Entrepreneur’s success borne of necessity, hustle

Sunny Martin has always been in business.

He delivered newspapers as a teen and set up car washes and sock hops. At the dawn of disco, he started Sunny’s Mobile Music, which leased sound equipment and supplied disc jockeys to central Ohio nightclubs. He later started Who’s Who Publishing, which shared success stories of black (and, later, Latino and LGBTQ) business owners and executives, educators and others in 27 cities.

Martin’s new business

— he sold Who’s Who in 2009 to Detroit-based Real Times Media — is passing along the knowledge and expertise he has gained as an entrepreneur.

Urban Entrepreneur Center, located on Taylor Avenue in the Milo-grogan neighborhood, offers classes and business coaching, office space and support services to aspiring entrepreneurs whose ideas have outpaced opportunities they’ve had to make them happen.

Martin talked with Columbus CEO about his career and thoughts about entrepreneurship.

Q: What inspired you to start your own businesses?

A: I was just focused on trying to make money because we were poor, you

know, lights out every other month, gas turned off, it was a struggle. It was to survive. It was all hands on deck. We had to support the family. My siblings were A students. I was an athlete and the money-getter guy.

Q: And you had dreams of being a professional athlete?

A: Because what role models that are successful economically are you exposed to? Athletes and entertainers. Those who run, jump, dance and sing. I was a baritone in the choir but I was no Barry White. I was a good athlete. I thought I was going to play football for Ohio State (University), and I put all my eggs in that basket. I busted my tail. That’s how so many urban, inner-city kids think. What they see they want to be.

Then came the bad news that I had a juvenile record. I bought a car at age 15 and had been driving it for two years without my driver’s license to carry more papers and make more money. It devastated me because I was like, what am I going to do now? I’m not going to play for the Buckeyes. I’m not going to get into the pros.

I fortunately had some guys that said listen, that same physical athleticism you have, you need to turn it into mental Sunny Martin’s latest business is the Urban Entreprenuer Center, Urban Entrepreneur Center on Taylor Avenue in the Milo-grogan neighborhood. Martin offers classes and business coaching, office space and support services. athleticism.

Q: Where do your ideas come from?

A: I was working as a disc jockey — I was “Sunny Love” — but you didn’t make no money at all. You made money doing sock hops and other things outside the radio station. I wanted to be my own businessman. Disco was coming in in 1977. Everybody was looking for disc jockeys, so I started Sunny’s Mobile Music.

But you know what the problem was? White club owners wouldn’t hire a black disc jockey. Fortunately, I was able to create a scenario from a television show that was popular at the time: Charlie from “Charlie’s Angels.” If you remember that show, nobody Urban Entrepreneur Center

Address: 727 Taylor Ave., Columbus

Mission: Reimagining inner-city entrepreneurship training by providing workshops, seminars, business marketing and sales classes aimed toward central Ohio’s next generation of urban entrepreneurs.

Founded: 2019

CEO: Sunny Martin Funding: Martin and other private investors

knew who Charlie was, but he had his angels. So I got some angels that went out and got me contracts to put disc jockeys in nightclubs.

Man, it was just the perfect storm. I had 36 establishments that I owned all the sound equipment in. They had to use my equipment. I had a sign on the door, “Entertainment provided by Sunny’s,” and I started doing private parties. Every bridal shop and tux place had my brochures at the counter.

Q: How do you define being an entrepreneur?

A: Entrepreneurs are different than successful small-business people. I might be a successful small-business person and have a bunch of pizza places, but I’m not necessarily an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs are innovative people who see marketplace voids and then address those voids with creative disruption. Like the Ubers of the world, the Airbnb people. Like Jeff Bezos and Amazon. They look to reconstruct the status quo into a different model.

Q: What is your advice for others, especially others who haven’t been exposed to these opportunities?

A: You’ve got to be able to educate yourself in the areas of your life that are the closest to what your purpose and your passion is. When you do that then you really can just get gassed up on the possibilities and the endless opportunities that you can create for yourself.

Now, ain’t nobody said it’s going to be easy. Entrepreneurship definitely isn’t for everybody. But every conceivable scenario you can imagine, I have met an entrepreneur who’s overcome those odds.

There’s no other country in the world that creates more millionaires than the United States of America. Why wasn’t I taught this as a kid? I wanted to sing or dance or run and jump so I could buy my mama a house. If you’re looking to become a millionaire in America, entertainment achievement and athletic achievement are 9 and 10 on the list. Business ownership is No. 1.

Bob Vitale is a freelance writer for Columbus CEO, a sister publication to The Dispatch.