John, the fashion industry pioneer behind the rise of the clothing brand FUBU, is a “shark” on the four-time Emmy Award-winning ABC show “Shark Tank,” as well as a New York Times best-selling author, branding consultant and motivational speaker.

As “The People’s Shark”, John has made an impact on hopeful entrepreneurs, as well as millions of weekly viewers, through his relatable story and journey to success that continues to both motivate and inspire. His relentless pursuit to educate future entrepreneurs has reached beyond the borders of the U.S., as well, and he was recently named a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.

I’ve been a huge fan of “Shark Tank” since the beginning. I also enjoy hearing the stories of how entrepreneurs made it to where they are. This was the perfect combination of the two.

There was a full crowd of students and business people on hand to hear John speak. He mixed his entrepreneurial story with humor and music to make a very entertaining presentation. He even had a DJ controlling the background music with a fun slide show that helped weave the story from one decade to the next.

John described his start with $40 worth of fabric that he turned into hats. With the help of his mother and friends he turned a simple idea into the $6 billion urban street-wear brand, FUBU (For Us, By Us). His story of hustle and timing is an inspiration to anyone wanting to become an entrepreneur.

There were a few breaks along the way but breaks don’t come unless you’ve positioned yourself to take advantage of them when they arise. That is exactly what John had done throughout his journey.

After creating his fortune, working excessively and losing his family, John made a commitment to help others along their entrepreneurial path. That promise is one of the reasons he now spends much of his time giving back.

John gave the audience five primary lessons to building wealth, the first letters of which spell out the acronym “SHARK.” These are the five secret ingredients for success in a very brief form.

1. Set a goal. You can’t achieve a goal you can’t see. John set a goal of being a part of the Hip-Hop community even though he says he can’t sing or dance. John realized his way in would be to dress the Hip-Hop community. If you don’t know where you are going, you will never get there.

2. Homework. You have to do your homework. You need to put in the research and know the costs.

3. Amor. You have to love what you do. Every single successful person loves what they do.

4. Remember, you are the brand. Summarize yourself in two-to-five words. Investors don’t invest in companies, they invest in people. Having a strong personal brand is more important now than ever. For John, the words are, “I am on a quest.”

5. Keep swimming. Don’t give up. You have to find solutions in moments where it would be more reasonable to give up.

John did a Q&A session afterwards and gave more great advice. He talked about investing in yourself and the need to keep learning. He said it was important to understand the fundamentals of how your business works.

Knowing your “why” is also important when you become rich. If you don’t have a purpose you can easily lose everything that you’ve made. Making a million dollars and keeping it is not as easy as athletes and lottery winners might think.

John is easy to find on social media and does respond to questions and comments. I was giving a talk to young entrepreneurs in Enid and reached out to John on Twitter. I asked him for advice that would help young entrepreneurs in e-commerce. He gave me three great points.

1. Don’t spread yourself too thin. Concentrate on excelling at selling one thing before expanding

2. Get to know everything you can about your customers so you know how to better serve them

3. Customer service > everything. Provide follow up and ask their opinions.

Learn more about Daymond John and his courses at LearnLikeAShark.com. You can also follow him on his Twitter account @TheSharkDaymond.

The post Swimming With The Shark Daymond John appeared first on Curtis Tucker.

BRAMAN, OK – Legendary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame KISS members, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, made their way from the Ponca City Airport to the small community of Braman, Oklahoma on a blustery and cold Thursday afternoon. Organizers of the event had a heated tent constructed next to the Southwind Casino Kanza just off of I-35. A Rock & Brews catering van welcomed invitees as they entered the venue.

BuzzHead Media made its way up I-35 to cover the announcement of the Casino Resort that will be located only 70 miles from Enid. A casino, hotel and destination resort with an event center that close could be a big draw for local residents but could also pull sales tax and entertainment away from the Enid community.

Media members received media passes, free food catered by Rock & Brews and drinks. The event began with Kaw tribal members getting a quick meet and greet that kicked off as soon as the rockers arrived in Braman.

When Simmons arrived he took to the microphone and told the audience, “We are proud to be in a band that is America’s number one gold record award winning group of all time, in all categories.” He also stressed, “Rock & Brews really ain’t about us, it really is about right here, right now about the Kaw Nation, about Kaw Gaming, Inc.”

Simmons and Stanley then took questions and conducted interviews with the media. Asked about locating in Braman, Simmons answered, “You don’t know how big … this is going to become. You’ve got to remember, Las Vegas was desert once upon a time. Now 44 million people come into Las Vegas every year. If we get 1/100th of that coming here, it’s going to be an explosion.”

I asked about how the partnership began. Simmons explained to me that the Kaw Nation had been guests at the San Manuel casino, where there was a Rock & Brews restaurant and saw the way that everyone was treated. This led to a meeting between the two entities.

Simmons told me, “We just connected as people first. First you connect as people, great business has to do with great people wanting to be with each other then the business takes care of itself. So it started with people and it should. It’ll always begin and end with people.”

Braman, Oklahoma is located northwest of Ponca City about 15 miles south of the Kansas state line on Interstate 35. It is located in Kay County and had a population of 217 in 2010.

Rock & Brews is a one-of-a-kind restaurant and entertainment concept designed to engage people of all ages with quality comfort food, a broad selection of international and craft beers and an energized, family friendly, concert environment.

The post Interviewing Gene Simmons appeared first on Curtis Tucker.

ENID, OK – Paul Dano brought Richard Ford’s American classic “Wildlife” to the screen, marking his directorial debut. Academy Award® nominees Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan were actors in the period drama along with the young actor Ed Oxenbould.

Although the story was set in Montana, much of the movie was filmed in Enid, Oklahoma and the surrounding area. Filming took place during the end of the year in 2016. Many local residents were used as extras during the filming including myself.

After having a speaking role in my first movie a year before, I had caught the acting bug as far as wanting to be an extra in more films. My ultimate goal was to learn about movie making from behind the scenes so that I could eventually work on my own projects.

When it was announced that “Wildlife” was coming to Enid I thought it would be a great opportunity to see how major motion pictures are filmed and what equipment is used. I signed up with the casting agency and submitted myself for different parts.

It didn’t take long and I was asked to be an extra as a forest firefighter. I wasn’t told anything about the scene other than the date and town. Below are some of my scenes in the movie.

Movie clips from the movie Wildlife. See if you can spot me!

Gyllenhaal and Oxenbould scene in Hennessey. I’m in the middle walking away.

This was my longest on screen shot leaning against this metal shed.

This was the first Wildlife scene we did with Jake. Signing up to go fight fires.

The film will be released on October 19, 2018. Circle Cinema in Tulsa premiered the film on November 9th, 2018 which is where I saw it for the first time.

Continue on for the behind the scenes photos from the movie Wildlife.

The post Part 1: I Was In A Movie With Jake Gyllenhaal appeared first on Curtis Tucker.

Filming began in locations throughout Enid and reports started coming in as to the various locations. I popped over to the area of Enid where the main house was located and immediately saw director Paul Dano and the videographer walking down the street. Most of the film locations were blocked off by police and barricades so snagging photos was not an easy task.

My scene was to be filmed in Hennessey, Oklahoma, about 25 miles south of Enid. I was to be there pretty early for wardrobe and makeup. That morning, a large building in town began filling with all kinds of extras and film crew. We all slipped into costume and stood in line for makeup. I was given a heavy coating of dark brown makeup that made me look rather worn and rugged.

In Hennessey waiting in line for wardrobe and makeup. Thirteen of us were picked to be firefighter extras in the movie. We were fitted in Enid for wardrobe and met in Hennessey for filming. We all received make-up that really darkened our skin and appearance. While on this set we filmed several scenes with Jake Gyllenhaal.

My face after makeup. They used dark makeup on our faces, arms, hands and even fingernails.

A break for lunch while filming in Hennessey. Pizza was on the menu.

The main actors and director had lunch in the same area.

A big part of making a film is waiting. Here we were waiting on the next scene to be prepared. We filmed from early morning to after dark in Hennessey.

A few of our scenes were riding in the back of this truck with Jake. Here they were getting ready for a closeup of Jake in the truck.

This home on W. Maine and Polk was used for several scenes. They had to spray snow in the yard to make it look more like winter. It was cold outside while filming most of this film in Enid.

The crew discussing the upcoming scenes at this location.

Director Paul Dano looking over the location.

The crew filmed a night scene on W. Maine. They had two huge spotlights located a block away in each direction to help add light to the neighborhood. There were a couple of nights of filming very late at this location.

Jake discussing things with director Paul Dano.

Jake checking things out while waiting for the next scene on W. Maine. I think he was looking for me.

The safety crew discussing the upcoming fire scene at the home on W. Maine.

Jake pouring liquid on the front porch. There was a fire strip near the house which was lit to look like the spreading of the fire.

This fire scene on W. Maine took several takes. In one scene the porch actually caught on fire and there had to be repairs made to the home.

Jake and the crew filming the porch fire scene on W. Maine.

Some of the night driving scenes were filmed in the Waverly District in Enid. Paul and the crew were preparing to film from the back of a truck on W. Maine.

The family in the film lived in this house on Cottonwood. Many inside and outside scenes were filmed here. The home was vacant at the time.

Jake and Ed were out playing football to prepare for one of their scenes on Cottonwood.

The auto detail shop on E. Broadway was made to look like a working gas station. Although it was cold during filming there was no snow on the ground. The crew had to add all of the station props and snow.

The pumps, lights and merchandise in the station were all film props. The snow was blown in by a machine.

The crew blowing snow in for the gas station scene on E. Broadway.

The Turf Bar on E. Maine near the Main Street Bridge was used as a set. Jake and Ed filmed some of their scenes here.

Jake Gyllenhaal spent a little time walking around and checking out the Maine Street Bridge.

Most film locations had the is tent set up for the main actors and directors.

Ed Oxenbould grabbing a snack before filming outside the Turf Bar.

United Supermarket on E. Broadway was also a film location. Several local vintage cars were used in the film.

Ed road his blue bike up and down E. Broadway.

A scene was filmed on N. Washington above the old upholstery shop.

Enid Winnelson on N. Independence was made to look like Millers Fine Cars dealership.

The post Part 2: Behind The Scenes Of “Wildlife” Movie appeared first on Curtis Tucker.

TULSA, OK – The BuzzHead Media crew got an Enid exclusive interview with Brooks on Friday, January 9, 2015 in Tulsa. The press conference, interview and concert highlights are in the video above.

I have to say that Garth and Trisha were the most down to earth, easy going celebs I have ever seen. The lady news anchors in the room came with bigger egos. By the time the news conference was complete and I was in line to interview Brooks, all nerves had been erased and I ended up doing an interview with someone that felt like an old friend.

The selfie at the top of the page was taken at the end of the interview with Brooks. I held my iPhone up and the camera was set to take a photo looking the other way. Brooks quickly reached up to my phone and hit the button to flip the camera like he had done it a million times, which I’m guessing he had. He grabbed my shoulders and let me snap as many pics as I wanted.

The news conference was very casual. Brooks took questions from everyone and nothing seemed to be off limits. He and Yearwood took turns answering questions and joked with each other throughout the event.

This photo, taken by the iMuze crew, was during my actual interview. The guy to the right of me is Aron, who was the PR guy for the news conference and kept things moving. He’s the one that poked me in the back after my third question letting me know I needed to move along.

During our interview an alarm went off in the building. This was Garth’s reaction to the noise. We waited a few seconds for it to stop and began talking again. Another alarm sound went off and we decided to just push through the noise and continue with the interview.

The post My First Real Interview Was Garth Brooks appeared first on Curtis Tucker.