make money, because if you had an idea, you'd be making the money, Richie.
Speaker 2:you've hired a lot of artists through your label. Your group has done an amazing job for the industry, this conversation we're having. How important do you think it is for some of the artists you've raised through your label?
Speaker 1:Very important.
Speaker 2:And has this always been part of the education of the?
Speaker 1:artists, I mean. One thing people say about me is I'm a talkative because I like to share knowledge. You know, I had a mentor, ibrahimo Hinejan, from 2007, for a long, like 10 years. I used to just go sit in his office and listen to him talk. He has so much knowledge and it's made me also want to become that kind of person. So when you are around me, I will share these things all the time. I can't control if you listen or not.
Speaker 1:And one thing I remember, one reason I don't take it personally someone doesn't listen is we used to go and sit next to abraham. All the time I wasn't alone, but when we leave, the other people are going to be complaining. Abraham, he talks too much. Every day he's talking, but yet I'll be there. I would have written down what he said. I'll be planning based on what he said. So I realized the same thing that when there are 10 people around me and I'm saying these, my plenty things, nine of them are probably walking away thinking, hey, richie, that's right. Every day this, every day, every day that, but maybe I'm changing one's life and that's good enough. He will also change another's life and ripple effects.
Speaker 2:Let me this show. I want you to subscribe and become part of the family. We are on a journey of changing the lives of people on this channel and we appreciate you for being here, but if you haven't become part of the family, connect with us. Hit the subscribe button now. Let's carry on the conversation. Some of the hit artists you've had, if you check the plan you had for them and how they've turned out today financially. How does that make you feel?
Speaker 1:Sad, honestly, some of them. But, like I always say, everybody's path is different. And because time is a very big factor in life, I never like to judge people because you don't know what time is going to do for them. Like I mean, colonel Sanders started KFC at what? 63? So I shouldn't judge somebody because they're in their 20s and they couldn't maximize their money. You don't know what they're going to do in their 40s. But I do get disappointed. So my disappointment is not where they're at. My disappointment is that my coaching wasn't impactful.
Speaker 2:Because we are still seeing more and more of it, you know, and it's not even just music, it's the actors and actresses, it just keeps happening all the time.
Speaker 1:The footballers, everybody.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it just keeps happening. But I mean it's worse for footballers because they make more money.
Speaker 1:They make more consistent money. Yeah, like can you imagine what it means that maybe every week $100,000 is?
Speaker 2:hitting your account. Yeah. So even if, after taxes and everything, you still end up with 50K, that's still a huge Thank you.
Speaker 1:Every week. That's worse than the artists, the actors and stuff. There's this oh, I played one show and I got big money.
Speaker 1:This one is every week you get so used to it. And this thing like it's one of the first lessons I try and give artists all the time you know our industry right, you make more money from October to December than you do from January to September Because there's more events, there's more music being streamed, there's more adverts being done. Every source of income multiplies within that era. So what can happen to an artist within that era is they get so used to the constant flow of money and then by January, february, they are broke Because they got used to it. An artist is playing three shows in a week, four shows in a week, so they are used to money coming all the time.
Speaker 1:Oh, my mother needs to buy this. Oh, send it away. Oh, I want to go chill with the boys. Oh, book a hotel, do this, do that and then when things slow down, january, february, they are still spending like the money is going to be coming weekly. Then they'll go hungry, then they'll start slowing down like me. Then they'll wait. Then October, back to the same sentence.
Speaker 2:You know, I call it, I'll get paid mindset right yeah. So a lot of people they spend their money before they get paid.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So they keep thinking oh, I'll get paid. I'll get paid, yeah, so they keep thinking oh, I'll get paid, I'll get paid. So in fact, for some people, they borrow against their pay yep. So as soon as the money comes in, it's already gone. Then they are waiting for the next pay yep, the next paycheck, and that is what the government schooling structure does to people yeah it's it's like a prison it creates dependencies.
Speaker 1:Yes, like we have so many people right now who are dependent on things that they shouldn't be, and so many people feel entitled to things that they shouldn't be entitled, I deserve. The words I deserve should not be in your dictionary. I earned it. You don't deserve anything. You have to earn it. You don't deserve a salary. You don't deserve a hit song. You don't deserve success, you have to earn it. You don't deserve a salary. You don't deserve a hit song. You don't deserve success. You have to earn it.
Speaker 1:And the day? One thing I tell my artists all the time is you are doing a full-time job, so the day you don't show up at work is a day your salary will be deducted. And what I mean by that is when you wake up in the morning. You're a musician. Do something about your music, record a song, learn how to do interviews, go and promote your music somewhere. Do a photo shoot every single day. Six days of the week rest one day because you're a human being. But if you sit there and you say I have a hit song, so I'm working one day in a week and the other six I'm playing video games, those six days are six days. You go hungry in the future?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I read in the book where you said that when you initially started, you were creating. You made it an effort to create at least one beat a day. Every day and it wasn't really because you wanted to have a hit song Basically for you. You're just perfecting your craft every single day yeah, right, and then through that.
Speaker 2:That's how you become much better, and then you get the hit song yeah you know, because, if you don't show up, you don't know what today's creativity um it's gonna so many people don't understand the power of consistency.
Speaker 1:You know they believe in motivation and you know one strong, impactful effort versus consistent strides. The person who shows up every day and even does just the basic will be more powerful than the person who shows up sometimes and does the most. Show up every day for yourself, like when we say you're going to be disciplined every day. Show up for yourself. You say you take a walk every morning. Some morning you're not feeling well, take a five minute walk. Yeah, someday do a two minute walk. I.
Speaker 1:I watched some guy talk about a two minute discipline reset and it's so good. I haven tried it, but it sounds like it should work when he said if you want to build a new habit, do it for only two minutes every day for one month. So if you want to like, start doing press-ups every day when you wake up in the morning, first of all make sure it takes you only two minutes to get ready, so your mat is already laid, everything is ready, so that the thought process is not too difficult and then, once you start, do it for only two minutes. Once you show up every day and do it for two minutes, it will now become a habit, because it actually takes 21 days of consistency to build a habit and um.
Speaker 2:on top of this, right there's a lady on Instagram and she has about half a million followers. So I sat down with her, aisha, and I said so how did you do it? And she goes oh, I post like 10 times a day and I just keep doing it. One day the account wasn't growing All of a sudden, there was a day she started getting 10K followers a day.
Speaker 1:10k followers Before she, all of a sudden, there was a day she started getting 10k followers.
Speaker 2:A day, 10k followers before she knew it. She went all the way to 400,000 and then it dropped again and then she kept, she kept on. Now she's on half a million and she said people were wondering whether she bought the followers and she said no, she showed me in a day, in a month, in 30 days she can reach about 18 million people on the internet. Wow, 18 in a month.
Speaker 1:So that's the power of you know, being consistent, and one thing that kills consistency is perfectionism. I hate perfectionism. I have to do it, just right. No, just do it, just keep doing it. Like you mentioned, she posts 10 videos a day 10? Somebody is there. They've been spending three months working on one video, you know just keeps showing up. It's like this podcast. I started watching the podcast because it kept popping up and every time it was something new, something insightful. So that person who is trying to shoot that one perfect episode in an expensive luxury hotel and have a conversation with Dango that nobody's done before will never succeed like you. Oh good, because you just keep showing up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what we need to do for ourselves Show up every single day, every single day, ricky, there were points in your business where you needed some cash injection.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What did you realize was happening to the business and why did you need the money?
Speaker 1:So what happens in my business is delayed gratification. It's one unfortunate thing about the entertainment industry. Whereas with most industries, while you are investing, you can actually calculate your profit margin, calculate your revenue and stuff, entertainment is not like that. Okay. So let's say like, let's say right now that I'm doing Lynx Reverb the headphones. It's a very different type of business. So I know how many headphones I've made, I know what my marketing budget is. I know my profit on each headphone. So if I sell it, I'm making this amount of money. Beautiful In entertainment.
Speaker 1:You make a song, you promote the song and hope that people are going to stream it so that you make money. You hope it's going to hit so that you get called for shows and all this. You can't even determine how much they're going to pay you for the show when you're making the song. I see you can't determine how much you're going to make from the streaming Because there's somebody out there right now who is getting $2 a month from streaming in Ghana and there's somebody in Ghana who's getting $40,000 a month from streaming. So you can't calculate. So the problem is to invest. It's more hard than anything else. So now, when the company doesn't have money, you need to find a way to keep injecting the money, knowing that I will take the right steps and hopefully the money will multiply, hopefully, hopefully. Let's call a spade a spade. It's hope.
Speaker 2:But for you it's even more risky because it's in somebody else's craft, isn't it hey?
Speaker 1:Charlie, it's not easy, bro. It's not easy, wow. And the worst thing is all the things that can go wrong, because you're investing in a human being, you know so. If the person God forbid has a car accident, if the person falls ill, if the person decides I don't want to do this anymore, if people decide I don't like this person because you know they are too tall or whatever it is, you've wasted your money.
Speaker 2:That's a huge risk, huge risk. Now, what were your plans? Making your money back?
Speaker 1:So what I did was I started building structures where I can keep making money back. So I used to do a lot of not used to. I still do a lot of music for commercials, so things like Gino, vodafone. I think I've worked with almost all the big companies in Ghana, okay Right. So there was a point in time when I was very active in that part. Always in the studio, I was doing like four to five commercials every month, yeah, so when I take a loan to maybe invest in an artist's career, I'm not expecting to pay back the loan with the artist's career.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I've done my calculation and I know that, okay, I'm playing four to five commercials every month. Let me do a monthly projection. If I only play two, If I only play two, after six months I can pay this amount of loan off. So then I go for that loan, pay it off, then when I need money again I go back and you actually did take a loan.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, over and over again, okay, so I had a car that people used to laugh at me all the time. They used to think the car was always in the mechanic shop, it was draining. I was using it to collect loan. All the time I'd use it as collateral. It reached a point that the microfinance I was taking from they became like a car park for me. I was going to park the car there three months. When I come for it two weeks later, I park it again and I'm back.
Speaker 2:But these times were you not thinking maybe I should have taken dad's path of becoming a doctor, you know?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I thought it. I thought it and I kept thinking maybe it's not too late, but no, I just had the strength.
Speaker 2:Who was there to give you that kick and say no, keep going.
Speaker 1:My mom is still there, still giving me Vim all the time, even when you were thinking, maybe daddy's choice would have been better.
Speaker 1:Yeah, still there, still there, always telling me to believe in myself. You know, one thing my mom told me from when I was a child was that I was born to be great. I shouldn't settle for anything less. So anytime I'm slipping from there, I want to be great. She'll remind me, richie, anything from there, I want to be great. You remind me Anything. You do succeed. Just keep going, don't stop. So now I'm there. I think I was born very lucky, but that's where my luck is.
Speaker 2:My luck is that inspiration I always had, right? The top three artists that helped you a lot as a record label. Who would they be?
Speaker 1:Top three would be unfair okay five, okay, five. So I think the most successful artists that have been on links in chronological order have been asem myself. Okay, chronological order. So myself, asem msv. Kiddy kwame yuji I think those are the Odaso myself. Asem Mizvi. Kiddy Kwame Uche. I think those are the top five.
Speaker 2:And you would think you would say that these were the artists that made up the whole Lynx entertainment right.
Speaker 1:In terms of monetary value yeah, these are the five artists that have made the most money for Lynx. Yeah, but, like I said, it would be unfair to compare because of difference in time yes, yes the kinds of money, the kinds of exposure and everything would we ever?
Speaker 2:see a links.
Speaker 1:Reunion, oh yeah, definitely it's coming up.
Speaker 2:I started planning it already taking it out of your head. That's beautiful, beautiful. Now in terms of investment recently I read or saw somewhere that there's a company in Ghana that has a stake in the business.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Quik Angels Limited.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So that happened in 2022. So actually let me tell the story properly. So when I met Mr K quay, the first thing we worked on was actually taigon creative studios. So taigon is an idea by me and my partner, baba for those who know her, baba moaba so she's an interior designer and a set designer and everything. So we came up with an idea of let's open a studio you know, that can shoot music videos, commercials, everything but I didn't have the finance to. You know, build the studio.
Speaker 1:But that time I'd heard of mr quay, I'd worked with him on a few things, so I said, okay, I pitched it to him. There's no studio like this, should we do it? And he said, okay. So then we built Tygon together. So after doing Tygon for like a year, I started to respect working with him, not based on the investments he puts in, but based on his business mind, based on the way he solves problems and stuff and I realized that, okay, I want to grow links to the next level and I think this man's mind is going to be a great asset for where I want to go next. So we had the conversation. Then he came on board with links some people.
Speaker 2:There were speculations that it was a buyout.
Speaker 1:Oh no, as you can see I'm still here, you know, yeah, but I think you have an incredible mind actually.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you. It's a really good way of thinking, you know, because a lot of Ghanaian businesses, they don't like partnership.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but that's why they die.
Speaker 2:Huh.
Speaker 1:You know, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with a team. So if you don't like partnership, you will die.
Speaker 2:Do you think the?
Speaker 1:inclusion of um. Uh, mr richard has been, uh, he's been good for the business, it's been very good for the business. It's opened my mind to so many things we've put in. We've put more things in place and everything like the company has grown as a company I think.
Speaker 2:I don't know that. You know, I never spoken to him, but he strikes me as somebody who is a man of structure and systems and incredible wisdom. Yeah, yeah, because somebody was complaining about how their business he himself, his business is running. And then I said, well, hold on, but how is the Chicken man and Pizza man? How have they been able to do it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know Like I just want everyone to think about that, yeah piece of magic.
Speaker 2:Man has about 100 branches, so how have they been able to manage the problems that we, that we have two, three shops. We are completely have so. And then somebody said a lot of huh that he puts you in the system rather than you are dead, then the system Rather than you are there, then the system comes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like, honestly speaking, ghana needs to steady that man's mind. They need to steady that man's mind. He really is a business genius. What does the structure of Lynx look like? It's a beautiful structure now. So we have Lynx Group Limited, which has different companies underneath it. So the original Links Entertainment is there as a label and a distribution company. So what we did is Tigon. So once they got involved with Links, then we added Tigon Creative Studios to the Links umbrella.
Speaker 1:Then we have ACN. Acn is African Creative Network. So ACN handles bookings for artists, for actors. You know, monetizing talents. We are using our years of experience on monetizing talents to do the same for other talents. So you don't need to be signed to links, you can just have a deal with ACN where they bring you deals, brand deals, shows, movies, that kind of stuff. Then we have Pantera. So Pantera is a creative agency. So anybody who's looking for creative ideas social media management, digital push, anything they can work with Pantera. Then we have the Ogboro OG which is Link Studio. The studio works on its own, as you know, its own company.
Speaker 2:Then the newest baby is links electronics, which has unleashed the links reverb headphones which, what do you think has been the your biggest challenge on this journey of entrepreneurship?
Speaker 1:I guess, um, the fact that I'm learning on a job. And notice, I didn't say I learned on the job. I am learning on the job as, as I'm here right now, I have three Udemy courses that I'm doing today, today, still to perfect my craft. Um, so one of my biggest challenges is, whenever I learn something new, it makes me realize, oh, if I knew this six months ago, if I knew this one year ago, I would have done this and done that and done that. It's, it's. It's quite challenging for me, especially being someone who loves knowledge. It's not easy, it's, it's not, it's not easy um.
Speaker 2:Your mom is an amazing woman.
Speaker 1:Yes, she really is. Yeah, yeah, a lot of people.
Speaker 2:You know it's well. You see, when you see most people that have great relationships with their moms, you see how they turn out. Yeah, you know there's something about the power of a woman, eh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, somebody once told me there's not a lot like two years ago or something. He met me two or three times with my mom and then he said, richie, I've seen your relationship with your mom and that's why you stay successful. Not for anything, but just the way you still interact with your mom will make you stay successful.
Speaker 2:Now, is there anything we could have spoken about, that we still we haven't, that we still can.
Speaker 1:Media. If you want to unpack, there's a lot, so let me see what can we talk about. Okay, let me talk about one thing. Let me talk about one of the biggest mistakes I made. Don't spend money that you have not made as a businessman. Okay, I made this mistake. This was the lowest time for Lynx. So at the time when Lynx was doing very well you know, when we started fresh in two, three years in, and everything was going very great and all I weren't making much money yet I actually got an opportunity to produce for a record label outside and I was going to produce a lot for them over a long period. So they're going to pay me a lot of money consistently, right? So at that time, we had to move from where we were. So when we were coming to move, we moved to a place that was charging about the same amount as where we were, except in dollars. So as in, maybe, if we're paying 1,000 CDs, no, it's 1,000 dollars.
Speaker 1:But bear in mind, at this time the dollar and the CD were about the same. This is when you know. It was like maybe one dollar is 1.2 CDs, this is right. The know it was like maybe $1 is 1.2 CDs, this is right.
Speaker 1:The Kufu era when he redid the Ghana CD and everything. Yes, so it wasn't a bad idea. And at the same time, too, I was about to be paid a lot of money, consistently in dollars. So it made sense. So you spent in anticipation, spent in anticipation, so I got the new place in dollars. So it made sense. So you spent in anticipation, spent in anticipation, so I got the new place in dollars.
Speaker 1:After getting the new place in dollars, then the deal outside the record label collapsed. It's not my fault, I didn't lose the deal. The label collapsed. So that big money I was expecting to come. It didn't come. Then now Assem left the label around this time. You know, irene had left the label around this time. So things started to go down a bit and the dollar started to whoop the city. Wow. So within a very short time it had gone from $1 to one city to $3 to one city, do you get me? So now we were making less. The money that was promised never came and our expenses had skyrocketed. It was a very big lesson for me Don't spend money that hasn't come.
Speaker 2:You heard it. You should never do it. I mean, I'm seeing a lot of people who have shops in East Ligon and when they come, especially from the diaspora, they come to East Ligon. They're bougie, yeah, do everything up. Take a three year lease. They paid a dollar $40,000 flat. After three years they realize that they don't. Even the rent would have gone up.
Speaker 1:Yep, after three years you don't have the money and then they have to move and the business itself is not making as much as you thought it was going to make yes, yes, so I learned that lesson the hard way as well.
Speaker 2:You know, I guess we all have our lessons, you just have to learn. But you made a statement. You said it wasn't your fault, but actually the truth is we need to tell them.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's my fault.
Speaker 2:That is his fault, all right.
Speaker 1:Motivation or discipline? Oh, discipline, a hundred percent. Okay, put motivation aside, though. The only way. Look any part of your life which you are failing at, it's because you're not disciplined there. If your relationship is not doing well, you are not disciplined at home. If your money, if you are poor, it's because you don't have financial discipline. If you are not healthy, you are not disciplined with your fitness. Discipline is everything. So if you want to do well with anything, stay disciplined amazing.
Speaker 2:What's the best advice you've ever received?
Speaker 1:um, be who you are those who matter, don't mind. Those who mind, don't matter.
Speaker 2:Wow that's a beautiful advice, and can you recommend a book for us please?
Speaker 1:which one, the most impactful book that I have read is seven habits of highly effective people. I love that book. Next to that, um then I'll be torn between Think and Grow Rich and Ikigai, okay yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's three books. We asked for one. He gave us three. It's beautiful. Thank you so much. I think this has been a beautiful conversation. I have gotten to know you differently, you know which is beautiful and you have a very lovely personality. I must say thank you so much for coming to our studios and to my viewers and my listeners. If you made it to the end, you're definitely a connected champion. So let me see it in the comments and to the people that made it to our event at the British council Thank you so much for your support and for your time. We are going to carry on. If you're not part of the community on WhatsApp, on the email list or on the school platform, get yourself in there, because there are a lot of things happening. My name is Derek Abayte. Stay connected. I'm out.