The Shark Tank Standard 🦈🦈🦈🦈

Stop dragging people who refuse to walk. Invest in motion, not excuses.

In this powerful episode of the Black Sheep Leadership Podcast, Athena Renee breaks down the powerful principle behind Shark Tank and why successful people invest in momentum—not excuses.

This episode explores:

🔹 Why opportunities follow motion
🔹 The difference between potential and progress
🔹 Why Black Sheep waste years trying to rescue people
🔹 How to build a circle of people in motion
🔹 The mindset shift that attracts support and success

You'll learn:

✔ How to stop wasting time on people who refuse to help themselves
✔ Why execution matters more than ideas
✔ How to become someone worth investing in
✔ Why momentum attracts opportunity

Because the truth is:

Nobody is coming to save you.

But a lot of people will help you once they see you're serious about saving yourself.

#BlackSheepLeadership
#SharkTankStandard
#ExecutionMode
#Momentum
#SuccessMindset
#LeadershipMindset
#GrowthMindset
#BlackSheepMindset
#PersonalDevelopment
#TakeAction
#SelfLeadership
#EntrepreneurMindset
#NoMoreExcuses
#PurposeDriven
#BuildYourLife
#ClarityIsPower
#MoveDifferent
#StayFocused
#OpportunityFollowsAction
#InformationIsEverywhereExecutionIsRare

"INFORMATION IS EVERYWHERE EXECUTION IS RARE"

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Hey, what's going on, everybody? I want to welcome you back to the Black Sheep Leadership Podcast. I'm your girl, Athena Renee, and this is where the underdogs, the misfits, and the black sheeps come to turn pain into power so that they can build a life by design and leave a legacy behind. Now, if this is your first time tapping in, welcome in, family. I'm so happy that you're here. And if you back again, you already know that I appreciate your presence. Thank you so much for stopping by again. What's up, family? But let's do this quick vibe check. Because if you're easily offended, sensitive, entitled, waiting on somebody to come save you, or allergic to accountability, get your ass up out of here. This ain't your safe space. Go ahead and tap out now. But if you're ready to think different so that you can move different and level up from any seat, stay locked in. Because by the end, my friend, you're walking away with something that you can execute immediately. Alright? Let's get to work. Today we're gonna be talking about the Shark Tank Standard. Stop dragging people who refuse to work. Stop dragging people who refuse to walk and talk only. Okay. One of the greatest lessons I've learned about success, it didn't come from a book. It came from watching the Shark Tank. And you know, the Shark Tank is very interesting. You know, they slept on some good ideas, you know. You can learn a lot about it. And here's the thing though, it was one thing I was pondering about the Shark Tank show. And I'm just thinking over different seasons of my life. And you know, black sheep, we are in the sixth month of the year. We are, we're in a sixth month of 2026, and um it's really like a time of reflection, and as black sheep, you know, we've given so much. We we just have, just as a collective whole of black sheep, I just feel like you're at a time where you're tired of being sick and tired. You're tired of cheering people on that don't want to do nothing. You you're just tired, and you're tired of believing in people that don't believe in themselves, but not only that, you're really just tired of people not valuing what you bring to the table. And I'm along with you on that. And I was just thinking about you know, reflecting on these past six months, and a lot of progress has been made. But I was thinking about some of the fumbles, some of the mishaps, and I started thinking about the shark tank. And I and again, listen, it just crossed my mind. But if you pay attention to the shark tank, if you think about it, the sharks rarely invest in people who are waiting, they invest in people who are already in motion. Think about it. Nobody walks into the shark tank and says, Well, if you help me, then I'll get started. If you can give me a handout, I'll I'll get to it. They're not talking about what they had and what it could be like. No, they come in already building, already selling, learning, they've already sacrificed, they already making moves, and that's what caught my attention. Because a lot of times as black sheep, we invest in potential too much, and I'm talking about potential that's not even in motion. You gotta be in motion. See, black sheep, because it cost us too much when we keep slowing down for folks that's not even in motion. See, you remember those old school movies where the train would be going and then it'd be uh some poor person or whatever, homeless, whatever, but they'll be on the side of the train and they're trying to get to a new city because that represents a new life. What do they do? They run on the side of the train to hop on. They not sitting there looking at people riding by on the train, they trying to hop the train. And one thing about black sheep, what I realized when I was thinking about Shark Tank, they not investing in people's ideas, they're investing in the momentum. See, the people already did the investing in the ideas, they already in motion, they already proved themselves to the sharks that they even qualified to be in their face. And check this out before they even get on stage, I bet you it's a pre-qualification. I bet you it is a pre-qualification before they can even get on stage. Why? Because when you got too much to offer, whether you on the shark tanks or not, when you got too much to offer, too much going on, it costs you too much to slow down to be invested in people that's all talk, no action. That's why a lot of times it's black sheep, we get so pissed off, we get aggravated. Why? Because we have slowed our train down, talking about they got potential. Guess what? It's nothing if they're not in motion. Because if a person hasn't recognized their own potential to get something popping, why we stopping motion attracts opportunity. See, the shake the sharks understood something that most people don't. Money follows motion, resources follow motion, partnerships follow motion, support follows motion, momentum creates opportunities, motion. See, it ain't even about if you're moving slow. Are you moving? Are you moving? Are you catching the wave of what's going on? Even if it's the wave of your season, it ain't about somebody else's wave. Because black sheep, you know, a lot of times people cut us off because they think if we get if we even get on their way, we just gonna take over, even though it's not like that because we got our own journey. But what I'm talking about is a lot of people they don't even have a they're not even riding their own wave. You can't get on my surfboard. Because guess what you're gonna do? You're gonna unbalance things, and that's what they do, y'all. When they come in, when we slow our train down, we moving, we got our peace, we making moves, looking good, drinking water, and then we see a dust bucket, because I'm gonna call you for what it is. Because anytime you fumble a black sheep and you don't do it with class, you're a dust bucket. Because one thing about the black sheep, we didn't have so much betrayal and backstabbing and all of that. It's like if you just keep it solid with us, just keep it a stack with us, we can respect it. It's all good. But people, they're just trying to treat us like an old dish rag, like some sewer water, right? And when we realize we didn't slow our whole motion down, our train, our bus, our so we didn't slow the wave down, trying to help somebody that ain't even grateful. What you must understand is people sitting on the couch, they just waiting for somebody to rescue them, they just waiting on an opportunity to suck somebody dry so they can hop on to something else. They are leech. They are leeches, they not in motion, and I'm gonna tell you something too, guys. Just because it look like they in motion don't mean they in motion. What do I mean by that? It's people that's out here looking like they're making moves because they're busy, but are they busy moving in the right direction? See, this is a digital environment. I'm meeting people that's still doing stuff from 1993. I've given thinking in potential terms, I'm like, okay, I see you, I see your potential. Guess what? After further investigation and observation, you out here moving around like it's 2001. Things are changing too fast to be steady moving out here like two or three decades behind. I get things change fast. So, you know, you may not hop on every trend and all these different things. I get that. But if you look up and find yourself five years behind, I'm talking about in anything, whether it be a phone, computer, uh um not a car, but like um software, um, your skills, even at your job. If you say, I'm gonna stay on this job till I die, okay, no problem. If you think they're not gonna come change a process or update something in that process within a five-year time frame, you're mistaken. And a lot of times, black sheep, we be investing in people that look like they're in motion, but they're not even moving in the right direction. And what they do, they slow you down. And if you weak, depending on where you're at in your black sheep journey, because if you're not a savage about your progress, they'll slow you down and have you die, they'll divert you from your path, and you'll go on their path for a little bit. This is why, as a black sheep, you gotta watch, man. You gotta watch more than you talk. And I'm talking about when you're dealing with people, observe more, look at their actions, look at their patterns. Because people that's going nowhere, they want to take you with them. You got all that energy, that light. Some of them know where you come from, and you still moving, you're not bitter, you still in action, you still in motion, you ain't gave up yet. Even with people you just meeting, they just know it's something about you. They just know it's something about you, so they think it's easy because you make it look easy, so they want to hop on your train, they flex it anyway, they want to hop on your train, they don't even know they're gonna be found out. Why? Because the creator is not gonna finance any fakery or foolery on your mission, they gonna get found out. Next thing you know, you didn't hopped off on another path or you didn't slow down trying to see what they're doing. And listen, watch them. It ain't gonna take you no long time to figure out if something's not a good fit. It's just like how some jobs do you. They don't even some jobs don't even give you enough time to learn it, they'll cut you short. This is why I always tell you guys as a black sheep, even with your career and everything, it is your business. Don't wait on nobody to promote you and see your value. You need to make sure you see the value and the benefit of you being in those environments and around those people. Okay, because the world rewards movement, not excuses. And I believe black sheep need to adapt the same standard. Stop building your circle around potential, build it around motion and people that um, and when I say emotion, now we because sometimes you can build motion and it be friction, right? You want to build it with motion with people that can get in a flow, you want to be in a flow with folks. See a lot of people that was in motion and they was in the right direction, but guess what? They was trying to compete with you, it caused friction. It didn't have to, but they mindset was small, they didn't understand about collaboration, okay? Because a black sheep, like we already know, black sheep don't always have the support. Why you compete with a black sheep for? Because they see your light. But when you build your things around people in motion and it's a good flow, I don't care if somebody started from the bottom or if they're broke or if they're working a regular job, are they moving in the right? Are they moving? Are they in motion? Are they in a good flow with what you're doing? Do they have a vision? Do they have a plan? Are they taking action? Because somebody making small moves today in motion is far more valuable than somebody making big promises about tomorrow. Listen, y'all, I had even friends like this. This is not just about business. You got to get this Shark Tank standard and just have it in the back of your mind. I had a uh a friend at the time that I used to hang out with, and I always used to go see this particular person. Always right. That would be one of my first stops, okay? Had a great time. But guess what? I'm observing, I'm like, man, after a decade, we supposed to be cool. I don't even have a picture of us doing nothing together. Maybe there's one circulating out there on the internet somewhere, but there's no picture. We haven't done anything, we don't even have a key ring, a t-shirt. But every single time I'm pulling up on you like you valuable, like you in motion, and you not doing nothing, making all kinds of plans every year, y'all, almost for a whole decade. Every year, we oh, we're gonna go here this year, we're gonna do this this year, we're gonna do that. Nothing. Nothing. So guess what? 2025 came around, and I was having a party, and I made a mistake. Big mouth me had made a mistake and mentioned about my party. And she said, Oh, I wanna come, I wanna come, please. I said, No, don't worry about it. It's okay, girl, ain't nothing going on. Begged me to come and then couldn't even make it. I said, Okay, I ain't even say nothing. I said, All right, I ain't made no big deal about it. I kept moving, but it was look, that was a that was right there. I was already on the edge with them because the thing about it is black sheep, people know what they're doing. Number one, number two, why hang out with people that's that broke? Because guess what? Even if you say you got it, you ain't came out and showed it, so you broke. Why hang around? We're working this hard. Why hang around with people that ain't in motion? Because see, when people really value you, they gonna show it in action, not with a mouth, not for no whole decade. Not for no whole decade. I'm sorry. Now listen, if somebody had a mission, you feel connected to it and they really make it move. Guess what? Sometimes they take a decade, like Elon Musk, the first trillionaire, right? Those people that was on board with him, they saw something in what he was doing. But guess what? He was in motion already. All these other losers, whack people that ain't doing nothing with their life, dust buckets. Come on, man, cut these folks off. And let me tell you something. These will be the main people that be making you promises about tomorrow that never uh uh come through on them. These are gonna be the main ones mad at you. But let me tell you something, that's why we're talking about the shark tank standard because you'll get your ass ate up. You will get ate up. We don't care about people being mad no more. That's why I thought about the shark tank standard. Them folks come out there, they be having their thing going on, and they be in motion. They have their elevator pitch, everything together. A lot of the sharks, they ain't with it. Guess what? Them people eat it up, and guess what else? They still winning though. Why? Because they in motion already. Y'all ain't gonna believe it was a couple of them folks that was on the shark tanks and they fumbled it. That's okay, people gonna fumble you. But one thing about it, and two things for sure, we're not about to get caught up with working with people that ain't don't have no no motion, is what I'm talking about. No motion, you ain't got no motion, you just all talk, and then people like you know, they scary and all of this. Listen, everybody has fear, but courage means I'm gonna do something anyway, in spite of being scared. And see, this is where black sheep lose years because we're natural encouragers, visionaries, and leaders. We want to see people, the greatness in them, we want to see their potential, so we start dragging people who don't even want to move. We're trying to help them discover their purpose when they don't even buy a notebook. We're trying to help them build a business when they ain't even they don't even have no plan, they ain't trying to do nothing. And then, have you ever met a person that never had motion while you're dealing with them and you trying to, you know, you steady hanging in there with them, and then when they call themselves having a plan, all of a sudden it's top secret. They ain't showed you no motion, but when they finally get their little plan, they want to be, oh no, I ain't telling nobody right now. Like you like, like you already in motion. Why I need to steal your plan? You know why? Because it's all talking, no action. That's why I say you gotta stop trying to push people into action when they haven't decided they want to move for themselves, because eventually you're gonna ask yourself, why am I doing more work with this person than they are? Right? See, let me be clear, y'all. Everybody needs help and mentorship, support, and help. Okay, everybody needed, even the shark tanks had help, right? When you hear their stories, everybody needs help and support, but there's a difference between needing help and refusing to help yourself. See, the people who win, they show initiative, they show effort, commitment, they show that they are willing to carry their part of the load. Any kind of friendship, relationship, business ship, it don't matter what type of ship it is. Somebody should be helping us ship it out. I'm gonna have this part of the ship, you have your part of it. But it ain't gonna be where I'm the only one carrying the load. Get out of here. You're trying to sink the ship. If anything, so you gotta start watching people. Are they showing any type of initiative? Because if not, they just a waste of time. You need people that's showing the support, the initiative, they looking for opportunities. Those are the people that deserve the access to you. They already in motion, they're showing commitment, they show you that they want to be there. It's not gonna be perfect, but they are showing you motion, they're showing you action, not all talk. Your circle should have momentum. Take a look at your friends and your family right now, your coworkers, your network. Ask yourself who's actually building something? Ask yourself that, man. Who's building something? Who's improving? Who's learning? All this free information out here. Who's learning something new and really standing on business? Who's executing? Who's moving towards a vision? Because people without direction, they become distractions to us. And distractions are expensive, they cost you time, energy, focus, opportunities, and peace. And here's the thing: once time is gone, you don't get it back, you don't get your time back. That's why when I thought about it, I said, Man, I've been investing in this friendship for over a decade. Do y'all know how that makes you feel? When you've been believing in somebody that is worth it for over a decade and come to find out it ain't worth a penny, it ain't worth nothing. But hot breath, do you know how that make you feel? But see, you know what? You don't become bitter about it because truth being told, as a black sheep, you probably peeped game before you even decided to just when you finally got frustrated. And that's the thing with black sheep. Sometimes you gotta get sick and tired of being sick and tired, and that's really human nature as far as change goes. But as a black sheep, when I'm talking about how fast time is flying and how we're in the middle of this year, and I'm just thinking about life and reflecting on things. Listen, it's time for you to bring that shark tank standard out. See, we'd already been Mrs. Nice Guy, we already been Mr. Nice Guy, we've already done all of that. People have played with us, played in our face and everything, and they're not doing nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing. Now it's time to stop confusing potential with progress. This is the biggest mistake that we always make. Potential is not progress, y'all. Potential is the possibility, but progress is the proof. What are they doing? Everybody has potential, but very people make a move, very people stay consistent, very few people stay consistent or have that work ethic. The Shark Tank standard says, show me what you built then, show me what you tried, show me that you mean it. Show me your effort, show me your movement. Let's talk, let's talk then. Show me what you're working with. I'm not trying to compete and compare, but I'm already in motion. Show me what you're doing. How can we help each other out? Because listen, y'all, it's not about oh, you always trying to get something out of somebody. Listen, everything is reciprocal. Every time you go outside and breathe, you're breathing out, you're exhaling carbon dioxide. The trees are exhaling oxygen, it's an even exchange. Everything is reciprocal. Anything that is not reciprocal will die. Period. It's reciprocal. Reciprocity. Okay. So listen, it's time out for all of that. I'm gonna I gotta show you everything. No, you prove it to me. I'm already in motion because see, black sheep, you the light, and the light gonna attract light and it's going to attract bugs. Okay, the real lesson from the shark tank is not business, it's life. The lesson is this move first, make your move, then support, so support will show up for you. It's gonna catch you in the wind. Go ahead and build it. Then opportunities will show up, create momentum, then people will start paying attention. Don't wait on nobody to say, well, when this happened, when this time comes, no, get emotion because nobody owes you belief before you've believed in yourself. Nobody owes you support before you supported yourself, and nobody owes you an opportunity before you've prepared for one. And look at everything you've paid, all the dues you've paid. Why you giving somebody else an easy way out? Why you giving somebody else emotion and with potential? Why you giving them access when you paid all these high-ass dues and these black sheep tax? Why? Let's get into these three movements, these three action steps. Number one, audit your circle. You gotta audit the circle, y'all, all the time. Audit your circle, man. It's people hanging around you just to report back, they not giving nothing. Cut them off. Give them a little spoon, give them that long handle spoon, right? Hey, what's going on? They know things and change, but at the same time, they know they ain't did nothing but bring loose change. So it's okay. And I'm gonna tell you something too, black sheep, because a lot of us have these big hearts and we empathetic and all of that. Listen to me very carefully. Never forget when they treated you how they treated you, they didn't care and they knew exactly what they was doing. They didn't give one crap. So when we start talking about this shark tank standard and making people stand on their business, listen, it's not a problem. It is not a problem at all. Why? Because I can guarantee you the people that you got in your circle, and if you check them out, and if let's say for you got seven people in your circle and three of them not doing nothing, they know they ain't doing nothing. They just gonna be surprised that you're not gonna be dealing with them on that level no more. They're gonna Get mad. They're gonna of course they're gonna try to switch the story up. It don't matter though. If they need to switch it up, let them switch it up. Like 50 cents say the money's still gonna pile up. Why? Because you in motion and they just trying to ride your wave. They ain't even trying to paddle the boat, they ain't trying to bring no ideas, they ain't invested in no seas in your life. Think about the people who haven't even supported nothing you're doing, but here you is, you just supported everything they got going on, and they ain't they ain't sent you a $20 bill. You ain't gotta confront them about it. Start cutting the access. Because trust and believe, y'all, when these energy vampires think that they found a better option or something better popping, they gonna slide on you. It ain't gonna be no warning, they gonna just start moving different. So listen, audit your circle. Don't give them the opportunity to move different. You move different because you already emotion. You move different. You don't want emotion, audit your circle. Who's moving, who's building, who's executing? Some people spend more, spend more time with people in motion. Number two, stop rescuing people who refuse to help themselves. Listen, let me tell you something. Not just refusing people to help themselves, because that's really one of the big ones, y'all. People be studying oh, I need this, I need more, we need a higher minimum wage. Have you learned a new skill? You mean to tell me you're gonna beg the government to death about raising minimum wage instead of just learning a new skill and giving yourself a raise? I mean, it's hard in life in general. It's hard to study and learn a new skill, and it's hard to sit there and beg the government for a raise. Which one you gonna do? Pick your heart. Stop rescuing people, y'all, that ain't trying to help themselves. Here's another one, though, y'all. Stop rescuing people that has a pattern of making bad decisions. And when I say that, y'all, I'm talking about they still on level two of Pac-Man, level two of Mario Brothers, level two of uh Sonic. Stop rescuing people that's making bad, basic bad decisions. So, for an example, if you know you need, if you know you lost your last job because you couldn't show up on time, and you meet this person, they still showing up on time, still showing up late, excuse me. They still showing up late. Why are you bothered with them? Because we know 50% is showing up. So you mean tell me you can't even show up? Here's another one people don't have their priorities together. When you get to a certain level in life, now listen, when you're in your 20s and sometimes even your 30s and mid-30s, you still it's still like, I don't know what's going on, you know. But when you get to that mid-30 level, some people like to say 30s, but you know what, guys? Come on now. People, a lot of times people don't work until they're in their 40s. We're just gonna keep it a stack here, okay? Because you don't know what journey somebody went through. You just don't really know. But over and over and over again, we see that people really don't reach their peak until they're in their 40s. But let's just say mid-30s. You're in your mid-30s and you still making dumb decisions, or excuse me, not the decisions, but your priorities. You don't have your priorities. You may not have everything together, but as far as your priorities, like if you got kids, your kids should be a priority. By the time you're 35, you should understand, you know what? If this job ain't working out, maybe it's time for me to pick up a new skill. Guys, we're living in an information age. It's not even about going back to get a degree. Oh, I got a degree. Listen, y'all, I got people, it's so funny. They be bragging about their degree like it's still 1995. Oh, I'm going back to school to get my I got my math's degree now, but you still not happy at your job. Oh, I got this, I got that. And they be bragging, and listen, ain't nothing wrong with that. But what I'm telling you as a black sheep is this in the world we're living in now, you can just learn the new skill right there on YouTube for free 99 and go get you a new job. You can learn the new skill and get the book, the read, everything you need. You can go get a certification from Google and get you a decent new job and give yourself a raise. Right? So, all the just circle, man. And then we're not gonna be rescuing people that's just not, they don't they don't have their priorities together, they making dumb decisions with basic stuff. And here's listen, here's number three, y'all. This is the one right here for black sheep. This is your this is the one, okay. Become the person you'd invest in. Ooh, listen, listen, listen. Become the person you'd invest in. So when I told y'all I had been having some, it had been really rough for me these last couple of weeks. Because I mean, it just came down a little bit, you know. Sometimes we just running off of pure momentum, okay? And a lot of times we don't realize, hey, you need to just kind of rest and just recalibrate because of the black sheep and just life in general. But I'm talking to the black sheep, a lot of times you have all kind of stuff coming at you, and you don't even have a support system that a lot of people have. People just don't get it, they don't get it. And I was online and I just thank God so much for the internet and for the people that created the internet and made it accessible because I started looking at some videos, and you know, a lot of times you have that algorithm, but I truly believe that sometimes the right messages pop up for you. And back to back to back, I've noticed that really valuing yourself as a black sheep, becoming the person you would invest in, whether it's starting with your health, understanding where do you want to be in life, what are your desires, what do you want to do? If you met an investor, who would that person be? Would they be in shape? Would they have their things together? Would they have proof of what they've been doing? Become that person. It that's almost like the law of attraction. You become the person in which you seek. So if you were a shark, would you invest in yourself today? Ask yourself, with everything that you got going on, would you invest in yourself? And guess what, guys? You may not have the net worth of like how some of the shark, the people that were in the shark tank. A lot of them, they were already like, you know, made 50,000 in sales, and some people had over six fees in sales. It's not about the money. I'm talking about do you have the things in order that you can have in order? Have you done the things that you can do? Because we don't want to be the people that saying, well, when we get a chance, we'll finally get up and do. No, we're gonna do right now. We're gonna do what we can with what we have. And if you're in that position, keep on keeping on with that. Because that is who a shark would invest in. Somebody that is working what they have, they're not waiting on a handout, they're already in motion. As a black sheep, I just want you to understand the world does not reward intention. People talk about I heard the good intentions, I heard the right intentions. Guess what? The world does not care, it rewards execution. The sharks, they don't invest in people waiting for a miracle, they invest in people that are creating momentum. See, we don't go out to look for magic, we create the magic with momentum, and that's the new shark standard. It's not perfection, it's not status, it's not money, it's motion. If you're moving, keep moving. If you're building, keep building, if you're learning, keep learning. Because opportunities have a funny way of finding people already in motion. And remember, just because you start alone doesn't mean you have to build alone, but nobody can help you until you help yourself first. We can't build it if you haven't laid the first brick. We can't help you if there's no structure. Okay? So until you help yourself first, remember that. Stand on that shark tank standard. If you're building yourself, don't allow anybody else in your movement or in your life or to have access to you. That's not in motion because they're not gonna do anything else but slow you down. Until next time, keep in mind information is everywhere, but execution is rare. Take care.