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the minute he left that studio I rang everyone and said this guy is a superstar but then three years ago I've never told anyone this story three years ago BBC Radio and extra for the biggest Rapture on the planet I was raised in an environment where not many people ever amounted to anything it's not our fault it's society's fault [ __ ] Society so it was tough we was living in a shed my son had just been born I couldn't afford nappies now we had no toilet that was the sacrifice that I had to make in order for me to become the person I needed to become fire in the booth Brandon has always been so integral for me it's a fire in the booth brand became a monster within the culture there's not many people like me that understand culture and understand business in the same way I do Au vodka is a great reflection of that we outsold Gray Goose twice over three times as many bottles of syrup turnover 80 million pounds this year you're joking no how much do you think this is valued at now 800 million Jesus Christ we actually have a Bible to do's and don'ts everyone wants to know what's in that Bible ah what kind of things are in there I mean it goes from before this episode starts I have a small favor to ask from you two months ago 74 of people that watch this channel didn't subscribe we're now down to 69 my goal is 50 so if you've ever liked any of the videos we've posted if you like this channel can you do me a quick favor and hit the Subscribe button it helps this channel more than you know and the bigger the channel gets as you've seen the bigger the guests get thank you and enjoy this episode foreign [Music] I'm a big believer on this podcast that our earliest years end up defining who we become and shaping who we are from a character standpoint our perspective on the world what we think matters our values and all of those things and really decides which way we go off into the world and how we go off into the world when I was reading about your early years that felt more evident in this case than in the case of most guests I sit here with so can you tell me in those
earliest years when you look back as an adult now what were the things what was the context that ended up shaping you and who you went on to become in your life I think for me um coming from the humble beginnings that I did I feel like I was raised in an environment where not many people ever amounted to anything so there was no one for me growing up who I looked up to as a role model per se it was more you know family members for me that gave me the confidence and inspiration to do better in life but I feel at the same time me coming from that environment colored me and toughened me to become almost I felt like growing up Invincible because you know growing up seeing friends get killed go to prison when you survive that it almost makes you feel like wow I'm indestructible especially at a young age and I've always been very confident and had loads of self-belief but I feel like it set me up to wanna a prove people wrong because I felt like I was never given any opportunities or chances to you know better myself or be the person I am today you know when I was 17 I didn't even know what university was I had no idea what university was when you think about that now and put that into perspective that's crazy I had no idea what university was when I was younger I wanted to be a director I wanted to make movies and I never had no insight into how that made that how to make that happen my teachers were like you'll be a plumber electrician or a chippy at best if you do well so for me I was kind of like huh there's got to be more to life than that and I was always very inquisitive I always wanted to know how things worked or why things didn't work or how how you do this and how you do that I was always very up on self-education so I feel like those early years of my life really shaped who I am today you know how I treat other people because obviously my mom was the cleaner so you know when I'm in a corporate building or you know wherever I am in the world I'd always treat that person with the same respect that I'll treat the CEO that I meet in
that day or that I'm doing business with that day because that cleaner was my mum so I have a different View and perspective on life and on people and I think that's put me you know in a great position in life especially with my people skills and how to treat people which I feel is a massive part of why I am where I am what about your father my father was an electrician very strict very very strict man very disciplined and as a young as as a young kid you know we didn't always see eye to eye um and I always felt like he like failed my sisters and he would always make comments to me you'll never be as successful as I am and as a kid I'm like whoa like we're talking about that and it's mad this is a funny story my dad used to always say that to me you'll never be as successful as I am and as a child I always thought that he meant in terms of monetary success that's what I viewed as success but then three years ago I've never told anyone a story three years ago I took my family away my whole family for Christmas and me and my dad had a drink and I'm like that like just look around you Dad look at everything that I've got and everything that I've achieved you said I'll never be as successful as you and he said to me son I was never talking about money 's never been a thing for me I've never chased money in the same way you chase money I was talking about you and your sisters and your mother stop and I'm like what are you talking about that and he said look at the man you've become look at the women your sisters have become I am successful as a father you're all winners and it's true me and my sisters we're all winners like my sister's got an incredible job my youngest has got an incredible job I couldn't have a business I can't help but think you you beat him so he moved the goal posts maybe maybe maybe but
that's pretty good at that 21st but it made me think it made me stop because I've always to be fair I've always used that as motivation without even knowing it and to that point I never really assessed the situation in a way that I should have because I'll always use that to drive me on to be like come on dad now I'm light years ahead without having that conversation having that conversation with myself in my head and so I had that conversation I didn't really sit down and read deep why I was thinking like that and I think it almost there was a way that lifted from my shoulders once I'd had that conversation I think likewise for my dad you know um like I think it's like it changed the Dynamics of our relationship somewhat but when I do look back at the things that he would say and the things that he would do he was like a coach like the ultimate coach you know like he he would Inspire and motivate me without pampering me without making me soft he would say things that he knew was harsh or he would discipline me in ways that he knew were harsh and he probably felt bad about the time but he had a plan for how he wanted me to turn out and you know Look At Me Now and he played a big part of it what about money when people come from backgrounds I mean you grew up in a council estate right when people come from those backgrounds and money is a center point of like the relationships in the household it's the the cause of the argument it's everything right it's always there in a conversation when we become adults we can sometimes have like an unhealthy pursuit or relationship with money it can control our decision making a little bit too much so as it relates to your relationship with money at that point growing up and how that kind of orientated you as you became a young man what was your relationship with money I think for me money was a necessity if we didn't have money or if I didn't make money additional money for my family home we never had gas we never had electric we never had food and growing up for me I was like this can't happen I need to change this I need to make effort myself not rely on my parents or my sisters to
get out of my way and change this and from a young age I was I was always about you know from when I was 12 to up until I was 17. I was always about making money and that for me was the drive how do I make money I need to make more money you know it started with me selling sandwiches because I couldn't afford lunch dinners I weren't getting free dinners at the time um so my mom used to make me a pack lunch and I remember going to school seeing the sandwiches sitting the crisp sitting the drink making a Fiverr and I was like wait a minute I could just replicate this since I started going buying a loaf of bread salami some salad cream some lettuce and I started making 10 sandwiches selling all the sandwiches and then throughout a two-year period it it extended to me buying cigarettes buying 20 cigarettes and selling the cigarettes for a pound each sometimes five pound depending on how desperate the person who was who's trying to buy the cigarette for me and I would always save the money that I'd make and reinvest it to make more money and then by the time I was I say 21 my idea of chasing money had changed somewhat it it became very apparent for me that I weren't happy chasing money I weren't about chasing the money I still understood the value of money and knew how important it was for me to make money but I made a decision around 2021 that I was gonna focus on something that I loved and that I was very passionate about and allowed the financial rewards to follow that rather than doing it the other way around chasing the money by doing things that I'm not so passionate about I don't really care about and I can't see it ever making me happy before that point I was reading about your your running with the law yeah and it's pretty pretty severe yeah I mean where I grew up you know as I said it was tough and I made a lot of bad decisions as a kid I was watching tablets yeah a lot of that was bravado and that show a lot of that was bravado at a time where I felt like I had to
portray a certain image to be accepted in a community that I felt like that was the cool thing to do and the cool way to act a lot of that was bravado was there any truth to any of that I mean there was there was some elements of Truth to some of the things that I got caught up in as a kid um that you know I regret and I live with that regret every day of my life but again you know I was a product of my environment and I'm lucky enough that I was able to escape that environment to become the man I am today and going back to what I was saying before all of these incidents have shaped me to become the person I am today so of course I regret a lot of the things that I got caught up in as a child and there I was a child I wasn't a man at any point when you look back at that kid in that documentary Town block dreams I'm embarrassed really yeah I cringe I can't watch it I cringe but at the same time there's a certain there's a certain amount of warmth that I feel just watching how much I've progressed and grown as a man and to look back at that now for me it's just like wow wow but at the same time I feel like you know the amount of messages that I get every day about how inspiring that is to people that are living in certain circumstances very familiar to those that I was living in back then and I feel like it shows a generation for me that right now seems very lost very scared very confused that is possible that if you believe in yourself and you apply yourself and you put everything that's expected of you to decide and just do what feels right for you anything's possible and I'm living proof of that like I'm here today you know one of the most successful hip-hop DJs in Europe I own multiple brands and I'm still doing what I love when I was told that that wasn't possible when I watch these videos outside of the bravado um which you you described there what I did see was a young man that was incredibly hungry yeah it was as you say
it's someone that was trying to change their life in fact I I went to a prison the other day and spent like five or six hours in the prison talking to the inmates and I saw the same kind of like ambitious kind of desperation to get out of that situation and to turn things around and that's what I saw in that young man was outside of all that stuff there was a man there that really really wanted to be successful and really wanted to get on and it's so funny because you say like it was you didn't have the ideas nobody had given you the ideas your environment hadn't given you the ideas you didn't even know what university was I had no idea at that point I had no idea and when you think about that that's bizarre how how does a 17 year old young man not know what university is and that's because nobody had told me and none of my friends were going to University I didn't know one person that had gone to University at that age goes to show how much information is a privilege oh of course the information is everything and of course at that at that time there was no internet so for me to self-educate in the way I do now it wasn't possible back then but yeah you're right my hunger and passion was there and I feel like that's what set me apart you know there's times when I've sat there and I'm always my work my own worst critic I'll always review myself and I'll sit there and I wouldn't say I meditate but I like to reflect I like to look within to find out what I'm doing right what I'm not doing so well and just where I'm at in life in terms of perspective and there was a time maybe three years ago when I was sat there and I'm questioning myself almost I'm like you know what is it that's made me become the person I am like why have I been so successful is it luck have I just been lucky I'm asking myself these questions and then you know I'm thinking about my old friendship groups and where a lot of those are in terms of life and so my new friendship groups and after reflecting for several hours and sitting there and questioning myself the one thing that was very clear that
separated me from everyone that I'd met throughout life and had been part of my journey was my self-belief like I've always believed that impossible is nothing I can do it as long as I've had that mindset about things I've been able to accomplish it and part of that same you know analysis on myself was going back to the imagery that I'd put up around in my studio and how I went about achieving those certain goals and targets that I set myself and it was almost like I had achieved those things subconsciously for me like I had set myself a Target and they were there was all around my room but I wouldn't sit there every day thinking I want an orange Porsche Porsche I won a massive um detached house with land I didn't sit there and think every day about those things but they they were around me and they were part of my environment and in the same way when I was younger my environment had a huge influence on who I was and how I behaved once I stepped out of that and created my own environment my own Universe if you like which I was surrounded by all of these things that I wanted to achieve I started achieving them subconsciously unknowingly without having a real formula to how I'd achieved them so I'm sitting there thinking wait a minute so how how did I actually do that and then it always comes back to the self-belief because the moment I believe in something if I can visit visualize what I'm trying to achieve I know it's possible the analogy that I've come to like really believe in based on having these conversations with people who have all to some degree subconsciously because you're saying that I didn't consciously sit there every day and think about it and make a plan it was just in my subconscious some some I drove towards it is this this analogy of the car right
the sat nav and and the and the pedal you've got to set the sat nav and you've got to push the pedal if you do one of them if you just push the pedal I love lost that's a great analogy if you set the sat nav but don't push the pedal you're going to be in your garage all day I love that you know I mean in that and you did both clearly you had the drive to push the pedal but you also knew the direction of travel you wanted to go in in those early years though I was watching a talk you did uh I think it was on the BBC's channel to a group of what looked like students about living in a shed yeah and then your manager giving you some advice yeah take me back to that period of your life was that the the toughest moment of your YouTube I say so it was a period of my life where I just um become a father and my partner was from a very very different world to me uh family where you know you could say middle class and I was in a transitioning period in my life where I got to that point where I was like I'm gonna do something that I love and something that I'm passionate about and if I'm as good as I believe I am the success will follow and for me it was the success that I was chasing rather than the money at that time I just wanted to be the best I just wanted to win I knew that if I won the money would come and I'm not going to sit here and say it was never about the money because of course it's always about the money anyone who says that you should never trust them but for me it wasn't primary it wasn't it wasn't what was driving me forward it was the win that was driving me forward and I knew the money would follow and I couldn't wait for the money to follow but I knew it would as long as I focused on being the best but at that time was living in a shed that had no sanitation my son had just been born and there were times when I couldn't afford nappies and milk um and I was kind of doing what I could
to get by and at that time because I had self-educated on all aspects of New Media like I really went in like really really went in um I was editing I was editing content um for jump off TV and that was kind of tie me over and you know giving me enough money to get by you know like we still had to go elsewhere to shower and use the toilet which is crazy when I think about it now is crazy but you know like I look back at those moments now and that was sacrifice for me that was the sacrifice that I had to make and I had to put my family through in order for me to become the person I needed to become how are you feeling every day when you look over at your your family in that shed what what's going on in your head I'm embarrassed I am like scared anxiety was a big thing for me uh a lot of self-doubt I'm questioning myself can I really do this am I really the person that I think I am I being selfish should I just go and get a job should I just give in and go and get a nine to five and just submit to being part of the 98 percent and for me I just couldn't there was something inside me that wouldn't let me that it was almost like a voice in my head when I look back you can do this man you've got this and I bet I can't I can't I almost fought a pressure and the moment my son was born that pressure intensified like something I have never felt before like something I didn't even know was possible the the drive and the ambition I was like I it's not about letting me down all my parents down I can't let my son down and there's no way in a million years that I'm gonna let this young man down no way and at that point I was working not 18 sometimes 20 hours a day every day seven days a week I won't even spend the time with my family because I was just so engrossed so obsessed with becoming the
best and creating something that moved the needle and in my head I always knew I'd never moved the needle unless I was willing to move the needle and that's what it was for me so I'd wake up every day at 5am and in my head I've got a four hour Head Start before anyone's even started work I'm four hours up on you I've got no distractions no emails no phone calls no texts four hours just focusing doing what I needed to do and then I had the rest of the day for everyone to play catch up and that's what I was doing on my head and there were times over a two-year period this was there were times when you know people are sitting down and saying this ain't never going to happen Charlie it's just not going to happen like you need to be a realist and their doubt almost made me doubt myself even more but I knew that if I kept putting in the effort and the work that I was putting in at that period in my life something was going to give and it did now this is you know when YouTube first started very fresh people were doing the vlogs and my manager at the time was saying go do a vlog let everyone see your personality people fall in love with you and I'm like no way that is so corny everyone's doing it everyone's doing it and from a young age my thing will always be disruptive be as noisy and as loud and as different as you can possibly be and I still to this very day apply that to everything I'm doing so I was like no no I can't do a vlog everyone's doing it I'm just gonna be like everyone else I need to do something different so we came up with um being Charlie sloth where at the time I played like seven eight different characters in a show all wore different outfits different uniforms or their own personality um so you had the cameraman the editor the manager the street team the artists uh the web designer and they each played on stereotypes of what I felt those person those people were and um I made the first episode and I spent ages on it so long because I wrote it
myself I filmed it myself I edited myself and we put it out on YouTube and it done a few thousand views hours I remember the feeling I can still I can almost feel the feeling of disappointment that I felt 24 hours after that going Live on YouTube thinking like wow I've just spent all that time making this after the first episode was like 40 minutes long and it's genius I'm thinking no one's ever done anything like this and nobody's watching it and I thought you know what this may be the sign that I needed to actually call it a day I was so disheartened and the next thing you know be get a message from worldstarhiphop.com saying that they wanted to take it on exclusively and that was a huge huge defining moment in my life and in my career because not only did it give me the break that I needed within the industry but it also gave me this new lease of life in terms of self-belief and made me understand that the work and self-belief that I'd had in myself wasn't a waste of time and that there are people paying attention around the world even when you think people ain't looking they are and for me I feel like that really changed my outlook on life and on myself and from there there was no looking back like beast mode was fully activated and there was nothing and no one that was going to stop me you know what's really interesting is when we think about self-belief the self-belief you had we almost assume that it can't exist in the same place as doubt but it completely rang true for me that I I was such a self-believing person I think the most self-believing person I'd met when I was you know the early stages of my career but at the same time when I look at my diary because you know we'll recount these stories in hindsight to say I had so much self-belief I was dinner I knew exactly where I was going
and it happened whereas when I look at my diary I could see the self self-doubt yeah and it was it come from other people they're like maybe they're right that that voice of like maybe they're right you know a lot of people that are successful I speak to I think it's hard for a lot of people to admit that they doubted themselves at some point on their Journey still doubt myself today there's still times when even though I've achieved some incredible things throughout my career I still doubt myself but that's the pessimist in me that gives me balance I feel like if I never had that I feel like that self-belief could almost turn into arrogance and that's something that I've never wanted to happen so I feel like when I chat to people especially people that are grounded it feels like that's a safety mechanism that we install in ourselves and program in our minds to keep ourselves grounded and humble because anytime I spoke to people that don't really have that or don't really want to admit self-doubt they're the ones that are bordering on the line of arrogance those people typically tend to come from a slightly different background to yours as well I think because you know if you're grown up in a family where everyone was a billionaire yeah you saying that you want to do this or this people like easy Charlie I'll connect you to the guy now yeah but growing up in that background you're constantly nobody's doing what you want to do you're confronted with with um that negative pessimism because that's what people feel about themselves around you why could you do that how can you become that person you know I've never they don't live around here when I came up Jamal for me was the the only was the black guy that had made become successful in business I stalked that kid on Skype I told him years later when we became friends like you were the bridge and when kids come from your background they don't have that bridge I think it's it's a shame it's a massive shame and you still see it today I mean you know but that's again that's that's being from that environment
you know no one wants the working class to be inspired no one wants to work in class to believe that they don't have to be working class this is a choice you know like it's it's from a young age is programmed in us from our parents you know that this is what you have to do to have a good life you have to go to school then you go to college if you're lucky you can go to university then you get a job then you find a partner then you get a mortgage then you're trapped and then that's it the moment you enter that agreement with the bank is the moment you're trapped in my opinion there's no you can't really Escape at that point because you have commitments you now have to go to work to pay that mortgage every month and it's at that point where you become a part of the system and the sad thing is most of the working class youth of today don't know any better and that's why you find a lot of the kids from that environment looking up to the drug dealers the fraud guys because they're the only guys that I've ever seen financial success in those communities so they're not going to look up to a doctor or a lawyer or a dentist because there are none the moment that shifts is the moment the mentality of our kids or this generation will change and I think it's changed slightly now because obviously the internet has given everyone a much broader Vision in terms of what's possible but there's still a lot of the youth that don't really use the internet in that way and when you think about that that's insane there's still a lot of families that haven't got a computer or a tablet at home and this is a real thing you know I spend a lot of time doing things in with the youth and trying to give back and trying to inspire and encourage the Next Generation and some of the conversations that I have I'm just like whoa how to come by this get an iPad go and get him an iPad right now it's it's mind-blowing it's mind-blowing on that point of you
know seeds planted seeds I think your story is the most perfect examples of how seeds you plant can end up changing your life not just for you but all the seeds that were planted on your platform that changed lives yeah and we'd like I see it here so often with people who tell you know who gold medal Olympians or they've got bit hundred billion dollar company whatever it is and you see at some point they planted some seed without really knowing what the consequence would be and maybe three years later maybe five minutes later that seed unexpectedly changes their life that day when you started making being Charlie sloth and it went on WorldstarHipHop for anybody that doesn't know WorldStarHipHop because maybe you're so young or you just you're not been watching World Star Wars the cultural hip-hop website of my whole childhood yeah the biggest in the world yeah it was like YouTube it was like YouTube yeah it was like YouTube for the rap market and they picked the videos that went on there so you couldn't just upload it yourself um it was the biggest millions and millions of views um you're getting a week on that on that platform when you when you eventually when they found you but that idea of planting seeds you must have seen that over and over again oh for sure in the beef for sure for sure I mean like you know initially you know that was a massive Crossroad in my career do I go back into what my passion was you know music producing DJing or do I stay on this road of being childish love which is ultimately it's in stroke comedy if you like um and it was because I could see the potential in the platform at BBC one extra that I made that decision and it wasn't so much about me and that when I look back at that now that I was very selfless because I could have taken a big check at the time but this goes back to again what I was saying it weren't about the money I could have taken that check and I don't know where I'd be now but being the man that I was with money I've always been very good of money I would have I would have made that money into more money
but I was like it's not about that this is about the next 10 years and what can I do not only for me but for the community the bbcc the World Star videos how did that they saw the world start so it was actually DJ sentix ah okay um great friend of mine uh great one of my peers someone who I've always looked up to and respected um he was going on tour with Dizzy Rascal on World Tour and needed someone to cover his show so he got me and Retreat too to come and cover the show so me and rech covered I believe it was five or six shows and then you know the response was insane that they offered me and Retreat to our own show so they offered a show to me and Rich fee too and me and Rich spoke about it and we was like it's a no-brainer let's do it so we agree terms with the BBC and the night before they was going to annoy it wretch called me at early hours in the morning he's like Charlie I've been thinking about this non-stop I'm like what's that it's like I'm not going to do the radio show bro ah what he's like bro I hope this don't mess things up for you but I really believe that I can crack this music thing so I was like bro I wish you all the best look man I'm just gonna go and do the LA thing they're being chai slothing bro kill the music so he's like ah thanks bro it means a lot so the next day abuse you around me there's like ah you know Rex don't want to do it probably won't work with just you on your own so I was like cool like for me there's no skin off my back I'm like I'm doing this being shy stuff I'm getting millions of views all the American rappers know me they all want to do stuff I'm kind of like cool BBC is cool even at the time in my head I was like I can do so much here I can I can really move the needle like no one has you'd already start dreaming I started putting things in place in my head and planning so I was like it's cool don't worry and then a few days later uh Rebecca Frank ran me back she's like listen um I've had a chat with a with a management and I've convinced him that you can do it do you still want to do it and in my mind I'm like yeah I do
so bad but obviously my team at the time were all set on going to Stateside it's just got my 0-1 Visa I'm you know ready to go and um I said yeah you know what let's do it but I didn't tell my team and it went into the Anna winner that they were like how are you going to do this it's impossible and I was like well I'm actually going to do the radio thing and I'm not going to do the being Charlie sloughing and obviously they're like you are insane have you lost your marbles at the time when I first joined the BBC I was getting a hundred and forty pound I believe a show so I was only earning 140 pounds a week working for the BBC so when you think about that even when I think about that now you know there's this huge perception and illusion that DJs own ridiculous amounts of money now they do I mean let's be fair you know I've done all right and there's other DJs that Trump me um by the time you know go and accepting and uh contract a year contract at a time for 140 pound a week you know to go and be on the BBC rather than a six-figure deal in LA I think most people especially you know managers in general are very straight thinking yeah right yeah and it's all about the money it's very straight thinking it's it's bad you do that because there's more money involved but for me I'm looking about I'm looking at the big picture and I knew what I was capable of bringing to the table and in my mind I'm sat there and I'm thinking before I even started I'm looking at my right what components of a radio show live within a radio show and make people come to the radio show to listen but also have a life outside of the radio show and continue living and continue bringing new listeners to the show while growing outside and I was like freestyles so I was like well I'm just gonna brand ultimately what has been happening within the culture for years
but make it a brand but it has to be a brand that stands and lives within within the community which solves a problem which gives artists from the UK from a street level a platform to Showcase their talent but also means something to the culture something to look up to something to inspire them something to work towards if you're an artist and that's where Friday Booth came from and you know I feel like you know understanding the power of branding is what put that in a position that it still is today of course it's not the brand that is carried for any Booth it's the talent the final Booth brand is just a conduit but a conduit that's trusted a conduit that you know is not going to Peddle you artists because the Brand's being paid to a a product that is positioned within the community to serve the community I think the Integrity of find a booth can never be questioned you know I still I see people now I finally we've done it's finished and I read those comments and I laugh to myself because I've been through that Friday Booth is done final Booth is finished three or four times understanding the cycles and understanding what's happening and repositioning the brand so it never dies and the final brief brand will be a around as long as I'm here or there's someone else who cares as much as me about the culture so you know there was times when a new freestyle platform will come up and be doing more traffic more views find a Boost done a year later a moment that we've been planning for 18 months will happen fine the booth is the best that no one else can get these guys on Friday Booth I trade you no Drake and there's been you know multiple juice World little baby yeah you know there's been so many moments where we've had moments of artists that were special moments pop smoke that you don't really get anywhere else that are just very unique and raw unpolished so yeah I feel like that the fire in the booth brand became like a monster within the culture and you know we have never ever ever taken a penny of
any artist to perform on there I've never taken a check from a label to make sure that artist is positioned right or never and because for me that's what makes final Booth so special when it comes to building a brand that has Integrity yeah what matters you know this is a brand yeah and I think it has Integrity but I think because you have integrity I think because you have integrity you install your morals into the brand and this brand is a reflection of you I feel like pretty much everything you do speaks about you as a person because I feel like I'm the same I feel like if it challenged my morals I wouldn't want to do it because I'd be like well that's that's not a real reflection of me why am I going to invest my time or my money my energy into something that doesn't represent me and I feel like my team you know I have an amazing team do an incredible job of managing the expectations of all of the brands that I'm involved with and I don't even have to say it no more if if I feel like something's wrong or it's not going to work it doesn't look right for the brand they know before it's even come to me because they know what my morals are they know what I stand for what I don't stand for what I feel is right so it's got to the point where I don't even have to have those conversations because I have such a great team who had those conversations for me and they protect the brand I feel like if something goes wrong with one of the brands it's a reflection on me and something that I've always believed is one of my biggest assets is my reputation I feel like you may not like me you may hate me you might find me annoying but one thing you can't challenge is my reputation I've never done any one day ever I've never backstabbed anyone I've never said I'm gonna do something I've not done it and my brands have to hold up that same ethos in order for your team to know what decisions you'd make before you know it even comes to you as it relates to The Branding the positioning of it and all those things that must first start with you being really really clear and what I've got from all of that is
because you're so clear in your head and non-negotiable about what this brand is you've been able to kind of like install that in all of the people around you so now they are like Disciples of the values for sure well we actually have a Bible oh really we actually have a fire and a brief Bible a handbook to do's and don'ts and especially now because you know the vision of fire in the booth has gone from being uh a feature on a radio show to being a global brand you know obviously now we're with Apple you know one of the biggest companies in the world who I believe share the same ethos as we do in terms of vision in terms of content consumption and I feel like now the brand really is going global everyone wants to know what's in that Bible ah what kind of things are in there I mean it's you know it goes from camera setup yeah to edits colors to use um right through to um how artists are treated once they're once they arrive communication with teams um one of the things I found really interesting is I read that you deleted potentially hundreds of episodes of fire in the booth that just didn't cut it yeah which which I think a lot of people would be surprised by because you know a rapper an artist comes down they perform they might think it's gone off they might think that you know they killed it and then you're sat there thinking this doesn't meet the standard yeah I feel like you know I feel there's times when I'm not ready to find a booth and an artist later on has gone on to thank me because you know it's a big moment in an artist's career and I feel like if it doesn't do you justice it's not about me it's not about what I think this is going to do well for the final Booth brand like anytime I have a conversation with an artist and they say to me do you think it's good I can't sit there and lie to the artist face and say yes it's okay I'm gonna be like you could do better if you want to come back and go again we can if not let's just park it off for now and come back to it at a later date
and there's been so many that have not gone out but that's because I felt it's not a good reflection on them not on the brand because No One's Gonna you know attack the brand as much as they would the artist there's one of the biggest artists in the world right now Stephen one of the biggest globally right you come in to do a final booth and I can't tell you how excited I was for this moment even though it was a few years ago there was still a big artist then but they weren't us because they are now and they came in and done their final booth and you know we everyone was excited and we was prepared for it and they came in and it was possibly one of the worst fine abuse I've ever recorded and I could see that the artist was quite excited by their performance and you know they was like oh when when we're going to release it and in my mind I'm thinking is this just me is it because I expected here and they delivered here that I'm judging this and they're talking to me and they're Mars just moving and I'm processing all this information in my head because I'm like I don't want to lie to the artist I don't want to be disrespectful to The Host all this information sweating on my head and I was like I'm going to go back and listen to the final booth uh give me 10 minutes so I went back into the studio we played it ah this is garbage this is garbage so I chatted the producer at the time I was like how how's best to handle the situation I don't want to go out and say that this is not going to go out but at the same time I want to give them the opportunity to redo it while they're here while they're in the country and regretfully I didn't do that I didn't go out and give the artist the opportunity to do it again I was like you know what I'm just gonna say that it's not going out and for me that was a bad decision I look back at that now and it's a bad decision
um but it just weren't good enough it weren't good enough and there's so many artists that I've come through and not performed but again like I said some that have called me I let it down said you know what I appreciate you not putting that final Booth out let's go again why do you regret that decision because in hindsight I could have given them the opportunity to record that again there and then but because I had no faith in the situation I was like I'm not going to waste their time and I'm not going to waste my team's time I just think it's best that we kind of keep it moving but now on reflection I should have given them the opportunity to do it again you know and his comments all the time I've spoke about this before where people like release it released the final Booth this person is huge right now we've got sign off on it we can release it but I just wouldn't you know like I'm I don't I don't do things for that reason I'm not gonna [ __ ] on the artist now we put something out that I thought was [ __ ] back then for you and put it out now for views it's counterproductive it goes against everything that I say and stand for so it will never come out I would probably wouldn't even say the person's name I'll tell you off camera okay I I have some a slightly similar story that I record an episode of the diversia with the person who's currently if there's three biggest YouTubers in the world he's he's definitely one of them oh wow and I just never put it out because it just the conversation is so dead are you serious it's so dead it just doesn't go anywhere and it like I've blamed myself in part for like not being able to get anything from them um and in this same situation they were they weren't as big then as they are now now they're one of the biggest and I just but I look reflect on conversation I know I said like how do I stop that happening in the future because this you know I play a role in the content whereas in firing the booth you play a role but it's you'll creating a platform for them to show them their talent whereas I feel like you've got to lead it yeah I feel like I could have done
better a better job I was so inspired watching your conversation with Adam where you say about the that board meeting with with the BBC at the start where you you lay out to them that you what you're going to do yeah as a DJ did anybody believe you what did you say no definitely not I didn't really I think I I feel like I got lost out of the room at the time so it was two the two bosses at the time and I'd gone in to do my paperwork and you know it was like so you know what are your aspirations what are you trying to achieve here why are you at BBC I said well within a month I'll create the biggest online freestyle platform that'll do millions of views like great yeah it's not radio that's not radio Charles I'll just let you know that's that's not radio that's YouTube I'm like me and then I said secondly I replaced Westwood I'll take all of Westwood shows within five years and one of the guys actually laughed in my face I said excuse me why are you laughing he said oh do you know how many times I've heard that and I said well you've never heard it from me and he's like good like good luck with that chap good luck so I was like okay so it actually took me three years of being at the BBC to replace Westwood and all of these shows so that was six radio shows a week um and I said it would take me five so I remember this is a great story I actually saw the guy a few weeks back we laughed over it you know I I got the call to say where there's going to be an Anno Guyana today announcing all staff that you're replacing Westwood on all shows as of set date here we go now at midday today so I was like perfect so I left my house nice and early went into uh the BBC building and went around to this guy's desk at it must have been 11 55 sat on the edge of his desk and just waited for that inbox to light up with an all staff from the boss 12 o'clock it drops in he opens it looks at me it says fair play you did it fair play what can I say how's that
thank you I said I'll do it in five I did it in three it reminds me of you the comments what your dad was saying she was naked as well for sure and those things you know and two into you unwrap it and unravel it you don't really understand what impact is had on your life I feel like those small moments that drive you on and and give you that fuel to keep pushing through there sat at the back of your mind and then once you've achieved that goal or you know Something's Happened around that conversation when you can really dissect it and really get into the the nitty-gritty of the words that were presented to you that have inspired and motivated you to become better you're like wow okay it's bizarre but yeah it was a big moment for me that the interpretation going on there is the key thing right because your dad's words that guy's words any words of self-doubt can be interpreted in many ways depending on the mind that's interpreting them so with your dad's comments that could have made someone go [ __ ] I'm not good enough I'll just I'll just yeah I want to crash and chill I'm gonna crash and chill whereas you you almost interpret it as like you still probably interpret it as like I'm not good enough but I'm going to prove to you that I am yeah and I think that's such an interesting thing because from this podcast I used to think people that were driven or successful which is these people that were like super motivated and whatever else well I've come to learn the more episodes we've done is that nearly all of them start with this complex they're fighting against which is you're not good enough dude you know what for a long time I lived with that and especially when I started stepping into board meetings um meeting corporate folk I felt like I was dismissed because of how I spoke how I dressed but for me I always thought you know what you all know better than me because of your background or where you are in life so why would you judge me for being who I am even though I I've worked hard enough to sit at the same table as you and that would eat me up for a long time
and I'd never speak about it it was you know it was I guess a class complex if anything I felt like a lot of people judged me um on the way I've spoken and wear dress without actually getting to know me or or picking my brain and actually to be totally honest I think it wasn't until Maybe five years ago where I got past that I was like you know what I deserve to be at this table and you should be humbled and grateful that I'm sat at this table willing to give you some of the information that I have because if you had the information that I have I won't be sat at this table you wouldn't need me to be side this table and you probably wouldn't want me to be sat at this table and that's how I think I think I understand the value that I bring to every situation that I'm in now and that self-doubt has been totally removed still self-doubt in my life but in terms of who I am and what I bring to the table and what I'm capable of achieving I feel like I'm in a very unique Lane in life there's not many people like me that understand culture and understand business in the same way I do it's so funny because being Charlie sloth in more ways than one not just the documentary you started but throughout your career and being your authentic self in in situations where you might not have fit the status quo it's so clearly to me one of the key reasons why you're successful like being yourself yeah right so it's interesting to hear that someone who from the outside everyone will go well we Charlie's lost his child is off because he's Charlie sloth yeah right would also go no I had those moments walking into rooms where I thought in fact I don't belong or are they judging me or you know yeah for sure if I felt inferior I felt like should I really be at this table should I be speaking different dressing yeah and there was time there was times in my life when I would go into a meeting and my phone voice would pop out and I'd leave the meeting I'd be I'd be so mad at myself like what are you doing what are you doing why did you do that because you felt like you had to speak a certain way around a certain type of person no way like and I feel like yeah
I feel like a lot of people appreciate and respect me for being unapologetically me you've had all these artists come on your your platforms over the years and with fire in the booth you've really like without a shadow of a doubt made people's careers and I've always wondered what is it that makes one of them actually go go the full distance and become a star because there's not many seats at that top table especially in the UK so from your perspective which is a unique perspective what is it that's separating them I think I think it's a concoction of things I think the first thing of course is always Talent you've got to have talent or some degree or Talent even though I'm a I'm a strong believer in hard work always beats talent but Talent especially within music is always one of the key ingredients vision is the second thing and I say the first thing is work ethic how much you're willing to work how hard you're willing to go and then the fourth and I think someone who encapsulates this is stormzy is personality morals and a sense of vulnerability I think I think when you look at all of the most successful artists for me they allow themselves to become vulnerable they allow themselves to be judged they allow themselves to talk about things that a rapper wouldn't necessarily feel comfortable talking about I feel like stormzy he's got the talent he's got incredible Talent you know in terms of vision and his work rate unmatched I I remember doing sessions with stormzy maybe eight eight nine years ago recording sessions in the studio and I called him and said at least before like he was massive I called him I said dude I want to get you on a project I'm working on can you come to the studio he's like what time do you need me there um I said if you get there for 4 P.M it'd be amazing now I didn't need him there to six but with me spending as much time as I have with rappers I'd always say two hours earlier so uh
it was five to four he turned up I'm like you're early he's like only five minutes I'm not in my head I'm not always two hours and five minutes but so he comes in the studio I was like uh do reverse on this song do a verse on this song Do A Chorus on this song normally an artist would be in there maybe four or five hours he was in there for like 40 minutes done this reverses done the hook I was like is there anything else you want me to do I'm like whoa uh nah man with that attitude with that attitude and the minute he left that studio I rang everyone and said this guy is a superstar he is going to be a juggernaut because his mindset was just he was so focused he weren't in there gossiping drinking smoking he was like I'm here to a job I'm gonna do the job to the best of my ability and then I'm gonna move on to do my next job and to see that in such a young man I was like wow this guy's gone and I remember after that there was a few moments that happened and he was just out of here I just knew it there's a few artists like that that have been on the show or I've met personally and I've said straight away even to labels friends within the labels I'm like if you want to place a bet that's the guy to play the bill you can just feel it like it's like you've either got it or you haven't some of the things that these artists have that make them Superstars are unteachable and they're hard to see yeah very because no one would have said that but from my external perspective when I think about why stormzy made it I'm thinking I did that thing in the park with the freestyle and then you know it worked with you and then I think and he's a great rapper yeah but even then there's a reason why he became a great rapper and it's it's dedication dedication so focused no no distractions wretch was the same and you know what like when you look at these artists they're the most incredible human beings set aside everything else they're the most incredible human beings Geeks you know one of the biggest
rappers in this country one of the most incredible human beings that I know and you know if you're looking at it from an inter entertainment perspective you're like these guys are gangsters and they're not they're human beings and you know their personality their morals their integrity is a big part of why they've been so successful because everybody wants to work with them everybody likes them nobody ever wants to say no because they're such good people and that's a that's a for me a huge storm is he is super talented incredible artist but a huge part of people wanting to do stuff of him is because he's such a great person but you represent all of those things that you've just described the hard work the vision the vulnerability the openness even the body language point you said yeah like I could turn off the volume on a fire in the booth and just watch you oh yeah I get carried away yeah that's because I genuinely care yeah yeah and a lot of that goes back to how many final boots have not come out yeah if you saw my reaction you'll notice find the booze really even like well he's definitely not feeling that maybe that's where they flocked yeah maybe maybe I don't know but I can't you can't I can't just I'm a showman you know a DJ all over the world I put a show on but in that environment that is how I feel the energy is what makes me become the person I become in the studio at that moment in time they say 80 of communication is nonverbal don't they 100 and I believe that I mean yeah you can see even K Coke if you just if I didn't speak English I'd still black yeah it's like oh this is the passion the pain in his voice yeah it was a real moment you come out of jail yeah yeah just being shot at so he's like this is my opportunity I am not letting this slip and he didn't I mean what a huge moment that was for him as an artist first time I'd ever heard of him huge went on to be signed by Jay-Z off the fire in the booth mad insane I had a few words to say about one of my sponsors on this podcast my girlfriend came upstairs yesterday when I was having a shower and she said to me that she tried the heel protein shake which lives on my fridge over there and she said it's amazing low calories you get
your 20 odd grams of protein you get your 26 vitamins and minerals and it's nutritionally complete in the protein space there's lots of things but it's hard to find something that is nice especially when consumed just with water if you haven't tried the heel protein product do give it a try The Salted Caramel one if you put some ice cubes in it and you put it in a bowl blender and you try it is as good as pretty much any milkshake on the market just mixed with water it's been a game changer for me because I'm trying to drop my calorie intake and I'm trying to be a little bit more healthy with my diet so this is where he all fits in my life thank you heal for making a product that I actually like a quick word from one of our sponsors I've got a tip for all of you that will make your virtual meeting experiences I think 10 times better as some of you may know by now Blue Jeans by Verizon offers seamless high quality video conferencing but the reason why I use blue jeans versus other video conferencing tools is because of immersion their tools make you feel more connected to the employees or customers you're trying to engage with and now they're launching one of their biggest feature enhancements to impact virtual events so far called Blue Jean Studio I actually used it the other day I did a virtual event using the studio which I think about 700 of you came to TV level production quality all done by one person with very little technical experience on a laptop so if you've got an event coming up and you're thinking about doing it virtually check out blue jean studio now let me know what you think because I genuinely believe I know this is an advert and I'm supposed to say this but I genuinely believe it's the best tool I've seen for doing really immersive simple but high quality production virtual events at some point you get a call from Apple yep tell me tell me about that I mean Apple for me you know it was a massive moment in my life and my career so prior to me leaving the BBC I had had offers for a few years before people just trying to start conversation about what it would look like with me leaving the BBC
and you know I've got so many great memories and made so many great friends at the BBC and it was such a huge part of my career and my growth as childish love and of course to find the booth run but I got to the point in the building where I had achieved every single last thing that I had set out to achieve and every time I'd achieve a go in there I set myself a new Target but I'd run out of targets in terms of where I could go and what more I could do and you know at this time I was doing an average of 200 DJ shows a year um I was doing five radio shows a week I felt a little bit trapped and for me what I quickly identified as my next mission was I felt not as easy to achieve while being fixed at the BBC so I was like all right what's next you know and you know of course I took into consideration at the time how people were consuming content the age group of the listeners that were listening to radio um the demographic of people that was listening to radio I felt like it changed and the way we consume content to change forever and I felt like listening to radio was no longer an appointment I used to wait every night it isn't design low I used to wait everywhere weekend to listen to Westwood it was an appointment I wouldn't miss it I felt like those days had moved on and people were listening at their Leisure you know there was no fixed time for you to have to listen you should listen back anytime you want on the higher player so for me I've reached this point in my life where I was a bit like what's next I'd always knew what was next I'd always find something that was next throughout my journey at a BBC I'll just say all right I've achieved this this is next let's work towards that um I couldn't find one I really couldn't find one and this was just after the Drake fire in the booth because that was something that I worked towards for years and I'd finally achieved it and I'm kind of what's next man and I couldn't find something that was next I'd never want
to do breakfast it's not really for me um I couldn't see anywhere else that I fitted within the schedule so so I thought you know what let me call Zane Lowe because he's the first person from the broadcast World traditional broadcast well that's made that jump and he's done an incredible job of doing so so I've called him and I've run through my thoughts with him and how I'm feeling and doubts that I'd had and he was like dude like I'd love you to be over here I love it um if you've got any doubts or any concerns go and speak to Oliver like Oliver's the big boss uh Apple music he's like just have a sit down with Oliver I know you I know what you stand for I know what you believe in you spend an hour talking to him so I was like okay he's like I'll set the meeting up so he set the meeting up with Oliver I sat down with Oliver he's like you know okay so what are you trying to achieve I said I want to be part of the story for the first British rap artists to become a global brand so in the same way you know Drake did for Canada which people 20 years ago would have laughed at you for would have laughed at you the biggest rapper in the world is Canadian no way and I feel like that's how people have fought about a British rapper becoming a global brand and for me being a part of that story um helping that British artists to whatever capacity that I could but having a platform and a network that would enable me to do that was so important just to be a part of the story um he was like whatever you need I can help you you know he spoke about his passion and his belief and what motivated him and inspired him and like we had a very similar Outlook and for me I was like you just get it like I left that room and I was like I know apple is where I want to be I don't care who's offering what it was there was better offers on the table I'm like nah he's a
guy I will follow this guy on his journey and make his journey a part of mine and vice versa I know that he gets this he understands what's happening in the world of content and I'm willing to jump on this train and that was it and then from there you know we've achieved some incredible things I feel I feel like that we've been doing things that nobody's ever done find a booth being uh an asset that lives on a DSP on Apple music that people can stream the the the legals that we had to get around to create this template of how that looks now everyone should I do it everyone's trying to do it and everyone's trying to work out exactly how we got around all of the hurdles that we had to get over a lot of people will ask because it seems quite amazing that you managed to take far in the booth from the BBC yeah to Apple you'd think that that would be like their intellectual property or something yeah so I owned final Booth before I even went into the BBC and luckily for me because the BBC didn't have the same faith in the brand as I did they didn't invest any money into the brand whatsoever which would have made things a little bit more messy I feel like on my exit if they had invested into the brand you're right though if they didn't put money into it then it becomes uh well look you know yeah yeah it would become a lot Messier but there wasn't a contract but it was just you then invested so you could yeah so basically there was no side deal okay per se for finding a booth it was something that I just did within the show okay they didn't pay me extra for firing a boost it didn't provide me any stuff you're in the copyright I did oh okay so I've always been up on stuff like that okay good before I went in there yeah I owned the full copyright and then all the trademarks and so I was like I was up on it and there was nothing they could do so when I did decide to leave it was like cheers thanks I mean I know that probably button him yeah you know I have I still have good relations with a lot of the people in there and they're like fair play you know you're one of one of a few that I've got out of the building with their IP and then you took that to Apple I took it to Apple
so now I license the brand license it okay yeah to Apple makes sense smart it's important conversations because again we talked about information yeah and people not having information yeah it's you know ownership people talk about ownership and I feel like the the conversation around ownership sometimes gets a little bit cloudy and a lot of people take the wrong information out of the importance of ownership I feel like you know it's like any business you can own a hundred percent of a business and it'd be worth you know or even own two percent of a business that's worth a billion pounds like I know what I'd rather own so the understanding of ownership a lot of people think when when you say make sure you own everything they think you're talking about you owning a hundred percent of everything rather than actually owning the brand you know like find a booth I own 100 of Friday booth but I feel like the conversation generally just gets a bit cloudy because people don't understand what the importance of ownership is on the point of ownership there's a bottle sat behind me on the Shelf I'm gonna go grab it I mean first of all you've engraved this with the diver CEO so it's of course just for you it's never getting open I'm hoping I'll get one of those Diaries trade-off one of these ones here we have one here a lot of people you know that get involved in the music industry don't end up starting companies like this especially companies that are truly legitimately successful yeah what is the story of au vodka and why did you start this business and also let's start this by just giving me an idea of how successful this has been so far wow so we last year we outsold Gray Goose twice over you're joking no yeah it's all Gray Goose in the UK twice over three times as many bottles of Ciroc um we're on schedule to turn over uh 80 million pounds this year Jesus Christ yeah so I mean yeah you know we're we're the top setting premium vodka in the UK and
we've recently started to really focus on export we sold out in the states we just launched in the states last week and we decided to go state by state we sold out in two days in the states saw a significant amount of balls in the states um so yeah I mean the story with au vodka interesting story actually so um I had just come off the back of having this massive Vape business that I set up years ago Vapes so I remember being in a club and um everyone was smoking Vapes and I was like what is everyone smoking long story short invested in the company made a significant amount of money selling these Vapes sold the business very quick very quick transaction and I was like what's next so I was like no one's got their own vodka business and I'm looking at some rock I'm looking what did he's doing over there I'm not these guys are so ahead of the game The Americans in terms of branding in terms of creating businesses in the culture and lifestyle and understanding how to navigate that brand and Target a certain demographic the hard to reach demographic the the demographic that marketeers all over the world spend significant amounts of money trying to penetrate every year I have access to that market and I understand how to position things in the marketplace so I need to find a vocal so I ended up spending I spent I I spent way over a hundred thousand pounds developing this brand and I just weren't happy with it I was like the ball's not right the name's not right the Liquor's okay I was like it's not right so um I was like all right cool I kind of put that on the on the back burner for for a couple of months I need to focus on some other stuff two days after me having that thought I'll put that in the back button I'll get a DM on Instagram and it's from Au vodka and you know they're a few months old just not really find their foot they're like Charlie can we send you some bottles of a u vodka and I never respond to messages like that I just don't I'm not in it I don't
want gifting I'm not into that stuff so I was looking at the page let me just check these guys page out vodka I've been trying to do my own thing I go on the page and I see the bottle I'm not whoa these guys have hit the nail on the head so at the end back I was like hey you guys got a number um there's like yeah cool sent me a number of I called him I was like hey what's up man bottle is incredible I was like what's the story and they start speaking to me I you know two friends from swans who've just kind of set it up it's pretty new I was like you guys need investment and I was like nah we don't and I'm like you don't need any money and it's like nah we're good so I was like all right cool I was like well if that changes this is my number I'm more than open to a conversation I'd love to take you guys for dinner so now all right cool thanks Charlie yeah hopefully we'll speak again soon so two weeks later I'm at the BBC I'll get a call I always finish the meeting in town would you be up for grabbing a coffee how's that of course so I meet the two Lads uh Charlie and Jackson we go for a coffee at Nero's coffee just under the BBC and of course because I've been working on this project of my own in the background I've already got my five year plan I've got it written out step by step to a T so I sit with these guys and I'm like what's the story so he started talking to me and telling me about their backgrounds and how they got into it and why they got into it and um I was like look I've got a five-year plan that I know we will destroy with this product we'll make this the biggest thing since last breath and I feel like they believed in me in the same way I believed in them now when I invested into the business of course the product was incredible and I believe that we could do so much with this product especially within the urban community um which I feel is the community that drives pretty much everything in terms of Lifestyle these days and when you understand that I feel like it gives you
a different view on why things work and why things don't um so spending time with them getting to know them I was like these guys are so hungry and so switched on I would be honored to be their partner so we've done a deal we had The Five-Year Plan you know the plan was very simple yet very well thought out like step by step we went through that plan and we achieved every single last thing that was on the planet now when we set out on this journey we had all agreed that within five years we'll sell the business for a hundred million pounds and we're like great bit of business you know pre is in four years in but like set it for a hundred million like what you know like uh our vision changed somewhat um and the success that we achieved from this plan that we put in place we all believed together that we would achieve this and all of us brought something different to the table how much do you think this is valued at now this company um I think by the end of this year realistically um if we was doing a 10 times multiply you'd be looking at 800 800 million I think with some of the activations that we have going on at the moment I'd like to think by this time next year would be a unicorn for anyone that doesn't know what unicorn is yeah uh a business that's valued over a billion um and I feel like we're on we're on the right track to achieve that by this time next year everyone listening to you know this this idea of a plan yeah is gonna say Charlie listen I wanna I wanna pop off too I want to build a business what's the what are some of the key things that I need to know about that particular plan when you look back in hindsight go that's why this worked out I think like for me the most important thing said in anything is understanding your audience even firing the beef right yeah even find a booth and this goes back to branding and my understanding of branding and my interest and Fascination in branding
I've always understood the power of branding and I've always understood that in order for you to sell something you have to understand who you're trying to sell it to seems much easier for you because you've always been the audience yeah yeah well I think I think that's why I'm in a privy position in life especially with the brands that I involve myself in I understand the culture I understand what's acceptable what's not acceptable what's cool what's not cool I understand how to speak to that audience and I also understand that that audience speaks to everybody else and you know people try and pivot away from it no it doesn't work like that it does work like that the hard to reach young black audiences around the world set Trends Ace as simple as that whether it be fashion lifestyle they're the translators they're the people that are cool they're like if you wear you know you might wear a jacket a rapper might wear a jacket in a video that's no one's ever seen it could be a brand I mean everything that I'm wearing now maybe the exception being for the top which has real Heritage and people have worked with different things but people in my world notice because a rapper's worried and the same for my trainers or the jeans like even the the Indie kids or the dance kids will be inspired by fashion from the urban space so I think understanding your audience for me is one of the most important things and I feel like we understood who we were trying to set it to so it made it a lot easier selling it to the audience now for me a big thing was making it feel like it was organic natural and not forced like the worst thing for me was for it to feel corporate or to feel like it was part of the old God so for me it had to be as disruptive as possible like one of the things that I did which at the time you know a lot of people would have been like what's the point in that but I understood the implications that I would have two three years down the line I shouldn't really give this as a gem away but I'm going to give it away because it's done now we've done it so I wanted to align the brand with success it's a gold bottle it's a trophy I wanted people to feel like that I wanted people
to hold the bottle and feel like they was holding a trophy so we we sat down me and my partners and it was like how how do we do this how can we achieve that we don't have much money to spend we have to make this feel natural and organic so what we did is we partnered up with grm and I said every time you give away a plaque to one of these artists who's achieved something incredible on your channel can you give them a bottle of value yeah cool so every time these artists were getting a plaque they would hold their plaque and hold a bottle of a you now for everyone else who's watching this content straight away the information that they're getting every time they watch these videos or series photos is that their favorite artist who's just one or had the massive achievement is holding a bottle of a you every time it's happening so straight away You're aligning that bottle with success and cost us hardly anything it cost us a bowl each and every time it happens Jesus but the implications that that had on people subconsciously aligning the bottle with success I mean Priceless absolutely Priceless and I feel like a lot of things that we did the the most significant things that we did were all Shadow marketing doing things that people are not really even paying attention to so yeah if you go back five years ago and you'd look at some of our marketing strategies and how we went about implementing these strategies it's like wow okay like you can see it I could I could tell you the whole story and then you can go back and actually see how we apply these strategies to make us generate the interest and desire in the bottle that we have today you know like we've had huge people do it now like in your face oh hey you I love this but I don't feel like those things are half as impactful as the things that we've done earlier on in the Brand's lifespan planting those seeds planting No Seeds yeah that's all it is is planting those seats
you know when I started this podcast it was to hear stories like this about businesses and successful people and how they'd risen and stuff and I think the reason why I called it the Diary of a CEO as well was because I don't feel like we spend enough time talking about the other side of the coin which is like some of it we've talked about already today which is the self-doubt piece the struggle piece like if I was to look in Charlie's Charlie's diary and I could read some of those days where he had written in their things and you know he was being completely honest because he didn't think anyone would see it you talked about self-doubt you talked about anxiety playing a role in your career from this from the jump what are the things that I would see in that diary that it's not typical for a boss a CEO a successful person to be talking about there will be a lot of conversation with myself about balance I think that's one thing that I've always struggled with um in life balance between my personal life which I keep very personal for a reason you know I don't I don't ever want people interfering in my personal life or passing judgment on my personal life because it's my personal life and I keep it personal for that reason um but obviously I've spent a lot of my adult life working and traveling the world which means I haven't got to spend time with my loved ones in the way that I'd like to and I've got a lot better at it you know over recent years I've got a lot better at it but I feel like that's always something throughout my career that I've questioned myself over balance have I spent enough time being a father have I been the best father that I could possibly be I might be in a good example to my children you know and I feel like I said I've got a lot better at recent years recent years of being a father and spending more time and finding that balance I've always been a good father I've always been there for my children I've always you know I've never missed one of my kids birthdays or you know you know big moments or score
what have you but I just feel like I could have spent more time being a father and I balanced it out with myself knowing that everything I do ultimately is for them like you know when I'm not here and what I'm like I think there's a misconception of me that I'm always spending money um I'm quite um loud with what I do but I don't really spend money ow very little and everything that I do earn it goes into a trust for my family so when it all is said and done you know they won't ever have to experience some of the things that I've experienced in life and they've got a head start and knowing my children and how grounded they are and you know such beautiful children never ask for anything I think that's one of my proudest achievements um but yeah I I question myself a lot about balance and it rings very true to me because I this is It's the number one thing I go back and forth on I've said a couple of times and hear that just I almost worry that I'll regret in hindsight getting that wrong and sometimes I don't want hindsight to tell me yeah because it'll be the hard way won't it same thing for me and I I I I fight myself over it a lot like am I gonna you know get to 60. be a billionaire but live in regret that I didn't spend as much time with my loved ones as I potentially could have all cards on the table here as well I know I don't have kids yet but I've I'm you know I'm in a relationship I'm committed so it's the you know the next natural thing that we both want in our lives I know that when I have kids if I don't change something I will say well all of this stuff is helping them yeah I mean that's an excuse coming up to myself I think most people do yeah you know like I genuinely believe that and a big part of my motivation from the moment my son was born was that he will never have to experience the things that I've experienced and of course when he's living in the shed he was way too young you don't remember that when I say it to him now he's like
what are you talking about dad you know I'd I'd drive him past sometimes like you used to live in there well this this goes to a point that I was that someone said on this podcast to me one day they said kids don't care about that stuff they just care about quality of course they do they do and that is the biggest fight of my career balance finding balance finding time to spend quality time with my loved ones those that ultimately I tell myself I'll do this for do you think your career is like validating you making you feel accepted in a way that you might not have when you're younger I used to constantly seek validation constantly like I feel like especially growing up where I did you know even going back to the comments that I made on that show being on bravado and talking about stuff that I didn't actually do but I'm trying to be trying to fit in I'm trying to be cool I think I shed that you know at the same time I did when I felt inferior at times in those board meetings when I was worried about people looking down at me I feel like I don't feel like that anymore I'm not I'm not trying to fit in a test here then this is what I I said to my assistant literally this weekend when we were chatting with chat in the kitchen because I was saying you know I think I'm a workaholic and then I sat here with this trauma expert and I think you helped me figure out why I'm a workholic if I said to you now all your goals are complete you've done your to-do list your goals are complete you've done it I've said Charlie it's Pina Cola at a time the aircraft's waiting you go into the beach to relax no work how would you feel do you know what this is funny because during the first lockdown when it was like stay at home can't leave no work it was the first time in over 10 years diet stopped diet literally stopped and for me I can't explain the anxiety fear the confusion I was like so what I just stay here and do nothing yep you just sit in your house and do nothing I mean I I don't understand that
and for the first two weeks I enjoyed it so much I was just with my family was doing cool things I was like this is amazing this is what life's about week three I'm sat there tapping my fingers I'm like right like this this ain't life like I'm not ready for this life yet so we ended up traveling me and my family around the world go into different places that hadn't fully locked down yet find them things to do creating an adventure to keep me occupied and making the fun part of what we was doing finding a place where we're not restricted we we did that for several months and ended up in Dubai where I could work where I could DJ and where I could operate and do business deals freely we're not spending seven months there so answering your question if I was presented with that opportunity now and you said to me everything's done we're going to sell a you for a billion we're going to sell find a boo for 50 million uh you know your portfolio of other things we'll just keep it there taking over we're going to manage that throw it all into the trust no how would you feel I I couldn't do it but how would you feel give me a word I have how you'd feel just a word lost and I guess that what's the opposite of lost I guess found yeah so that's kind of what what I was talking to my assistant about is like my work addiction which I think I clearly have is making me feel found it's making me in some it's validating me it's making me feel important accepted and whatever else and I tend to see that often when people have not always but often when people have like an early experience where maybe they're insecure maybe they had shame because of where they came from maybe they had a chip on their shoulder what they have this unhealthy relationship where their self-esteem and their work are so closely linked that they're not really driven they're being dragged and I'm being dragged I can say
it because I I've you know I've sat here with too many smart people to understand myself like I'm I feel like at times I'm being dragged too much and I need to start driving the car not being pulled by it dude that just hit me I hit me that's a dude yeah Fair this is quite the conversation well what do you think we do making me reflect on everything that I thought I knew well this is the privilege of sitting with smart people they shine up and pulled a mirror up to me yeah every day and I sit here [ __ ] like with goosebumps sometimes thinking this this guy needs to at me how do you reflect on all of that I mean yeah I feel like it's been a great conversation and you definitely made me leaving here thinking more even some of the comments you just made there that ring so true within my personal life the insecure Steve insecure Charles is still there you know and sometimes you know I'm probably guilty of doing that still to this day I am yeah that we have a closing tradition on this podcast where the last guest asks a question for the next guest and I don't know what the question is until open this book who was the person who first believed in you and what do you want to say to them now I'd say my granddad was the first person who really believed in me and I guess I'll just say thank you thank you for believing me believing in me he had like 32 grandchildren and I was the one I feel like he thought he saw something in like an energy or just a hunger and a desire to be better I feel like you know yeah he's he's belief in me made me who I am today and then I'll say away from my family group it'd probably be um a guy who's still part of my team to this day Arrow calling the coach you know at a time in my life when no one believed in me really everyone just saw me as a street kid who didn't really have any prospects or and I feel like he was someone that saw past that I could see that for the first time and
I felt that in my life he was the first person who saw past the way I dressed and the way I spoke and saw me for me and helped me develop to become a better person and focus the energy hunger and desire that I had in the right direction and to him you know he he's still a very dear friend of mine today still a part of my team um has been for 16 years and again just thank you and you know I always have these thoughts in my head of what it looks like when this ends and how I reward everyone because I do have an incredible team some you met earlier and I wouldn't be able to operate the way I do without my team I wouldn't they make sure that um enabled to deliver the best version of myself and I sit there and I think when this is all said and done like how do I reward my team and that's something that I think of more and more lately you know as I'm getting older in life and I feel like there's a few chapters in my life which will shift in the next five years and I think how do I how do I reward them and show them that I am grateful for the time they've dedicated to me which they have you know dedicated to me and believing in my vision and helping me make my Visions a reality and that's one of the hardest things how do you reward these people that have enabled you to achieve the things you have because I'm under No Illusion that without my team I wouldn't be who I am today and I wouldn't have achieved half of the things that I've achieved delegation was one of my weakest points because I just wanted to do everything and I believed I could do everything and that's where the whole being child's love comes from because I did everything but then as you grow you need to understand that you can't do everything you need to stick up what your guda and allow other people who are better at you
at those other things to come in and take some of the pressure away and that's what my team have done and have allowed me to become who I am so wow I felt deep for a speech and that's honestly it's beautiful to hear and I and again it shows where you're at in your life that that's the those are the reflections you're having about paying it forward your your career has been that though your career has been enabling people it's been pushing forward the UK hip-hop rap scene in a way like very few that I could ever name have done getting rappers who didn't have a platform didn't have a voice from areas where they were probably counted out giving them a chance for their talent to matter above everything else and that is something that I don't think you'll ever fully get the credit for like even though you've got loads and loads of credit you'll never fully get the credit for the impact that you've had in that way I mean that when I was in Plymouth a kid I was watching all of those videos when I went up to Manchester I watched all of those videos that's where you can name one you know whether it's all of the rich friends and I've seen them all yeah I could see your reaction yeah yeah because I know him I know that I know I know all of them and I was there and I had my friends go on fire in the booth and it was the and it still is the platform now it's a global platform but in the UK it was the UK platform at the time to get to get your uh to get your brand out there and it's truly amazing you'll never see that you'll never see I'm sure Karma will pay you back in Pleasant ways but I just wanted to say that to your face while I have you here thank you and thank you for your honesty and your vulnerability and your openness thank you Stephen I appreciate it it's incredible and it will help more people than I think you realize all of it all of it thank you thank you [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music]