Imagine your life is like a chess game. Where every decision and move you make will get you closer to your goals, and determine whether you win or lose.
William “BillyABSTRACT” Nearn, decided to play the game of life and business; and he’s winning. Understanding he couldn’t work for corporate America or anyone else for that matter, he poured his heart and soul into his dream, found out what it took to make it happen, and did it with no excuses. He hasn’t looked back since and is focused, driven, and on a mission to conquer everything he set out to do.
BillyABSTRACT has mastered the “art of the deal.” This is his story.
Tell everyone a little bit about yourself and what life was like for you growing up?
My name is William Nearn, my nickname is Bill. I started my life in South Philadelphia living with my mom in the Passyunk projects until about 5 years old. Then we moved over to West Philadelphia, at which point, I was with my mom on the weekends and with my dad through the week. They both lived in kind of rough neighborhoods.
My mom didn’t have a lot so I grew up with a heavy emphasis on quality, not quantity. And she would treat me to my favorite thing on the planet―comic books.
It would only be three or four bucks to get comic books; she would treat me like once every other week or once a month, and make sure I had art supplies too. I would just sit and draw pictures. I was always an artist. I got really good. My skill as an artist now is no better than it was when I was twelve. I mean because like from seven years old to twelve, I just worked on it so much, and then I didn’t touch it pretty much until I was in my twenties. And what you see now is like the pen of a kid. Like, I already honed my skills.
You’ve been an accountant. When did you realize you wanted more and what steps did you take to change the course of your life?
At no point in my life did I ever feel as though I was going to work for somebody. When I was 7 years old, true story, when my families and relatives would ask me, “What you gonna do when you grow up?” I said, “I’m going to be rich. I’m going to own a club. I’m going to own a business.” I’m not built to work for anybody. I don’t understand that. That’s just me. And this is no dis to nobody, this is my truth. I look at working for somebody in corporate America as a waste of life. You got some kind of calling, some kind of gift you gotta give to the world. You gotta leave something for your children. So, if you live your life in fear and you want security, you can either get security or you can get freedom. I want freedom. Security is too small of a life. That’s Monday through Friday and your time is just leaving you; that ain’t it. So, at every point in my life, I knew that I would be rich. I always knew I would own my own. I graduated from college with a degree in accounting. I looked for a job for 3,4, or 5 months and I couldn’t find one. And I was at a club and I bumped into my college sweetheart. She was like, “Billy, did you get a job?” I was like, “Man, I looked I couldn’t find one. I’m not going to keep going to interviews.”
I got money anyway because I had things I did; I was making more money without a job than with a job. I didn’t care about no job. She was like, “Nah Bill, you got your degree. You gotta get a job. Come to my firm.” So, she gave me the invite to the open house at her firm. I went, had my suit on. I got hired on the spot as an alternative investment accountant. I was there for 3 weeks and I got called into a meeting. The funny thing was, they were like, “Hey, so the department that you guys are in is going to be dismantled. The client we were servicing chose not to renew the account.” And someone said, “How long did you know this?” And they were like, “Well, we knew this for about a year now.” So, I was like, these guys just hired me into a department that they knew was done. So, it just reaffirmed everything I already knew. So. I was like, “I’m not working for nobody.” I stayed in corporate America for like 7,8, or 9 months and then I quit. I had $30,000 in a stash I had saved up. I used half my money to start my business and then half the money to live off of.
Tell everyone the name of your business and about it.
Well, I started Abstract Thought as a streetwear fashion brand. And the mission is to convey a message to the world that we can live at the highest point of our imagination. The mission statement is literally, “The sky is not the limit imagination is.”
I want people to understand the power of their thoughts. If you think small, you’ll live small. If you think scared, you’ll live scared. If you think abundant, you’ll live abundantly. The only difference between a poor person and a wealthy person is your thoughts. It’s nothing else. The person that says that they can do something, and the person that says that they cannot do something, are both right.
So, that’s the entire premise of the brand. How can we show these people how beautiful life can be? And we can do that through fashion and style, adventure, and content. So, that’s what it is. And I’ve been in business for about 13 years.
In the beginning, you sold your products out of your car’s trunk, what made you decide to go that route? What advice would you give to those struggling to get their products out there?
Well, I sold stuff out of my trunk because it’s no better way to connect with people than direct sales. It was no such thing as social media when I started. So, the only way that you could feel what people were thinking and how they are responding to your products is to engage with them. I have no issue with having a box of products, any kind of product, and just walking into a barbershop and showing these people what it is. I can go directly at them and engage with them and sell. That is one of the things that makes me successful as a creative. If you can master that, you can become rich. So, that’s why I sold it that way. It was plenty of money out there, and I said, “Let me go get the money.”
My mentor once told me that everyone on this planet has a level of competence. And to be successful, you must know your level of competence. So, if you want to see your level of competence in any aspect of your life, look at the physical manifestations. So, if you want to know your level of competence financially, look at how much money you have and how you make it. Look at your credit score. At that point right there, you’ll see where you need improvement. So, you have to be cognizant of your level of competence because if you have $500 to your name and that’s what you average having, then that is your level of competence. If I were to give you $100,000 right now, it would transform itself back into $500. That’s your level of competence. So, you’ll never get $100,000 to your name if your level of competence is $500. You must first raise your level of competence. That’s the key.
Nothing will change for you until you change. So, if you are struggling, it just means that your level of competence is low and you must raise it. How do you do that? Read a chapter of a financial education book every day, take your behind to some conferences, go to some masterminds, masterclasses, get high-income skills. With relationships―you gotta be around the people that are doing what you want.
Now, your level of competence is raising, your actions change, and after your action changes, the physical manifestation naturally changes as well. So, before you are a millionaire financially, you are a millionaire mentally.
So, that is the biggest thing I would share, if you keep doing it the way you’re doing it, nothing is going to change. You have to level up your understanding of it. You have to increase your information. You need higher levels of information; that will change everything.
How were you able to get your clothing line into 45 stores within a year and land a deal with Foot Locker?
Because of my ability to engage with people. Because of having a strong mission statement that directly corresponded with the heart of the youth. Our mission statement connected with the people that looked like us so much that we were able to create that cult-like following. You see, a store isn’t going to carry you until you can sell the product without the store.
We set up something called “look parties” where we would have these huge events and the whole city would come out and buy from us directly. We did that for a year and had the whole region loving us and wearing our clothes. We knew a guy that was interning at one of the major retailers. He just put the word into the buyer, like, “Hey guys, you need to take a look at this.” They called a meeting and was like, “We hear you guys got the city smashed, we’re going to try you in one store.” They put us in one store; it sold out in a day. All I gotta do is put the word in the street, “Hey, the product is in this store, this store, this store.” So, if you want to get into the stores, you got work you have to do. You gotta get to the people’s hearts first.
With Foot Locker, the same thing. Years and years of hard work and having such a strong, cult-like following. What happened was, I got an email from Steve Madden. They wanted me to do an in-store. Like, do a live painting for custom footwear in New York. So, I called one of the marketing reps that I know at Foot Locker for some insight. He gave me some inside game. Before he hung up, he said, “Hey ah, us over here at Foot Locker, we might be interested in doing something with you.” And the Foot Locker deal didn’t come until two years after that. The biggest key is having your own following. Because when you got your own, you don’t care whether the store sells you or not.
Tell us about your 6-figure creative program that helps dreamers to live their dream and make money.
Well, with most creatives, whether it’s a fashion designer, artist, painter, or any creative, their biggest problem is they don’t know how to make their creative passion make any money. They all have dope things that they’re creating and they go to work, and they struggle their whole life. It’s called a “starving artist.” So, since, I’m like one of the rarities, I’m like an artist that has good money and I can thoroughly understand what it takes to do it, so why not create a program that can help people get to where they want to be in life? The 6-figure creative program is like the complete blueprint of how to build a brand up and how you make money from it. That’s it in a nutshell.
What’s next for you?
So actually, with Foot Locker, it’s just planning out the marketing strategy for the Spring 2022 collaboration. That’s what is directly next. They’re selling us in even more stores this time.
You can find out more about his products and follow him by clicking the links.
Image Credit: Instagram for @billyabstract
Writer, Debbie Stokes is a contributing writer. You can follow her on Instagram @iamdebbiestokes
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