If You Can't Succeed Here, You Won't Succeed Abroad Can you build real wealth without leaving Ghana? And how much does it actually cost to own a McDonald’s franchise? On this episode of Konnected Minds Podcast, Derrick Abaitey sits down with Joey Antwi-Kusi, a Ghanaian entrepreneur who moved to the UK at 22, worked as a McDonald’s customer care assistant, built businesses and eventually became a McDonald’s franchisee. Joey shares the reality behind his journey, including the £250,000 investment required to enter McDonald’s franchising, the sacrifices involved in building a business, and how his three restaurants are projected to generate approximately £15 million in combined annual turnover. Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction: Passion vs Business Reality 00:04:03 Joey's Background and Journey to the UK 00:07:50 The Mindset of Success and Self-Belief 00:12:26 Ghana's System: Challenges vs Opportunities 00:15:17 Four Business Ideas You Can Start Today 00:21:45 The Reality of Entrepreneurship: Waiting and Sacrifice 00:24:12 From McDonald's Employee to Franchisee 00:28:37 The McDonald's Franchise Process 00:32:15 Understanding the McDonald's Business Model 00:34:46 The Sacrifice: Making Less Than Your Manager 00:41:16 Traveling Abroad: Golden Ticket or Misconception? 00:46:00 Advice for Young Ghanaians with Capital 00:48:14 Bringing McDonald's to Ghana and West Africa 00:50:12 What Young Ghanaians Need to Unlearn 00:52:30 The Truth About Hard Work and Getting Noticed 00:55:04 Confronting Ghana's Problems with Honesty 00:56:06 Would Success Have Been Possible in Ghana? 00:58:40 Final Thoughts: Believing in Ghana's Future But this conversation goes far beyond McDonald’s. In this episode, we discuss: Whether moving abroad is really a golden ticket to success Three practical business ideas young people in Ghana can start with little or no capital How to turn a salary into business capital The realities of building wealth through entrepreneurship Why working hard is not always enough to advance your career How much McDonald’s franchisees pay in rent, marketing and service charges The Ghanaian business environment: systemic barriers versus personal responsibility What aspiring entrepreneurs should consider before returning to Ghana to start a business Is the system holding Ghanaians back, or are we overlooking opportunities? Can someone build wealth without migrating? Watch the full conversation and tell us what you think in the comments. Guest: Joey Antwi-Kusi IG: https://www.instagram.com/myjoey/ Web: https://joey-antwi-kusi.kit.com/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ ABOUT THE HOST Derrick Abaitey is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, podcast host, and personal development advocate. IG: https://www.instagram.com/derrick.abaitey Web: https://www.abaitey.com/

What if the biggest difference between families who build businesses that last for generations and those who watch fortunes crumble within a single lifetime isn't how much wealth they accumulate, but understanding that succession planning while you're still active in the business is the only way to avoid heart palpitations later, that giving someone a position without giving them authority creates frustration that destroys everything you've built, and that complex family dynamics with multiple branches and mothers require governance structures at the family level before you even think about transitioning the business to the next generation? In this powerful and deeply insightful episode of Konnected Minds, we sit down with a family business expert who reveals the uncomfortable truth about fathers in their 70s who won't let go because they're terrified the young people will make mistakes that kill the business and leave them with nothing at an age when they can't work anymore, why this isn't just ego but also fear and emotional attachment to a business that has been their baby for 40 years of their active work life, and why each party really needs to understand where the other is coming from and give themselves some grace because it's tough on both sides. She breaks down why starting your succession while you're still in the business is critical because the moment you're looking at putting a succession plan in place when you step out there's no way you won't have heart palpitations and sabotage what you're trying to do, why fathers give their children the position of succeeding MD or CEO but won't give them the authority so every major decision still goes through them, why this makes the younger generation feel like a figurehead working for the father instead of running the show, and why this frustrates next gens so much they eventually say how about you just come back and take your thing since you will not allow me to run this show. But she also reveals the sophisticated approach that solves these problems. Why on the family governance side families practice how to make decisions at the family level by drawing up a family constitution that is the rulebook saying this is who we are this is how we do things this is how we make decisions these are the do's and don'ts this is how we take ownership these are the things we will never invest in this is how we will never be represented these are our values, why that family constitution drives how they run their own meetings through a family council that is the governing body within the family of which the children are a part, and why there's already role play happening at the family level before they get to the point where they work in the business or the father is thinking of handing over. She explains why as you prepare the children while they're still in school or working somewhere you should immediately get them to be part of the board even if they are just there as observers so they understand how decision making is made and they understand daddy in the boardroom not daddy at home, why even from primary or secondary school you should bring them into the office during summer to do internship jobs so they get familiar with the business which naturally builds their interest, and why these hiccups where the father is trying to transition to the son and the son is wondering does he even want me does he respect my ideas happen because you're coming into that thing just like husband and wife getting married where at the honeymoon phase everything feels rosy but when that phase is off there is friction and tussling for authority. But she also confronts the brutal reality of next gens who went to Harvard to study business administration and come back home to work with their father who's at home and they always have to go to him for his consent before they can make a decision and their own salary he's paying them so anything they do he can step on it and say accountant don't pay this guy meanwhile the father's education is not even at their level he built it from vibes. She reveals why it's a combination of many things including culture where the father still feels like no matter what I'm still your father and the child should know when to defer, why there's the man's ego that will always be there so the child needs the wisdom to know when to defer even though they know what to do so at the end of the day the old man may say oh by the way young man go ahead with this thing you know what to do, and why as opposed to the child just feeling fly like yeah I'm now the one in charge so you don't care what the old man thinks. She explains why the older generation should put structure in place that does not create that dynamic, why if the younger generation feels like it's still the man that makes the decision at the end of the day it feels like a trap to them, why if you have built a business where there is a board that is responsible for decision making that...

What if the biggest difference between families who build wealth that lasts for generations and those who watch fortunes disappear within a single lifetime isn't how much money they accumulate, but understanding that wealth held in your personal name is far harder to transfer than wealth held in structures, that cultural inheritance practices across Africa have fragmented more wealth than they've preserved, and that even a well written will becomes a public record that can be contested in court for years while your assets waste away unused and your family fights over properties nobody wanted to manage in the first place? In this powerful and deeply insightful episode of Konnected Minds, we sit down with a wealth structuring expert who works across the African continent, and she reveals the uncomfortable truth about how African families have passed down wealth more culturally than through documentation, why in some Yoruba traditions only the son inherits the father's wealth while daughters get nothing unless the mother and son decide to share, why in some Igbo and Hausa communities girls don't inherit at all because they will go to their husband's house and bear their husband's name, and why these cultural practices even though they differ from one culture to the other have over the years shaped how inheritance is passed and explain why wealth is fragmented at the point where it is passed on to the next generation. She breaks down why a will tells you how to distribute your wealth but the people you share it with have no obligation to continue to build it grow it or scale it, why children who moved to the US or UK or Canada for 10 years and became citizens there will not leave their lives abroad to come manage properties in Nigeria so there's a high likelihood they will just sell everything, why you will find a prominent family with a huge real estate portfolio and within two to three years of the man passing everything is sold and there is no transgenerational wealth, and why even for a will that is not contested the process of assets sitting idle while probate drags on means value is lost and disintegrated along the way. But she also confronts the brutal reality of contested wills. Why a will is a public record once the owner dies and it goes through probate and the court decides, why if somebody feels aggrieved by what they see in the will they can contest it and that process can drag things along for years, why during those years of conflict resolution the assets become idle and begin to waste away with nobody getting any value, and why sometimes family members just sell some assets and things get fragmented and value is lost completely. She reveals the more sophisticated structures that solve these problems. Why at a minimum you should write a will and hope it doesn't get contested to the point where it scatters everything, why people are now setting up trusts that allow you to not distribute your wealth but keep it together within a structure where it is stewarded and managed and grown for the benefit of beneficiaries, why the wealth is owned by nobody but owned by all so no one person can make a claim on anything, and why a trustee manages the wealth on behalf of beneficiaries who get dividends quarterly or yearly as stated in the trust deed so the second and third generation can continue to grow it without anyone saying I want to sell the family house or the business. But she also shares the fundamental principle of structuring wealth. Why the first step is to put structure behind your wealth by not owning assets in your personal name, why wealth you hold in your personal name versus wealth you hold in a structure other than you makes a massive difference in how easy it is to transfer when you're no longer there, why you should create a special purpose vehicle like a company to buy land at Airport Hills instead of buying it in your personal name, and why if the business is non operating and not generating revenue there's no corporate tax to pay so that concern is eliminated. She explains why people structure a trust and use special purpose vehicles to hold specific assets and then transfer that to the trust, why the trust is the overarching vehicle that holds everything through these SPVs, why a trust is a private vehicle so nobody gets to know about your business, why you appoint a corporate trustee that manages affairs according to the trust deed that sets out how your wealth should be stewarded what part should be distributed and what part should be reinvested, and why people now set up living trusts while still alive and can even appoint themselves as trustee to continue making decisions. But she also reveals the criteria for working in a family business. Why it's not automatic that you work in the family business just because you bear the family name, why you have inheritance automatically by reason of being a child and should be entitled to the wealth as far as the father wants everybody

What if the biggest difference between families who build wealth that lasts for generations and those who watch fortunes disappear within a single lifetime isn't how much money they accumulate, but understanding that wealth unstructured will naturally get depleted, that giving your children ownership instead of forcing them into operations might be the smartest succession decision you ever make, and that major Nigerian banks that look like corporate giants today started as family businesses whose founders still hold significant stakes because they understood early that institutionalizing a business doesn't mean losing it? In this powerful and deeply insightful episode of Konnected Minds, we sit down with a wealth structuring expert who works across the African continent, and she reveals the uncomfortable truth about why Africans need to take their minds away from the idea that family must run the business because it's not compulsory, why limiting ourselves by fixating on the fact that my children have to run the business is a trap that destroys generational wealth, why you should focus instead on building a business so structured and so well institutionalized that if you take it to any part of the world it can compete in terms of best practices, and why bringing in best in class experts to run the show while your children stay with ownership is the sophisticated approach that ensures businesses don't come under any threat 100 years from now. She breaks down why when you build wealth that has gotten to a certain level you will begin to think about sophisticated ways to ensure that thing perpetuates and is sustainable irrespective of who the owners are, why sometimes when you sell businesses there's so much money you can't chop it up before you die, why many major banks in Nigeria are family businesses at the core even though they've now taken those businesses public and have shareholders and investors, and why those founders still have significant stakes because they built something that became a public interest entity so significant to the economy that it should not go down. But she also confronts the brutal reality of succession when children aren't interested. Why there's a family where none of the children is interested and they're all almost like a complete mess so the father is now grooming his nephew to try to see whether he'll be interested, why this problem is at the core of African culture and tradition and it's a huge problem for us, why you should not allow a child that is not interested in your business to necessarily come and operate your business but give them ownership instead, and why if someone says all I want is just give me one million so that I can go and do my own project and then you can do your thing, if that is what it is then it is what it is and let's not kill ourselves over the fact that children must be a part of it. She reveals why children can know they are owners of the business and be represented on the board in terms of decision making since the board is responsible for steering the direction while management is responsible to the board, why if you have a governance system at the family level like a family council there is opportunity for the family during their meetings to have the businesses present the state of the business so they get to know what is going on, why this is a good structure for perpetrating wealth that does not necessarily put a chain on the children's neck that you must necessarily work in it, and why if you find any of your children that is absolutely interested and willing to go through whatever they need to be schooled and experienced and they have the skill to grow the business then fantastic but if you don't have it then it is what it is but it doesn't mean the end of the business. But she also shares the fundamental principle about wealth and values. Why people should not think that because they have money today they're going to have money tomorrow because there's nothing sacrosanct in the fact that you have lots of money today, why the fact that you have a lot of money in your bank account is not automatically wealth because there are different types of wealth and what a lot of people focus on is financial wealth, why what really holds that wealth is the values, and why if you don't give your children the values that created that wealth in the first place that wealth is bound to be depleted it's just a matter of time. She explains why the only reason someone is able to say let me just share my properties to everybody is because we're talking a few properties here and how much do you have at stake really, why when you've built businesses that are institutionalized and have become so successful that you are a public interest entity even if not publicly listed you can't afford to just say you will that kind of business to a child, why wealth that is unstructured will naturally get depleted, and why by structure she means from the legal...

What if the biggest difference between families who build wealth that lasts for generations and those who watch fortunes disappear within a single lifetime isn't how much money they accumulate, but understanding that children who feel forced into family businesses will resent the obligation, that sending your kids abroad for education while shielding them from the discipline and hard work that built your success is the undoing of the next generation, and that at conferences bringing family businesses from around the world some representatives are in their ninth or sixteenth generation while only two Africans sit in a room of over a hundred people because we simply don't put systems behind our businesses to ensure they pass from generation to generation? In this powerful and deeply insightful episode of Konnected Minds, we sit down with Abiola, a family business advisor who has spent 10 years managing family offices across Africa, and she reveals the uncomfortable truth about the business at Kantamanto making over 200,000 cedis every day whose parents sent all the kids abroad but now none of the children are interested in taking over, why this story is very familiar and more like the stories she hears every day because of the type of work she does, why African wealth creators largely build from business and real estate but when the founder passes or something happens the next generation has not been brought up to speed and everything goes back to square one, and why we don't have businesses that pass from generation to generation because we don't put systems behind those businesses and there is no succession plan that ensures the next generation is already in queue ready to take on the battle. She breaks down why a family office is set up by ultra high net worth individuals or wealthy families who want their wealth to be institutionalized and want to build a system and an infrastructure around the wealth they've built so that it can perpetuate multiple generations, why the first generation builds the wealth the second generation enjoys it and the third generation destroys it or they don't even find anything and start all over, why at a 2019 conference in the US bringing family businesses from all around the world together they were only two Blacks two Africans out of a room of over a hundred people, and why she interacted with representatives of family businesses some of them in their ninth generation some in their sixteenth generation and it was so interesting to see that family businesses are succeeding generations in other parts of the world but it seems like something we're not even used to in Africa. But she also confronts the brutal reality about what we're missing. Why she came back from that conference and began to think why is this not possible on the African continent what are we missing what are we not doing very well, why she found that a lot of African business owners or African wealth creators majority did not come from wealth so they go into the hustle and bustle and eventually make it, why there's this regular saying that everything I didn't have growing up I want my children to have it and that is the undoing of the next generation, and why the discipline the hard work the rigor everything that helped you build that successful business are the things that we shield our children from. She reveals why we send our kids abroad to go get education which is not bad in itself because that exposure is also great but what we don't do is build the roots and the values and create a system that transfers the values that helped us build such successful business, why we must ensure that we engage this next generation from when they are very young so they understand that they're already part of the family business by mere fact that they were born into that family, why even though you may decide not to be an operator of the family business meaning working in the business you are groomed intentionally to be able to steward it govern it make sure it grows, and why the first generation must ensure they give education to the succeeding generation that allows them to govern the business and understand the meaning of responsible ownership and have the skill set and the competencies to be able to grow that business while other people are operating it. But she also shares the delicate dynamic between generations. Why for family business owners who have created something really successful the last thing you want is for that thing to go down the drain which is why some people may want to force their children but that's not the way to go about it, why if the second generation feels like this is an obligation as opposed to something they have a choice in and can bring their best skills to the way they approach it will be very different, why the conversation between the first and the second generation sometimes should be brokered by a neutral third party especially because the fathers are usually very stubborn,...

What if the biggest difference between artists who build sustainable careers and those who flame out after a few hits isn't talent, opportunity, or even luck, but understanding early that you must read every single line of a contract, that having a mind of your own is a superpower worth protecting at all costs, and that rushing to skip stages in life will always bring you back down like a snake in a game of Ludo? In this raw and deeply personal episode of Konnected Minds, we sit down with Kiti, an Afrobeats artist who reveals the uncomfortable truth about signing his first record deal as an overexcited young man who trusted his marketing brother instead of a lawyer to review the contract, why he wishes he understood 10 years ago what he knows now about reading the fine prints and spending four hours on the phone with his lawyer going through every single line including legal terms his brain isn't developed enough to understand, and why even though he learned the hard way he's grateful because the path he took is what made him who he is today. He breaks down why these days it's not even exciting anymore for artists to sign label contracts because a lot of artists are just doing their own thing and the realization is that they make more if they do it themselves, why he thinks maybe that path is what a lot of young people are taking now, why after realizing he must have lost a lot of money simply by being part of a label he's doing things differently by making sure he knows exactly what he's committing to in every contract, and why this is not just about protecting himself now but about a long term plan for understanding what he's agreeing to. But he also confronts the brutal reality about talent versus business. Why regardless of how talented a person is in any field they only really get to make and sustain money if the talent matches up with business, why otherwise you're just a talented person and that's not enough and not sustainable for the long term, why his worry for a lot of creatives and artists is really about the future of the work because a time is going to come where you might not be able to stand even at the O2 and perform because you don't have the energy to, and why these sort of conversations become important for every artist to hear. He reveals why even though he had nothing growing up he's always known and seen and wanted the beauty of life, why he's always wanted to live an opulent life even though he didn't know what that meant, why he watched Game of Thrones and The Last Kingdom and Succession and knows what wealth looks like including the problems it comes with but also the ease and access it gives you in the world, and why even though it's not at the forefront like he's chasing wealth chasing wealth chasing wealth he knows at the end of the day he wanted to live a life that was comfortable for his kids his mom his family and everybody around him who works with him works for him works under him. But he also shares his vision for wealth and responsibility. Why he's always wanted everybody to be comfortable and it still comes from him being responsible for everybody, why he wants everybody who has any plug attached to Kiti to find a benefit for that plug attached to Kiti, why if you read books of wealthy people world leaders and everybody who has attained certain things in life they never have one stream of income, and why he knows that he'll get there but to get there he refuses to rush through the stages. He confronts the problem he's had with a lot of labels and collaborations in the music industry. Why lots of people are in a hurry to get to the end and in a hurry to do this for us to make money and do that for us to make money, why he's very very very particular because you cannot no matter how smart you think you are no matter how wise you think you are make it if you jump from step one to six, why you need to go through the motions no matter how they look like and you have to go from step one to step two because there's a lesson in step two that if you don't learn and you think you are going to skip steps you will come back like when you are playing Ludo and you land on a snake that brings you back, and why as Drake said on his new album Iceman a lot of people want to get rich quick and get to the end and get to the pinnacle but they don't want to go through the work of it. But we also dive deep into the power of having a mind of your own. Why there's never been a time in his life where there wasn't too many voices in his ears but he's always always always had a mind of his own, why if everybody says this cup is black and to him he thinks it's blue you will not convince him it is black, why he'll listen to everybody and hear what they say but at the end of the day when he goes back to his bed he makes the final decision based on his reality his circumstance what he wants and where he's trying to go, and why he's always thanked God for the power to have a mind of his own...

What if the biggest difference between people who build sustainable creative careers and those who burn out isn't talent or opportunity, but understanding early that you must go through every single stage of the journey, that having a mind of your own is a superpower worth protecting, and that becoming a father while still figuring out your own life can either break you or become the fire that pushes you to levels you never imagined possible? In this raw and deeply personal episode of Konnected Minds, we sit down with Kiti, an Afrobeats artist who reveals the uncomfortable truth about discovering you're going to be a father in your final year of university while in different countries, why he was scared and shaking because he had nothing to his name and was still raising himself and trying to figure out his sound and his place in the world, why another human being added to that equation was such a scary concept but he always knew he would find a way because he is Mr. Find A Way, and why even though it affected his education and he had resets the thought of raising a child put fire under him that made everybody ask where is this guy from and where did he come from. He breaks down why his first ever performance outside of Ghana was in the UK and that was when he got the chance to meet his son for the first time, why they came to visit and then COVID happened so they ended up just staying, why he loved the concept of having him near where he could see him anytime he wanted to, and why in the initial stages as a young artist coming up becoming a father was one of many things that put fire under him to make it work no matter what. But he also confronts the family meeting that almost changed everything. Why his brother and his wife called him to a family meeting with his mom to express their concern, why his brother's wife had gone to a concert at Plus 233 and seen legends people they grew up listening to perform and she wasn't happy with how they looked, why she saw that nothing had gone on well for them in their lives and it became a point of concern, and why she asked him are you sure music is what you can do to one day put food on the table for your family. He reveals why in that moment he felt how he felt because he was a talented boy who could sing and thought he was Chris Brown, why now growing up and looking back at that conversation he gets it and it was a very very valid concern, why his brother who was taking care of him at the time is very strict like his dad and believes you have to go to school do your national service and do what needs to be done, and why even though he didn't want to do his national service his brother said you have to do it so he said cool. But we also dive deep into the power of having a mind of your own. Why there's never been a time in his life where there wasn't too many voices in his ears but he's always always always had a mind of his own, why if everybody says this cup is black and to him he thinks it's blue you will not convince him it is black, why he'll listen to everybody and hear what they say but at the end of the day when he goes back to his bed he makes the final decision based on his reality his circumstance what he wants and where he's trying to go, and why he's always thanked God for the power to have a mind of his own because you have no idea how much of a superpower that is. He explains why Michael Jackson's method with his father Joe Jackson worked for him but it doesn't mean if Joe Jackson had another kid called Craig Jackson it would have worked the same way, why everybody's formula is different everybody's timeline is different everybody's path is different, why people project to you what they think they have done and it's worked for them so you too you have to do that but no your life is different your circumstance is different your vision is different, and why he's open to listening and will go back and think about what you've said but if it's not making sense to what he wants to do he's not gonna take that. But he also reveals the humility required to lead effectively. Why he's one of the easiest people you meet and very rational, why he can go into a meeting very set on something he wants to do based on his projections and analogies but somebody in the team can hit him up with a perspective he hasn't thought about, why he'll go back and make some psych and call and say you know what I'm humble enough to let you know that I was very certain this thing I wanted to do but the perspective you gave me wasn't one I thought about and it makes sense so I'm going to take that, and why sometimes the perspective you give him he's heard it but he still believes in his bones in his spirit this is what needs to be done. We confront the brutal truth about shortcuts and stages. Why he reads books of wealthy people world leaders and everybody who has attained certain things in life and they never have one stream of income, why he knows he'll get there but to...

I SAW JESUS — Pastor Kakra Baiden Reveals What He Looked Like What does Jesus actually look like? And what would you say if someone told you they had seen Him? In this powerful and thought-provoking conversation on Konnected Minds Podcast, Pastor Kakra Baiden shares his personal account of an encounter he says he had with Jesus at 3 AM — and describes what he saw as “a human being made out of light.” But that's only the beginning. We explore some of the most debated questions around Christianity, faith, money and wealth: “I Saw Jesus” — Pastor Kakra Baiden recounts his encounter and explains what Jesus looked like. Is the image of Jesus that we see everywhere actually accurate? He challenges familiar depictions of Jesus and discusses what the Bible says. Is money important to Christians? Why he believes money matters and why people should not pretend otherwise. Can religious beliefs keep people poor? A challenging discussion about faith, church teachings and financial responsibility. 0:00 Intro: Bishop Kakra Baiden on faith & money 3:07 Is God interested in Christians being rich? 12:03 "I saw Jesus": how Bishop found his purpose 20:26 Why money matters, and when it becomes a God 22:26 Pressure to give in church & the prosperity gospel 30:07 Why Christians pray for money instead of working for it 37:47 Selling "anointed water": is it deception? 41:31 Can you be rich but spiritually poor? 53:54 Should you buy crypto because a prophet said so? 56:51 "Cryptocurrency": the hidden money of favour Guest: Bishop Kakra Baiden Youtube https://www.youtube.com/@KakraBaidenVideos Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/kakrabaiden Books: https://kakrabaidenbooks.com/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ ABOUT THE HOST Derrick Abaitey is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, podcast host, and personal development advocate. IG: https://www.instagram.com/derrick.abaitey Web: https://www.baitey.com/

What if the biggest difference between people who build sustainable creative careers and those who burn out isn't talent or opportunity, but understanding early that survival requires adaptability, that childhood trauma can become your greatest strength, and that seeing the world differently from everyone around you is not a curse but your secret weapon? In this raw and deeply personal episode of Konnected Minds, we sit down with Kiti, an Afrobeats artist who reveals the uncomfortable truth about growing up everywhere and nowhere, never staying anywhere long enough to make friends because his mom was in a bad situation and they had to keep moving, why he never had a home where he grew up but was always the outsider trying to play football with kids in the park or join games at the game center, and why moving from St. Anthony's to Great Lamptey Mills and back again meant he missed two important years of growing up with his friends and became a stranger to the very people he once knew. He breaks down why his mom is undoubtedly undisputedly the best cook in the world and has ventured into hairdressing, pastries, cooking for funerals and weddings and corporate lunches, why they kept moving because she was in a marriage that didn't work out and as a stepchild she always thought about him and his little brothers, why his dad died when he was seven before he could even form thoughts to appreciate what fatherhood looked like, and why his early memories of his dad are just being a stubborn child and being punished but also remembering him as the life of the party who loved life and kept the family together organizing things for everyone to come together. But he also confronts the burden of growing up too fast. Why on his dad's side he had four siblings and on his mom's side he was the first of three boys, why in all the moving around his two younger brothers were toddlers and because of what his mom was going through he had to play a part time role of a mom bathing them changing diapers feeding them rolling them around until they fell asleep, why looking back it doesn't make him feel good but he's blessed to have gone through those experiences because as a child he just wanted to be a child and play Konami and Sega and Mortal Kombat but he recognized very early on what his reality was and had to step in and do what needed to be done to support his mother. He reveals why he didn't know what fighting looked like and just accepted his reality and dealt with what life gave him, why it's crazy that he is actually the person he is today because his worldview at a very early age was boxed into his reality, why it's an amazing phenomenon that he's become one of the most open minded and easygoing people you'll ever meet but he has no idea where that switch came from, and why maybe he needs to do a deep deep deep deep deep triple platinum deep dive into his psyche to understand where the switch came but as it stands now he has no idea. But he also shares the survival mentality that shaped him. Why he survived everywhere and if you put him in Taekwondo he will beat Black Masters, if you put him in football he will survive, if you put him in athletics he will survive, if you put him in art and painting he was one of the best, why he used to paint draw play football run sing rap and put him anywhere in the world anywhere in life he will come out better than the people that are supposed to be the bosses there, and why he doesn't write off his early realities because as much as they had negatives they shaped him into who he is today. He explains why his outlook on the world is quite different from a lot of people around him, why when everyone looks at the same thing he sees something different, why we're all looking at the same thing but he's looking at the hues of blue and how it dissolves into lighter shades, and why he doesn't think he's better than anybody but his perspective and his outlook on life feels quite different from most people around him. But we also dive into the record deal conversation. Why when he found out he was going to be a father it made him feel scared, why they called him to a family meeting asking if he was serious about music and whether music is what he can do to one day put food on the table for his family, why when he got the first invitation to get a record deal he didn't think about the numbers involved and didn't care about the money aspect of it, why he doesn't own all of his masters and to go into detail about that conversation would require diving deep deep deep deep deep deep so he'll leave it here, and why looking back he wishes he read the fine prints but he didn't and now he'll deal with the consequences of not reading them. He confronts the brutal reality of the music industry. Why the music industry is a wild wild place and he's telling us for a fact that if he didn't have the passion for what he's doing by year five he would have hung his mic and called it a day, why sometimes...

What if the biggest difference between artists who build sustainable careers and those who flame out after a few hits isn't talent, passion, or even opportunity, but simply understanding that no matter how hungry you are for success, you must read the fine prints before signing anything because the music industry is show business and if you don't understand the business aspect you will work your whole life and realize there's nothing to show for it? In this raw and deeply personal episode of Konnected Minds, we sit down with an artist who reveals the uncomfortable truth about getting signed to a record label as an overexcited young man who never had to struggle for studio sessions because talented people always wanted to help, why he never mentioned his friend Senabaita's name in any interview until today but this was the guy at University of Ghana who had studio equipment and a home setup and would say come come when you want to record so paying for studio sessions was never even a thing in his mind because his reality was people were always ready to offer help whenever they heard him sing, and why going into the conversation about getting signed it never crossed his mind how others struggled to pay for studio time or get money because even though he had none money was still never a thing in his mind. He breaks down why if he could go back and make decisions differently today he would not have been an overexcited young man who just wanted to make music for passion alone because no matter how much passion you have it's show business and there's a business aspect of it, why you can make all the music and make all the love songs and make the world dance but if you don't read the fine prints you work your whole life and realize you've worked but there's nothing to show for it, why he doesn't own all of his masters and to go into detail about that conversation would require diving deep deep deep deep deep deep so he'll leave it at here but he wishes he read the fine prints and now he'll deal with the consequences of not reading them. But he also confronts the reality of what he tells young talented kids who get into his DMs asking for help. Why his advice is simple and powerful in one line: read the fine prints, why the music industry is a wild wild place and if he didn't have the passion for what he's doing he would have hung his mic and called it a day by year five, why sometimes you go into the deepest and deepest of lows where you ask yourself is all of this even worth it, all these late nights and being on sets for 12 hours and people insulting you, is it even worth what you're getting at the end of it, and why the answer is no it's not worth it but what is worth it is the passion. He reveals why he balances passion with business now because it's very important and you need to be able to survive and keep doing what you're doing by putting money back into your business, why no matter how hungry you are he wasn't hungry when he went into it but was just a kid that loved music who just wanted to sing and did not care what he sang, and why he doesn't wish to be diplomatic and political but for this specific conversation he recognizes there's depths and depths and depths that would need an actual conversation to delve deeper into so he doesn't want to say it and leave it shallow for interpretation. But he also shares the powerful realization that changed his perspective. Why he appreciates that regardless of what happened the path he took is what made him who he is today, why he's super super super grateful for the opportunities, why growing up he heard something means the truth is only one but as an adult he's realized that's false because two things can be true, why a situation might be negative but that situation also helped shape the person he's become, and why when people listen to his childhood story they might say what bro but he recognizes both the negative and the positive truth of it. He confronts the brutal reality of the music industry. Why anytime he speaks to artists about money stuff and hears conversations about artists selling their catalogs and not owning masters there's always a thought that somebody is trying to use somebody, why that's something you're going to have to learn the difficult way because everybody's using everybody, why one of the best things you're going to have to have is leverage because leverage is what allows people to not be used, and why leverage shows up in so many different ways from knowing what you have to knowing who you are to knowing what you bring to the table so that when you walk into any room nobody can bully you. But we also dive into why he stayed under record labels for so long. Why every year taught him something and a lot of what he learned started from year four or five, why he learned very early on that he was a man of his own with his own values vision thoughts and ideas about how he wanted life to be but was working with people who were...