Growth & Grace

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a Kun V studios original program. The following program is underwritten by Crawford management group, Harris capital Mortgage Group, Tiffany Lloyd consulting and Chris glow, and does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jasmine Moore, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education even

Music 0:21
better than I was the last time, baby, we back,

Leaha Crawford 0:38
we back and we back and we back and we back and we back and we back. Hey, happy Saturday, Las Vegas. This is Leah Crawford, host of growth and grace, and I am here this morning with a very special guest. He is coming here all the way from Las Vegas. Love it. Las Vegas is my little cousin, and he is here to talk about a business that he started looking good. We will get some background from him and understand what is passionate and where does he want this business to go. I would like to introduce you to Mr. Will reintroduce you to Mr. Julian Rosado, how

Julian Rosado 1:19
are you? How are you very good? How are you? Welcome

Leaha Crawford 1:23
back to growth and grace. I'm good. What's going on? What's going on? All right, so Julian. Julian, first question, I always want to know who are you. I know who you are, but who are you?

Julian Rosado 1:36
I don't know. I'm actually still trying to find out for myself who you

Leaha Crawford 1:40
are, yeah, who you are. But born, I can tell the story. Born in Philadelphia, spent some time in Baltimore, graduated from high school in Vegas, has been here ever since, right in Vegas, right? Well, you had, well, you went some other places. You've been here, you've worked on a strip, you've done all these fabulous things work for these amazing companies, and then you started your own business? Yeah,

Julian Rosado 2:04
yeah. So I started sports and growth because I did some internship with a agent, and so he gave me a little task to find a few endorsements for his client. He had a sports client. He worked with the NFL, and so less than two weeks, I found him endorsements for small local brands. So he was really, really happy. He gave me a little piece of of the pie wall, a little commission, and then through that, it really inspired me to start my own thing.

Leaha Crawford 2:45
All right, so with sports and growth, with sports and growth, yeah, it's endorsement deals, yeah, right, okay. All right, so you're looking for professional athletes or amateur athletes.

Julian Rosado 2:57
I'm looking for professional athletes, yeah, all right.

Leaha Crawford 3:01
So you want the star, you want the up and coming,

Julian Rosado 3:06
really anything. But we aim for up and coming athletes. We want to show up and coming athletes that they are willing and able to be just as profitable as the star athletes, nice,

Leaha Crawford 3:19
and I guess with a whole bunch of, I mean, with them endorsing companies. Now, let me ask you this, Do do you have to find brands that they believe in to work with?

Julian Rosado 3:29
Yes, yeah, yeah, we have to find a certain type of correlation or a connection between the

Leaha Crawford 3:37
two. Do you spend time interviewing the athletes? I understand what they're Oh,

Julian Rosado 3:40
yeah, definitely, yeah. Probably spend, like, about three or four days. We have lunch, dinner together, we look them up on social media and everything. They really don't like that, but we tell them we try to really find a certain niche that they really, really like. Yeah, okay, all

Leaha Crawford 4:00
right. And then with that, you know, weird, because you started the company just organically. Was it? Did you have any fear when you started the company? Though, who doesn't

Julian Rosado 4:11
have a fear? Yeah, I mean, there was a it was, I remember the very first time, after we closed our very first deal, I probably had like, seven or $8,000 just like cash, and so, um, I buy everything I needed. And so I rented a small office, so I'm sitting in office. Okay, I got everything, got my notepad, I got my MacBook, have my cell phone. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. All right, what do I do next?

And that's no idea, and you want to know what to do next, but talking, but talking

Leaha Crawford 4:53
to most like entrepreneurs, because being an entrepreneur is a journey, and we get that first check. And it could be small or large, and we're like, Oh, my God, I got paid for something that I did. But how? But the challenge is, how do I keep getting paid, yeah, for the work that I love to do. Because being an entrepreneur, you should be doing what you love to do. Yeah? So do you love what you do you love this company? Oh, yeah.

All right. Are

you a sports fan?

Julian Rosado 5:21
Yeah. What's your favorite sport? Yeah, yeah. It's really, really hard. I would say football. But,

Leaha Crawford 5:31
or do you have a favorite sport? Is a better question? Yeah,

Julian Rosado 5:33
I would say it's between NBA and boxing right now. I love

Leaha Crawford 5:40
it so, just so you know. And I said this before the Super Bowl, E, A, G, L, E, S, eagles, yes, I am an Eagles fan. I was super excited about this weekend. I yeah, I watched the game full fledged laugh and joking. Love the halftime show, just everything about it. But Oh yeah, because I'm a, I am a sports fan. I like sports as well. Family members, right? We like sports, yeah. So with this company, you, you get your first endorsement deal closed, you get your first check. Now you have this office, and you're sitting there, what's next? Yeah? So, what is next? What happens next? Yeah.

Julian Rosado 6:18
So I call up, I call up my Asia friend and that so he walked me through it, okay, yeah. He said, Okay, take steps. Okay, act like you don't have nothing always, because

Leaha Crawford 6:37
you got to keep working. Yeah, you can't get like. You have to keep working. Go ahead,

Julian Rosado 6:40
yeah. And then he said, act like you don't have nothing. He said, step out the office and grab your phone. He said, make calls. He said, so. He said, Don't stop until you make 100 calls per day. And they said, write down the people that you called. And so I started calling every single business that I knew, and every single business that would be that that would like to represent an athlete, like to have an athlete represent them. Okay, yeah, yeah. And so I did, and you kept doing it over and over, yeah, yeah. And just wait till you get one possibility and so, yeah, and from there, once you get that one, yes, you know, once you get that feeling that you accomplish something on your own, it just lights, like a little, you know, face light candle, you know, a little candle in your, in your gut, you know, it's, it's, it's, uh, it's, like all The endorphins in you, you know, it feels really exciting. Feels really exciting. Yeah, yeah. All right. So

Leaha Crawford 7:45
you start the company, and with all companies, you know, you might have some trials and tribulations. Oh yeah, some deals might not go through, and some deals happen, some deal, you know, but you have to keep going. Oh yeah. Did you keep going? Oh

Julian Rosado 7:59
yeah. So there was a time when I had everything lined up, so business agreed, athlete agreed, and and so I made the mistake of having them both have dinner together without no paperwork signed at all, and

Leaha Crawford 8:19
they asked you out to deal.

Julian Rosado 8:22
How did you know? So I was like, why not just have everyone meet up for dinner and I pay for

Leaha Crawford 8:30
it, and they say rookie mistake, as they would say, rookie mistake, right? So I

Julian Rosado 8:35
had, so, had a great dinner, everything. And then so the next day, I get a nice email saying, Thank you so much for the introduction. We'll be seeing you at the game. And I'm like, great, great, cool, cool, and then I don't hear nothing, probably for like a month or so. But when I see on social media, I see my athlete representing that client, that client. So what did you learn to have the paperwork drafted and signed before representing, presenting it to any type of business, yeah, yeah.

Leaha Crawford 9:27
That's and that, I think that was a good lesson for you, because as entrepreneurs, you know, I say, I've been saying this for decade, for over a decade, it's baptism by fire, yeah? And sometimes you learn some tough lessons, but you really then it's, what do you want? The desire has to be there more than the desire has to be stronger than the lesson you've just learned. And you have to, you know, take it on the chair and just keep it moving, keep smiling and keep growing with grace. Yeah,

Julian Rosado 9:56
I'll tell you another off. Rookie mistake I made. So there was this company that I really, really wanted, and so I met with one of the founders. And so he was like, Okay, we'll have the lunch here. I was just so, like, shocked that he emailed me back. And so I get all dressed up, have lunch with them. And then he was, Okay, what's your price? How much do you want? I was like, you just asked me that, like, straight you didn't have a number, did I mean? And then I then my mind, I'm thinking, okay, don't go too high, or should I go low? So I'm like, Okay, let me just go low, just to show them, you know, just to introduce myself. Okay, so I say $1,000 okay, maybe $1,000 okay, that's, that's okay, okay, okay, so say $1,000 so he's like, okay, all right, all right. So he doesn't even pick up the paper after I said it just moves it aside. So we should talk about something come completely different. Yeah. And then after that, he gets up, shakes my hand, pays for dinner, and then leaves, I mean, lunch, then he leaves. Then I get called back from his assistant, and then he's like, Oh yeah, we decided just a pass and yada yada. Then I get a call back from a friend of his that who initially introduced us, and he was like, Julian, did you offer $1,000 he's like, that is an insult,

Leaha Crawford 11:41
but you want to, but that's $1,000 but you want to know what the interesting side to that is. Julian, honestly, pricing is a challenge in most industries, right? Because just knowing as an entrepreneur how to price your products, to be competitive in the market, to show value for your services. Because I used to have that problem too, like, I don't know what to charge people. Yeah, and I had to go through a whole regimen to really, I mean, I got it down to a science now, but in the beginning years ago, I was like, you know, what do you charge people? How do you do the market research, you know, computers and all that other stuff. Information wasn't as readily available as it is now, yeah. And that's a challenge for a lot of entrepreneurs, because you want to price yourself in the market. So number one, you can pay your bills, but number and you can sustain the company, yeah, and even possibly have some money left over to invest and do different things. And, you know, just asking and answering the question, what do you want? But what is fair? What is a fair price for the services that you're offering? Yeah, what is a fair price? And

Julian Rosado 12:47
so he told me. He said, Do you believe in your product? Yeah, absolutely right. And then he said, You charge as much as your product is should be yes. He said, That's it. If your product costs $5,000 you charge $5,000 right? And then he said, if he's not willing to pay, leave him, because there is somebody else that is willing to pay $5,000 so that's it. Close, end of story. But

Leaha Crawford 13:18
I think, like I said, a lot of people run into the, oh, I don't want to. I know when people come into my office, because, you know, by trade, I do know this is my heavy season taxes. Our price is what the price is. And some people come in and they say, Well, I don't want to pay, okay, yeah, well, you know, I'm not moving the price, yeah, that's what the price is. Yeah, I have a good day, yeah. And I don't argue, I don't get upset. And I have, in the past, I've had clients, you know, throw temper. I'd look though the temperature outside the door. I'm done. That's what the price is, yeah. And I had to learn to be I'm okay if you want us, if you want to be a partner in this. I'm okay if you don't, yeah. But my price is my price,

Julian Rosado 13:57
yeah, yeah. I thought I can work my way up, you know? Well, and then he was like, No, it doesn't work. Like, well,

Leaha Crawford 14:05
you also have to know the industry that you that you're in, and understand that,

Julian Rosado 14:09
yeah. So that was my big rookie mistake. Big rookie mistake,

Leaha Crawford 14:13
all right, so growth and grace. Talk to me about growth and grace. So you started growth and grace. You're looking, I mean, you work with up and coming athletes. Doesn't matter the sport. How do you find the companies, though, for them to actually endorse,

Julian Rosado 14:29
really? So before I find find the athletes, I call an array of companies, I look at their price points. I really start, I look on CrunchBase that's up and coming, a list, probably a list of startups, okay, and so I call them and see if they are interested in endorsing an athlete. And crunch base, they usually represent. But no, no, probably 100,000 companies. Oh, nice. Even more.

Leaha Crawford 15:04
Okay, so that's a good database. Again. Is data driven a good database for you to go and see? Now, when you're looking at the companies, do you look to see if the companies have websites where they're located?

Julian Rosado 15:13
Yeah? They mostly do, yeah. They all do okay, where they're located,

Leaha Crawford 15:17
and if it would be, do you try to figure out what would be a good fit, what type

Julian Rosado 15:22
of person would be the fit. That's after once I find the company, find out their ethos and everything, then I will go ahead and Okay, now it's time to to do the Lego set. Which one will be a nice fit for them? So

Leaha Crawford 15:38
it's grow animals. You're gonna take the tiger, matching with the tiger, and you gonna take the giraffe? Okay, I'm matching with you. Okay, yeah, all right. So up and coming. Athletes, growth, sports and growth, because it's growth and grace. Sports and growth. I love it. Sports and growth. Contact information, 725-300-2096, again, 725-300-2096, because it's a company that's trying to get their name out there, an up and coming athlete that wants exposure. And better way to get exposure is to talk about a product, and hopefully a product that you really believe in. It is always a product that they believe in. It's always a product that they believe in. And they're probably meeting in some, I mean, being introduced to something that they had nothing, that they knew nothing about,

Julian Rosado 16:24
yeah, that that's what that I love, that different interests us from other brands, is that you probably hear it a lot, like on podcasts and other shows. You see them, they have, like, tons of like, other endorsements or that it's things that they really are not passionate about, or or athletes or even, or see it like other brands where they represent other athletes or celebrities, and you know that this is just a large paycheck they really don't, you know, have no correlation or no connection,

Leaha Crawford 17:02
so you try to bring a correlation or a connection with the athlete and the brand so that make sure that it's in alignment,

Julian Rosado 17:08
especially with upcoming, like upcoming brands and everything. Yeah,

Leaha Crawford 17:12
so in growing it at Why did you name it sports and growth? Because

Julian Rosado 17:17
it is a sport, and you are growing, you are growing the athlete, and you are growing your brand. Own

Leaha Crawford 17:24
the brand. I love it. I love it. I love it. Now. Do you find that the athletes, they enjoy work, they want to renew the sponsorship they like, to keep them on going. I mean, what happens with that? Yeah, so

Julian Rosado 17:39
the when other like the athlete, re signs again for an upcoming either trades to another team, or that's only time when they decides to break their contract, or decides to or doesn't sign for another six month, or another three month, or even another year contract with the brand is because they're, they're traded, yeah,

Leaha Crawford 18:11
okay. But in boxing, you don't have that because they're, I mean, they're not traded.

Julian Rosado 18:16
No. Boxing is per fight. It's perfect,

Leaha Crawford 18:18
okay, okay, and then how well they're known, I guess,

Julian Rosado 18:22
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, it's basically by card. It's how, how high you are on the card, okay, on the card, okay, yeah. Like, how many eyeballs are gonna see you on this card? Like, are you the main event? Are you the CO main event, or are you the way under card? So it's like, like, only people are are at the event. Are going to see you? Got it? Do you know what I mean, right? Are you going to

Leaha Crawford 18:52
be on the televised portion of the card, or are you going to be on the part where people that get there early, yeah, get to see you. You know as up and coming. I love it. So would you do you look? Do you look for that person that's land down low on a card that has the aspiration to be the title fight, or, I guess that's what they call title fight?

Julian Rosado 19:10
Yeah. So for that fighter, he's not, we don't grab an endorsement for him. It's because at that stage that fighter only has fought, probably less than 10, probably 10, okay, 10 fights. Okay. And so he's a way, way up and coming fighter himself. And so finding an endorsement brand for him, it's, you know, little bit harder, yeah, little bit little

Leaha Crawford 19:37
bit more challenging. Little bit more challenging. Okay, I love it. I love it. Yeah. So where do you see this company going? Where do you want it to go? Do you want, do you want to expand it, just, not to do just the endorsement deals, but possibly even, you know, work with athletes and stuff like that, or, yeah, so work with them more, like on personal development, personal growth and,

Julian Rosado 19:56
yeah, I wanted to be, um. Um, larger to which I'm more hands off, and so I can see it in other states, and so I can bring on more people who are exactly like me,

Leaha Crawford 20:15
because you have another talent that we didn't talk about, the styling, because you have an eye for fashion, you do you have an eye for fashion? Yeah,

Julian Rosado 20:28
yeah, but

Leaha Crawford 20:30
you don't. We don't want to add that just a whole lift different. I'm just saying you do have an eye for fashion, yeah, but you but do you like fashion?

Julian Rosado 20:41
No, no, you don't. No, no,

Leaha Crawford 20:45
no. You like the sports.

Julian Rosado 20:47
Probably because I was raised into it, because my dad had a custom suit business, and so I remember having swatches all around the house, you know, ever since I was a kid and going in Taylor's house, you know, at three o'clock in the morning and you know,

Leaha Crawford 21:07
stuff like, Yeah, but the swatches around the house got Did you ever take the swatches around the house and put them up against your skin so you can see what colors look good on

Julian Rosado 21:14
you? Yeah? Yeah, definitely. And mom, and my mom, she was a sketch artist. So she actually showed me and my brothers how to properly sketch and how to pin a suit. You can pin a suit, yeah, yeah, really, yeah, yeah. So Can my my brothers, we can pin a suit, yeah? So it's just sticking to people, yeah, yeah, just something.

Leaha Crawford 21:46
It's funny, because that's it, because someone asked me that, and I said, Honestly, I can tell, because I don't know how to pin a suit, but I know what a well dressed person look well we raised by the same people, so, yeah, okay, got it all right, so my name is Leah Crawford. I am. You're listening to growth and grace. I have my little cousin Julian Rosado on here talking about his business, sports and growth, where he works with up and coming athletes to align them with brands, local brands in areas, to get them exposure. Julia, it has been, I mean, I'm, first of all, I am so excited that you are in this business and the sports, because it's not just so you would you do, like rugby and soccer and all of that. Oh,

Julian Rosado 22:33
yeah, we, we, well, MMB, is about to come here, okay? And that's gonna be really, really fun. That's gonna be really, really fun, because there is no cap, they have no capital event on the players, okay, and so that's

Leaha Crawford 22:49
gonna now, would you do really fun. Let me ask you this, would you do University athletes?

Julian Rosado 22:53
Yeah. So University athletes, there's an i l deal, so that means name, image and likeness. So that was just passed, I think, three years ago. And so, yeah, we were able to do collegiate athletes too. Athletes,

Leaha Crawford 23:09
okay, I love it. I love it. I love it. Well, you've been listening to growth and grace. And like I said, I am Leah Crawford. We have Julian Rosado on here talking about his journey, not only as an entrepreneur, but you know how he had to grow some mistakes he made in the process. Of mistakes, some life lessons he learned, you know, get the contract signed first. Get the contract signed first before you bring two people together, you know, because they might X you out of the contract. You know they might ask you out of the contract. Well, I want to say thank you. Are there any closing words you want you have for our guest?

Julian Rosado 23:48
Yeah, so just make sure you get the contract signed. And that actually happened to me more than once. So so if any young entrepreneurs out there, when you make your first mistake, second mistake, third mistake. Just know that keep on going. It doesn't matter who says you should give it up, or it doesn't matter your own mother or your dad or whoever. Just keep on going. Just keep on going. Yeah, even if you say, your own mind tells you you should give it up. No, keep on going, keep on calling. Yeah, I love it, because once you hit that point and you will, trust me, you will, once you hit that point that that, that light bulb will go off, and you would see it's all worth it.

Leaha Crawford 24:44
Well, I can tell you this. I want to say thank you to you for taking the time to come on up here with me today. I really appreciate it. But for my listeners, aka Day at the Capitol, as you know, I am a member of Alpha Kappa, Alpha Sorority Incorporated, and we are doing a. Theta, theta omega chapter, and we are doing both the Nevada chapters we're doing, aka Day at the Capitol, where we're going up to talk to advocate for policy and to talk about different things that are happening in our state, that if that impact our community, you can go to a K, a t t o.com a K, a t t o.com, we are catching a bus up to Carson City. Try to make it affordable for everyone to join us, just to meet some good people, laugh, have a good time, but also understand what the legislative process is. You know, when you see that NRS NRS Nevada, Nevada. I said Nevada like I wasn't from it Nevada, revised statute. You know, they're in off, they're up there. They're in Carson City right now, making a difference, making an impact, and we want to go up so that our voices can be heard. Again, that is a k, a T, T o.com a K, a T, T o.com Well, that's a wrap for growth and grace. Thank you for sharing time with me. I appreciate it. Remember, growth is a journey, and grace makes it worthwhile. Keep pushing forward, keep showing up, and most importantly, keep giving yourself grace to grow until next week, I'm Leah Crawford, be well. Be great. I'll talk to you next week. Bye.