Exploring Life & Business with Reuben King of Are.Cee. Productions.

Today we’d like to introduce you to Reuben King.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I have two interests at the moment: real estate and stocks.

I have seen the power of real estate so it is an asset class that I cannot ignore. My dad owned rental properties all of my life. My family would spend weekends at these properties cleaning and fixing up houses to rent. I spent a good bit of my life cutting grass, snaking out toilets, fixing cabinets, and painting doors. That’s my least favorite part honestly {laughs}, but I can absolutely see the benefits. I’ve had a front row seat to real estate since I could remember. I’m just trying to put into practice what I’ve been taught all of my life as far as real estate goes.

I was introduced to the idea of stocks in college. I was fascinated by the 2007/2008 financial crisis. I was watching CNBC every day with rapt attention to see how we were going to walk ourselves back from sheer destruction. I would look up what derivatives and CDOs and Credit Default Swaps and go even further down the rabbit hole. However, it took a minute for me to actually start investing, but when I did, I became obsessed. I love doing research on these various companies and industries.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Ha! It has been a very rocky road. I think that social media makes entrepreneurship look fantastic, sexy even. You see people driving around in nice cars and living these perfect lives and traveling the world but the numbers state otherwise. Nine out of ten first time businesses fail. After that, nine out of ten of those businesses fail. With that said, I think that entrepreneurship is the best game. It’s the only game that can simultaneously give you your freedom, test your character, and help other people.

I am on a very different path than where I was seven years ago. I thought that I was going to be in television and movie production for the rest of my life. My second degree is in Film and TV production and I had built connections inside of the industry, worked on some of the biggest projects in the industry with some of the most amazing people, and I was just making legitimate headway with my own business. I had enough cameras to rent out and I was starting to get gigs as a Director of Photography when COVID hit. Well that put a cold stop to my plans for a time. Then, there was a writer’s strike and that put work on hold for an even longer time. In the middle of all of that, I’m getting older, I get married, and life demands a little more stability. I had to change businesses.

The short answer to your question is yes, it has been a very rocky road. My biggest challenges are internal. The biggest challenge, for me, has been making sure that I stay focused on one main goal and not stretch myself too thin. I have 100 ideas a day and it becomes easy to bounce from idea to the next, especially when things get hard. Furthermore, I have to tell myself to do the hard things first. There are a lot of gurus and consultants out here selling you products and platforms that are supposed to make your job easier. In my opinion, it is the easy way waiting to wash you away.

I want to say that you have to love this game of entrepreneurship. I have known that I wanted to be an entrepreneur since I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad at 19 and started selling snacks out of my dorm room. I love this question because you are going to encounter obstacles and challenges, and you are inevitably going to fail. For more insight, I played baseball from the time that I was 4 until I was 21. Baseball is a game where you are a legend if you FAIL 7 times out 10. Entrepreneurship is a game where you can fail 100 times but you only have to be right once. In other words, I like those odds.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I’m not about to act like have everything perfectly defined. My business is a work in process. My focus is in real estate and stocks. I’m a licensed realtor and I personally invest in the stock market. I specialize in working with distressed property owners (tax liens, pre-foreclosure, probates, etc.) to find solutions to either keep their property or connect them with investors or other realtors to find a better solution. I like to say that “I’m in the business of doing the right thing.”

I also really enjoy teaching. I did two years at Morgan Stanley/E*Trade as a Financial Services Representative. The most enjoyable part of that job was getting to teach people about their accounts, their investments, and what they could do with their assets. I have exported that to my own business model. I’m currently in the Masters of Economics program at Georgia State University and I plan on adding production and teaching back into my line of businesses when I’m done.

With that said, the thing that I am most proud of is being able to help people in tough situations. So, if you find yourself in a sticky situation, give me a call, an email, a DM, something!!!

Who else deserves credit in your story?
I thought that you would never ask! The better question is who doesn’t deserve credit? I could not do this myself.

First of all, I have the most amazing wife! She is the best best-friend, cheerleader, advocate, supporter, teammate, partner, and whatever positive role you can give her. Having a great partner is a cheat code. I wake up every day with motivation just to make her happy. Also, she is a beast herself. She will outwork me if I let her. So we have a little friendly competition. I root for her more than I root for myself honestly.

Second, my dad! That man taught me every thing I know. He’s my first best friend, mentor, teammate, advocate, cheerleader, and advisor. He taught me how to throw a baseball (my first love), how to drive a car, how to date, how to manage money, how to read, how to make your life better, how to win, and on and on and on. I advocate strongly for strong men and he’s the main reason why.

Third, but actually #2 with my dad was my mom. I put her in past tense because she sadly passed away in December (on Christmas actually). She was my Partner-In-Crime, my little lady, and also my best friend. She was my spiritual advisor and my biggest cheerleader and supporter. I didn’t have to be anything for my mom to be happy for me. I could be out here digging ditches and she would have been ecstatic for me.

Right up under those three is my sister: Candice Hughes. My very first best friend. I could brag on her all day. She is wickedly smart and a creative genius. She just graduated from SCAD with a degree in fashion. I’m more excited about what she’s going to do. She’s another person who I root for more than I root for myself.

I also have to mention Spencer Wallace, Derrion Myrick, Bree Bennett, Safiya Martin, my grandma Kate Boykin, Aunt Shirlene, Aunt Wanda, my uncles Theron and Reggie, DeNorris and Monique Goodwin, Kevin and Brittany Terrell, Geria Yancey, Charisse Helms, Javenn and Angela Edwards, Gus Matthews, Joseph Sheffield, Courtney Tyson, Constance Jackson, Ashlee Lewis, Xavier Jones, Elliot Robinson, Brandon Harvey, Takarus Deas, Charles Gandy Jr., Ronald Simmons III, Alvin Slate, Demario Curtis, and Phillip Bridges. I can’t forget about my in-laws, my bonus family: Charles and Selena-Walker Banks and brother-in-law, Chuckie Banks. My other bonus family has been great too, Uncle Mark and Aunt Tracy along with Evan and Erica Banks. I can’t forget about the Damn Pham and I can’t forget about the rest of the 15 DMMOA!

If you can’t tell, I think that I have the best people! I know that is a lot of people…but I think that all of these people are far wiser than I am and they all have invested in me as a person and I am eternally grateful for all of them. I wouldn’t be who I am without them.

Contact Info:

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