Chase the Vision

Isaac Mashman2:51

Yeah, born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. I was raised with the entire mentality of go to school, get good grades, get a good job. A lot of times, people told me what to do up to the point of college, but they never told me what to do after college. I [was raised by a] single mom for most of my life, and she eventually got remarried. But I was that A plus student, I'm not one of those entrepreneurs who can say that I was a [D or F] student. I literally went my entire childhood with the aspirations of going to college all the way. I didn't know what I was going to college for.

Then my senior year in high school, I was going through some crazy times, and looking back, I realized that I'd kind of stumbled into entrepreneurship and viewed it as my therapy. I got started in business as a senior, didn't legally start my business until earlier this year in 2020, but over the past couple of years, I got in and out of the industries of network marketing, wanted to do a record label, started with a clothing line, and tried a whole bunch of different avenues and niches and fields.

Isaac Mashman3:57

Yeah, I started Mashman Ventures to basically help out with my personal brand. That was the big thing. If I wanted to write a book, I wanted to be able to self-publish it. If I do speaking engagements, there are tax benefits that come with starting a business that a lot of people don't realize, but [that's] the backbone of it from a company standpoint.

Isaac Mashman7:31

The music industry is a [kind of] dirty business. Yeah, by a lot of different avenues. It's a great business, don't get me wrong. But dude, if it takes away that creative side of you and becomes more of a chore than an actual passion, that kind of beats the entire purpose of doing it.

Isaac Mashman10:11

I got accepted to Florida State and a couple other colleges. But towards the end, man, this is when I first got introduced to network marketing. I saw these 20 year olds, 21 year olds making $10,000 a month, and I was coming from a family where a lot of my issues were caused by the lack of money, or arguably the lack of the mindset to get that money. I was like, why am I going to go to college for a marketing degree, possibly?

Isaac Mashman15:26

That's a deeper reason why I do it. Obviously, growing up and seeing the lack of money, money was an influence, and that was kind of something that sparked my journey. But deeper than that, it's like, do I have somebody who's watching me?

Isaac Mashman16:00

I'll give them the straight up approach. Their parents might not like the approach because the parent could be like, go to college, and I would say, don't go to college. But at the same time, it's coming from the heart. I don't have to worry about mixed emotions. I don't have to worry about being cautious about what I say because it's real, it's authentic. Sure. I don't like to use the word authenticity too much just because I feel like that's what everybody says now.

Isaac Mashman22:30

I think that, one, the conversations that people have in private are now brought into public view through social media. Social media at its core is just a way for us to interact with other people who are just like us in different places. You have a life and we have a lot of similarities in our own individual lives. We wake up in the morning, probably drink coffee, we do whatever else we do. We don't realize [how different it was] pre-social media. I was born and raised in the internet era, so I don't have the luxury of saying that I saw it come in and saw the changes and the evolution.

But just in the past five years, I've seen the evolution of technology and social media, and I've seen it grow. A couple years ago, TikTok didn't exist. Now it does, and it's [a boom]. But I don't think people realize that we're just normal people having normal conversations, but certain words can become overused or played out. I think the message still stands the same, and so does the importance behind it. But at the same time, people don't break down what it really means to be authentic, or what it really means to be this person, be this individual. When I first got involved with all of this, man.

Isaac Mashman23:46

But I saw him and his message and I kind of reverse engineered his brand. The one thing that he always talks about is be authentic, be yourself. What I did is I took to that whole hustle mentality, entrepreneur mentality, and it's taken me a while to finally figure out that...

Isaac Mashman24:15

Yeah, I'm trying to break down something that's so simple. But I feel like people overthink it and overcomplicate it. It's as simple as taking a picture of you going and practicing martial arts, or me taking a picture of my office, or me drinking coffee, or the coffee maker going. But what that ties into, and a little bit of value when it comes to personal branding, is that by posting these different aspects of your life, you're not trying to be [that], unless you're trying to be like a lifestyle vlogger or influencer. There's a balance to things. But by taking different aspects of your life and putting them out there for the world to see, you're enabling different levels of connection because somebody else could be a huge coffee drinker.

Isaac Mashman24:57

He's built an entire community based around people who drink tea, which is something that's so simple, yet so intimate, and you have that emotional connection with him because he drinks tea. Because you drink tea, you're going to support him. It's the same thing with posting a video of you doing martial arts. You're going to attract certain people who might have an interest in martial arts. Or if I wanted to get started, I know that I could come to you to find out, hey, where do I start? What's the thing to look for in a good instructor?

Isaac Mashman33:46

Yeah, absolutely. So going into my senior year, I saw other people doing a clothing line, and up until that point I had those entrepreneurial tendencies to where I would take [pens] apart. I'd put the pens back together and turn them into pen guns. I had a catalog of pens at one point. I don't know what I was thinking. I did a lawn business, and I passed out flyers in an entire neighborhood at one point. I had a trailer that was attached to my bike. I don't even think I've talked about this. I think I've maybe talked about this once, but I put a lawn mower on the back of the trailer that we got from Harbor Freight.

I was on a bike and I would just bike through the neighborhood with that lawn mower. So I had those tendencies and I wanted to do a clothing line based around that whole hustle mentality. I cringe looking back, but I made $50 online and I never touched one piece of clothing. It was a low profit margin, but I made like $5 per T-shirt sale. I'm like, that was kind of the spark of my personal brand. I recognize that building up a brand is difficult for a company, for a restaurant, for example, but building up a brand based around who you are, you don't have to overthink it.

You don't have to think about everything. There are a lot of different avenues and aspects to it, but getting into this network marketing, I saw the importance of being considered a mentor, being considered somebody who is a leader, who other people and your downlines looked up to, and that's personal branding. Then over the past couple of years, man, I just went into and tried a bunch of different things. I didn't even realize that's what I was doing. I never went far into any specific area. It was more so I kind of dipped my finger in it. I got too lazy and I wasn't consistent. I didn't get too far, but what I did is I had enough experience to understand if that was going to be the thing for me or if it wasn't.

I'm grateful to say that I never had to try one thing for a full year or for three years and then, after all that time, realize that it wasn't for me. It was quick. At the beginning of this year, I started out the year doing personal branding work for musical artists. That's why I always have an interest in hearing about people who have a musical background, because I worked with them, namely rappers. Then I wanted to do a record label, and I managed an artist out of Indiana. It took me four months of managing the guy to finally meet him in person. Then I recognized that I had more of a passion for building up my personal brand and building up brands than I did for building up businesses. I was like, well, why not combine the best of both worlds and start Mashman Ventures.

Isaac Mashman36:35

It's your name, it's your background. I was blessed with a very unique name. I don't think there's any other Isaac Mashman. I know some people don't have that luxury, but at the core, you are the only person who has your name who was born at the same exact time on that date in your place with those parents. That adds to your personality. That's your personality. People want to be associated with you for who you are.

Isaac Mashman39:21

Obviously, at the core, you're trying to be known for yourself. But there are different avenues that people are going to automatically take to you and know you for certain things more than they know you for other things. But if you are doing this talk show, if you're doing a restaurant and all these other side hustles and passions and projects, you're not going to be known as a coach. You're going to be known as yourself. Creating a company based around that thing is great, but when you go to build a company, you have to give it characteristics. I personally tied my company name and created it based around my last name because I'm taking the approach that, love him or hate him, Donald Trump is a fantastic marketer and brand.

He built up a brand, and he put Trump vodka, Trump steaks, Trump airlines. I kind of looked at that and I was like, you know what, I could kind of do the same thing (Grant Cardone, Cardone Ventures, Cardone Enterprises), because I recognize the last name has more weight than your first name. I was reconnecting just last night with some people who I knew from a couple years ago, back when I was attending church, back in Boy Scouts, back in all those different things. I could remember the first name, but the last name was what made it difficult to reconnect with them because I forgot some of their last names.

That kind of hit home, and I was like, man, you really have to make that impression. But it goes down to how serious you are about doing that. I think that having a personal brand and promoting it and promoting this passion project would be great. But at the same time, you don't want to over promote something and then under promote the other avenues and the other things that you're also passionate about. So in that particular case, man, creating a company and then using your personal brand to market it, if you're doing it with him, is good. So there are so many different avenues. I'd have to ask you about the goals. People ask me these questions and they're like, what do you think?

Isaac Mashman41:20

Do you feel more driven to talk about this project than you are this project?

Isaac Mashman42:14

Yeah. So let's say you could do, let's just go and use Fox Ventures or something like that. It wouldn't be a good name just because you have Fox News and the Fox Corporation, so you have to be careful with that. Yeah, well, you also, this is something people don't realize, I ask people what pops up when you Google yourself, and people automatically think that you're a narcissist for Googling yourself. No, it's just reputation management. If you were to Google Fox Ventures, I guarantee Fox News and that entire thing would pop up. So naming your company based around your last name would be a bad move.

Now, if you were to do Jeremiah Fox Ventures or something like that, and then have all of your other ventures underneath that one company.

Isaac Mashman43:17

It's a challenge, but I love it. I'm right there with you on that, but it goes down to the holding company, and what defines a holding company versus the parent company. Then at what percentages will you lose those tax benefits if your holding company is actually acting as another company? It's just, man, there are a lot of different avenues to that, but I think, if it was easy, what would be the fun in it? It's the same thing with getting into shape or doing martial arts, like you want to be challenged so you can improve, and so you can look back.

Isaac Mashman47:04

Podcast. Yeah. Well, I actually launched the podcast underneath a different name back in June of 2019. It was called The Hustler's Choice podcast. That was before I really recognized how much I despised the whole hustle culture. It was more so just because people would say things but they didn't know what they meant, and it took me a while to really figure out what everything meant too. It was a level of maturity. I never came out of the gate thinking that I knew everything, but at the same time I took to different avenues. But I started the podcast as that kind of stereotypical [show, where] I'm going to talk about things pertaining to entrepreneurship and business and all this other stuff.

Then I did about 16 episodes over the course of the year. Then earlier this year [was] right when I made the transition and launched my company, because I was acting as a sole proprietor and I had a company called Mashman Media. Again, I never legally filed anything. It was more sole proprietorship. I'm going to go ahead and use the doing business name as Mashman Media, Mashman Coaching, and do everything stereotypical to social media. Then right around that time, that was when I transitioned out of that space. I was like, OK, it's time to actually be that business professional and not that entrepreneur. I decided to change the podcast over from The Hustler's Choice to Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman.

I made that change really because I recognize that all too often on social media, we think that the only people that have a vision are entrepreneurs, because everybody gets so stuck up in their own ways or stuck up with like, I have entrepreneur in my bio, so that makes me better than you. Or, I have this grand thing to be a millionaire or a freaking billionaire. That's just, it's easy to say, because we as humans get attached to the emotional side of things. We see the people with the Lamborghini. We see the private jets, we see the glitz and the glamour, but I recognize that people have a vision that are outside of business.

For example, you could be an artist, although being a rapper, being an artist, being a musician is technically a business, you don't label it as a business. You label it as you're a musical talent. You could be a model or an actress. You are a business as a person, as a personal brand, but you don't have your own business doing that thing. The core of the show is really talking about self-development and personal development. I don't want to label it as a business show because at the core of all success is personal growth, at the core of all achievement. If I hadn't grown, I wouldn't be able to have this conversation with you, because I would be talking about the same things.

Isaac Mashman49:37

Learn new things. I thought that by having a show based around that topic and based around just the core of talking about my experiences, talking about my knowledge, I'd be able to help a lot of people along the way, because you don't have to be some millionaire to be able to deliver value. Even though I'm striving to hit those levels, I recognize that a lot of people come to me for advice, whether that be relating to business or relating to friendships. If I could give you value and save you time, I'm all about saving time. I'm a naturally impatient person and I'm of the attitude of aggressive patience.

Isaac Mashman50:33

So yeah, man, 43 episodes in. I've kind of laid off of it over the past month, [and I've been] working a lot on my company, getting different aspects of [it in order]. When you're starting a business, you have levels of maturity. I'm finally reaching a point to where I'm very clear on the services I'm offering. I'm clearing all those different things. So I've been taking a lot of time on that. But I've been really planning and trying to mastermind how I can take the show and grow it in 2021.

Isaac Mashman51:08

I use Anchor as a hosting provider, free shout-out to them. They've been tremendous to me. But you can literally find the show everywhere.

Isaac Mashman52:53

Yeah. Well, I think a lot of people go into business and go into any venture thinking that they're going to get the results automatically.

Isaac Mashman53:12

I think that that's applicable to business and building up a business, building up a podcast, building up the audience of brands. Not only knowing and having the self-awareness and the understanding of when you can't do something, but also taking the time to figure out how you can do something. I'm more on solutions than I am on problems. As for plants, man, what I'd mention about plants is I had a very difficult time giving myself permission to feel okay with doing something that isn't related to business or growth, because I was so programmed. I became obsessed with the thought of growth. I have this image in my mind of who I can become and who I am becoming.

What's out there. So if I'm not at that point, I have to learn to enjoy the process and understand that it will take time to get there. So starting plants, man, was kind of just a random hobby. I'm looking over here because I have sweet peppers growing on the windowsill.

Isaac Mashman55:27

I think that that's another thing that's important because people say I want to make a million dollars and they think that the million, the seven [figures], the one with the six zeros is going to solve all their problems. But at the same time you get to that mark and it's like, what else are you building for? I have some pretty hefty goals by the time I'm 24, 25 years old. But I was thinking about this and having a conversation with somebody who I connected with [through] your Facebook yesterday about this topic of, so what if I make this amount of money. But what's more important, the amount of money or the person and the work that I have to do in order to get to that point?

Then what is after that point going to look like? If I make this amount of money, I can retire and do whatever I want, but at the same time, I don't want to become stagnant because I've seen people personally who become stagnant, and their life gets away from them. Or there's a reason I use this analogy, and it's kind of a morbid analogy to use, but it's truthful.

Isaac Mashman56:27

It's like 65 is the magical age of retiring. People retire and then, why does the mortality rate spike? Because people stop growing, they stop being active. Even at that point, you need to do something that is going to keep you growing. It's going to keep you in that process, keep you aware, keep you in the present moment of growth.