The Code To Winning - 7 FIGURES AT 19 YEARS OLD: NETWORKING, MINDSET & MANIFESTATION: ||ZACHARY D. THORNTON || EPISODE 031

Episode Date: June 12, 2025

Zachary D Thornton | From Startup Hustle to Scaling Millions | The Code To Winning Podcast In this powerful episode, Zachary D Thornton, founder and CEO of ZDT Entertainment Studios.   He shares his journey from humble beginnings as a busboy to scaling a multi-million dollar business in just 16 months. Dive deep into Zachary’s mindset on leadership, persistence, and the importance of surrounding yourself with the smartest people — inspired by lessons from Elon Musk and Grant Cardone.   Hear how he navigates the challenges of entrepreneurship, turning rejection into fuel, building a creative network of over 150 contractors, and setting bold goals for scaling to $1.5 million in annual revenue within months. He also opens up about the power of focus, mindset, and giving advice to his younger self.   Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or simply hungry for motivation, this episode is packed with actionable insights on how to hustle smart, build meaningful relationships, and keep winning — no matter the odds.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the Code 2 winning insights you need today to seize the world tomorrow. Today we have an amazing guest, beautiful and very inspiring story. Young entrepreneur, seven-figure business at the age of 19. 19, what is your excuse? Anyway, just to give you a brief introduction of who I have in the studio today, or rather at his backyard, let's put it that way. His name is Zachary Thornton. He's a young serial entrepreneur. He's the CEO and founder of ZDT Entertainment Studio, a seven-figure business which has been operating for approximately three years. Upward trajectory right now.

So without further ado, our amazing and special young guest, Zachary. Pleasure to meet you, my friend. Pleasure to meet you. Thank you all for having me here. My name is Zachary D. Thornton. I'm the founder and owner of ZDT Entertainment Studios. And funny enough, that's actually not my first startup. It was my second startup.

Okay. What's your first startup? My first startup was an aerial solutions company called Coastal Drones AP, AP standing for aerial photography and videography. Okay. So the goal here was to take my hobby in drones when I was around and you know constructed into okay I've been piloting drones for four years I'm 16 I can take my part 107 FAA pilots license which registers me to not only fly small aircraft manned aircraft but also unmanned aircraft for not just

recreational purposes but commercial purposes this would allow me to then get into the business sector of things and then also legally fly as a registered FAA pilot as well. And I decided to go through those courses and take the test and move forward with that vision of mine. Again, it's just a percentage of what made up ZDT Entertainment Studios. During COVID, I got into streaming video games throughout my life. I've always been into music and film. So everything's kind of been full circle revolving around what I've been building for the past couple of years now. And it's just going to continue to grow from here because The company pinwheels beyond astonishing.

Every department that we have is going to become its own LLC one day. And ZDT Entertainment Studios is going to be at the top with branches of companies rather within departments. So it's going to be a very big power place, what I'd call it. I love that. I love that so much. And so when speaking about this, one of the things that inspires me is the fact that the entrepreneurial journey was something that you've had for a long time, right?

And so when did it, when did you realize that you wanted to pretty much pursue that direction rather than just following the school and so? I guess this is when my spirit was with God, honestly. And, you know, when we come on our earth, you know, we're just not consciously. Our conscious, our consciousness isn't aware of what our natural gifts are and what we were literally born on this earth to do. I got lucky and I found that early through art. I've always wanted to be a creator.

When I listen to music, I'd hear harmonies and instruments, a part of songs that I sometimes would replace with different tunes that I thought would sound better in that instance. And even when it came to lyrics, I'd listen to some lyrics and my mind instead of finishing what they said would finish with different lyrics that made me question, why didn't they put that in? So over time, I didn't know that that was literally a creative genius. just brewing in me that I was yet to, you know, tap into its full potential because it's just

the confidence wasn't there and the knowledge wasn't there. I was, you know, just gaining, of guess, you know, my consciousness around four or five. And that's when I started to, I guess, remember these early, these early instances where I'd be around culture, I'd be around art and feel moved by it, if not inspired, and be like, this is me. And so, you know, when talking about this, there are people out there that are, they have an idea. People always have an idea. And one of the things I like a lot is that ideas can either be executed or they can, you know, they can go with it to the grave. So in other words, people have to act on what they believe in as well. What was the hardest part in trying to act on that idea, like, you know, throughout your journey?

I would watch America's Got Talent and I would see the performers on stage. I would listen to the radio and I would hear great music. I would watch a few. film and be emotionally, you know, inspired to do something about it. And that every single time pushed me into a set of, you know, thinking about accomplishing it, instead of accomplishing it. Start putting time towards it. You get, you get sick and tired of being sick and tired, and that's about many things in life. For me, at this point, was the anxiety I felt when I when I experience these things that I once enjoyed. It's almost like I felt a natural calling. push towards what I've always felt like doing.

And it was through listening and experiencing the things that I've once loved and now feeling regret for not doing it. Because I would listen and I knew at that point, now I'm like 16, right? Or now, let's, before I was 16, a big, big milestone hit when I was 16. Before I was 16, when I was 15, you know, I knew I could be doing this shit. When I was in sixth grade, it got me, you know, really writing songs was, was, It's my poetry growing up. I love poetry.

Now I'm in middle school and Lil Pump comes out with Gucci Gang and the song goes viral. Everyone knows Gucci Gang and now a little pump because of it. I decided to do a deep analysis. I looked at the lyrics. Do you know how many times he said Gucci Gang? I'd say three quarters of that whole song. You look at the script, look at the book, it's literally just a Gucci Gang book. It just says Gucci Gang a whole time.

So he could accomplish that with so little, with nonsense. I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm not bashing L'Pump. I became a fan of L'OPump because of him inspiring me to want to write because I knew if he could accomplish it, I could too. Yeah, and that's where I was going to pivot the conversation. Something that we were talking about personally earlier is I accomplished, once I started ZDT Entertainment Studios, I accomplished a significant milestone, something that takes many people, many years. in the first six months. Wow.

And I changed my life drastically over the point in the span of 12 months in the span of a year. It's a milestone and a story behind that as well. And it just goes to show that if I thought that about Little Palm, why can't you think that about me? You know, the scale isn't, of course, a platinum song that made him hundreds of millions of dollars. What about a genuine start

that rewarded someone who was brave, someone who was resilient and stood out the best. I love that so much, man. I love that so much. Now, the next question right now, how I met you was amazing because we're doing the exact same thing, networking with like-minded people,

and we just happen to bump into each other and realize, hey, listen, there's something that we can end up, like, adding value towards each other. I want to touch on the importance of networking. Before we talk about how you end up how you end up, like, I'm reaching out to the right people

that believe in your vision and so forth, how important personally for you is networking? Networking is very important. Networking can change your life. Again, like what I just told you, that was one relationship, what did that? One relationship ultimately hit that milestone this first six months that people cannot accomplish within their first, I'd say, 10, 20, 30 years of even doing business. And then outside of that, to then, to then, to then, pivot to a consistent stream of revenue to force the company towards, you know, projected growth and an absurd rate like you mentioned earlier that you wanted to discuss. It's, uh, it's something that only networking can do at, at my stage. Now, let's think like, hey, you're, you're, you're,

19 years old. And quite frankly, you, you can't show 10 years of job experience. Unless you started at nine years old, but like, yeah. Unless you, technically, I started since I was in the womb. You know, my mom was taking me to her, my mom was taking me to her sales when she was selling, or to her real estate sales when she was selling houses. So I've always had this entrepreneurial spirit in me, always been selling something, you know, trying to make, make my own end in a sense. So, you know, for those people who think in that way, but are young and can't show that work experience,

Don't discredit your vision. That's something that people will pay for. Over time, as a creative and owning a creative agency, I've seen multiple people have their creativity get destroyed by external factors. Either it be their parents, either it be when they got a bad grade on their art assignment in school. Either it be when they got bullied on their drawing because they couldn't draw. It shun them and stop them from becoming a creator, not just an artist. And now when they become in a position, or now when they're in a position where they need to create,

they rely on you, on those who have that vision, who are resilient, who stand against the people who say their vision is worthless or means nothing. I love that. I love that so much, man. And I think it kind of just does stem back to who you surround yourself with when you just mentioned that, because sometimes people, you were fortunate enough to have a mother that also believed in what you were pushing for and your drive and your persistence

and the consistency that you were pushing as well and also some people are surrounded by good friends or good mentors as well but the opportunity of reaching out to people that are at a certain level that you are not at at the moment in time is very important as well so like I said mentorship I couldn't agree more

I think mentorship is one of the most important thing ever because what it does in essence is helping you gain that experience and that knowledge from people that have actually been there that can help you end up like short-cutting the specific process that you currently in as well. Which segues to my next question for you. What is what was the hardest part about trying to get potential investors to believe in your vision? Two things. One dropping social anxiety because that gives you the ability to network efficiently. And number two, having a reliable support stream to to have to have

the emotional support and capability to start achieving these great things that are going to accumulate a lot of stress on you and to ultimately build the grip, you know, within your body that drives you to push forward when you can't get sleep because you just have too much going on. There's no time for sleep. What we heard at the conference is I'd rather be tired than poor. And I resonated with that because that's a deep perspective that I carry. While I'm young, and while a lot of you are young, even if you're old, if you're starting something new, you've got to put in some work.

Sometimes that's staying up all night. I'm actually going on 30 hours right now. Last night, I had an amazing time with this individual, a few other individuals here at this location, this beautiful mansion in Las Vegas. Shooting some content until 2 a.m. Right after, left to do a music video, that wrapped up in the Las Vegas strip at around 4.

We came back here, got ready to hit the spa at 6th, decided to just do a little Zen break, relax, kind of regroup our minds, and then rush right back here. Now we're having this great conversation. I'm going to go continue to network, continue to accomplish greatness, and, you know, sleep will come when it's deserved. And sometimes you have to work for your food. You know, our ancestors do. You have to understand, we can go in the fridge when we wake up and go make breakfast. Homies back in the day had to go hunt that shit. You know, they had to work for that shit before they could eat. Remind yourselves, before you eat, work for that shit, you know, remind yourselves to deserve it.

A lot of people who are like, ah, you know, I want to go to the gym, want to look good, you know, have all these insecurities, especially about that. Work for your food. Then you'll feel accomplished and you won't have the anxiety of, you know, or the guilt of eating. No, that's, that's facts. That's absolute facts. And I think that sometimes with accessibility in today's world, with how easy it is, like if I am hungry right now and I'm watching something,

instead of actually even going to go buy food, I can flip up my phone, Uber Eats or DoorDash as well. Everything is very accessible and sometimes accessibility can become a blessing and also a curse because it can also make us a little lazy complacent and just become a little entitled as well. So convenience should be used as an opportunity not to burden us as well and also like kind of push us a little backwards. And I want to ask you this question. There may be a young individual out there. Maybe even as a little bit. your age or at that stage in life that are a little inadequate social anxiety a little shy in their shelf in their comfort zone what advice would you give them right now today if they are

trying to look for potential investors to invest in their dream the way you found for yourself as well you mentioned investors if you want to ever sell something either it be to a client to an individual to your family member to an investor you're selling a vision even if it's to your your own staff or potential staff. You're selling a vision. You're selling a vision. No matter how how much money you've made to date, if it's clear, if it's concise and if it has a plan, there's real numbers that back it up, you'll get whatever you want. Everything that's done right will succeed. And you just have to not rush greatness. And being a creator, I have to remind my creatives that you can't rush a masterpiece. Masterpieces come with time. They come with

provisions and deep thought as well as guidance because I'm going to just drop it with this you know all plans fail without guidance and that's a biblical thing my friend I love them but you know there often is a saying that sometimes failing is very important when you're young I don't know your backstory as well have you experienced setbacks and major failures at this point in your career so far 100% and I I dealt with that growing up all throughout my school days and I was very fortunate to learn a lot of lessons young through through a plethora of things and I won't go into many detail it's very hard to describe and really hard to understand but you just have to realize when you go

through things or when you're presented challenges you're really given opportunity and throughout life there will always be problems there will always be people that I don't like you but what will change is never never the issue it's your reaction and your reaction then changes the outcome. If you're always looking for change, again, the problems don't change, but the outcome does. And that's all through your reaction. So if you change your reaction of things and you look through life, through new lens, new camera lens, your eyes, or even your perspective up in your consciousness and your mind, you'll experience life in a whole new way. And you will now

not be affected by things that once affected you. You build your life. No one told you that your family is your family. Yeah, you were born there, but really you create your family, my friend. You know, hate to tell you if you're scared to realize that, because you know it's going to put in work. But right now, I just met a brother, right? And I lost my brother at 16, but, you know, we can maybe not replace them, but, you know, add and remember and appreciate and just continue life. You know, we can't be, can't be stuck and dwell. You're not going to move forward. You're not going to grow.

Try to build a garden. I don't have time for dead weeds in my land. I need beautiful bushes that are going to continue to bring new flowers. Every season. I mean, that's shit to be consistent. You know what I call you? That's what I want my family to be. I want my family to be consistent. But again, before that, you can build that. That's your choice. I was going to say that. That was very poetic. You are the modern day Shakespeare, respectfully.

Funny enough you say that. Very funny enough you say that. And people who are watching, some people who are watching will laugh when you say that. Because everyone's stuck on modern day mentors. I'd like to go back into the past. You can learn a lot through history because history repeats itself. That's why I love history. That's why I love politics. And the thing with Shakespeare is he was so wildly celebrated and we still learn about him in our school system today. And we still know about his plays and they're still going on because of how relatable he was and how relatable he is. I believe that's one of my superpowers is to be a powerful communicator, to be able to help people

not just see things in their perspective, but to open their minds and kind of relate to things in a multi-point view. That's how I started with my music. I wanted to be multi-genre. Why restrict your talent into one genre? If you're a talented artist, you're not just a singer, you're not just a rapper, you're also a musician, you also songwrite rock, you also song-write gospel, you also song-write metal, you also, you know, produce DJ sets. Because you are an artist and a unique masterful artists in your field. Who loves music more? Show me.

Show me how many instruments you play. If you don't play instruments, then show me any of how many genres you can write. Consistent value in each song. Show me that. Then you're a true, you're a true music artist. I love that.

And it's same in the film industry. You can make horror films great. You have a wrecked mind, no offense. But all right, now, now show me, show me a, what was that? What's that, what's that one, a show call it? Not show.

but it's like what all the girls like during Christmas time. Hallmark. Yeah, now make me a Hallmark movie. Hallmark, yes. Go from horror to Hallmark. And if you can be that diverse, now you're a true creator. You know, being able to adapt and change is, I think, what makes an artist true. And a lot of people and a lot of creative agencies, and this is something that makes us different.

It's something specialize in one thing. Make yourself different. Stand out. Stand out by being the best. And I think that's how we've been able to grow so fast. So easily. You make it sound easy, but you know how to drop the social anxiety and focus on the quality. You know what?

One thing I like about everything we've been saying that I'm very curious about, we're talking about it, James and I and a few of the other guys here, is the level of maturity you have and social awareness, emotional intelligence. You're so young, but so mature in business and situations, transactions, interactions, connecting, firm handshake, eye contact. Most people take a long time to learn the kind of thing. What taught you those important attributes to gain in business and in communicating at such a young age?

Now, it's going to be two sides to this story, and you're going to love the equation. The first side is, you know, the advice that individuals who don't have the parents that taught them this, they're kind of screwed, right? So just wait. you'll hear the second part of this. The first part goes to the parents. And you have to realize that you are the main influencer in your child's life. No social media, no, no nothing. No influencer, no

celebrity is the main influencer other than you. And before social media was ever a thing, that was true. And it still is. You are the active role model for your child's success. Your words and the life that you speak into them will grow them as exponentially as you speak of them to that scale and it doesn't stop. Once you stop that stops. You have to realize you are now given a blessed opportunity to break a generational curse in your family and stop hurt that hurt you once. To give love that you weren't able to experience and to now watch that flourish and spread like wildfire throughout this world. You're seeing it right now. You're seeing what could happen in one generation, not one generation in two decades.

of breaking that curse in my family. And we've, you know, jumped out of poverty. My mom was a first-generation college student. She built her company. She's shown me this journey. She motivated me to this point and gave me the opportunity when I was at a set age to assume some property with her and Ocean City to start my company.

And that was the blessing kickstart that gave me credibility when I went to discuss business opportunity, let's say, with potentially you. because then you would look up my location and see I'm not doing it outside of my garage. I'm a real guy, right? So all this helped me to establish this business credibility. So then when I found someone who wanted to invest because I wasn't looking for an investor, I was just looking to do life and build my company and someone like that.

And they just wanted to give me money, you know? Sometimes, you know, you could be searching as much as you want, and this is going to piss some of you all off because they've all been looking for investment, especially seven-figure investment. And you're looking for interest rates. By the way, in our contract with the investor, for over seven figures, there's no monetary return until he exits. And the first people who get a call when he's ready to exit is us, because we'll be buying that back from him. And we'll be assuming our capital back in that sense.

Wow. Wow. I like that, Joe. I mean, sorry, Zachary. I think it's very important that people get to fully understand how you put away the level of entitlement. The pity, the I don't have. oh I'm unfortunate I'm from different circumstances because I feel even at the conference that we had there were about three people that were born in wealth that were

the speakers including the two daughters and Eric and most of the people that were there all had a why and had a story as well and one of the most important things that I've learned as well from some mentors is that your why has to be bigger than your why not and if your why is extremely significant and important it's it's easy for you to end up like overcoming the minor setbacks and the many trials that are along the way as well. And having a conversation with you, your mother for like an hour or so, I got to see the importance of pushing beyond the then and always seeing a bigger vision as well with all

the trials of setbacks. And I think it's important for them. And what are the best ways you can actually say for you that you're going to, that you implement to overcome any trials or setbacks where there's lack of customers. whether it's anything in business. What are the strategies that you implement for yourself and your business to overcome those struggles setbacks, please? Now, this is the second part of that equation I was talking about.

Beautiful question. So thank you all for waiting. The first part was for the parents. The second part is now for the kids. Let's say you were putting this position where, you know, just like myself, I was not born in wealth. Poverty's a mindset. You know, some of my family carried that on.

They said some of my visions were unrealistic. Matter of fact, as I was building my company, my father told me to get a real job. Now look at me. And funny enough, he said that because I made more money than what he's made in the past 20 years and one business deal. So talk about a real job. No, it's talking about confidence and believing in yourself. But that doesn't come overnight.

That comes with wanting it more and putting in the work. So let's say, again, you're unfortunate where you don't have parents that teach you this. You have to realize that and start putting in the, the, the, the, the value. valid and right research, vet your shit, make sure that you're not reading misinformation. Everything's true and unbiased, coming from an unbiased source, non-political information as well. That's very, very important that you don't start stirring into a political side of things. Stay on bias because politics aren't real. It's always the facts.

And if you keep that perspective, you'll start learning. And now will start giving you value. Now start reinforcing your vision. And now when you have conversation, you have real value to bring in a conversation with someone. And now when someone hears you speak, they're like, wow, I love that. I'm attracted to that. I want to be around that. And all of a sudden, you found your investor.

I found someone who wanted to develop a quarter million dollar app with me just because I pulled up to a parking lot and said hi to him because he liked my car. Some random people, I was picking up my suit for this conference. And literally pull it up in my Corvette C-8. We'll admit, it is a nice car. And these two random individuals in the park lot. I pull up right here. These two are right here. They turn.

They see me. I'm walking out. Mint's warehouse is over here when I'm picking up the suit. I'm about right here. Meet up with them. They're like, wow, you got a nice car. I'm talking with them for 10 minutes. Here's the power of networking.

In those 10 minutes, I told them about what I did, who I'm about a service for a mobile app, who we currently service for media management, production, social media. all this other stuff. And he lost his shit. He said, oh my gosh, where have you been? I needed to meet you. I have to show you something right now. He dropped this conversation with his friend. I stalled a minute to pick up my suit. And we started walking. We started walking towards the men's warehouse. I thought he was going to talk and walk and talk with me so I could pick up my

suit. Matter of fact, he goes to the building right next to the men's warehouse and opens the door. He's like, this is my property. We just built and renovated this. This is our inked tuna. linked to a parlor, which is in combination, literally with the cafe. So my employees could drink their coffee when they want in the morning, eat sandwiches for lunch in the afternoon, they have everything they need here. He was just always, you just wanted the employees to always be first and the customer to always be first. That's why he put a lot of money into the aesthetics of the building and safety procedures

that these tattoo artists and piercing artists have to go by. He takes me in the back, you know, where his operations room is. for like 30 minutes, we're just talking about this mobile app, this website, and this other social media work we'd be doing for him. And we just kicked it off. We literally were walking out so I could go pick on my suit. We stopped inside the cafe because it was just a beautiful cafe and talked for another 30 minutes because it was so good. He ended up also being a charter for this fishing tournament that he wants us to go on his boat soon and go in and record content on top of maybe being a media contract, now negotiating a quarter million dollar app. All because I pulled into a parking lot.

I said hi to some guy who liked my car and instead of saying hi, I had two words. Here's my advice, not mine. It's from Elon Musk, caring and competency. I cared about this individual because he was a human and had a soul and I had the competency enough to carry a conversation out long enough to get me to a value proposition, which then he liked and then proceeded to want to carry on. And that's what got us this opportunity. That's what got us our investor out. It's what got us this opportunity. Because I dropped my social anxiety.

I looked at this man in his face and said, wow, you look like a really cool, genuine individual. Let's talk. Maybe he said that to me. However, that instance went. We had to drop our social anxieties to meet each other. We could have been there in that same room. We could have looked at each other, but we could have said nothing.

And you're going to waste your money going to these events thinking that you're networking. When in reality, you're wasting your time. You should be, if you're in a relationship, room of a thousand people getting no less than 50 contacts per day. If you're not, you're failing. And that's because of your social anxiety, my friend. I love that. Straight up. I love that. I love that a lot. I had a question, just to segue with that, it does take a lot to get out your comfort zone, you know, when you add all that kind of stuff that you just mentioned. But there's always peace or there's growth, rather, if you find comfort outside your comfort zone and then you find a new uncomfortable, you know,

in a different zone as well. more you become comfortable, you're inviting a level of stagnation, inviting a level of complacency, you're inviting a level of just being at the same point. And at the same time, if you are not growing, you're basically digressing. And it's very important as entrepreneurs, prospective entrepreneurs, perspectives, entrepreneurs, investors, philanthropists, CEOs, whether you're high, high, whether you're low, low, everything you just said, I could not agree more. Because the more you end up having that vision and everything is heading towards that goal, any outside influence that is pushing you backwards

is only going to be a little minor blip before you know it. It's going to help you get faster towards your goal as well, which I think is very important. And that's what I want to try and figure out. I'll take you from here. We can talk all the shit that we want on stagnantism in my local community and honestly sucks.

But for the local community members and for also other business owners that share the same perspective of consistent annual income that doesn't gain any percentage points annually each year. Look at it at charts. I'm a businessman. I do the great, I'm the best with people, I'm the best with numbers. I'll draw a chart for you. Animators, put this in. Here's a box here. Here's a line of your cash. Now all of a sudden, your line of your cash goes stagnant. Each year you're making the same amount of money. Let's look at U.S. inflation. Let's look at the dollar amount. Let's look at the dollar amount. Let's look at the price of goods. Your bank account, even though it looks like it's going the same and you're making the same

each year, it's going down. Your depreciation, your expenses, everything is changing rapidly and your revenue isn't. Price of the dollar is going down. This is just basic economics. And if you're not scaling and you're not growing and if you're stagnant, then it's, there's no, there's no median. You have to be either scaling or growing or you're stagnant and failing, if that makes sense. Like, There is no median. That's where I'm getting at. Like business owners right now think that because they're stagnant and because they're consistent 3 million annual income

or 10 million annual income, and nothing's going to change when in reality, their business is at risk in the next five to 10 years. So why not take the small risk to invest into a creative agency that could scale your company 10fold? But why are people afraid to take the risk, is my question. Well, there's three main objections. There's time, belief, and money.

But let me help you believe in something. You know, I just gave you basic economic logic. Your dollar is devaluing. The price of goods are going up. And if your money is staying the same every year, your price of your goods and your business are going up, and your overhead's going to chew you out. You're going to start to have to cut costs by cutting employees.

Each employee is a story. Each employee has a life and a family. Is that something you want to risk? No, hire us. That's something that's secrets is about a deal. We're about to develop them a mobile app. We're about to change the business. music scene. Their attendees dropped from 800,000 to 600,000 and they're asking, how do we change it?

How do we get young people to come in? Because they haven't had young people come in, they think that young people don't go out. They think that they're competing with the Airbnbs, but really they're just competing with other clubs in the cities that do a better job in the music scene. So let's just change the music scene back up. Let's start promoting headliners. Let's make things a new experience where people could become new super fans. And now you have an opportunity where you promote tourism because secrets once before is not the secrets that was once known. It's something that's bigger and better never seen before. You're talking about a top 11 nightclub back in 2013 now being a top five in

2026. So how do you do that? You don't do that by some videographer. You don't do that by some editor. You do that by a creative agency, an entertainment agency. Okay, no awesome stuff. I'm glad you've elaborated in depth with these certain topics as well and I love the entrepreneurial energy, spirit, knowledge, insight and experience. What's the toughest part about being an entrepreneur? You don't need people to believe in you, but it kind of sucks when people just don't trust that you put in the work, you put in the time and the research and the effort to either build a great team

or be the most educated in your field in the room at the moment. And again, I'll say something that Elon Musk says, great. If you're not the smartest person in the room, you better have hired the smartest person in the room. And that's something that I've done all my life. I've either been the smartest or I've had the smartest in my room. So when I come into conversations, especially across business, and I miss an opportunity because of a lack of respect, maybe even,

just because of my young age, They lacked the caring and competency. They lost the business deal. So did I. But in reality, that was a relationship that I didn't need to waste my time on. You know, we have to be very selective with who we work with. Even though I want to scale and I want to work with, let's say, over a thousand companies on a monthly retainer in the next couple years. There's hundreds of millions of small businesses.

A thousand is nothing in comparison of that. Be selective. Next is check. Grant Cardone says it best. If someone isn't willing to respect you for your time, and how much you cost, then you're just not marketing to the right person. And don't get discouraged. Find someone with the money who has, who has, you know, the want for your service,

and pitch it like hell to them. Love it, love it so much. And how long? How many notes you get before you got the right investor that believed in you? Again, I wasn't looking for an investor, so I just got one yes. And I think that's what it's going to be pissing people off. It's that they'll get hundreds of thousands of news just to get their first yes. And again, they're going to be put on a contract that's guaranteeing the investor to get their money back over time, starting literally probably today in a sense if you were to sign that.

And this contract that we signed was guaranteed over seven figures in the span of basically eight, eight years. And with no monetary return on it back, and unless he exits, whenever he's ready to get his worth of 8% on our valuation of the company, well, then he get paid that amount. I love that. So people fight so hard just to get that. So, you know, for the answer of the investor part, I got one yes. So I can kind of flex on that a little bit, you know? So you want for one? I'll say I'm better at that right there.

I got a yes, right? But when it comes to knows, you're always going to hear it. You know, ask my sales department, right? You know, my outreach department, I call them my sales force. And when Salesforce or sales team six goes out and starts to, you know, execute on calls, They'll always get rejected, man. You know, you got to say you're at the bottom of the bottom when you're always just making outreach calls

and just hearing people pissed off just because you called them. You feel low. Trust me, I've had to do that myself. But you'll hear a million nose before you get your first yes. It doesn't matter. It could be a billion nose.

How many knows are you willing to go through to get that first yes? Powerful. That's the real deal right there is who wants it more. And I remind my guys, and you've got to remind your guys if you're a leader as well.

it's not the guy on indeed awesome stuff man and um how big is your team right now team is expanding and growing i'd say like a creative network of individuals who are willing to work at any time on a 1099 is is starting to grow way over 125 so it's like a 10 a and it's not w2 or anything 100% right now you know we're not scaling over 3 million in revenue we're not hitting that first benchmark as many would call it so i'm not going to put people on w too or excuse me on W2 until it's more reasonable and until we can actually fork up those employee benefits and compensation. And how much do you say that business is generating revenue wise per year?

Per year, we're looking to scale within the next three to six months to 1.5 million in annual revenue. That's impressive, man. And that's within the first 16 months of being a company. That's impressive, man. That's very, very impressive. That's correct. Back in 2013 when I was starting this, I got the necessary equipment to get this to get this

going. I was a busboy, then a server, and I took my $10,000 in savings and bought the laptop, off the drone, started doing some production stuff, secured something small, pro bono for grant, which built me credibility on top of the building opportunity that mom gave me to then scale, find that investor, and then get more equipment with that capital and workers. Everything is just taken off from there. It's just all through networking. It's all through people that I have met. You can't go anywhere without meeting people. And again, just to go back on that whole networking thing. I think that's the importance and the beauty of life. I heard another podcast going on earlier that we were shooting. And he was saying, you know, humans are literally

meant to be around others and to share a connection. We're social creatures, man. We literally are. And it helps me then realize why I appreciate even more deeply when I'm around you, when I'm around him, or even just any stranger I'm doing something like this with because it's, it's beyond a blessing. It's an opportunity to live life with someone that shares that perspective. And then that's what brings you peace at heart no matter what stress or no matter what you're going through. That's the energy that just rejuvenates your soul, my friend. I had a quick question regarding that. I love everything you just said right now. Where do you see the business scaling in the next five years?

Five years is a really good amount of time. You know, just look at what I did in the first 12, 16 months. So if I'm looking at a five-year plan, I want to be now more unrealistic than I've ever been. My grandfather always said, be realistic with your dreams. What I've been accomplishing has been against the odds. And I've been doing that consistently. That means I need to set new expectations for this world and for our perspectives as humans. If you can't think on my level, then that means I'm thinking at this level for a reason.

And that needs to be created, my friend. So, you know, you're talking about scale of the company. Let's see, you know, the scale of the impact that I bring on communities around this nation, maybe around the world, and then we'll have the same conversation later in five years. Boom. Boom. I love that now. Now, as we approached at the end of the podcast, which I appreciate all the insight that you've given.

Thank you again for the opportunity. No, no, I'm grateful. So, you know, I want to actually, I'm going to ask this question because I'm not going to ask it. But I'm going to ask it. So I usually ask people, give me or give yourself advice to your younger self. And I think you deserve to give advice to your teenage self, considering where you are, how successful you are as a 21 year old or 2021. What advice would you give a young Zach, younger Zach,

to see beyond the then where you're at right now? I want everyone to just like close their eyes and just think on this, even yourself, just think on it and close your eyes and just think of just now my words being just something in your head. I want you. Now think of when I say you as of yourself, and when I say I, my words, that's your older self giving you this advice.

I want you to put horse blaners on, my friend, because you need to keep your focus on what you've meant to always do, on your greatness, on your passion. Those are going to be the things that not only fully satisfy your heart, but those are going to be the things that motivate and influence others to create their futures, create the future to create your future. And if that doesn't give you goosebumps, my friends, or my friend, because you're talking to yourself,

then buckle up because you're going to be in for a bumpy ride. No, you're going to be afraid. You are afraid of this work. It will be scary. But anxiety will never go away, my friend. You just got to start getting used to it. It's starting that anxiety into fuel. Because it only gets harder from here.

I hate to be the bear of bad news. But where I'm at now, you're about to achieve. it. You're this close. So once you get to this level, I'm probably going to be at another level. I'll be able to come right back and give you some more advice. So just get there for me. All right, please, just get there for me. That's all I want to say to my younger self. And something that we all need to remind ourselves is just like keep pushing, no matter where you're at in your stage of life. I've known and met a few celebrities that have actually started their journey in a way older age, including Morgan Freeman. So just know that no age is barrier.

It's always just your perspective. Your mindset is what sets you back at times. So Zachary, as I ask every entrepreneur, leader, trainer, guest on the podcast, Saoal is asking this very important question. What is your personal definition of the term winning? Winning. Winning is accomplishing something that means something to you. No matter what that is.

If it's an actual competition, we're winning. is required or if it's a new shared perspective or meeting someone new, winning is your perception of something that reinforces dopamine in a good feeling in your mind. If you can change your perspective where you're constantly winning, even when you're losing, you have now found a cheat code in this video game called Life and you can hack your perspective. You can hack it through taking minor ls and turning them into long-term dubs. That makes sense. You know, like any short problem is actually a win because you learned something from it. Change your perspective and how you carry it, my friend. Powerful. Awesome stuff. If you could let the

viewers know where they could get a hold of your social media, your company, if I want to try and do work with you guys, and just ways to try and contact you, please let our viewers know. Yeah, reach out to me directly. I'm probably the only entertainment agency that you can talk to the CEO 24-7, seven days a week, 365 days of the the year. 443-783-0-816. Go ahead and give me a call. Give me a ring anytime you want. I'd be happy to spend some time with you. Get to know your objective. Lastly on socials, check us out on our studio page, ZDT-E-N-T Studios. And then lastly our website, ZDT-E-N-T Studios.com. I'd like to try to keep everything simple and easy for everyone. Again, this was Zachary D-Thorton, founder and owner of ZDT

Entertainment Studios. It was a pleasure to be on this podcast, my friend. the co-winning insights you need today to seize the world tomorrow. Zachary, great on a brother.