On this episode of Butternomics, Brandon Butler chats with TJ Bennett, CEO of Sole Play, about transforming a sneaker boutique into a community-driven movement. TJ shares his journey from corporate life to business ownership, how Sole Play leverages culture and partnerships to impact mental health awareness, financial literacy, and gaming, and the importance of intentional marketing, building a strong team, and creating a purpose-driven brand that resonates with sneakerheads and everyday customers alike.

On this episode of Butternomics, Brandon Butler chats with TJ Bennett, CEO of Sole Play, about transforming a sneaker boutique into a community-driven movement. TJ shares his journey from corporate life to business ownership, how Sole Play leverages culture and partnerships to impact mental health awareness, financial literacy, and gaming, and the importance of intentional marketing, building a strong team, and creating a purpose-driven brand that resonates with sneakerheads and everyday customers alike.

Butternomics: The Business of Culture takes a deep dive into the intersection of business and culture, showing how brands, entrepreneurs, and tastemakers use culture level up. Join serial entrepreneur, thought leader, and CEO of Butter.ATL, Brandon Butler (@mrsuperbran), as he brings you exclusive interviews, trends, insights, and more. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or a seasoned pro, Butternomics is for you.

Butternomics: The Business of Culture takes a deep dive into the intersection of business and culture, showing how brands, entrepreneurs, and tastemakers use culture level up. Join serial entrepreneur, thought leader, and CEO of Butter.ATL, Brandon Butler (@mrsuperbran), as he brings you exclusive interviews, trends, insights, and more. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or a seasoned pro, Butternomics is for you.

Butternomics the Business of Culture

Butternomics - The Business of Culture

Sole Play’s Secret Sauce: Sneakers, Community, and Culture

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/aa2b4c0c-8c1d-47d1-9f27-b265006368d6/transcript

Mandii B pulled up to Butternomics and broke down the real podcast money blueprint. Most creators chase a network deal thinking it means marketing, studio time, production help, and guest booking handled for them. None of that is guaranteed. A network deal is really just you licensing your content so they can sell ads against it. The expenses, the editing, the booking, the studio, all still on you.

The real play is diversification. Patreon brings Mandii a quarter million a year by itself because subscriptions hit different when your audience actually believes in the work. Live shows start small but build a real connection with the people who already ride for you. Merch is a slower bag, but it's another lane when the demand is real.

The lesson is simple. Stop waiting on somebody else's deal to validate your show. Build the audience, own the income streams, and let the network come to you on your terms.

Mandii B pulled up to Butternomics and broke down the real podcast money blueprint. Most creators chase a network deal thinking it means marketing, studio time, production help, and guest booking handled for them. None of that is guaranteed. A network deal is really just you licensing your content so they can sell ads against it. The expenses, the editing, the booking, the studio, all still on you.
The real play is diversification. Patreon brings Mandii a quarter million a year by itself because subscriptions hit different when your audience actually believes in the work. Live shows start small but build a real connection with the people who already ride for you. Merch is a slower bag, but it's another lane when the demand is real.
The lesson is simple. Stop waiting on somebody else's deal to validate your show. Build the audience, own the income streams, and let the network come to you on your terms.

The Real Podcast Money Blueprint, Owning Your IP, and Why Black Creators Have To Be 10x Better Ft Mandii B

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/443ce58a-3744-46ed-a53e-b45700232069/transcript

Tendernism didn't start on the internet. It started 50 years ago in a kitchen in Robbins, Illinois, with a young Walter Johnson cutting wingtips off chicken wings for his brother's restaurant.

50 years. 50+ states. Casino kitchens, backyard cookouts, and every Southern state he could get to so he could learn what the old folks knew about a pinch of this and a pinch of that. By the time the camera found him, the craft was already there. The world just hadn't caught up yet.

In this episode, Brandon Butler sits down with the man who invented Tendernism to tell the full story. How the word actually got named (an oxtail, the sun, and meat that peeled off the bone like an orange). Why he calls oxtails "Black Diamonds." How he ended up on the phone with Snoop and Ron Isley. And the Muhammad Ali line that made him realize this was bigger than food: "Ali shocked the world in '65. I shocked 'em in 2025."

Walter is proof that your time is your time. The meat was just the entryway. Tendernism is the movement.

▶ Subscribe: https://youtube.com/@butternomics?sub_confirmation=1

#Butternomics #BusinessOfCulture #Tendernism #WalterJohnson #BlackDiamonds #AtlantaPodcast #BlackEntrepreneurs #SouthernFood #BBQ #AtlantaBusiness

Tendernism didn't start on the internet. It started 50 years ago in a kitchen in Robbins, Illinois, with a young Walter Johnson cutting wingtips off chicken wings for his brother's restaurant.
50 years. 50+ states. Casino kitchens, backyard cookouts, and every Southern state he could get to so he could learn what the old folks knew about a pinch of this and a pinch of that. By the time the camera found him, the craft was already there. The world just hadn't caught up yet.
In this episode, Brandon Butler sits down with the man who invented Tendernism to tell the full story. How the word actually got named (an oxtail, the sun, and meat that peeled off the bone like an orange). Why he calls oxtails "Black Diamonds." How he ended up on the phone with Snoop and Ron Isley. And the Muhammad Ali line that made him realize this was bigger than food: "Ali shocked the world in '65. I shocked 'em in 2025."
Walter is proof that your time is your time. The meat was just the entryway. Tendernism is the movement.
▶ Subscribe: https://youtube.com/@butternomics?sub_confirmation=1
#Butternomics #BusinessOfCulture #Tendernism #WalterJohnson #BlackDiamonds #AtlantaPodcast #BlackEntrepreneurs #SouthernFood #BBQ #AtlantaBusiness

Tendernism: The Untold Story Behind the Word That Broke the Internet

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/486f9867-2080-494e-82c0-b45101021ba0/transcript

It costs $300,000 to $400,000 a year just to protect voting rights in Georgia. The SAVE Act would charge you $33 to $130 for a new ID just to vote. DEI rollbacks are cutting off SBA loans and grant funding to Black businesses right now. Attorney Gerald Griggs sat down with Butternomics and unpacked the economics of civil rights, how legislation is quietly hitting Black wealth, and why Georgia has the highest rate of people under state control in the entire country. He also dropped a number that should stop every Black professional in Atlanta: 2.2 million registered voters. A governor's race takes 1.9 million.

It costs $300,000 to $400,000 a year just to protect voting rights in Georgia. The SAVE Act would charge you $33 to $130 for a new ID just to vote. DEI rollbacks are cutting off SBA loans and grant funding to Black businesses right now. Attorney Gerald Griggs sat down with Butternomics and unpacked the economics of civil rights, how legislation is quietly hitting Black wealth, and why Georgia has the highest rate of people under state control in the entire country. He also dropped a number that should stop every Black professional in Atlanta: 2.2 million registered voters. A governor's race takes 1.9 million.

Attorney Gerald Griggs on Voting Rights, Private Prisons, and Black Power in Georgia

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/b71e423f-e9d5-48b5-ab16-b42b010fc871/transcript

Sole Play’s Secret Sauce: Sneakers, Community, and Culture

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