Today we’d like to introduce you to Shawn Woods.
Hi Shawn, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
It wasn’t until recently that I decided to even talk to those close to me about my past or about how I got started as an entrepreneur. I think some of your readers are familiar with the intricate and soulful tales of rappers that sold illegal drugs to make a way out of their impoverished homes and create a better living for themselves and their families. Although I don’t have that same story because I didn’t sell drugs – I do share the common thread of living in a not so picturesque community. A community where all you had was your determination to have more.
It may be called the “IT” factor in some places or street smarts in others. But, many of the brothers that I grew up with called it hustling. And to some in the business community “hustling” may be a bad word. Just being associated with the word may bring about images of someone trying to swindle you and take advantage of you. But where I’m from, it was this trait that determined if you were going to make it out.
In short, I didn’t sell drugs – I sold aluminum cans for cash. I then would take the earnings from that and buy candy and snacks and sell those items in school. I’m not talking a small time operation either. I’m talking the kind of operation that could derail your grades and make you prioritize making profits over making A’s. At any rate, I learned pretty early on how to reinvest profits into your business to grow it. I eventually did get my head on straight and graduate from high school and college. I hit a small snag in college that put me off course, but who doesn’t right? I’m not sure that I was focused on achieving dreams as much as I was focused on surviving. And I can apply that statement from the time I was a teen to an early adult. But at some point in college I decided I wanted to teach. I wanted to give young men that look like me someone to see in school and understand that they could have more and be more. But as we all know, sometimes we make choices that take away from the path that we think we belong on just so that we can get to our actual path that we were destined for.
My first job out of college was at a mortgage company. I was a loan processor. To say that I was a sponge soaking up everything, would be an understatement. Once I saw the books and understood how lending money made money, I was hooked. After a series of loan processing jobs, I opened my own residential mortgage company. What a learning experience that was. By the way, every entrepreneur calls every loss a learning experience. I mean picture this – the business is running full throttle, bang, bang, bang. Then 2008/2009 hit and BOOM, the housing market crashes. And this ladies and gentlemen is when “the lessons” began. I wasn’t prepared. No one told me that I needed to have X amount of dollars in my business account to withstand down times. No one explained the value of business credit. I didn’t know what the SBA was, So I pretty much lost everything except the one thing that can’t ever be taken away – my “hustle” – my “drive”.
I had peeked over the hill and saw what the good life looked like and I was going to fight hard to get back there. Except this time, I was starting with kids and a wife. I couldn’t exactly go recreate the school candy store to get us back on our feet. So through a few connections within my fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma – I was able to pull up out of the hole. I jumped in marketing set design and setup and then from there got my CDL and started working in transportation for the film industry. Did I know anything about any of those businesses – NOPE! Not at all. But what I did know was that I had a family. I also had a deep desire to do things my way. Which kind of meant that working in a corporate setting wasn’t going to work for me. Did I mention that I have tattoos all over my body? In 2021, that’s not a huge deal, but in the early 2000’s Corporate America had a lot to say about heavily tattooed Black men in the halls of their businesses.
So just like at the first mortgage company that hired me after college, once I understood how the back end of the film industry worked – I understood how I could be successful in it. And once I conquered a few obstacles in the film business, I decided to jump into fuel. Again, this opportunity was created just be talking to another member of my fraternity, I realized that there wasn’t a whole lot of Black representation in that space. I stress the importance of always having your business in the position to take advantage of opportunities. After my “lesson” in 2008, I vowed to not get caught again without savings, business credit, and a business lifeline/relationship within my banking institution. I’d like to think that I’m special, but the truth is that I’m prepared. The ideas that I come up with are not unique. It’s just I’ve put LeWoo Equity Partners (my business) in the position to act on those ideas. It doesn’t always take cash to get an idea off the ground. Sometimes it takes relationships, or credit, or a lending institution believing in you.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. Being one of the few Black owned companies in the business, it was extremely difficult to get my equipment worked on shows. The space that I wanted to occupy from a business perspective was not available to me. There were so few people that had gone through those doors before me that I often found myself shut out. It was in those moments of being shut out that I was triggered. I had been there before. Being raised with few resources or parents that owned multi-million dollar companies, or parents that were well connected because of what school they attended – I was familiar with having to create my own path.
So that’s exactly what I did. I made so much noise that it was going to be hard for anyone to ignore me or forget that I was banging on the door. But once inside I completely understood what every person of color understands. I had to be perform – period. My equipment had to be good and my business had to be in order. I had some help along the way, but I’m not sure that they understood that they were helping me. I would ask a lot of questions, but not just to one person and I wouldn’t tell anyone my end game.
My end game at that time was to get my rental equipment on shows and then to acquire more pieces and grow. I say at that time, because as I have evolved in business I am constantly changing the end game. I never thought that fuel was in the cards for me, but it is and we’re thriving in this space. But the goal post has been moved again. I’m constantly in competition with myself to grow. So the new end goal is the Film and E-Sports studio.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I selected the category of artist and creative, which is not what you would associate with what I do or who people know me to be. I rent small trucks, generators, fuel tanks, and large trucks to production companies to be used in the process of making films and television shows. I am also the only minority fuel distributor for the film industry and pitching to service another major industry in the next few weeks. So I’m not sure that you would associate those things with being an artist or a creative. But so much of what I do is about being liked. My business in the film industry is rooted in relationships.
By nature, I’m a person that likes to stay at home and be insulated by my family. I’m a video game nerd. My family knows me as the man in the basement with his two very large viewing screens and his Xbox. But that’s not who I can afford to be if I want to live comfortably right? I have to be ready to nurture the business relationships that I’ve built if I want to continue to maintain and grow my business.
Which brings me back to the artist and creative part of what I do. 75% of my business is about who I know, who knows me, how much I make them laugh, and how accessible I am to them and their production team. The other 25% is all about the math, the professionalism, and the other important “stuff” that people go to business school to learn.
I specialize in the 75% of what is contributing to my success. I specialize in relationships. Yes, I own an equipment company where I have no partners (silent or otherwise). Yes, I built this company starting with one truck and continued to add on to where now I can comfortably say that I have a fleet.
Yes, I am the largest minority fuel distributor in the southeast United States. And yes, at one time, as a kid; I sold aluminum cans and candy to buy the extra things for myself that my family couldn’t afford. But what sets me a part from many is that this is still not enough.
I found that with each step of success, I started to dream bigger. I gave myself permission as a Black man to dream bigger and not just dream it, but go get it. Which is why I believe my next step is owning a piece of the video game and film industry, by building and owning a film and E-Sports studio.
This merging of entertainment giants (film and gaming) feels so organic to me. Both are already an integral part of my life. So this is where I see myself. I see a space that needs to be created for minorities in the film and gaming arenas. We need a space designed set our children up to take advantage of college scholarships aimed at the next set of athletes – the kind of athletes that use joysticks and not footballs. We need more production space that provides internships and opportunities for kids of color.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Oh man yes! I’ve learned that preparation is real and that my philosophy about entrepreneurs being flexible is like actually true. The film industry in Georgia – which is where I am based – was shut down completely for the greater part of 2020. If I had all of my eggs in one basket, then my family and I would not have made it. It was because I was able to say ok now what and lean on the fuel distribution side of my business that we survived. So what you saw were these large sites of food pantry giveaways. This was a truly sad time in the history of this country. Working families were dependent on churches and foundations to give them food. But it was here that I saw a need. Those large trucks were often refrigerated. And once parked they needed diesel to keep them operating. So I offered my services. I liked being part of the solution. it was my way of contributing.
Also, because people were able to leave their homes, the appetite for quality content surged. We can see that now in the number of projects being filmed in Georgia to satisfy that need. We saw the rise in streaming services and gaming during the pandemic. So again, this is where I see myself. I see a space that needs to be created for minorities in the film and gaming arenas. We need a space designed set our children up to take advantage of college scholarships aimed at the next set of athletes – the kind of athletes that use joysticks and not footballs.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@leshawnwoods.com
- Instagram: @Iamshawnwoods
- Facebook: @Iamshawnwoods
