#012: Rhyme Antics - Founder & CEO Chantel Calloway

What we do after we find rock bottom is what defines us. Chantel Calloway is the creator and CEO of Rhyme Antics, a fun, engaging and educational game inspired by the roots of hip-hop artistry. Chantel developed the game sitting in jail on New Year’s Eve 2010 after she robbed a bank to provide for her son. Today, Rhyme Antics is the first black-owned game to be sold in big-box retailers, Target and Walmart.

Chantel joins Fran Racioppi as she talks about her fall, her learnings, her path to entrepreneurship and how taking responsibility for your actions and accepting when you’re at rock bottom can inspire you to do more. Chantel also provides her lessons on successful crowd-funding and how iteration is critical to developing a product your audience wants, regardless of what the creator thinks it should be. Dive into an inspiring journey of self-development and be motivated to sing your own path, never letting poor choices define your life or your character.

Read the full episode transcription here and learn more on The Jedburgh Podcast Website.

Highlights:

-Fran and Chantel play a heated round of Rhyme Antics 

-Rhyme Antics as a literacy game to build vocabulary and command of word usage

-Rhyme Antics is the first black-owned board game in Walmart and Target

-The literacy crisis in the United States

-Chantel describes her decision to rob a bank to provide for her son

-Bounceback and recovery from hard times

-Make personal development a priority

-The effective use of crowdfunding and how to develop a crowdfunding campaign

-The first steps in developing a concept, pilot products, market research and focus groups

-The need for founders to remain true to their vision but accept feedback in the iteration of their products

Quotes:

-“The hardest work a person has to do is the self development work.”

-“As long as you stay the course and stay committed to your goal, you will achieve it.”

-“When you have no money, you have to be super creative.”

-“I was lost spiritually. Not focused, I forgot my potential, wasn’t living for my purpose...I was just lost and fell upon hard times.”

-“It was the best and worst thing that ever happened to me. Through the dark time and having that fall, I rebuilt myself to the person I am today and that would have never happened without that incident happening.”

-"Will people you don't know support the product - great test of viability - before you waste your time and money - are you market ready?"

-"The thing that separates this product from everything else is that it is fun and educational"

-“I turned down the first licensing deal that I was offered because the company didn’t understand the community that this product talks to."

-"There will never ever be a little girl that’s black, that will say I can’t be a board game developer because you did it. It was your destiny, you were the one that was supposed to do it.”

Chantel’s Daily Three Foundations of Success

-Meditation

-Make your bed

-Set aside undistracted time to focus on work