Do you have an expensive hobby or something Substantial, with Greg Hedgepeth

One day Greg Hedgepeth’s grandpa took him into the woods, gave him a gun, and taught him an important life lesson that you can’t just shoot aimlessly – you need to have a why you do the things you do.  Years later, Greg was working as a professor at Shaw University and as the director of communication at NC State University, plus he had an expensive hobby – running Substantial Magazine. It wasn’t until he started focusing on what he wanted to accomplish that the expensive hobby turned into a scalable business.

If you’re drinking along with us, that means you have a lemon rosemary gin fizz.

Transcript

 

Dana: Welcome to Hustle and Gather, a podcast about inspiring the everyday entrepreneur to take the leap. I’m Dana 

Courtney: and I’m Courtney. 

Dana: And we are two sisters who love business on this show, we talk about the ups and downs to the hustle and the reward at the end of the journey.

Courtney: And we know all of the challenges that come with starting a business between operating our wedding venue, doing speaking and consulting, and starting our luxury wedding planning company, we wake up and hustle every day. 

Dana: But we love what we do. And today we’re talking with Greg Hedgepeth, CEO and owner of Substantial Magazine. Substantial Magazine focuses on the promotion of influential and affluent minorities, spotlighting their successes and discussing relevant issues that directly affect our communities.

Greg is a marketing and communications professional, higher ed leader, professor, speaker, and social entrepreneur, Greg, welcome to Hustle and Gather. 

Greg H: Hey, thank you both so much for having me. I’m super excited to be with you.

Courtney: No, we’re excited for you. And by the way, for those of you that are listening today, we are drinking a lemon rosemary gin fizz. As always, you can find the recipe in the show notes. 

Dana: Although I heard we really should have been drinking some cherry coke. That’s your preferred beverage? Correct? 

Greg H: That is it, you guys, every time I tell someone they stay, are they like, go, are you serious?  I have never taken a drink of anything alcoholic., the first thing everyone says is, so are you a pastor or are you feeling like no, not at all. Like I just, just never took a notion. Between running and golf, that’s my, that’s my outlet. Running and golf. That’s it.

Courtney: Well, that was quite an intro we had there. I feel like you have a very long list of accomplishments.  We think it’s so amazing that you started a Substantial Magazine. We know you’re a professor at Shaw University. You’re a Director of Communications at NC State, but really before we get into all that, we really want to hear, more of the beginning of your story. So, take us back to hear how you got to where you are today. 

Greg H: No, that’s a great question. And again, thank you all so much for having me and thank the audience for listening.  I’m just, as I always say, a country boy from Halifax County, North Carolina, that wanted to be so much more than, right. when I say that, it means so much more than whatever society, whatever that particular county, whatever those data and statistics said, I would be.

My journey started very early in life, again being born and bred in Halifax County, North Carolina, working on the farm. And so, I spent a lot of my time growing up with my grandfather, and I’ve been kind of semi, quasi- famous for going around when I do my speeches and telling the story about how with less than a middle school education, my grandfather taught me what I had to pay Simon scenic somewhere about 15 to $2,500 for, and that was to understand and have a why.

 If I can share just really quickly, I’ll never forget. I was about 19 years old.  and my mother raised me and my brother and my sister and being the oldest, you know, I was kind of smelling myself a little bit as the old folks say, right. Full of piss and vinegar and it, so I thought I was the man.

Yeah, as I was getting all types of trouble to some degree, right. And so, my grandfather, if you can imagine it takes me out into this field, him being a farmer, takes me out into this field. And as far as you can see nothing but a Woodline, a field on a wood line at the horizon, and he puts a gun in my hand.

Full Episode Transcript

Hustle and Gather is hosted by Courtney Hopper and Dana Kadwell, and is produced by Earfluence.  Courtney and Dana’s hustles include C&D Events, Hustle and Gather, and The Bradford Wedding Venue.

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