Episode 264: Grinding For Success, with Clinton Sparks

Clinton Sparks is an Entrepreneur, Investor, Executive, Author and marketing maven disguised as a Grammy nominated, multi-platinum DJ, Producer and Songwriter originally from Boston, Massachusetts. Clinton has been shaping and shifting hip hop culture for almost 20 years, from introducing it to the E! Network audience where he was an on-air host for 5 years (2008-2013), to building his own worldwide syndicated radio show in over 22 markets. Clinton has always been at the forefront of merging and colliding cultures. His ability to forecast trends while being able to fluently speak and weave amongst different industries has given Clinton the advantage to garner tremendous success for himself, brands, companies, and talent he's worked with. Clinton is a Grammy nominated, multi-platinum record producer and publisher responsible for selling over 75 million records. He has won BMI songwriter awards with his C. Sparks Ent, Inc. company as well as a recipient of numerous ASCAP music awards with DJ Snake as part of his Get Familiar Music publishing. Sparks has written and produced hit songs for multi-platinum recording artists such as Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Rick Ross, Diddy, Pitbull, Ludacris, Big Sean, Akon and 2 Chainz.

He has created critically acclaimed projects with artists from Eminem and Kanye West to Busta Rhymes and The Clipse, who's "We Got It For Cheap" series was named in Rolling Stone magazines top 50 albums of that year. He was Diddy's tour DJ, built his own worldwide syndicated radio show in over 22 markets, Helped launch Eminem's Shade 45 channel on Sirius/XM, was the VP at Dash Radio and played an intricate role in the branding of Ciroc during his ambassadorship as a Ciroc Boy.

Clinton has authored a book titled, HOW TO WIN BIG IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS. The book is a modern-day guide that teaches those aspiring to succeed in the music business, how to build a sustainable and scalable career. Shark Tank and Founder of FUBU, Daymond John, wrote the foreword citing, "Clinton is the epitome of a hustler and innovator, boasting incredible vision. He is an expert at understanding culture, brands, industries, marketing, and the connecting of worlds."

Clinton Sparks is the CEO and founder of Get Familiar, Inc., a marketing, strategy and consulting firm helping companies and brands connect, align and amplify, as well as the CEO and co-founder of Get Familiar Tech, a technology company providing innovative solutions and services specializing in: service automation, data analytics and system/cloud integration.

Additionally, Clinton is the co-owner, co-founder and Chief Business Development Officer of the esports lifestyle gaming brand, XSET. He is the owner of the first national monetizable Hip Hop radio station, Get Familiar Radio and, Co-founder and owner of BOOTE, a state-of-the-art women's athleisure line. Clinton is an investor who has made early investments in companies such as Facebook, FaZe Clan and most recently FanUp, a social sports betting app. In addition to investing, Clinton held an executive role at Faze Clan as VP of Business Development for over two years, again bringing Hip Hop into the gaming space by recruiting rappers Offset, Swae Lee, Pitbull, Yo Gotti and more into investing in esports. He also currently heads up business development for FanUp.

What you'll learn about in this episode:

• Clinton discusses growing up in a difficult childhood without a father figure, and he shares how he learned the value of working hard and grinding for success
• What early challenges Clinton faced across his career, and how hard work, hustling and perseverance helped him become a better communicator to overcome them
• How Clinton learned to market himself by giving away his music to anyone who looked like they might enjoy hip hop
• Why Clinton never considered himself to be "struggling" and instead focused on making a plan and following it to achieve his goals
• Why Clinton believes the key to success is found in being a good person and adding value for others by serving them first
• Why passion, drive and being real are important traits that have served Clinton well while grinding for success, and why he has never once questioned the path he has taken
• Why being committed to what you are doing is crucial, and why showing others your level of commitment can help highlight you and make you stand out
• Why there are no shortcuts or "cheat codes" for success, and why you had better be ready to grind, hustle, build your reputation and work for it
• How Clinton manages to run all his companies and keep all his various projects going at one time, and why if you don't love what you're doing you should stop doing it
• Why learning lessons from others and applying them to your own situation is the key to growing and getting stronger

Resources:

• Website: www.clintonsparks.com
• How To Win Big in the Music Business by Clinton Sparks: www.winbiginmusic.com
• Follow Clinton on Twitch: www.Twitch.tv/clintonsparks
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/clintonsparks/
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/clintonsparks/
• Twitter: @ClintonSparks
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/clinton-sparks-158096b7/

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