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

On this episode of Butternomics, our host, Brandon Butler, talks with Congresswoman Nikema Williams about why ownership is the new black and how Atlanta keeps proving it. She drove here at 20 in a 1991 Honda Accord knowing nobody, taught in Fulton County schools, and lived at Centennial Place with the spot Roosevelt cut the ribbon on the country’s first public housing project sitting right outside her front door.

Twenty years later she represents that district in Congress and sits on the committee that shapes housing and banking for the whole country. She breaks down the HEIRS Act and the four years it took to pass a bill that helps families untangle land titles so they can finally sell, borrow against, and pass down what they already own.

She also gets into the $3 billion she secured to reconnect neighborhoods the highways cut in half, what data centers owe the communities they move into and more.

On this episode of Butternomics, our host, Brandon Butler, talks with Congresswoman Nikema Williams about why ownership is the new black and how Atlanta keeps proving it. She drove here at 20 in a 1991 Honda Accord knowing nobody, taught in Fulton County schools, and lived at Centennial Place with the spot Roosevelt cut the ribbon on the country&rsquo;s first public housing project sitting right outside her front door.
Twenty years later she represents that district in Congress and sits on the committee that shapes housing and banking for the whole country. She breaks down the HEIRS Act and the four years it took to pass a bill that helps families untangle land titles so they can finally sell, borrow against, and pass down what they already own.
She also gets into the $3 billion she secured to reconnect neighborhoods the highways cut in half, what data centers owe the communities they move into and more.

Why Ownership Is The New Black With Congresswoman Nikema Williams

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/54cce4a0-e97c-4e27-85cf-b49600a6b6cc/transcript

On this episode of Butternomics, our host, Brandon Butler, talks with Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings, the founders of Earn Your Leisure, about how they turned financial education into something the culture actually wanted. Before there was a podcast, there were two years of daily social content and a classroom full of students, and the show only got made because the audience kept asking for it. That same instinct built everything after it.

Free networking events in city after city with no cover and no upsell. Event promo written like news headlines instead of flyers. An eye test Rashad trusts more than any dashboard. It is also why big companies with real budgets keep trying to build their own InvestFest and keep coming up short, because they jumped in at 70 and Rashad and Troy started at zero with 100 people in a room.

They get into why Atlanta became home for InvestFest and stayed home, what they notice about people who move at billionaire scale, and the difference between leaving a blueprint and giving somebody permission.

On this episode of Butternomics, our host, Brandon Butler, talks with Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings, the founders of Earn Your Leisure, about how they turned financial education into something the culture actually wanted. Before there was a podcast, there were two years of daily social content and a classroom full of students, and the show only got made because the audience kept asking for it. That same instinct built everything after it.
Free networking events in city after city with no cover and no upsell. Event promo written like news headlines instead of flyers. An eye test Rashad trusts more than any dashboard. It is also why big companies with real budgets keep trying to build their own InvestFest and keep coming up short, because they jumped in at 70 and Rashad and Troy started at zero with 100 people in a room.
They get into why Atlanta became home for InvestFest and stayed home, what they notice about people who move at billionaire scale, and the difference between leaving a blueprint and giving somebody permission.

How Earn Your Leisure Made Financial Literacy Cool

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/9bdb11cb-aa6d-42d1-8551-b495014b1d02/transcript

On this episode of Butternomics, our host, Brandon Butler, talks with Connie S. Falls, founder of Connie S. Falls and the operational systems expert known as Systems Bae. With 19 years of experience building the back end of everything from federal agencies to mega churches to record labels,

Connie breaks down why there is no scaling without systems, and why most people saying “scale” actually just mean growth. She and Brandon get into the difference between a business and a hobby that makes money, why “nobody can do it like me” is the pride that kills companies, and how you can’t build generational wealth without generational documentation.

Connie also shares the moment her five-year-old daughter forced her to confront her own hustle, plus the simplest first step any overwhelmed entrepreneur can take today: start with a checklist.

On this episode of Butternomics, our host, Brandon Butler, talks with Connie S. Falls, founder of Connie S. Falls and the operational systems expert known as Systems Bae. With 19 years of experience building the back end of everything from federal agencies to mega churches to record labels,
Connie breaks down why there is no scaling without systems, and why most people saying &ldquo;scale&rdquo; actually just mean growth. She and Brandon get into the difference between a business and a hobby that makes money, why &ldquo;nobody can do it like me&rdquo; is the pride that kills companies, and how you can&rsquo;t build generational wealth without generational documentation.
Connie also shares the moment her five-year-old daughter forced her to confront her own hustle, plus the simplest first step any overwhelmed entrepreneur can take today: start with a checklist.

Why You Can’t Scale Without Systems With Connie S. Falls

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/c2d1ba66-7be1-4326-962e-b49100cf1b44/transcript

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

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