Exploring the World of Mixology with Don Mansa, Founder of BarGod

Imagine stepping into the world of mixology, where creativity meets tradition, and a quality drink is more than just the sum of its ingredients. This is the universe of our dear friend and entrepreneur, Don Mansa, founder of BarGod.

 Swapping his music career for bartending out of necessity, Don's journey personifies resilience and perseverance. BarGod isn't just a brand for him; it's an immersive experience that brings together the art of balancing flavors, excellent customer service, and an environment that fuels imagination.

There's much to learn from Don's entrepreneurial voyage, filled with victories, losses, and invaluable lessons. He shares his experiences with trademark issues and the importance of a well-structured business plan. His insights offer a treasure trove of knowledge for budding entrepreneurs. 

Furthermore, Don introduces us to his unique merchandise line, an extension of his love for mixology, and his dedication to quality and creativity. These are not mere products; they are tangible expressions of the BarGod  experience. 

So, gear up for an inspiring conversation with Don Mansa and get ready to imbibe the BarGod experience.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:34

Yo, what's happening, people? Welcome to another episode of Permission to Speak Freely. We got a special guest in the building today. This is a friend of mine, my brother, a fellow father, fellow entrepreneur, straight out of Charlotte, north Carolina, by way of Cleveland, ladies and gentlemen, we have the bar guide, don Mansa. What's happening with you, man? What's?

Speaker 2: 2:01

going on. Welcome to the studio, thank you, thank you, thank you. I appreciate you all for having me up here.

Speaker 1: 2:07

No doubt, no doubt, no doubt. So go ahead and tell the people a little bit about yourself, who you are and what bar guide represents.

Speaker 2: 2:15

Gotcha. So my name Don L man. You know that's kind of where Don Mansa comes from Don of Don, king of Kings. If you know who Mansa Moussa is, then you know that he was the richest black man, that ever.

Speaker 1: 2:28

Well, richest man that ever walked the earth period.

Speaker 2: 2:31

He was the emperor of the Mali Empire, and some of my roots were traced back to Mali, and so it was only right. It was only right, so that's kind of how I came up with that name. I used to make music, rap Me and Vine met through or Lalo my bad.

Speaker 2: 2:51

You know me, know me, you know what I mean, we met in high school man and I was rapping. He was rapping. We used to, you know, kind of walk up the halls, sit around freestyle and then learn during lunch and stuff like that. And so, man, this is, I mean honestly, one of my biggest supporters. This entire time I've been doing anything. So this is family. You know what I'm saying. Bar guide is something new for me. You know, I started bartending out of necessity. I was here in Cleveland trying to make ends meet, you know, and it wasn't easy, man. We was phones was off, rent was due, refrigerator empty like one of those. You know what I mean. And it's $200 in the account and I'm like I don't know how we about to make this happen. And my now wife was like, hey, you ever thought about bartending?

Speaker 2: 3:42

I don't want to bartend man, nobody want to do that right. So I couldn't think of any other way to get some fast money other than going back to the shit that you know. So many of us get killed doing so. Instead of taking that route, I was like you know what? Fuck it, let's bartend. So I asked my mom. She shot me a little bread.

Speaker 2: 4:06

I went to bartending school Cleveland School of Bartending, here in Linnhurst and I gave it everything I had. Man, I just I lied on my resume. I got my first gig and, man, I was a sponge at every, every single place I went I was volunteering to do the new thing, whatever it was. I was just just soaking it up and I fell in love with it.

Speaker 2: 4:31

You know what I mean, and so bar guide is kind of an embodiment of creativity, quality. You know the love for the art of mixology. You know what I mean and balance and flavors and giving people the experience right, because when you go to the bar, when you call a bartender or when you go get drinks, you're not going to get drinks just to just to say you got drinks. You could go get the liquor yourself and pour it in a cup. You want the experience. You want to make sure that you have a little bit of fun or at least a release right. It could be therapeutic in a in a way, you know, and so to me it's all about the experience that I'm giving the guests right. Like whoever it is, I need to make sure that you have one of the best drinks that you ever had. That way, you can leave there in a better mood or, with you know, a different outlook. We can talk, we can bounce things off each other. So bar guide embodies everything right.

Speaker 1: 5:30

All of that. Hey man, I respect your view of what you built, man, and I respect how you. What some would take is just a drink, like, hey man, I'm just, I'm just here to sip something to take off the edge and, as you said, most of us would just get the drink, put it in a cup and let it. Let it do what it's going to do. But, as you explain the the customer service part that comes with bar guide, of more than just a man, I'm going to pour your drink your ice cold, you got your salt or sugar rim. It's like you know how you feeling, king, what you, what you want to take the edge off, kind of giving them the experience beyond you know they there for the look up, right.

Speaker 2: 6:21

You know that.

Speaker 1: 6:22

Exactly, you know that. But to give the experience and, like you said, man, help cut through the layers a little bit, that customer service goes a long way. As a person who tips, I learned from my uncle man just to be a good tipper, a healthy tipper man. It goes a long way. You don't know what that extra a couple of dollars really can do for that person, but I'm really huge on tipping. And when the customer service is on point, not just the drink but the customer service, because you can say, hey, this isn't the drink, isn't this man, can you take this back Something? You know it was?

Speaker 1: 7:00

I saw the review, man. It was like it was good, something was missing. You fucked up, but not bad. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. Somebody might like it, just not me Exactly. So I seen that you can take the drink back, but that negative experience can make that drink taste bad, no matter how on point it was. So, just knowing, hey, how you embody, I want you not only to take this drink and enjoy it, man, I want you to enjoy the whole experience dealing with me on whatever level it is, man. So that's the entrepreneur mindset that most people don't have, and coming from a customer service standpoint of like this is how I would want to be treated Absolutely. I would want a good drink, somebody to cater to me, somebody to you know, just kind of check up on me on how I'm doing. I don't understand that I'm not the only one, but hey, they make me feel like the only one.

Speaker 1: 7:50

Exactly, they make me feel like that. So, man, I think that's a dope thing to break down the science of the drink, and with Barg-Guy really means and man, I'm a fan of it, especially seeing with the unboxing and you got the merch man, can you tell the people a little bit about the merch that you got?

Speaker 2: 8:09

Absolutely so, barg-guy. For me, you know, it not only embodies what happens with the guests, but it's about everybody that I interact with while I'm there. That includes the employees, right, because I'm a firm believer in leading with compassion. A lot of people lead with fear, they lead with flat air, flashy, or they're arrogant, and I can be arrogant, but when I'm trying to lead someone, I'm leading them with compassion. I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with you today. Why are you not smiling today? Because I want all of what you can give me, but I want it in the right way. I want to make sure that you're okay first. This is work.

Speaker 2: 8:49

For sure I can do your job for you if you can't be here right now, and so that kind of encompassing making sure that everybody's good all the time, no matter what position they're in in the bar is how I came up with the name. As far as merch man, I got rocks glasses. I got 10 ounce rocks glasses, 2 ounce shot glasses, 16 ounce pint glasses. I got a few coasters. I got stickers. I got bottle openers.

Speaker 2: 9:21

I got a fancy keychain too, yeah that's the bottle opener, keychain, flashlight, you know, and that really started. It's crazy. That kind of started from me making mistakes in other businesses that I started. I was selling product right and I kept failing. I couldn't figure out why I wasn't getting ahead and then I realized it was because I was selling something that everybody else was selling. It didn't have any weight to it, right. Like it had weight in my mind but they couldn't feel the gravity of it. So once I realized that, I was like okay, well, now I need to rethink everything. So maybe if I sell the service right, I sell me the personality right. At some point they'll gravitate towards the product and I won't feel like I'm putting all of my eggs in one basket waiting on somebody to buy a bunch of glassware. You know what I mean, and so that's kind of how I went. I used to sell t-shirts right.

Speaker 2: 10:30

Now I've leaned away from the t-shirts and started.

Speaker 1: 10:33

I had never gotten me a chance to give me a go. Yeah, man but you want to know what happened.

Speaker 2: 10:37

Somebody else had it trademarked Business lesson right there. Yeah, golden State Warriors Team Shop. Yeah, I know right, golden State Warriors Team Shop had already had it trademarked for actually two years before I came up with it. I had no idea, I had no clue. It started out as an album title because I used to make music, so my album was going to be gold-blooded. So we may merge around the promotion of the album that we hadn't even started working on yet.

Speaker 2: 11:11

That's something man and people saw it and then I realized I was wasting my time and money because if it blow up, I got to give them all this money.

Speaker 1: 11:22

Yeah, you got to come up with some kind of cut, some kind of split. Hey, that's solid man. Hey, definitely appreciate you coming through and hanging with us today. Man, tell everybody where they can go and find some of your content, how they can purchase some of your merch and where to find you, man.

Speaker 2: 11:38

Absolutely so content. You can find me on Instagram and TikTok at atbargoduniversity that's at bargoduniversity, on Facebook at the bargod. Bargod is one word T-H-E-B-A-R-G-O-D. And if you search Don Manson on any streaming platform, you can tap into some of my older music. And if you want some glassware or you want to inquire about anything as far as private events, parties, things like that, I do event planning, mobile bartending, all of that Hit up bargodumyshopifycom. That's bargodumyshopifycom.