A couple of months later, that's when the entire space really blew up. This is the beginning of 2021. We saw hip hop artists really jumping in and embracing this new technology. Even to this day, the social token party is just getting started. The balloons aren't even up. We're just super early web two giants like Instagram and Facebook are now embracing the web three technology, essentially because their hand is being forced in. So when we think of web three, we're seeing two trends happen. We're seeing web two giants embrace web threes, for example, Instagram, and FTS was the conversation of yesterday. Today we're speaking about the metaverse tomorrow. It's about dowels in the day after it's about social tokens, social tokens will complement not compete with NF T's and we prefer to just focus on building one thing and doing really well. And that's building the social token platform. Hello, and welcome back to since 3000. I'm your host and yeah Leslie and today I'm joined by a very special guest, Noel Borgess. Noel is the founder of mint black, the social token platform that stands at the intersection of IRL NF T's Dows, and the metaverse. And don't you worry, we're gonna get into all of that and deconstruct it. For you. Noel was part of the team behind the first hip hop artists to launch their work as an entity. He's an expert on web three, and is the best person to guide us through what this transition into the future of the Internet is all about. So we're gonna get into all of that. And more please welcome Noel Borgess to since 3000. Welcome. Awesome. Thank you, Danielle. I'm so excited to bring you today's episode. But before we do, I need to make sure you've heard about member up. So community driven products are the future. But Facebook groups are a thing of the past. And after 10 plus years in the online education space, I've taken all my learnings and I've built this incredible platform member up. It's a customizable easy to use all in one platform where you can build a premium course community or membership site without the tech headache, gone are the days of having to duct tape together, your content, your community, your payments, all on different platforms, I want you to do me a favor, do yourself a favor and head over right now to member up.com Ford slash Danielle. And you can get started for free today. I promise you, I can't wait for you to see this platform. It's beautiful. Okay, the design is amazing your community is going to feel at home here and you are going to take pride in your online business, it is the place to start, head over to member of.com forward slash Danielle. Now let's get into the episode. So excited to have you here. So it's wild because we met at NFT. NYC about a year ago, and you were putting on an event I was in the crowd. And I was there with Helen. And we were learning and going deeper into the NFT space, we have thoughts of starting a collection. And I was like in the QA just like taking my notes, watch some people on stage. And then you came over and you were talking to different people there and letting them know about your event. So first, I'm gonna start with like what that event was, I know what it was, and it was extraordinary. But I want those listening to know like what that event was and what it encapsulated with what you've done in the space, and how you've invited so many like myself into the space to understand more about it. Absolutely. So the event was about on web 3x fashion. And so you were very fashionable and you seem like someone who should be at the event just like you was r&r now. So I invited you and your team and Helen in particular to join us for live and FCX fashion gallery where we were envisioning in reimagining what would it look like for fashion, the fashion industry to be disrupted in with NF T's Metaverse social tokens. So the event took place and clockwork on Soho, Broadway. And we had over 1000 folks who were in attendance. And AT T 360 Photo Booth was present where folks, including yourself would be able to take a picture on the 360 photo booth and then later on realized they just created an NFC. So we saw that as an opportunity for folks just learning about the space to get involved in by creating and then learning more about it after and on the NSC 360 photo booth. We gave an opportunity for different creators of NFT projects to share about what they're up to, and even drop live NF T's made available to folks who were in the audience. I love that and I remember like going to the event I was like oh my gosh is packed, it's dope. And there was an opportunity to purchase. I loved the like the fusion of fashion and NF T's and also social tokens. You presented it in a way that was like accessible to someone like me who was new to this space, because it was okay here's a T shirt that you can buy that has copper coin on it. And when you purchase this, you get a share, you're getting a certain amount of copper coin. So if you could speak to what exactly that means, because Jim Jones came through, like we're at the event like he comes through, he gets on the 360 Photo Booth stand, and you introduce him. And I remember, like recording, I was like, Oh my God, what's going on? This is amazing. And so you introduce him, and then he kind of shares about what he's doing in the space. But tell us about like, you were really like integrating fashion social tokens, a huge personal brand, like Jim Jones, explain what that was, well, we made available where it was an opportunity for folks to get their hands on social tokens. And so to your point, we wanted a way for everyday person to be able to possess and come into possession of social tokens without having to learn or do too much to get there, right. And so how do we make it as frictionless as possible, and we experimented with this concept called by T shirt. And as a reward, you would receive X number of social tokens in this case, it was Jim Jones, social token copper coin. And so that was an easy way for folks to get possession of copper coin, as well as we integrated certain T shirts we had available, where prints of NF T's that were simultaneously displayed as physical art around the gallery. So we were experimenting with two concepts. One is, let's take NF T's and print them on the t shirt. And in second, when folks come into possession of the t shirt, they'll be able to earn social tokens as a reward that they can then later on use for different use cases, one of which might be to buy other merchandise within the boutique. Wow. Okay, so we've a few things to unpack here. Because I know you were like you got into cryptocurrency, really early, and then into NF T's really early building a platform, and then social tokens. So you're mentioning social tokens, we're gonna like rewind for folks who are not familiar with that term. So how would you explain like, what are social tokens? And what are some of the benefits and I guess Jim Jones is a great case study, because I think you built a coin around him around his brand, you gave his audience access to different benefits. So let's take Jim Jones as a case study, because he is a hip hop legend. And he's now known as one of the first people one of the first like, major artists in web three. And you were the one who like started that conversation. You were the one who like got him, you know, you know, in that conversation, which is like beautiful. So how did that happen? And what has been the evolution of you know, him intersection of web three and the work like you've done with him? I answer the space in 2016, we Tinker the word iterated on a project where we decided let's just tokenize the world. It is very moonshot concept that everything in every one will eventually be tokenized, whether as an NFC or a fungible token. And when you say like anything can be tokenized. What does that mean? So products can be tokenized as either as a one to one a picture frame, a piece of art. So that would usually take place in the form of an NFC a non fungible token, a one on one animal, we can go deep on what an NFC is. That's one concept. The second is a fungible token, meaning it can be traded used, let's say, as currency. And that's where we experimented with Jim Jones. And I use the word experiment intentionally. Because this entire web three concept is a great experiment. We're in the sandbox, we're tinkering with building way. And we're all contributing a note to this incredible symphony, that it's being created right before our eyes. One verse that Jim Jones pun intended, contributed to the space is copper coin. And we launched that that as a social token and beginning of 2021, to rewind just a bit in October of 2020. I knocked on Jim's door and said, Jim, let's create an NFC. He said, what's an NFC so we broke it down and said, Send me a picture of your chain dish. So we sold it. And he's like, so I still have my chain and someone bought a picture of it. Why would they do so? So well, it's digital memorabilia, so no different than they would want a baseball card of say, Babe Ruth. In this case, they have a one on one digital chain of Jim Jones, a hip hop legend. And that's the beginning of it later on, we can add these incredibly utility sweet but at its base, that was one example. And then to pause you so I think what makes it the one of one is that the chain was logged on the blockchain. So I think when people think about the the rookie card, our card example you used, it's verified. It's verified. That is the only rookie card of Babe Ruth, of this form that exists in the world. And so same with Jim. I took this photo. I am the owner of it. I have verified it on the blockchain that I Jim Jones took a photo of my own chain, it's on the blockchain. It's logged as I have taken this photo. I've entered it on to this ecosystem to sell it this person has purchased it so I've transferred ownership to the This person. So I think that's what makes it like non fungible is that it is logged on the blockchain really, absolutely. Does exactly. And so Jim takes the picture, he sells it. And now, that's what as you mentioned, a one on one. And because Jim is the owner of it, there's value to it, because he has a large brand that in this case, he is capitalizing later on, we go about building his community and not through NFCs, as much as through social tokens. And so, three months later, he goes on the Breakfast Club, he speaks about exactly what we just described, and speaks with Charlamagne. And DJ envy and shares, not only some use cases that they might consider for NF C's, which a year later, they end up doing so which is full circle moment, but also his journey in web three. And a couple of months later, that's when the entire space really blew up. This is the beginning of 2021, we saw hip hop artists really jumping in and embracing this new technology in disrupting the music industry. And so he speaks about NF T's and his social token copper coin, which if we thought he was early with NF T's he's super early with social tokens, because even to this day, the social token party is just getting started, the balloons aren't even up. We're just super early. I love that. And so out of curiosity, how much did the photo of a chain go for his first NF t. So at the time, if I'm not mistaken, is around to eat, which was somewhere around $500 per eat at the time. So it was let's call it 1000. And at its peak, when eath hits about 4500, it was valued at let's call it 9000. And so Jim, what I celebrated about him in among many other creators, he held on to all of his cryptocurrency that he acquired over time, and so as Aetherium appreciates, the value that he acquired for purchasing the chain also increases. I love that. So you're hitting on what I'm hearing is like cult of personality. So he has this brand, this built in brand equity he's built over all these years, he has his audience that not only when you think of a brand, it's like the the values everything that Jim represents. And so the person purchasing the chain now owning this asset is buying into this brand. They're a part of the party. And I think that's something that's interesting that I noticed as I got more into the space is it is kind of like the new Flex like and so it's like you know, one flex in one version of the world might have been like a Lambo. And it's like, now the flex could be owning like Jim's first NFT, which is like a photo of his chain and being able to be like, Yo, like, this legend took a photo of his chain i i I was the first to admit that I was the first to purchase it. So how have you seen this? Becoming like the new status symbol? And I guess what does that look like for you? Because at one point of your life, did you value other things as status symbol, and it evolved into being like, like, I'm in web three now. Like, it looks different. But I'm curious like about just your journey, because you've had a lot of like monetary success, you've like achieved a lot of things. A lot of people haven't I honestly consider you like most one of the most interesting men in the world. Because like we're not even gonna get into a fraction of the experiences you've had in your life. But it's like, I'm curious, how has that evolution of what does a status symbol look like? I think one great example of using or NLCS as a digital flex might be board apes or crypto Punk in which you are also collected on board apes and Once Upon a timer that also was on displayed on your Twitter profile. And so that's a way to flex on whether it's a board eight, or in this case, you also hello world women. So as a collector, you show what you value in the communities that you want to be a part of, and are part of and contributing to. And it represents that for the collectors. So whether it's high profile NFT, like a world of women, or board eight, or it's an NFC of your favorite celebrity, let's say Jim Jones or Neil, and now you're in possession of it, what it shows that you were really early for. Maybe it was something a collectible on album, they might have dropped or you attended an event. So that's another use case, I went to this concert and received an NFC so therefore, I'm able to flex that I went there or I'm able to flex at my net worth because I'm hold this board a and if I click on it, I can see if someone clicks on that board eight, they can follow the wallet and see all of the tokens that are within that person's digital wallet. And so that's the beauty of Aetherium is transparent. It's like going to your bank of america account and being able to someone to be able to see you have $20 million you've acquired through your courses, and therefore that's a flex of your net worth. In this case it's a flex not just of net worth, but Also what you value in terms of the purchases you make. I love that. And you're right that transparency like I've been on ether scan, because you can look up certain people's wallets on either scan, you'd be like, Oh, damn, they got like $2 million in my wallet. But it is interesting, because all of that is transparent. And that is the beauty of web three. I'm curious how to someone who's new to this conversation, like, how do you describe web three to describe web three, we might rewind, they say, well, it's web one, right. And then web two and web three. So web one, let's call it somewhere between 1990 to about 2000. And that's when we can read what's happening on the internet. So there are folks who knew how to create a website, the this'll put content and the rest of the world reads it, web to let's call it the next decade, 2000, since 2010, ish, is where the most folks can now read and write, read and write. And that takes place with the advent of technology, such as Amazon's or Facebook or Instagram. And now web three is the beginning of around 2010 ish, which is the birth of Bitcoin and then eventually the rest of cryptocurrency blockchains. So it's not just the ability for folks to read and write. And when we say write, meaning consumers can publish content without necessarily needing a PhD in computer science, because they can go on Instagram or Facebook, and post content. And while we're still in web two, we're in this transition phase of also, simultaneously in web three is not the futures now. So what's happening is we're seeing the ability to read write and own information, own our own data, it's no longer owned by just the corporations, the Instagrams and the Facebook's of the world, it's owned by the individual. So that's what's so profound about web three. And web three is disrupting every industry, every vertical will be touched and disrupted in this way. So we'll see. Individuals now read write, own their content. And we'll see this take place through the use of technologies such as Bitcoin Aetherium, or even in this case, social tokens. I love that. So what I'm hearing is, you know, web one, one example could be like, email was web one, or internet browser. So our ability to just like, as he said, Read and then v two are web, web two was user generated content. So that is the Instagram for we can contribute content. However, we don't own the platform. And we're not necessarily getting the benefits from that platform. And then web three is when we are generating the content. But we're also owning the content because there's a record of it on the blockchain, and we're getting paid out for that. And it's interesting, because we are seeing this trend of platforms like Facebook right now is rolling out a pilot program where they're paying creators like a lot, right? Instagram rolled out a program where they're paying creators to create reels. And it's fascinating because it's like web three gave web two cup original OG web two companies that nudge of like creators, like they're like, we're putting our time, our effort, our sweat, and tears into this content. And like, we want to be paid for it directly. And so it's interesting. It's almost like web three. And these platforms that were created that make it seamless caused these, you know, Instagram, Facebook to be like, oh, gosh, okay, we need to create our like, monetization, you know, play, like, what can we do here? And it's interesting, because you were you were early with this, it's like you first you actually created an NFT marketplace in 2019. Right, so we started in 2019, iterating, social tokens, and at the time, we just called it tokenization platform, the concept of tokenization of social tokens had not been created then. And so we believed in safety of tokenizing the world but tokenizing people, passions in businesses, right? And we believe that the future will be tokenized. And we didn't know then what we know. Now that is called and we call it social tokens, which is the ability to transfer wealth and create wealth in is profound, because for the first time in human history, we can create money, right? And so when we think of any, it's even more profound when we consider folks of color creating and being on money. Because when we look at the dollar bill, or we look at currency, it has white folks who own slaves on money. And so during a movement like Black Lives Matter, we protested in there were folks who burned down flags, ripped down statues, but we didn't do we'll stop using the dollar bill, which has the faces of white folks who own slaves. And so if you want to look at it from a culture We'll standpoint, this is a revolution. That's economic, political and social. And it's complete disruption of this paradigm economic and economic and political paradigm that we're seeing on take place. Now. That's it, we're looking at it through that lens. And even if we put that aside, we look at what's happening in terms of the economy to create our economy and what we now call the community economy. We're seeing, as you mentioned, a moment ago, web two giants like Instagram, and Facebook, are now embracing the web three technology, essentially, because their hand is being forced. And so when we think of web three, we'll see we're seeing two trends happen. We're seeing web two giants, embrace web threes, for example, Instagram is now allowing NF T's to be displayed on the profiles, we see Twitter, you can send tips as you can send cryptocurrency as a tip to different creators. And you can even put in NFC on your profile. So we're seeing this integration of web three tools in these web two social giants. Simultaneously. We're seeing corporations being born, that are web three native one example, would it be min black, our social token platform? Yeah. So tell me more about that. Because I know that you were I mean, you were early, like you built a NFT marketplace. First, you had a live streaming platform. Now you have min black, which is a social token platform. And it's amazing because you've had this beautiful evolution. And you've always been early. And as I hear you say often not where the puck is, but where the puck is going. And you as an individual, I think are like a visionary, you're able to also articulate the vision and make it relatable and make it tangible. And you also execute. And so can you explain kind of like that evolution of where you started, and then where you are now with matte black and how that does operating service of the community economy. When we look at the space, we see where the puck is our NFCs Metaverse in Dows and FTS was the conversation of yesterday. Today we're speaking about the metaverse tomorrow. It's about doubts in the day after it's about social tokens. And we have been playing around with this concept as you mentioned since 2019. The platform was completed in 2020. And we decided to tokenize passions so whether it's biohacking there was a group that created a planet biohacking at the time, this was on the platform called zap theory, which is an opportunity for brands to create tokenize, or community to tokenize. And have certain use cases where they can engage their fans, their community and send tips social tokens, or they can use social tokens as a reward. So if you take certain social actions, you will receive social tokens as a reward for doing so. We then incorporated some concepts of NF T's because we, we saw the use case of NF T's, we then decided, actually, social tokens will complement not compete with NF T's. And we prefer to just focus on building one thing and doing really well. And that's building the social token platform. So we took what we've learned from zap theory is simultaneously what we learned with the platform we built on zap life, the live streaming app, which is super dope right. Now, actually, so a little bit about that. Yeah, the world's just now beginning of COVID 2020. And we saw folks like DJ D nice going to Instagram to connect with the community and having live stream parties. And we saw the need for live streaming app for virtual streaming. So we created a zap Life app where folks can get together, they can communicate with one another. And they can enjoy a virtual party, you can be able to tip your DJ, communicate with one another, the dance floor changes every 30 seconds, there's a DJ, there's a host, we connected with folks like DJ envy, who came on as one of our advisors and also participated in the app hosting a party during Halloween of 2020. And we also held and held events for Jim Jones. And specifically, not just his artist showcase, but also for his token holders. So folks who were in possession of copper coin, they would be able to have your virtual meet and greet with Jim Jones. And so that's where we marry the two ideas, the social token platforms, app theory with the live streaming app zap life. And now we're merging the two concepts into what we now call midblock. I love that you've done this rebranding took the learnings from zap theories of life and now you have niblack. And so tell us like where you are now with your social token platform, because and actually, before we get to that, I'm curious about because when I think of social tokens for folks who are like new to this concept, I'm thinking of parallels in what we are familiar with, and one could be a reward. So Dumb. So thinking about even having an Amex card or like United getting those points, things like that you can redeem for other things. It's a similar experience. So I'm curious, like, how do you think about the parallels of social tokens and maybe other like relatable things that maybe happened in your life that sparks an interest for you where you're like, Okay, this is dope. I can actually use it in the metaverse in this way. So we see social tokens as a loyalty program 2.0. And that means whether it's United miles, and I spend time as a travel hacking and find a way to earn enough miles to use it to purchase a ticket and or whether it's Starbucks. In fact, Starbucks just announced today on that in September, they'll share their the ways in which they're embracing web three and tokenization. And there's a possibility, they may announce that they're going to begin the process of exploring tokenization for his loyalty program, which would be a social token, we see the world corporations, eventually embracing social tokens, there'll be the loyalty program 2.0, whether it's united, taking its United miles, and tokenizing it or Starbucks tokenizing. Their loyalty program, which makes it now allows liquidity to enter the mix, meaning folks who are in possession of the Starbucks miles, or Starbucks points, they will be able to sell it for dollars cash out if they desire to do so they can trade it for United miles, or they can use the Starbucks points and hold on to it and share in the potential upside of the appreciation of this asset. And they have the ability to attend certain events that Starbucks might organize, that are exclusive only to token holders, maybe you have a certain number of Starbucks coins, and you get access to an in person event, maybe you hold the Starbucks tokens. And if you stake it, you earn more, perhaps you're able to use it to enter as you said, the metaverse is certain experience that may only be available to folks who are in possession of either Starbucks coins in general, or a certain amount. So we're seeing a number of different companies experiment in a various ways with social tokens. And we'll see loyalty programs be disrupted. Certainly, that's the easiest use case to think of when we see social tokens. But it's not just Starbucks and united. It's also people we're seeing because people are businesses. So we now have an opportunity for people to create a loyalty program create their social token. So in the case of Jim Jones, creating copper coin, we're able to use copper coin as a reward system to give away and say to his community for on perhaps participating in, let's say, there's a contest, where for his most recent song, we set the trends, there's a dance contest, the winner of the trends, hey, yes. Which was the number two song in the nation. So certainly, the trend with that. And the folks who might want to dance concerts will come into possession of, say, copper coin, and whether they can win it, they can earn it, or they can purchase it. And folks have done all of that. So it's a loyalty program for people. And then something really cool that you mentioned, in another conversation we had is when people held a certain amount of copper coin, they could earn like a, like the opportunity, I think for Jim to like, give them feedback on their track, or there were really cool benefits that just in case any other creators are watching, they can start to like ideate on what are some benefits that they can have when introducing their own currency, their own social token to their community? Right. So we that's where we incorporated this app life out where we did an artist showcase where if you hold copper coin, you can enter the artist showcase as recording artists and play your music get feedback from Jim Jones, who was present listening in real time, which is profound because when else are you able to get this level of access to someone like Jim Jones, a hip hop legend, and have him listen to your song and then have the ability to win a spot on his mixtape which is, which is an exciting opportunity. And one way to do that is well, you, you come into possession of his social token. I will just love how this can be applied to not only artists who are household names like Jim Jones, they're also I think people in like my industry and digital products. I mean, it's so interesting because it's like, we have a an existing customer base and they have bought into a program like course from scratch. They've learned the framework, and introducing a currency to my community means that they can unlock things like a VIP day or a special ticket to my My next leg since 3000s have been paint, like the launch party. So I just love like all the creative use cases. And it kind of it's like a throwback to the Kickstarter days. So when I was like living with my mom and like figuring my life out, I started researching Kickstarter, because we did a Kickstarter campaign for a startup I was a part of, and I remember just seeing all the different benefits that you could give people, when they donate it to your campaigns, this is like a throwback, where you're like, okay, like, for this level of investing, and also owning this currency that we've created for our community, you get access to this, and but it takes it to the next level, because it's like, if you maintain ownership of this, then it's going to grow in value as we grow the community. And as we keep throwing more benefits in so it's really like a new, it's just like a new mask on, on investing. Right. So I think it's Kickstarter 2.0 on raisel, just as MacArthur spider or 3.3. And what we're seeing it's, it's really a magic beam. And I say that because it's including loyalty program. 2.0, it's crowdfunding 2.0, it's Kickstarter 2.0. Here's the difference, right. Whereas Kickstarter is, the individual leaves in a project, they hand over dollars to show that they believe in that concept. And what they might receive, as you mentioned, they give X dollars, they receive a book y dollars, they receive a ticket to an event, yet, they don't have the potential of sharing in the upside of that project. Now, when they receive, let's call it his magic bean, for investing, or in this case, contributing dollars, there's the potential of this social token, increasing in value over time. And they can still get all of those benefits that you were able to do with Kickstarter, you invest X, you receive a gift while you receive something bigger Z, you receive something larger. Now you hold on to that for not only access on an ongoing basis, but you can use it as a medium of exchange to purchase, let's say the product, whether it's in this case for a course from scratch, they can use it to purchase a course, maybe it's one of your courses, or maybe it's one of the courses of that of the creators who are the members of your CFS. And so it will disrupt every industry. And I think a CFS coin, or Danielle coin would just be incredible use case for the world of possibilities in terms of being able to use it as a reward. But then also, folks can use that to purchase additional courses, or they can hold on to it. And as the community continues to grow, they may be able to sell it later on for more money than it was worth it today. I love that. And this is why you call it the community economy like it's, it's like taking it a step further from the Creator economy to the community economy, right? Because all of us are equal parts contributing and also benefiting and like the more we realize that the more grows and value. That's huge. Right? So I think creator economy is top down community economy is bottom up. What do we mean? So creators like yourself on web two, we did a great job of saying we need to do more for creators. So what is Instagram, Facebook, and now only fans only fans that have a great job of allowing creators to monetize. And while a lot of effort has been put into creators benefiting from these platforms, what we're not talking about is the community. Right? So that's where we said our focus is more so in the community economy than it is the creator economy, because without the community, there is no Creator, the creator shouldn't just benefit and the community just hands over money. And maybe they get some level of access, such as exclusive content, or pictures, videos, or maybe they get to show their support. But the community should also be able to benefit in the potential upside into grope because it now incentivizes the community to really share their passion for someone like Danielle Leslie. Right, if someone is in possession of a Danielle Leslie coin, that individual is a superfan. Right. So we talked about this idea of 1000 Real fans, right? True fans, in this case with social tokens we're going to see. And we're came up with this concept called 1000 True token holders, and by that meaning community 1000 community members coming into possession of a Danielle Lesley coin, which allows them to get certain access perhaps early access to an event and experience and in person, virtual event be able to use that as a medium of exchange. And most importantly, as your brand continues to grow and it's massive already. They get to share in the upside of that, which is impossible unless you were to create a corporation and decided to do a crowdfunding platform where you sold with equity. So now with social tokens, we're able to allow folks to contribute to the growth of your brand and share in the potential upside is a we're going to see brands grow at an exponential pace, even more so than it would in the web two world. Wow. And so if someone is watching this, they have an existing community, and they're wondering, okay, I want to create my own currency, I want to have my own social token, where do they go? And how does that process work? Was the layup by the way, making it super easy for us creators to actually make this happen. Absolutely. So I'm in black make black the IO is the platform. And in doing so we're working with initially with creators who have an existing community and are looking not just to monetize that community, because that's very transactional, but rather to give value to the community, through the social tokens, and in return, everyone wins. It's a win win scenario where the community gets to benefit and share as well as the creator is. So your your point in terms of creators being able to launch their social token, we experiments in did the hard work with someone like Jim Jones, and we saw the amount of heavy heavy lifting that was required the white glove service we had to provide to get the traction we did over the year so that we worked with Jim. And we iterate on the concept and said, Let's make it easier. Let's solve for efficiency and scalability. How do we allow a creator like Danielle Lesley and other creators of folks that are within your circle to be able to tokenize create a social token for their community with their community without requiring a PhD in blockchain without needing to understand cryptocurrency in the depths of it? uniswap and Metamask in all of these proceeds is complicated aspects of cryptocurrency that unless you really go deep down the rabbit hole may seem foreign, and not just the creative but also the community. How do we make it easy for your community to be able to come into possession of your token, use it and understand a why they should come into possession of it, and be what they can do with it that came as a result of us experimenting with someone like Jim Jones. And he's such a pioneer, early to the party said this is the future let's make let's do it now. And so we were able to play around a concept called copper coin and attracted over 500 copper coin token holders experimented with this idea that we're now transmuting into a social token on midblock. Hey, this is Danielle Leslie and I have a question for you. If you are a creative entrepreneur, and your business is unique, why are you working with a generic accountant? One of the best decisions I made was who I would partner with on my taxes and my accounting. So if you're creative entrepreneur, you are growing your business, you're scaling your business, I want to introduce you to rebel. Rebel is a firm that can help you whether you're looking to prepare your taxes or you're looking for that year round support. They will tell you what's happening in your business and why so if you're tired of being ignored, talked down to or feeling like you are chasing around your accountant and needing to drive the relationship yourself. It's time for a change head over to revel cpa.com are EVL cpa.com Head on over fill out their interest form and make sure you look into working with them. Again that is Rebel cpa.com r e ve l cpa.com. We all deserve the right firm to partner with. It's been proven that procrastination can be one of our biggest enemies to success. Now contrary to belief, procrastination is not based on a lack of time management or organizational skills. Procrastination is directly linked to to our emotions. Now the reason I know this is because of Patty Johnston. Patty Johnson is incredible. She's of course from scratch, remember, but even more importantly, she's built multiple multimillion dollar businesses once she learned how to overcome procrastination. So she's created a program where she shares her system on how to overcome procrastination. And it's based on emotional intelligence, neuroscience and accountability. She's going to show you step by step how to overcome negative feelings so you can start taking action and start seeing a difference from day one. So text this number right now to schedule an appointment with Patti and her team to see if this is right for you, and what steps for you to take to overcome your procrastination 813-789-1097 And again, the number to text right now is 813-789-1097. Let's all overcome procrastination together. Now let's get back to the episode. What I got to see an action from you. You are truly like a serial entrepreneur. And you've lived many lives which is so impressive. So all the way from being a teacher which is so incredible and I want to hear like the things you've learned But from your time being a teacher to even doing like High Ticket Sales for jarred Robbins right for Tony Robinson, High Ticket Sales there and like digital marketing info products to having your own company to even our NFT project. So I remember we met at entity NYC. I told you I wanted to launch an entity project. And then it was just a few months later when you floated an opportunity to me and he said, Hey, we have this opportunity to turn Julian wars redcarpet couture gowns into NF Ts. Are you interested? I know you're working on phygital approach where you're taking physic physical fashions and digital fashions, merging them? And would you be interested in this? And I was like, Ah, sure. And I'm like, okay, but, and it, like it was a brand new frontier for me. And the fact that in two weeks, we had, like, multiple designs, like multiple entity designs of you know, someone we had never worked with before a medium we hadn't worked with before. It spoke a lot to who you are like as a leader as a connector, that campaign in particular brought together so many different partners, and there was Mark Bozak. Over at live rocket studios, there was the different NFT platforms. So we had mogul, which specializes in entertainment and FTS, we had drawstring who also had entities. We had a call Buffett, the granddaughter of Warren Buffett, who released her NF T's like her interpretation of the gowns. I know I'm forgetting a couple more partners. Who else am I forgetting? So with the drop this is 3000 Most importantly, you you were the highlight you reimagine what the gowns worn by Julianne Moore would look like. And that's gowns that were couture gowns by Jeevan, Sheen Balenciaga, that she won the red carpet, you did an incredible job and your team on the designer, Isaac really crushed it. And that, of course, Julianne Moore, helping to promote and run a commercial during the Oscars, which actually was the first world's first commercial during a nationally televised commercial during the Oscars and a program of that scale. And there was an opportunity for folks to scan the QR code in the commercial and get into goes to the website gallons for good, where they can either purchase a NFC with the picture or the image of Nicole buffets abstract interpretation of the gowns, or they can bid on the mobile production website and bid for the gowns. And three of the winners include, um, two of which are super high profile brands. One is French, Montana, hip hop artists. So Joe, and we got to say, I got a photo of you too, but I'm sure that's everyday for you. And that's it for me. I was like, oh, but yeah, we get to go to his like listening party at NFT NYC this year and like take a photo and I'm like, Oh my gosh, he like has one of our pieces. That's amazing. That was incredible. That was a great surprise. And shout out to radio who call USM labs working with French Montana and as a result on the decided to bid on the dress and French Caymans possession of one of the gowns. The other is the largest fashion gallery fashion museum in all of South America and Museo de la moda. And so that was also exciting. The fact that this NFT is being displayed in the largest fashion museum in all of South America, specifically chili. Oh, wow, that's incredible. So to highlight there, I mean, you're such a connector, and you're able to you created the vision of gowns for good and you were able to see all the different players you could make it happen corral all of us and help like you're you have an amazing team. Shout out to Cassie, Edwin, everybody, Advent black, Ruby, you're able to execute on this amazing level. And so on a more personal level. I'm really curious, like where your work ethic came from your drive, because there are very few people I've met who have the level of work ethic drive that you have, where did that come from? Sure. So most importantly, my parents and I, my father is been an entrepreneur and growing up and working with him on different ventures and concepts that such as you know, during a Puerto Rican Day Parade, we said well, let's sell water. And so driving down Puerto Rican Day Parade selling water, and realizing that I was able to turn $40 into maybe $300. I mean, I was doing this to age 1011 as well in so learning early on how to do mental math, how to make money how to start a business, how to not be embarrassed that idea of selling water in a parade while my friends were watching it. So these concepts and this drive that it's a Saturday, it's 12pm. And we're, we're working has carried through my entire life eventually, later on right out of graduate, after graduation, joining Teach for America, becoming a teacher and working at a top charter school Northstar Academy, and also getting top tier training and really just learning firsthand from some of the best educators in the world how to perform at the highest level, and then having the opportunity to work with children, in this case, 1213 year old kids who were reading writing at a college level. And I think my inspiration came not only just from my parents, but carry through with all the individuals with whom I came in contact, including my fellow colleagues at Northstar Academy, the students with whom I taught or rather, that learns, from Northstar. And along the way working with folks like Cassie, my co founder, Edwin was also my brother and my co founder and working and surrounding myself around high performing individuals, keeps my fire burning keeps me going because we see the vision, we know where we're headed, we're know where the space is headed in the opportunity, social tokens and how it will disrupt every industry and how we're so early that now's not the time to stop, now's the time to continue to iterate especially during a bear market. Let's continue to build and let's continue to create the next frontier of cryptocurrency that is social tokens. I love that. So what I love is we often as adults end up if we're open to it returning back to or continuing what brought us joy as a child, and you are like a master at sales and like high ticket sales, thinking about buyer psychology language, even like you said, the mental math and there was a story you shared with me about like at the flea market, and when you were like at your table and negotiating, and I loved that because I could see you doing that. And then I extracted and I was like, Oh my God, that's like what you do now. But obviously, it's that six figure like seven figure deals that you're that you're doing. But I would love for you to share like that story. Sure. So I love the idea of sales. And I really think it was just as enrollment in if you truly believe in the product or the service you're selling, it's in benefit of the individual or the the company that's purchasing that product or service. And so early on, as you mentioned, at a flea market, well, again, we're on 1011 12 with my parents, and we would buy products that we would then resell for more money at the flea market. And it was a Sunday afternoon. And this is what I was doing. Most of my friends were hanging out. And I was at the flea market made $20 for helping out and also had a table where I was able to sell my toys. Now, I don't know if this was a great idea. incentivize me and incentivize me to want to buy more toys at Toys R Us and sell them right away. So looking back at it, I was probably taking a net loss. But for me it was a 100% gain, because I didn't buy the toys. And so that's when they bought the toy. For 20 bucks, I used it for a month or two sold it for five or $10. And I thought I was making more money in which I learned the value of being able to sell at a young age and negotiate not counting the fact that it was a net loss. But put that aside, it was fun. It was interesting. And it was a great learning experience that then carried over into everything else I've done, whether it's in the classroom, and having to sell 12 year old students on why they should a learn history and be do their homework, right? So we're always selling, we're first selling ourselves, we need to look in the mirror and decide we're going to be the best version of self, we're going to wake up with high energy, be excited about life. So in sales, the first thing you need to do is sell yourself on having high energy and then secondly, sell yourself on the product of the service that you're selling and why it's a value to the folks who are potentially going to buy it. And so that's been a fun journey. And even with cryptocurrencies I've had the opportunity of sharing with folks I've come into possession come into contact with about the value of say Bitcoin or Aetherium and why they should get in early. So we're selling this vision of web three and how it's going to transform and disrupt every sector. So we're always selling a concept, the vision, and now I'm selling the idea of mint black and how social tokens will be the next frontier of cryptocurrency. We saw NF T's Metaverse, 1000 Social tokens is the next big thing. So we're selling first ourselves and then secondly, others and not selling in the way where it's perceived as has a negative connotation. But we're rolling folks in this massive vision that we have for the world to bring along a community that will help us create and build simultaneously. All right. So I love like the way you think and I know that what thing we have in common is you posted landmark and what year did you do it in? 2019. Okay. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Sorry, did it in 2019? And will did it with Larry? Oh, yeah. Yeah. And go to the advanced program? I did immediately. Yes. Back to Back. Yep. I did it like three weeks later, and then SDLP and coaching and just went through the entire Okay, so I stopped the SLP. But you kept going, Okay. So but one thing I took from that is, you know, the way you do one thing is the way you do everything. And I've definitely seen that with you. And I remember we were talking about like dating apps and hinge in particular. And I was like, Oh my gosh, like we got into the strategy. And I think it's because we both have a background in you know, marketing sales, we understand there's a sales funnel, and like, this is what you do. And so I was able to like, intellectualize your approach to like a dating app. So I would love for you to share, because a lot of people are like on but I just found it so fascinating, when it I'm not sure if it's the best approach, most people should probably not do it. This is how you should not go about. I was experimenting with this idea of outsourcing and simplifying and streamlining the dating process. And so I thought of it in some ways as sales and marketing. So you have a profile where essentially, you're marketing yourself, here's what I've done, here's what I've been up to probably you mentioned landmark for to attract those folks who are all about self growth. And then here's where you streamline this pipeline of outbound and inbound. And so being able to have a message that goes outbound to the folks you're interested in, and then the people will respond, finding a way to synthesize the match, and then having a conversation. But how do you do that at scale. And so I've enrolled virtual assistants who would help send out messages for me, based on what I would say I would craft a message, here's message number one, message number 234567. And after the person response, message, number one second message, we go all out in depending on whether it's to to A to B, depending on whether it's yes or no. And seeing third, fourth, fifth, all the way to the point where it's less exchange information, let's hop on a call, let's talk, see if the magic is still there. Once we get on the phone, and then from there, I would be able to see who was a good fit. And who I perhaps one is going to date with in real life. Now, the reason why this was interesting, because it was a way to essentially communicate with 1000s of people and eventually go on a date with a 10 or 20. But be able to sift without necessarily me having to put all of the effort and energy, because my thinking was, well if I can streamline it and outsource this, perhaps I can meet the right person faster. And what I learned is that this is how you should not the love is not supposed to be quantify, and shouldn't have a process. It's not logical. It's a gut feeling. And so it's it's emotional. And the individual should be involved in the process from the beginning. It was fun. Interesting, it was an experiment. But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as an approach if what they're really looking for is a soulmate. So I love it. So you experimented with this process, which was largely based on what you knew to be true in business. And then you're like, Okay, maybe this is not quite how we look for love. So I'm curious, like, what did you learn from that? Like, what do you look for in a partner? And how do you look for that person? How have you, you know, look for that person? Right? So what I learned is, as I mentioned a moment ago, it's not something that could be quantify, with X's and O's or plus or minuses, rather, it's a feeling. And while there are perhaps areas that we can check off that I want any partner so someone who is interesting, someone who's curious about the world, someone who asked interesting questions, someone who is excited to learn more about themselves, the world, me as an individual, they are interested in how I've come to be the person I am today. And we have a magical connection. And so I think that's more of a feeling than it is a thought, right? When I think of that person, I think of how do I feel after I had a conversation with that individual? am I smiling? am I laughing? Do I laugh? 90% of the time am I going through life with that individual and it feels like a dance and when we stumble, we just make it part of the dance. Right? And are we looking at those opportunities as learning opportunities? We don't see it as a failure. We see it as an opportunity to just get better, certainly individually and come selectively, and it's a journey, it's not a destination. And so everything I've apply in business, I've also applied to my personal life, it's, I'm looking to become a better version of self. And so therefore, I'm looking for a partner who is interested in becoming a better version of herself. And so therefore, we are constantly improving who we are in therefore, entity that is that we created is constantly getting better. Hello, cool, thank you for sharing. What is a truth that maybe you haven't shared with anyone yet? Maybe even not yourself. A moment ago, I spoke about what I'm looking for in a partner. And I'm usually very closed off. But the truth is, I do have a partner who I love, adore, enjoy spending time with enjoy dancing through life with. And I see that the person I'm becoming today is a result of the person I'm dating someone who pushes me to think about life differently, pushes me to see the world anew, and see, and relate to me as the person that I'm becoming realizing that I'm not perfect, I'm imperfect. And I'm stumbling along life trying to figure out self and she is also in that journey of looking to figure out sell. And so collectively, we're constantly growing. So I'm usually very private with my life. And so the truth is that I'm more than content. I'm elated. And I'm excited to be able to share space and time with this special person. Oh, wow, you're like making me cry. Oh. Wow. So that's the truth. They don't usually share. Wow, that was something I would write in a journal and just keep, keep tucked away. Ah, thank you for sharing your truth. We're gonna transport ourselves to teacher so we are like 10 years into the future. 10 or 20. And I would love for you to share with us. Who is Noel? Where is he in the world? When he wakes up in the morning? What does he see? What is he doing? What is his day to day like, in like, 20 years, perhaps I'm waking up in the metaverse and I see my world. In parallel with the world. I'm living in a real life unfold. And I'm able to bounce back and forth between a virtual world and an in person life. And so I see that as maybe not even 20 years, perhaps four or five years out 20 years, I see myself perhaps still within definitely within Web three, perhaps still within the social token space and continuing to iterate on the concept of maybe a Nike coin, a Walmart coin, what would that look like for corporations and also people. And so I see social tokens are being used in in every fabric of our society, and will use tokenization in every aspect of our world. So I see that certainly in 20 years, but also, perhaps in the next five years in all taking place within the metaverse in, in real life. So while it is something I'm working on in terms of a vocation is also something I believe that's part of my life and will continue to be true 20 years plus out, in addition to what I envision my life might look like from from a professional and even personal standpoint, that is how we insert overlaps with web three, when it comes to I guess a more personal world in terms of family and children and what that might look like, well, 20 years from now, I guess I'm let's call it a 54 man. Unless I find a way to age, you can do that. And I believe I'll be alive until 300 years old. So I have a long way to go. That's it. And 20 years from now, I imagine by then my children might be somewhere around 1819, perhaps 20 years old. Ideally have a home where my parents will live there. My parents, my my parents are lost will also live with us. I envision continuing to have a large family as they do now and seeing everyone interacting vacationing, having a vacation home where we can all go most likely Puerto Rico, which is one of my favorite places in the world. And being able to go regularly with my family and carving out time, separate from just always being on the go when it comes to business and having more of a work life harmonious way of being. And so certainly that'll be the case in 20 years. Hopefully in the next 20 weeks. We'll get there because it's a way of being that's required to be able to not only enjoy Everything that I shared in 20 years, but in the next 300 years, I love. Thank you, thank you so much for being on this was an honor truly like to be one of the first person in this space. I even know people who you have introduced into this space who you've educated who I happen to know from a previous life. So your legacy really like shines and like resounds through and through. And yeah, and I just want to thank you for like helping, like welcome me into a brand new frontier, helping, like educate me. And overall I think as a woman giving me the confidence to say like, it's okay, and like you are worthy. And you can do this thing. And I'll be here to support and I'll link you to resources that can help propel you. So I just want to thank you for being on and sharing space with me. Cool, thank you. Well, thank you for doing the great work you've done when you came into contact, as you mentioned, and I've seen NYC and we've been able to dance within the crypto space and build something great. That is the sense 3000 PFP project that we spoke about a moment ago, that was a fun journey. And then it's just a pleasure to be able to have this conversation with you on this podcast, and just see another dimension of your magic on being shared and and being able to be part of that. So thank you for having me on and excited to continue to see you grow and prosper. Awesome. Thanks. Listen, sometimes life be life in and we do not know what's coming down that road next. Well, that's what happened to me in 2016 when I was unexpectedly laid off from my job. And I was six figures in student loan debt, I had no savings. And I didn't know what was going to happen next. Now luckily, I had this little voice inside of me at that time that I couldn't ignore. And it was telling me to take the leap. It was saying use this as your opportunity to build your business. Use this as your opportunity to create your dream life. And so I believe that life happens for us, not to us. And that nudge in my spirit, I should listen to it. Luckily I did. Fast forward to today I have a business that's made over $20 million. And I've helped over 10,000 people create their online businesses and their dream lives. So do you want to learn how to turn your story into an online product and launch in 30 days, head on over to course from scratch.com forward slash since 3000. I want you to join us on this journey so you can listen to that little voice inside of you too. So go now Do yourself a favor course from scratch.com forward slash since 3000.
