0:00 [Music] welcome back to careful boys today we're checking in on Anthony's hustle kjas tell us about what's going on over there dude it's been a minute since you since you checked in on on what what's going yeah checking with this guy how many more grand openings are you going to be a part of that's the depressing part man you know studios are closed and here's the thing people actually this is real real conversation right now people actually ask if we're going to Open Studios again um and logically it could make a lot of sense cuz The Branding is already there the groundworks already there the team already knows how to do it like people want it there's like actual demand and stuff I want dance classes where would the location be where's the demand for the location to be at I think it's still
0:50 easiest to still do out here like China oh for sure because in China it's like no hip-hop we're just not even there all the time rule but but the thing is I think when I was in my 20s that was like a dance dream to like want to like have a studio but now that I'm like nearing my 40s I that's not a dream of mine anymore maybe it's cuz it's something we already did and if we still had it it would be obviously like yeah this is what we do but because yeah we already did it it's not like I hella want to do it again and we saw where it didn't work you know what I mean but that's CO's fault it's not you guys you guys were expanding you guys were killing I would blame Gavin Newsome but I mean for what happened in China but so many businesses tanked dur in that yeah I don't blame myself it's just more like do I want to
1:41 do it again though it's like that's not like where my dance dreams are and and how much upkeeping effort it was too and the irony is even like our online dance stuff like K Doo online upkeep for that is like ████ 5% of the actual effort of what we had to do on the day at the actual K Dojo but like in terms of actual quote unquote like how much you make like on your profit and loss it's basically the same for our Montery Park location you know what I mean because s cool it's totally different we just live in a new world too the irony is that it was so taboo back then no one's pissing on the toilet seat on your online kindas don't you how long that takes to clean but your real K you got someone got a wipe it and clean but also you get access to the world Mike's doing it monre Park is only your localized you're
2:31 Capp by people who can drive there but when you do an online one then you could have Europeans and you know you could have ████ Snowden in in Russia even doing a kja moov and there's no ████ water leaking on a rainy day you know what I mean is it hard you teach like dance is it difficult I think if you're a good teacher you can teach anybody anything really when it comes to dancing dude I suck all right I'm not a good dancer here I've always wanted to learn how to dance cuz I hear the music and I Feel the beat but my body just doesn't want that's got to be in your blood somewhere though it doesn't want to you know and Mexican music is not really dancing you just jumping it just it's an just's be honest it's an easy ████ ████ hot though okay but like okay the salsa ████ that's where I hey ████
3:21 I'm not I'm not gay you know I'm straight ████ H to a Mexican moving the waist like that you can't do it's weird come on oh dude but there's that one gay Mexican cowboy everyone keeps sharing which one the gay Mexican cowboy that's why he says it's weird you said it he said it right there dude but don't you the first word was the your answer for salsa don't you usually dance with a lady yeah yeah dude but what I'm seeing is that it's like it's the it's the as a Mexican the Mexicans are very machistas they're very like I don't want to do nothing feminine even though they scream when they're drunk a which is very feminine it's Bor kind of you know what I mean had an uncle who was like om and then the song came on and I'm like that's pretty gay dude but hey this is about the kindas so we can just get gay Mexican stuff I'm trying to go back into the K out of his can I how are you
4:14 guarantee me learning how to dance with your uh guarantee guarantee it 100% money back guarantee guar I learn how to dance the truth is everyone can dance not everybody can look good dancing oh it's different why is that technically dancing is you just moving around throughing music right any any yeah if you ████ feel good moving to music you're dancing can I ask you what race is the worst dancer you should know you would know don't say white is too easy no it's not white really because white people do a lot of technical class white people man yeah white people are killing it in so many different things do ballet ballet tap contemporary jazz modern the whole shebang and even some of the illst be boys in the world socially it's probably white people I'm talking about like newbies you get social professionally it's completely like most white people are
5:04 dominating racially let's do it I I could I could guess I know what it is Inuit oh my what you call me like like alaskans Alaskan Eskimo not much of a dancing culture is it I guess maybe when have they when have fire brother they're still dancing when's the last time you can do freezes is when's the last time they won ABDC ah true hey there's some dope Alaskan B boys though there some Champion B boys that Anchorage CH I I don't even know you put those Native Americans in a circle they'll start dancing now I seen it yeah but it always starts raining well I watched Deadliest Catch and none of those guys ever danced ever off off camera you a little party there's a dude there's a dude who's um
5:55 he's a dancer and he's also a a camera guy for Deadliest Catch he watches JK okay okay he's behind the camera and's he's behind the camera he's from eage that's dope that's TP I is there like why can't I meet him instead of like the 1100th DSA guy so kenas uh yeah fun fact before you move on KES that same guy also shot for Tulsi gabri's book uh tour wow oh really oh wow he's the one who said that she that he came up to her and was like Hey I I watch JK news I'm friends with that guy that's tight yeah good D that is dope so kjas how does Jesus get in uh or teach me something I know I know what else man I know another race that can't I know another race that can't
6:45 dance Jewish people hey that true no they do the ████ oh yeah wait never mind put you in a chair lift it up yo why did he keep hiring us to pump up the parties then Pump Up the Volume you can Google it if you want to Joe go ahead well because they break plates with the dance did um did the cardier job like is that like a thing where did that open up way more opportunities for the future um I don't know because we're not in the future at like the Mandela effect uh so maybe maybe I think I think what it did for us internally was dope because like we just haven't all danced together in a long time especially the older guys oh yeah because there's like way less um opportunity in terms of like live performances that we're doing like now in in this era where most guys have like
7:37 they got kids or they they like moved or like bought houses in like different cities or their hometowns you know what I mean it's like yeah it's way harder for us to get together and just do performances or even like shoot content is there another one booked like for coming up performance of all of you guys together no no not not formally nothing would you say was like this last year uh I think we had a couple performances last year but there everything that we do like now is all just like corporate stuff you know what I mean so just s I'm sure like with Quest 2 it's like if a company is like here's the amount and we're like that's a good amount somehow the guys will some like show up we'll get together you more though even if now we wouldn't do it do you guys make more as kjas or more as you guys individually as like dancers or
8:27 choreographers like how does like the business model model like work for sure individually individually wow at least for my like cuz I'm not just doing performances right so for my actual scale of work like as a choreographer um and here's the thing too like there were a lot of times where like I I was um I got a gig for like choreographing like a tour or this or that and then I would bring that to kjas cuz I would always try to like there was a time especially when we're younger and you know when you're building the company you're trying to really like feed people keep the momentum going in and like you know share share all the spoils and whatnot um But the irony of that too is that if you're not like an owner or like a leader of the the group then like you don't have that same feeling or obligation to do the same and if you get like your individual gig like go ham like go handle your individual thing you
9:17 don't have to bring it back through the crew but then after a period if you do that for a long enough period of time like for a guy like me I'm like oh ████ I could have probably been eating way better or like have way more stuff now you know what I mean but at the same time we did it for a good reason we were doing it for the company of the crew which it worked but then when you have something like a pandemic hits you it's like all that effort all that momentum kind of like gets taken away if you will um so that's why in the the funny part is post pandemic Ken just took a huge hit like so like we're realistically we're in debt because of things like SBA Loans and stuff trying to save like the complex and the dojo and all the students thinking that the pandemic is going to last like 3 months 6 months at most maybe a year when people were talking rumors about it but not knowing two
10:07 years was going to be the thing not knowing that things like dance studios and gyms were going to be most affected not knowing that California was going to handle things the most wrong way out of the whole ████ world out of all the states you know what I mean basically everything that could go against you went against you so the irony is K just goes crashes all the way to like you know ████ barely life Voldemort and book number one type ████ whereas that forces individuals to go out and do their thing so like me personally like as like Anthony Lee I'm doing fine I'm doing ironically better than I was when I was like mainly just leading kjas and stuff you know what I mean but having to also hold the baggage of everything that's still going on is the only thing that's making it still like very very difficult kingas as
10:58 people solid yeah all the individuals doing what they got to do solid but us like coming together as a group to to take on things it's way more complicated nowadays yeah and it's hard too because when you're in this game with Artistry too when you're like out of sight you're out of mind you know what I mean in such a fast-paced add world of social media and all that stuff and you know we used to specialize in long form content for like dance and when we say long form for dance we just mean more than 15 seconds or more than a minute you know what I mean but like now it's different it's like we were talking about at lunch like a Tik Tok dancer who moves by themselves in a living room no production value just cell phone can more easily get booked to be a brand ambassador for whatever thing then so
11:48 like why are you going to bring like and have zero overhead yeah why why would you bring six grown adults who have like children to feed together mortgages to pay to like do hella long work and the Artistry is like yeah but the Artistry is different but if you don't get if we live in a world where you don't get uh the right incentives for that if you don't get the right compensation for that level of artistry it you have to be such a pure artist with no problems in a sense to like want to continue doing that yeah versus like keeping up with the times and doing everything else it's also hard because those same like kids that generation of like ticktockers totally ransacked the material that preceded them and made it short form funny ████ and it took off bro we don't blame them either you know what I mean it's just like times just changed and and it's not even on them because they don't even see it that way they just see
12:39 it like oh everybody's doing that so it's kind of like like taking old old skid ideas from like gen one YouTubers and ████ like it's real good ████ it's the culture of now you know fire ████ uh when you talk about your dance you said your dance future dance Vision you were saying like what is that now cuz you obviously had different plans years ago for sure I think I think that's a very fluid uh thought realm cuz I don't have the same version of like materialized goals like when I was younger I'd be like I want to like dance for on tour or like I want to open up a studio or I want to like throw these events for the community or I want to things you know and it's like now in the best way possible like I've done all those things even if some of them didn't work out or I didn't enjoy it or whatever the reason but but now maybe
13:31 just at my age too and just my own personal life goals and like even like you know where you're at with f now now wanting to think about having a family and making kids to like paying a mortgage to like my parents are getting old and like needing to figure out how to spend the right time with like my world versus changing the world Everything Has Changed and even just like my perspective for why I do this thing you know so like I think one of the big things about dance that like I knew when I was younger and we I would talk about this at like seminars and like leadership conferences and what for dance but like it solidified more fully is that I always knew in my heart that dance was not never the thing or the destination dance was always just my vehicle it would just get me places dance was the thing that brought me to to meeting JK you know what I mean because it took me out to Australia for the TIC tick tour and that's why I'm here dance is the thing that like
14:22 brought me my wife like cuz she was on my old dance team in college you know so it's like that's what I love having dance in my life for and and respecting and and valuing how to continue continue that Journey versus like what dance Vision or dream am I trying to accomplish got it damn so it's like totally different now it's like keeping it in my life for the ways that like bring me joy and knowing that if I stick with it at the highest level that I can it's going to bring me life experiences and value in ways that I won't be able to anticipate when you and Mike talk about the business now what do you guys talk about like when it comes to Kindra like is it more effective to file bankruptcy is it is it more realistic you know what I mean to like focus on like the younger generation of people and like how they can take over certain elements like how do we like stop this
15:12 business and start this one what's more effective this way like adapting to the culture this way it's all just about like pivoting um but here's the thing we're still doing well enough yeah because back then you would like hustle so hard for your money like you remember the days where like we were we were so blessed and abundant with performance opportunities cuz everybody got get to go away with like 800 bucks per show and we do like 10 shows in like a quarter or something like that you know what I mean so like that was your bag everybody would have to get together all time rehearse and you get paid out because you're split in the gig whereas now as an individual choreographer like you might be making 10 times that amount just doing the work by yourself in like a random country for a different artist and it gives you space to come back and do things that you actually care about with your crew you know I mean whether it's just Artistry or even just hanging out so like I
16:04 think it's about like doing the things that we want and having that like permeate towards like corporations or businesses and clients and stuff and recognizing that we still do dope stuff when we do it and then waiting for like that bigger gig when it comes from time to time like you know like we got to do video game campaigns uh throughout the years we've been able to do things like cardiac performances you know what I mean for like special events that's not like a dance culture thing that's like for a a designer luxury brand you know what I mean that's definitely an elevated job that's not your normal thing so it's like focusing on things that are complimentary to like what we actually are as people and artists sticking to those things and then like manifesting and uh attracting similar things and work opportunities versus needing to like run the same wheel like oh well we got to get back together and do more videos so that we can get more
16:54 performance opportunities and stuff like you know what I mean that sounds like hell yeah like I'm no longer like needing to or Desiring wanting to do that so it's a completely different game it's like repres using the dance using the brand to represent who we are as actual people and as choreographers in our field and then letting whatever may come from that do it do its thing I think that's the fun part building the brand versus building the business yeah cuz I think each one of these like cardier type things it's like another like almost like Film Festival wreaths right like you're like like Bam Bam Legacy Legacy Legacy but the actual getting the wheels turning the daily dollar signs expens it's like building the business it's like ████ if if you're suited for that that's perfect but then I feel like as creatives you like building a brand and that's like where your strength is and that's where you find most of the reward but building the business kind of like drags it down a little bit sometimes yeah a lot yeah
17:44 so that and that's a crazy part business operations we've uh decided to just like trim everything down all the fat all the excess to just be like it exist so they can handle all those like dope opportunities when they come and you know we'll still go fishing for them in different ways but it's not in the same like you said like daily operations type of mentality we're not trying to like run a business we're just trying to like represent our brand well business will come from it how how can fans who love you love K just help support kjas right now like what's the number one thing they could actually do I think the literally the only businesses that are like operating that like bring in money like that are specifically buying our merch which would be great store.com noodles still out or are still out but that noodle game I've explained it before you know that noodle game is not
18:34 a profit and loss thing for us it's it's more about like getting into more people's hands more stores and then like hopefully yeah hopefully one day somebody wants to buy everything you know um so there's that and then of course if you are a dancer of any type or want to join and start that Journey Jesus you go to you know our K dojo for beginners platform online because we do we do the whole the whole Gambit on there like if you want to learn like kindra's performance routines the ADV dance ████ you can learn that if you want to learn how to start grooving for the first time or listening to music or Basics that's also there so it just goes a whole stretch you how to do the fast legs that the ████ afro beat dancers know how to do just similar I'll be teaching that course I'll be hired on listen if you're that guy at that party at that club who wants to be more in it who wants to just pop a little more I would like why
19:26 wouldn't you like if I knew that there was an option I would have tooken when I was young I would have been like bro I don't want to like just be at the club and just be whack and just watch people have I want to be in it I want to be in the mix I want to I feel the music and I my body wants to but I just don't I don't know what I'm doing you should have started a course called the ████ havers yes oh my godes so like you have to have a ████ she we got to rework it we got to rework right now know spit we already got it all printed the ████ the ████ getter everyone thinks we py ████ 90x the ████ Grabbers py that's excellent py P or less but I'm serious dude I'm telling you like if I was younger for sure I would have I would have signed up for a class now dude cuz again right now for I can B back nah bro I can't really you get
20:18 trained by him fix your back and then dance after you just do a little bit of these you do your spinal cars dude yeah F A little I something dude you know well thanks for sharing Anthony appreciate it apprciate love you very pleas and you know what that's I haven't been that I haven't been that publicly vulnerable about like Kindra stuff because there also yeah it's also a world where we like live in we don't lie about anything but like you live in like the representation of what people see on social media so people people still comment to Yo K is killing it because they might yeah which in in that sense that's not wrong like what we're doing I do step back sometimes I'm like that's ████ sick really you know what I mean but then of course like when you're so like in the dirt in the trenches of like what you have to do all the time you kind of like you forget yeah you know yeah but anyone that's ever owned a
21:10 business or understood it at all know that this is normal you have to have a up and down if you didn't then what the ████ you never you were never in business no one opens a business and stays lucky the whole time that it doesn't happen everybody's lost a business that's been in business everyone's ████ up everyone's Sol mistakes everyone's it's like if you haven't then what the ████ are you doing no no he's right dude I just feel bad cuz now I understand why he went cheap on his house I didn't know before woo
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