Author: Henry Murphy

I love Facebook memories for this one reason. It shows me pictures from 2012. It’s when I first started the brand and some of the things that I was doing. It made me remember things that I totally forgot about.

When you make a certain amount of money, and the business is doing well. It’s easy to forget about how you started. The memories reminded me of the foundation that I’ve built with the brand from the beginning.

This is important for two reasons. One, is that I can teach others how to build a brand from the ground up. Secondly, I can build another brand similar with the same concept that I used to build the first brand.

People will always tell you that it’s easy to build something, but that’s not true. It takes perseverance, hard work, and trial and error. But, the good news is that it’s attainable. I have been in Los Angeles, California for one year. I can see the opportunity on how to build my active brand from the ground up.

I would not talk about the details here on how I plan to do it, but I will share at a later time. I am excited about the possibilities of what I can do, and you should too. Now, go and build something great.

I am an advocate for self-education. I was never that guy who was made for traditional school. However, I do think that school has its place. Teaching in institutions–apart from specifics like counseling, or being a doctor or a dentist–is pretty broad.

I think the social aspect and showing up on time is very important, along with other things. As the world changes so quickly, self-education gets more and more important. You must ask yourself, what do I want to learn? Who do I want to be? 

Once you have answered those questions, then see who is doing it well and learn from them. You also have the opportunity to make things better and be innovative. 

I am currently learning about real estate and stocks. There’s so much information out there that it can be overwhelming sometimes. But I get the opportunity to soak up information from people who look like me and talk like me. This concept has been a game changer. 

This is why a guy named Wall Street Trapper can teach me about stocks. He was a former inmate who, upon his release, started applying the principles he learned. He has taught me many concepts, from understanding graphs, growth stocks, value stocks, ETF stocks, and so much more.

I believe so much in self-knowledge that I purposely made my podcast short segments. The reason for this is because of the way I learned. I personally tap out after 30 minutes, and it’s hard for me to retain information past that point. My goal is to connect with people who learn like me. Remember, as you learn, give back.

Their was a cook out on the south side of Chicago. It was an amazing get together. Good food, good music and laughter. The men was gathered on one side and the women on the other side of the yard.

There was a guy name Gerald who started to speak about being married and never once cheated on his wife. The guys around him marveled. As soon as he finished speaking, one of the women passed by the guys. She was beautiful to the eyes. Gerald looked at her not once, but three times. It was obvious he was lusting at this point.

He immediately remembered the scripture about if you lust for a woman in your heart that you already committed adultery. He humbled himself and repented.

Humility is one of those things that escapes us everyday and we have to be intentional about being humble.

As his popularity grew, his influence grew and so did his team. Promoters started booking him across the country, and he was selling out shows. He use to seek God about every decision, but that behavior started to fade. He started taking opinions from the experts in the industry.

He started to talk about his big plans. He would say” I’m going to do this and do that and we will run the numbers up””! He was immediately convicted and remembered this scripture. If God’s will, we would do this or do that. He remembered
his life was a vapor and every breath is the grace of God.

He repented! Humility is not natural for us and we have to be intentional about being humble.

It was this guy who was a street performer. He had dreams to do big things in life. He submitted his artistry to God and trusted him to provide. The more he showed up the more people came out to see him. His talent was something to be admired.

As his popularity grew, his influence grew and so did his team. Promoters started booking him across the country, and he was selling out shows. He use to seek God about every decision, but that behavior started to fade. He started taking opinions from the experts in the industry.

He started to talk about his big plans. He would say” I’m going to do this and do that and we will run the numbers up””! He was immediately convicted and remembered this scripture. If God’s will, we would do this or do that. He remembered
his life was a vapor and every breath is the grace of God.

He repented! Humility is not natural for us and we have to be intentional about being humble.

No one owes you anything. The mindset that someone owes you something stops you from executing at a level in which you are capable of. Our mindset should be that we have 24 hours in a day just like everyone else. 

I believe it all starts with goalsetting. We also must ask ourselves, why? Why are we doing what we are doing? The reason the “why” is so important is because you have to believe it before you even get started. You have to see the end before you begin. People around you will think that you are out of your mind but that’s okay. Everyone will not see your vision at first. 

Now that you have the vision, and you recognize the “why,” now it’s time to go in. There will be days that you miss your goals, but the point is to be relentless in your pursuit. Once you begin to hit your goals, you’ll set your next set of goals a little higher. 

Kanye West said a line that I love to this day, “I was doing five beats every day for three summers; I deserve to do these numbers.” 

He was saying that he put the work in, and it must produce results. The reason he could say that is because he knew he was respecting every day that came along. He knew, in order to get to his goals, it would take constant dedication. 

This is what is called The Compound Effect or The Slight Edge. I don’t care who the competition is, if you are relentless, then you are a force to be reckoned with.

There is a lot more that I can write on this subject and honestly, it deserves to be put in a book as a chapter. The last thing I will say is this: get people around you who are like-minded.

It’s been over 10 years as an entrepreneur, and I hesitated to write this blog. The reason being is because I have so many goals that I have yet to accomplish. God has put so much in me that it gets overwhelming at times, and I am learning how to move with God and distinguish the seasons as I abide in Him more.

I am the happiest when I am creating. When I see an idea come to life from my head to graphics, and then on a T-shirt, then on to a model and then seeing it shipped out to a customer, it’s an amazing feeling. I honestly can get lost in that world and I think I did for quite a while. I could truly say that I was fulfilled with the things that I was doing. I ultimately knew the key to the fulfillment was that I was doing things that God wanted me to do with my life. 

I project things with my mind often. Let me explain; I can see us grow and move from building to building with more sales than ever before. I will say to myself, “If I was in a place 10 times bigger than this, would it fulfill me?” The answer is no. That, alone, could not fulfill me. It made me realize more and more that we need a why. 

Why am I doing this? The “why” is the answer to our fulfillment because achievement alone can never satisfy. Purpose must be at the forefront.

thought about titling this “something borrowed.” God gives us gifts to steward, and our job is to multiply those gifts. 

The danger of talents is that they tend to lift us up. Let’s face it; we love people’s gifts. Most of us have a favorite something, whether it be an author, actor, actress, sports figure, speaker, or entrepreneur–you name it. 

Now, we can’t help who lifts us up and exalts us, but we can submit the gift to the Gift Giver. This is hard to do and it’s continual. 

I thought about titling this “something borrowed.” God gives us gifts to steward, and our job is to multiply those gifts. 

The danger of talents is that they tend to lift us up. Let’s face it; we love people’s gifts. Most of us have a favorite something, whether it be an author, actor, actress, sports figure, speaker, or entrepreneur–you name it. 

Now, we can’t help who lifts us up and exalts us, but we can submit the gift to the Gift Giver. This is hard to do and it’s continual. 

I remember when God gave me the idea for Unapologetic Urban Gear; I was so excited. Soon after, I had this unction to kill it. I said to myself, “This makes no sense.”

I began to learn that the seed has to die first and then it produces. This was weird to hear for me, but I got it and did it. A year later, God did some amazing things for years to come. I feel that I am personally here again with the brand. It’s not mine; it’s His, and I have to surrender the gift to the Gift Giver. 

Olson helped revolutionized my thinking. My dad was always challenging me to think. He introduced me to this book many years ago in hopes that I would apply the principles. 

Let’s talk about the heart of the slight edge through my eyes. I love creating content and I know the more content you have, the better chance there is for someone to see what you do. That’s just the world we live in, and I was ready to adapt, create, and excel. 

I knew that I couldn’t afford a budget like the big boys but I COULD outwork them. I knew that I could produce more content with the right systems. So, I started recruiting models, photographers, and videographers. I knew if I could do content week in and week out that it would give me the slight edge 

We did photoshoot after photoshoot until we had enough content to post a different video everyday for six months and enough pictures to show for years. 

The compound effect of this principle is life changing. I am working on adding this amazing principle to more areas of my life. I recently started writing more blogs and recording more organic content for social media. My hope is that you would do the same.