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Speaker 1: Angela, yee, I know, wout the Wednesday, my favorite day,

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Speaker 1: and I got my girl Stacy tisdaye my partner with me, her.

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Speaker 2: Partner in crime, and happy wealth Wednesday, everybody.

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Speaker 1: And this is a special one, yes it is.

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Speaker 2: This is a very special one because we are joined

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Speaker 2: by the one, the only, the amazing Arlen Hamilton.

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Speaker 3: Thank you?

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Speaker 4: Who is.

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Speaker 2: I would you even start by describing Arlanda? She's totally

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Speaker 2: broken her way into Silicon Valley and is a star

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Speaker 2: in the technology world, which for a black woman, Let's

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Speaker 2: not even talk about how hard that is. She's the

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Speaker 2: founder of Backstage Capital. Anne has raised thirty million dollars

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Speaker 2: to help over two hundred underestimated people start businesses. I

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Speaker 2: can't wait to talk about that. She's all over the

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Speaker 2: place right now. I think is an author.

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Speaker 4: Forget an author.

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Speaker 2: She has a new book out, your first million, and

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Speaker 2: she's not leaving here until Angela and I know how

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Speaker 2: to make our next million. And just an incredible just

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Speaker 2: so proud of you and all that you've accomplished and

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Speaker 2: so much. It's so inspiring when you know your story,

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Speaker 2: which I will shut up and let you tell us

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Speaker 2: your story. But folks, this lady sitting right here next

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Speaker 2: to me was homeless. She was on food stamps into

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Speaker 2: her thirties, and now she has changed the world. How

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Speaker 2: the heck did that happen?

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Speaker 3: Woman? Well, how much time do you have? Well? Yeah,

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Speaker 3: thank you so much. First of all, I want to say, like,

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Speaker 3: that was a mic drop that you said just now,

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Speaker 3: and I don't want us to miss that their next million.

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Speaker 3: I want to make sure we heard all heard that.

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Speaker 1: Go ahead a million, Yes, next next show about that?

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Speaker 1: And I do before you tell you, sir, I want

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Speaker 1: to say that I had been following with you for years,

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Speaker 1: so I'm excited to have you up here as well.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like we have been in each other's orbit.

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Speaker 3: A lot of kind of feel that. So this is

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Speaker 3: really a big honor to be here, so I appreciate it.

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Speaker 3: How did it happen? Well, yeah, I was at thirty four,

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Speaker 3: I'm forty three now thirty four. I found myself living

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Speaker 3: at the airport in San Francisco, and I had been

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Speaker 3: working on this fund, this venture capital fund for three

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Speaker 3: years and just not you know, knocked on doors wasn't

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Speaker 3: getting an anywhere. But I was really keeping up with

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Speaker 3: the founders and their stories and what they were building.

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Speaker 3: And I think that was a big key to this,

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Speaker 3: because when opportunity did come, I was ready. I didn't

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Speaker 3: skip a beat. And so, I mean, there's there's prior

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Speaker 3: to that I had started. I wanted to start a

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Speaker 3: company once I understood what startups were because I've always

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Speaker 3: been starting companies my whole life, but not knowing enough

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Speaker 3: about it to make it work. So I always started

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Speaker 3: and then they would fail. Started and they would fail.

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Speaker 3: And then finally I was like, I'm gonna start a

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Speaker 3: tech company because I kind of understand it. But then

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Speaker 3: I've read in twenty thirteen or so a statistic that

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Speaker 3: changed everything for me, which was that less than ten

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Speaker 3: percent of venture funding goes to anyone who's not a

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Speaker 3: white man in a US. That's not to say that

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Speaker 3: every white man gets venture funding, it's just the same.

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Speaker 1: Money that's available, that's who it goes to. And then

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Speaker 1: not just that, but let's talk about black women.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you can't even see us on the blip. We're

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Speaker 3: not even on the on the radar. And when I

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Speaker 3: learned that, I was like, wait a second, Well, I'm

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Speaker 3: a black gay woman in the United States. I know

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Speaker 3: my value. I know what I can accomplish if I

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Speaker 3: could probably try to, you know, raise a million dollars

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Speaker 3: for my company, But then what like what happens next

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Speaker 3: if they're not even seeing me or checking for me,

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Speaker 3: and then what about my peers? Is it just gonna

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Speaker 3: be me walking through that door? So I thought, what

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Speaker 3: if instead of trying to raise for one company, I

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Speaker 3: could raise for several companies a fund and be a

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Speaker 3: check writer so that when I was screaming and yelling

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Speaker 3: about this, it wouldn't just be some angry black woman

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Speaker 3: that they were gonna try to peg me as I

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Speaker 3: was gonna be an angry black woman who also who

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Speaker 3: could write a check.

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Speaker 1: And that's amazing to not just be thinking about yourself, right,

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Speaker 1: but also as you're trying to raise money for yourself,

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Speaker 1: how do I raise money to other people as well?

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Speaker 1: Because you identified something that was a necessity because we

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Speaker 1: don't have that opportunity. And this goes back to when

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Speaker 1: you talk about radical belief. You know, sometimes we talk

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Speaker 1: ourselves out of things because it doesn't seem possible. But

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Speaker 1: for you, even with the obstacles that you've overcame, you

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Speaker 1: knew that this was something that could be possible. How

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Speaker 1: did you get that?

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Speaker 3: I was just looking around, And I mean you have

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Speaker 3: to understand. At bad time, I was back in Texas,

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Speaker 3: where I'm from, and I was living out of a

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Speaker 3: hotel room with my mom before I even got to

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Speaker 3: the airport, and we had nothing, like we would wait

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Speaker 3: until tuesdays when they had free chili days at the

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Speaker 3: hotel because we were like, oh, we get to eat

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Speaker 3: that day, you know. So we had really nothing. But

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Speaker 3: I was just also studying all of these companies. I

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Speaker 3: would just go online or I would get in touch

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Speaker 3: with somebody that I liked their company, and I just

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Speaker 3: saw these are hidden figures. These are like brilliant people,

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Speaker 3: and they cannot even get into a room with an investor.

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Speaker 3: They can't even have the conversation. It is like they

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Speaker 3: were not even written into this story at all. And

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Speaker 3: to me, it was like, if I could change that,

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Speaker 3: do anything to change that, spen hyper focus on changing that,

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Speaker 3: I could change the world. And it just became this.

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Speaker 3: I call it a calling rather than a dream. I

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Speaker 3: had had dreams before, and I would race towards dreams,

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Speaker 3: but a calling pulls for you, and so for this,

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Speaker 3: I was like, if I can just if I can

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Speaker 3: put some points on the board, make some investments, find

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Speaker 3: some people to be an example, I know this can

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Speaker 3: be big.

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Speaker 2: I love your phrase underestimated. Yeah, as we always talk

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Speaker 2: about we like to help underserved groups.

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Speaker 4: But you say underestimated.

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Speaker 2: And I'm sure as a black gay woman from the South,

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Speaker 2: you have a lot of experience being underestimated. You have

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Speaker 2: a great book about it. Tell us what you consider underestimated.

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Speaker 3: Yes, underestimated. I mean a lot of us can relate

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Speaker 3: to it in very different ways. I even like this

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Speaker 3: word for straight white men because some of like most

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Speaker 3: of them, have been underestimated in some ways.

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Speaker 1: They kind of they get it.

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Speaker 3: They don't think about this every day because it's not

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Speaker 3: their lived experience, but if you kind of help them

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Speaker 3: relate to it. And they do have a lot of

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Speaker 3: the money in Silicon Valley, so getting them on board

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Speaker 3: is important to an extent, right, But underestimated, I think

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Speaker 3: I like to think of it as you don't see

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Speaker 3: me coming you. I will still to this day, after

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Speaker 3: everything I've done, invested in two hundred plus companies, raised

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Speaker 3: millions of dollars, generated millions of dollars, I will still

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Speaker 3: like last week, let me.

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Speaker 1: I tell you I follow you go ahead.

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Speaker 3: Well, there's multiple stories. I don't which one you're gonna bring,

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Speaker 3: but I will still have people like hand me their

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Speaker 3: keys to their car or ask me where our bathroom is,

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Speaker 3: because I must be the help absolutely or you know,

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Speaker 3: and I could be the keynote speaker, right like you

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Speaker 3: saw what was Melanie Hobbs, who is a billionaire, a

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Speaker 3: black woman was taken through the kitchen to her own

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Speaker 3: keynote because they thought she was the white staff, right

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Speaker 3: like that is And that's such a negative way of

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Speaker 3: thinking about it because it happens. It's so prevailing. But

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Speaker 3: it's like, okay, if you're gonna underestimate me, if you

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Speaker 3: don't know what I'm capable of, let me let me

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Speaker 3: watch and see. Right, So there's a way to spin

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Speaker 3: that I have found. I say, you can turn it

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Speaker 3: into your greatest advantage because they don't see me coming

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Speaker 3: when i'm when they don't know, they think they've pigeonholed me.

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Speaker 2: It's an advantage and it's also unexpected. You touched on

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Speaker 2: the fact that white men that they have the money,

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Speaker 2: but this is something you could kind of make them

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Speaker 2: relate to because everyone's been underestimating. How did talk a

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Speaker 2: little bit about more about that because a black woman

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Speaker 2: getting into that Silicon Valley world, you didn't have the network,

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Speaker 2: you didn't have what they have, the old boys club.

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Speaker 4: How do you navigate that space?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, someone asked me, a black woman asked me, how

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Speaker 3: do I navigate white spaces? And I tell her, told her,

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Speaker 3: I don't because I don't think there is a white space.

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Speaker 3: I don't consider any space a white space. I believe

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Speaker 3: that everyone has inherited the exact amount same amount of

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Speaker 3: the United States if we live here, and the same

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Speaker 3: amount of the world collectively. So all of this belongs

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Speaker 3: to us as just as much as it belongs to

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Speaker 3: the next person. So these you know, geniuses that are

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Speaker 3: supposedly out there who are the billionaires, the only reason

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Speaker 3: that they are billionaires, or that they have been afforded

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Speaker 3: the right to be billionaires, is because the country was

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Speaker 3: built on the backs of our ancestors. We were, as

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Speaker 3: Pamela Jolly says. Doctor Pamela Jolly says, we came here

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Speaker 3: as wealth, and we've been building wealth for the countries

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Speaker 3: since we arrived in this country. And so I believe

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Speaker 3: now is our time to get that inheritance to take what's.

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Speaker 4: Are you never internalize the illusion.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like the same thing with imposter syndrome. Like

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Speaker 3: I don't, I don't have it like I It just

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Speaker 3: I have met too many people in power to believe

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Speaker 3: that they're better than I am right to believe that

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Speaker 3: they're better, smarter than the smartest black woman I know

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Speaker 3: because I'm surrounded by a genius. I'm surrounded by it.

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Speaker 3: I'm surrounded by charisma and brilliance, and for it to

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Speaker 3: be muted simply because of the skin color or the

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Speaker 3: orientation or the gender is a travesty. And so we

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Speaker 3: have that to rail against. We don't have time for

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Speaker 3: imposter syndrome. Because we don't have time. We have to

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Speaker 3: make up for so much time.

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Speaker 1: Well, a lot of those lines. This is a different posts,

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Speaker 1: but it does, I think, aligned perfectly. And like I said,

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Speaker 1: you have to follow Island to see all of the

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Speaker 1: things that she discussed. It is because you didn't. You

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Speaker 1: don't mention the names, but you will will talk about

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Speaker 1: a circumstance.

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Speaker 3: I will sometimes drop names.

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Speaker 1: Well this one you did in this particular one, but

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Speaker 1: you said a white man got into my comments on

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Speaker 1: another platform. Today after I said that I'm a fan

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Speaker 1: of DEI in response to a Mark Cuban post. That's

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Speaker 1: literally all I said. And then he goes on to

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Speaker 1: say he genuinely like, he genuinely likes me, and I'm

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Speaker 1: a great hype person for myself. But what about the results,

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Speaker 1: how has my DEI fund done, et cetera, And so

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Speaker 1: can you talk about what happened, what you did after that,

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Speaker 1: and why you felt the need to share this.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I started writing him a response because I mean,

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Speaker 3: I get it all the time, right, so I don't

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Speaker 3: respond to a lot of people. I have a lot

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Speaker 3: of patience with that. But something about that just hit me,

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Speaker 3: Like when I went to his profile and he said

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Speaker 3: he lived in Malibu, he said he was a film producer,

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Speaker 3: and like, why do you have time for this? Why

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Speaker 3: do you have time? Why you have time to punch

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Speaker 3: down as it were, And it kind of triggered I

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Speaker 3: was triggered already by Elon's incessant talk about why DEI

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Speaker 3: is racism.

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Speaker 1: And now people are other corporations coming forward.

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Speaker 3: And stopping their programs or going into hiding, and Mark

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Speaker 3: Cuban seems to me to be the only billionaire brave

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Speaker 3: enough to talk back to him. But I mean, I

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Speaker 3: think Elon is like the dumbest genius there is, Like

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Speaker 3: I just don't know why things come out of his

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Speaker 3: mouth except for it. I think he's racist. I don't

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Speaker 3: know if I can say that here, but I just

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Speaker 3: think he can say I think he's a racist, and

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Speaker 3: I think now he gets he has the Carblanches to

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Speaker 3: just be his full racist self, and that would be fine.

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Speaker 3: You can go and scream at the clouds and do

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Speaker 3: all his shenanigans, but he is affecting people because he

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Speaker 3: has a voice, and so that was the kind of

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Speaker 3: mind space. It touched a nerve, and so I started

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Speaker 3: responding to him. But instead of responding to him, I

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Speaker 3: just blocked him, and I took the response to my

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Speaker 3: people because I always wanted to say, I don't want

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Speaker 3: you to look at my Instagram and just think everything's

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Speaker 3: going perfectly. I want you to understand that every single

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Speaker 3: day I have to fight trolls, I have to fight

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Speaker 3: all sorts of institutions. And so what I essentially said

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Speaker 3: to this man and to other people who think like him,

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Speaker 3: is that there's only one real excuse as to why

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Speaker 3: you would make the time to come into my timeline

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Speaker 3: in my comments over something so innocent, and it's that

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Speaker 3: if Mark Cuban or if I am right and that

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Speaker 3: DEI is fair, and that we deserve to be on

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Speaker 3: equal footing, and that you know, if we're on equal footing,

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Speaker 3: we can do even better than you. Then you are

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Speaker 3: in fear of what that means about your success. So

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Speaker 3: as this successful, I think white man, you're either one

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Speaker 3: or two things. You're either comfortable with yourself and you

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Speaker 3: know what you got and you're happy to everybody else

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Speaker 3: gets a little piece, or you feel threatened and you

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Speaker 3: feel like if they were to get on equal footing,

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Speaker 3: they would lap me. I would not be the king

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Speaker 3: because my what is the Emperor's close like, they would

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Speaker 3: know that I didn't really have this. It wasn't meritocracy,

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Speaker 3: it wasn't merit based, and so the only thing I

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Speaker 3: can do is rail against it and hope that I

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Speaker 3: can push it back so far that they never get

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Speaker 3: close enough to see what I'm really standing on. So

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Speaker 3: that's when you have people who are confident in themselves.

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Speaker 3: Michael Mark Cuban are many other people who are like,

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Speaker 3: I'm actually rich. I know there was some inequities. I'm

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Speaker 3: doing the best that I can, and I'm bringing other

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Speaker 3: people with me.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and Mark Cuban was somebody who invested with you,

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Speaker 1: except can you tell how that even happened?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Mark Cuban invested a total of six million dollars

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Speaker 3: into my fund and I've raised about thirty so.

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Speaker 1: So Trona it was one million, then five, that's.

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Speaker 3: Right, twenty nineteen was one million. And what happened there

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Speaker 3: was we met at south By Southwest in Austin. We

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Speaker 3: spoke on the same stage at the time. It was

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Speaker 3: for Twitter, kind of ironically, but we spoke on the

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Speaker 3: same stage and it went really well. Like when we

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Speaker 3: went out on the stage, everybody was like Mark, Mark, Mark,

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Speaker 3: and when we left the stage they were like Ireland, Ireland, Ireland.

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Speaker 3: So he saw kind of like how people react to me,

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Speaker 3: and so I use it as, you know, a chance

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Speaker 3: to just ask him, Hey, do you want to be

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Speaker 3: in my fund? He said, Noah, I don't really like

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Speaker 3: being in other people's funds. I like to invest directly

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Speaker 3: in companies because I have too much fun doing that.

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Speaker 3: Why would I need somebody else to invest for me? Essentially,

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Speaker 3: I was like, Okay, cool. Then a few weeks later,

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Speaker 3: a few days later, an article came out about me.

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Speaker 3: This was twenty nineteen. Article came out about me that

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Speaker 3: said fit my fund had failed because it hadn't raised

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Speaker 3: it all yet. And you gotta understand, I'm around people

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Speaker 3: raising funds all day long. I know the process behind

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Speaker 3: the scenes. Most people's funds take a year, two or

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Speaker 3: three years to raise. So it was like they were

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Speaker 3: picking on me a little bit. And that article made

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Speaker 3: some of my investors take their money out.

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Speaker 4: Is this when you lost five million?

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Speaker 3: That was a different time I left.

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Speaker 1: It's crazy.

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Speaker 3: So he saw that and like he got the same

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Speaker 3: kind of newsletter that I got, and they used a

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Speaker 3: bad picture of me too. It's like, you know, I

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Speaker 3: was sad and just disheveled, and so he without I

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Speaker 3: didn't reach out to him at all. He reached out

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Speaker 3: to me. He said, look, what we need to do

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Speaker 3: is make you independently wealthy so that you don't have

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Speaker 3: to deal with this. Yes, And he said, I'm going

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Speaker 3: to give you a million dollars invested in any way

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Speaker 3: you want to. She just kind of like pick you up,

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Speaker 3: like let's get back up. We got stuff to do,

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Speaker 3: and I just thought, that's amazing, right. And then when

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Speaker 3: George Floyd was murdered on live television essentially, and we

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Speaker 3: were going through that reckoning, out of the blue, I

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Speaker 3: got an email from Mark and he does everything by

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Speaker 3: email or text, and I got an email from him

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Speaker 3: and it just said I want to do more. That's

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Speaker 3: all the subject said. And it opened it up and

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Speaker 3: it said I want to put five five million more in.

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Speaker 3: Let's go. Wow. And I was like, no, let me

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Speaker 3: check my calendar. I don't know if I was like,

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Speaker 3: I was like, let's go, let's go. Because he understood

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Speaker 3: the urgency of the moment. We need to we needed

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Speaker 3: to catalyze the people who are already doing the work.

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Speaker 3: And he knew that he wasn't going to jump in

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Speaker 3: and know exactly who to reach out to, what founders

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Speaker 3: to invest.

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Speaker 1: In, but he knew he could invest in somebody who

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Speaker 1: would know those things because.

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Speaker 3: He already worked with me. Yeah that I had that

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Speaker 3: that deal flow and everything. So he made that investment.

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Speaker 3: And I will also say, to his credit, like, there

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Speaker 3: are a lot of ways to build a fund, to

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Speaker 3: structure a fund, there are ways that he could have

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Speaker 3: taken more advantage of the situation, but it was his

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Speaker 3: idea to give me more of the upside. So it's

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Speaker 3: called carry like carried interest, which is like the profit share.

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Speaker 3: He said, I'm going to give you x amount of

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Speaker 3: profit share, which is way more than an industry standard.

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Speaker 3: So it was a lot of things that he was like,

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Speaker 3: you can invest in anything you want. You don't need

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Speaker 3: my permission. You can invest.

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Speaker 1: That's a that's huge. Can I ask you something, just

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Speaker 1: to go back to what you said earlier, because I

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Speaker 1: didn't want to cut off Yesterea at all. But how

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Speaker 1: did you fail when that news that it went out

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Speaker 1: with so many of your peers and people in the

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Speaker 1: industry that you're in, and like you said, you felt

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Speaker 1: that they were picking on you, but other people may

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Speaker 1: have just read the headline.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, only the headline. So many people did. I would

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Speaker 3: thank you for that, because nobody's ever asked me that.

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Speaker 3: It was devastating to me. And I don't I don't

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Speaker 3: embarrass easily. I can fail in public real easily because

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Speaker 3: I know how audacious the work I'm doing is. I

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Speaker 3: know that there's going to be some failure in it,

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Speaker 3: and that most of the people who are criticizing that

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Speaker 3: could never I could never even attempt to worry.

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Speaker 1: Some people take so much pleasure in seeing other people

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Speaker 1: not you know, quote unquote not succeed.

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Speaker 3: So I will say before I answered that, I have

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Speaker 3: since talked to that journalist. We've had a heart to

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Speaker 3: heart and I have forgiven him and he understands me

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Speaker 3: a lot better. Not to say it won't happen again

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Speaker 3: for him, but I think we had a we had

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Speaker 3: like a three year period where things are not good

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Speaker 3: because I talked about it in my book and everything,

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Speaker 3: but when it first happened, I was devastated, mostly because

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Speaker 3: I knew. I was like, people only read headlines and

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Speaker 3: this is not so it's going to affect my fund,

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Speaker 3: in which it did. Investors said, oh, we don't like

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Speaker 3: that kind of energy, and we were worried about what's

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Speaker 3: going on behind the scenes. I'm like, nothing is going

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Speaker 3: on behind the scenes that I didn't tell you, right,

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Speaker 3: But also I felt like he just set us back because.

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Speaker 4: I'm wonder not walking alone.

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Speaker 3: Right, I'm one of the very few people who got

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Speaker 3: this far, and I'm an example to people, for better

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Speaker 3: or for worse, and I knew that responsibility. But if

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Speaker 3: people are just reading the headlines and if they read

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Speaker 3: what he wrote, I mean, he even went so far

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Speaker 3: in that article, and they don't hear it from me,

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Speaker 3: they're gonna say, yeah, we told you, we told you,

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Speaker 3: we couldn't put money there. And I thought, how much

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Speaker 3: damage will never know how much damage that article did

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Speaker 3: to the whole movement. So I was devastated in multiple ways.

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Speaker 3: And then personally, I felt like, you're damned if you

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Speaker 3: do if you're damned if you don't. Like all this

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Speaker 3: work I just did for the past what sixty years

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Speaker 3: at that point, the things that people would never know about,

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Speaker 3: the moving all kinds of money from my account into

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Speaker 3: other people's account to make investments, to make payroll that

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Speaker 3: I'll never see, some of the fruits of my own labor,

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Speaker 3: all of that sacrifice that I do behind the scenes

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Speaker 3: to this day. That's why I had like that moment

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Speaker 3: too with that, with that post, I thought, he just

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Speaker 3: with one fell swoop, he just messed it up, and

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Speaker 3: he doesn't know me right, like, he doesn't know me

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Speaker 3: at all, and he needed some I felt like he

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Speaker 3: needed something. But when we had the conversation, you know,

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Speaker 3: we definitely walked it through.

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Speaker 1: Ooh, that was a lot. I can't even I just

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Speaker 1: asked that because I know sometimes you know, just from

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Speaker 1: just the way that you just teld that, that is

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Speaker 1: exactly what I was thinking, how that could feel like emotionally,

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Speaker 1: it's like this is your baby, and so that's hard.

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Speaker 1: But that's why I feel like you've also said that

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Speaker 1: you know, accumulating wealth is also a form of activisiness.

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Speaker 2: Yea, yeah, I love how you of how you see

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Speaker 2: wealth building as activism and your investment in empowering You

410
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Speaker 2: think you want to create a thousand millionaires to see

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Speaker 2: your activism, Yeah, over.

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Speaker 3: The next decade. That's why I wrote Your First Million.

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Speaker 3: It's kind of the kickoff of that. And I mean,

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Speaker 3: we know that a thousand million equals a billion, and

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Speaker 3: we can be upset with billionaires if they exist in

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Speaker 3: what they do with it. But if the truth is

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Speaker 3: if they if you have a billion dollars or more

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Speaker 3: and you want to do something or you want to

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Speaker 3: say something, it gets out to the world, right, It's

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Speaker 3: just it's it is a platform on its own. So

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Speaker 3: my thought was, believe me, I want to see some

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Speaker 3: more black billionaires. I'm not trying to stop that, but

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Speaker 3: I'm saying is we can also anybody listening to this

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Speaker 3: could also be a millionaire. So what if we collectively

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Speaker 3: built our wealth and then work together towards something greater,

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Speaker 3: Like if we want to see something in the world happen,

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Speaker 3: What if we were the ones that made that happen.

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Speaker 3: So I just think if we say the billionaire word,

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Speaker 3: it just seems so unattainable, because millions seem unattainable to

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Speaker 3: most people. But I know now, after interviewing hundreds of millionaires,

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Speaker 3: after working with hundreds of millionaires maybe thousands at this point,

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Speaker 3: and after becoming one, I know that it can be taught. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: And I know that it can that it is possible

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00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:21,960
Speaker 3: for so many people ninety nine point nine percent.

435
00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:24,440
Speaker 1: I would tell you a million dollars doesn't seem as

436
00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:28,920
Speaker 1: like as much as it used to. It is, It

437
00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:32,200
Speaker 1: definitely doesn't. You know. Some people feel like people who

438
00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:35,040
Speaker 1: are billionaires are evil, like they have had to do

439
00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:39,159
Speaker 1: evil things, heartless things to get to that position. But

440
00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:42,040
Speaker 1: would you say to that. I've seen that conversation happen

441
00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:42,760
Speaker 1: so many times.

442
00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:46,439
Speaker 3: I have seen that too. Yeah, it came up on

443
00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:47,960
Speaker 3: my brother's show. I think too.

444
00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:50,280
Speaker 1: Oh, we got to talk about Jim Yeah, I came

445
00:21:50,359 --> 00:21:50,800
Speaker 1: up on.

446
00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:55,600
Speaker 3: One of his interviews. I so this is tough for

447
00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:58,840
Speaker 3: me because, well, we will never know what happens behind

448
00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:03,400
Speaker 3: closed doors of places. I think there's like that I'm

449
00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:05,800
Speaker 3: leaning more towards that has to be the truth. And

450
00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:09,080
Speaker 3: it may not be evil per se, but there are

451
00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:14,120
Speaker 3: people under the thumb of other people, right, Like, if

452
00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:18,280
Speaker 3: you think about certain companies or certain people who works

453
00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:23,200
Speaker 3: for them, what sacrifices were made, what you know, cost

454
00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:25,159
Speaker 3: cutting measures were made so that you could have that

455
00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:29,560
Speaker 3: profit margin higher. I just happen to work with Cubans,

456
00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:32,240
Speaker 3: so I know what, like what I believe a good

457
00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:34,840
Speaker 3: quote unquote billionaire is, but I don't know his life

458
00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:38,200
Speaker 3: behind the scenes. I don't know the cutthroat negotiations.

459
00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:41,800
Speaker 1: Wise, you do have to do some cutthroat things that

460
00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:45,639
Speaker 1: can fail, heartless that can but it has to sometimes

461
00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:48,880
Speaker 1: be This decision is different from an emotional.

462
00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:52,560
Speaker 3: That's why I think we should have more wealth because

463
00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:56,920
Speaker 3: then we can instead of only complaining, we can say, Okay,

464
00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:58,640
Speaker 3: this is what I want to do about it. That's

465
00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:01,560
Speaker 3: why I started backstage Capital, so I could be the

466
00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:05,280
Speaker 3: one writing a check while yelling at people, right so

467
00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,080
Speaker 3: it just I feel like we have more more of

468
00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:10,760
Speaker 3: a leg to stand on if we're also come to

469
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:12,639
Speaker 3: the table with collective wealth.

470
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:15,360
Speaker 2: Let's talk about backstage for a minute. You've raised over

471
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:19,320
Speaker 2: thirty million dollars. You invest, like i'll venture capitalists in

472
00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:23,920
Speaker 2: what you consider to be high potential founders. How does

473
00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:30,040
Speaker 2: someone who smart, well intentioned, has a good idea move

474
00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:33,000
Speaker 2: from being just someone who's smart well and has a

475
00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,320
Speaker 2: good idea to a high potential founder?

476
00:23:35,359 --> 00:23:37,719
Speaker 4: What makes someone someone you want to invest in?

477
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,080
Speaker 3: I'll tell you there's so many taking notes, yeah, go ahead.

478
00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:42,120
Speaker 3: First of all, let me say that we invest in

479
00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:45,160
Speaker 3: less than one percent of what we see just because

480
00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:47,320
Speaker 3: of numbers. We see so many companies. If you go

481
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:52,080
Speaker 3: to Backstagecapital dot com, you can apply for investment if

482
00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:53,399
Speaker 3: you feel like you're ready, Like take a look at

483
00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:54,959
Speaker 3: it and say, am I ready for this or do

484
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,000
Speaker 3: I want to wait or whatever? But we look at

485
00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:02,440
Speaker 3: every single application. But because of the numbers and the stats,

486
00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:04,840
Speaker 3: like we're if we say no to you or if

487
00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:06,520
Speaker 3: we don't get back to you, it's nothing to do

488
00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:09,639
Speaker 3: with your company. Necessarily, you have to be able to

489
00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:13,840
Speaker 3: surpass our no. But there's also so much you have

490
00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:17,600
Speaker 3: control over. Like, for instance, somebody could come to us

491
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:19,320
Speaker 3: or to me and say I want to raise one

492
00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:22,240
Speaker 3: hundred thousand dollars because X Y Z. And I'll say, okay, cool,

493
00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:24,960
Speaker 3: what is your product? And I'll say, well, I haven't

494
00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:27,280
Speaker 3: put the product out because I'm raised. I'll say, okay, well,

495
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:29,520
Speaker 3: how many people on the waiting list for the productcause

496
00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:30,960
Speaker 3: I know you've talked about it. No, I haven't done

497
00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:33,520
Speaker 3: that because I'm raised. Right. There are so many steps

498
00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:35,720
Speaker 3: you could take before you even get to an investor,

499
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:38,520
Speaker 3: even one who is like seeing you as a full

500
00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:41,800
Speaker 3: person like I am. And you can do things like

501
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:46,120
Speaker 3: survey an audience of there's been a time I don't

502
00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:48,080
Speaker 3: know if I'm aging myself, but we used to walk

503
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:50,679
Speaker 3: outside of movies at some point, early movies, and they

504
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:52,679
Speaker 3: would take a survey of like how did you like

505
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:56,080
Speaker 3: the movie? Because they're kind of collecting information, you can

506
00:24:56,119 --> 00:25:00,000
Speaker 3: take surveys of your audience. Do you have an audience?

507
00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:05,000
Speaker 3: Have you built some sort of a community, a bay?

508
00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:07,639
Speaker 3: It's like what makes you think people like this? And

509
00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:09,439
Speaker 3: so I like, I love when people come to me

510
00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:12,040
Speaker 3: and say, yeah, I haven't raised anything, or we have it.

511
00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 3: We're pre product and pre revenue. But we have surveyed

512
00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,160
Speaker 3: one thousand people over the past twelve months, and we

513
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:21,399
Speaker 3: have tweaked this and that, so we know how to

514
00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:23,960
Speaker 3: spend that money once we get it. Or we've done

515
00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:25,760
Speaker 3: some paid advertising so we know if you put a

516
00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:28,040
Speaker 3: dollar in, we get three out. So all we need

517
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:30,280
Speaker 3: to do is add fuel to the fire. There's a

518
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:32,600
Speaker 3: lot of things you can do before you even come

519
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:36,520
Speaker 3: to me that tell me that you're serious about this.

520
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:39,520
Speaker 3: Another thing to note is I look at what have

521
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:43,280
Speaker 3: you done so far with the resources you have. That

522
00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:46,439
Speaker 3: is how I'm not putting everybody on the same footing

523
00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:48,720
Speaker 3: because you're not necessarily on the same footing as the

524
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:52,800
Speaker 3: next person. Because somebody who lives in Tulsa or somebody

525
00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:57,000
Speaker 3: who lives in Oakland or whatever is gonna they're gonna

526
00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:00,520
Speaker 3: see life a little bit differently depending on how much cost.

527
00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:03,560
Speaker 3: For some of the people it is a million dollars

528
00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:07,800
Speaker 3: is huge, and getting X Y Z is huge. To others,

529
00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:09,640
Speaker 3: it's like it's a different quality of life.

530
00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:11,520
Speaker 1: I wasn't saying it's not huge, by the way, No,

531
00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:15,119
Speaker 1: I know, but I know you're saying it's not what

532
00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:17,600
Speaker 1: I used to think it a million dollars. Used to

533
00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:21,360
Speaker 1: be like, I never got to do anything. Again, that's

534
00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:26,679
Speaker 1: not how that's taking care of I want to So

535
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:29,160
Speaker 1: you know, along those lines, do you think that it's

536
00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:31,760
Speaker 1: important to see that somebody has invested their own money

537
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:36,640
Speaker 1: into their startup before you say? Because I've always felt

538
00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:38,560
Speaker 1: like I want to see what have you invested in

539
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:41,240
Speaker 1: yourself to make me feel comfortable enough to know that

540
00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:42,080
Speaker 1: I should invest.

541
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:44,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're an investor, right, You're an angel investor?

542
00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:44,640
Speaker 2: Right?

543
00:26:45,119 --> 00:26:47,280
Speaker 1: No, not first of all, I want to We're going

544
00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:49,360
Speaker 1: to get to that on the second too. But that's

545
00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:51,320
Speaker 1: part of why I follow you because at some point

546
00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:54,440
Speaker 1: that's the position I want to be in. But first

547
00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:57,159
Speaker 1: I'm trying to take care of some things financially on

548
00:26:57,200 --> 00:26:59,200
Speaker 1: my end, so I can't do that and be able

549
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:02,080
Speaker 1: to raise money, but to put my own in it.

550
00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:06,280
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, so when you say invest money, yes and no,

551
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:09,960
Speaker 3: sometimes people don't have the money to invest. Like I

552
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:11,959
Speaker 3: didn't have the money to invest in my fund at

553
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,120
Speaker 3: the beginning, but I still had everything else that I invested,

554
00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:19,320
Speaker 3: time and research and all the blood speat and just

555
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:23,200
Speaker 3: the financial Yeah, so I want you to have invested something, right,

556
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:26,200
Speaker 3: doesn't have to be pure hard cash, but if it is,

557
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 3: give me the give me the story, like what have

558
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:31,880
Speaker 3: you how long have you been working on this? Why you?

559
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:35,520
Speaker 3: Why now? Why this? All of that is going to

560
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:39,480
Speaker 3: help inform if this is something that you think I'm

561
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:41,280
Speaker 3: going to make some money off of it, if someone started,

562
00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:45,399
Speaker 3: or if it's something that's like I can't live this

563
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:46,000
Speaker 3: is oxygen.

564
00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:48,040
Speaker 1: Can you give us an example in real life of

565
00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:51,879
Speaker 1: an investment that you've made oh many, Yeah, give us

566
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:55,320
Speaker 1: one example that would show like exemplified. This is how

567
00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:57,240
Speaker 1: they came to me, and this is why I felt

568
00:27:57,280 --> 00:27:58,879
Speaker 1: like backstage would be well.

569
00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:01,080
Speaker 3: I would say, we've invested in their everything from hair

570
00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:04,560
Speaker 3: products to objects in space that are satellites that are

571
00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:08,120
Speaker 3: flying around. So I'll tell you one thing that hits

572
00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:10,560
Speaker 3: home right this moment is curl mix. Y'all know curl mix.

573
00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:15,120
Speaker 3: So Caim and Tim are a black couple and from Chicago,

574
00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:19,199
Speaker 3: and I met Tim twenty seventeen after I did like

575
00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:20,920
Speaker 3: a public speaking thing for the first time, which is

576
00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:24,879
Speaker 3: a whole nother story, and he told me that he

577
00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:27,639
Speaker 3: said they were mixing hair products in their kitchen and

578
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:29,800
Speaker 3: they had like a subscription box and I was like,

579
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:32,119
Speaker 3: let's go for curly hair. And then he told me

580
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:35,520
Speaker 3: that they didn't have any investors and the way that

581
00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:37,199
Speaker 3: they were able to even get it that far, and

582
00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:39,680
Speaker 3: they were making like ten thousand dollars a month, which

583
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:42,200
Speaker 3: is usually what you don't really you can't really get

584
00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:44,600
Speaker 3: venture funding like that, but it was something to me.

585
00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:46,600
Speaker 3: I was like, ears perked up because you did something.

586
00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:48,360
Speaker 3: And then he said that the way that they were

587
00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:52,080
Speaker 3: able to fund it thus far was that Kim watched

588
00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:55,600
Speaker 3: Tim play out on what he was playing, like who

589
00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:57,480
Speaker 3: wants to be a Millionaire? On Team Like he was

590
00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:00,160
Speaker 3: just on his couch and he was anti all the

591
00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:03,520
Speaker 3: questions correctly. So she went online as they were there

592
00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:05,920
Speaker 3: and filled out an application and he got on the

593
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:10,600
Speaker 3: show and he won two hundred and fifty thousand get out,

594
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:14,360
Speaker 3: So they used most of that money to find he's got.

595
00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:18,000
Speaker 3: So I'm sitting there and I'm listening, and he's telling

596
00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:20,800
Speaker 3: me how incredible Kim is as a CEO, how she

597
00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:24,960
Speaker 3: is making moves that you wouldn't necessarily know someone would

598
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:27,440
Speaker 3: know to make at this stage, and how and how

599
00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:30,240
Speaker 3: the way he talked about her, and how they work together,

600
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:33,200
Speaker 3: and they were a young family, and I was like,

601
00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:36,040
Speaker 3: there's something here, and they were like, we just can't

602
00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:38,280
Speaker 3: get in front of investors. Everybody's taking it seriously. I'm like,

603
00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:40,600
Speaker 3: you put your own money in. You want it off

604
00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:43,840
Speaker 3: a game, like this is a movie, right. So I

605
00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:46,400
Speaker 3: gave them I was first their mentor, and then I

606
00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:49,160
Speaker 3: gave them twenty five thousand dollars. They used the twenty

607
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:51,959
Speaker 3: five thousand dollars to hire part time help out of

608
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:53,480
Speaker 3: and then get a little bit of space at a

609
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:54,880
Speaker 3: factory so they didn't have to do it out of

610
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:57,640
Speaker 3: their kitchen. Fast Forward. Not the only reason I'm taking

611
00:29:57,680 --> 00:29:59,320
Speaker 3: a little bit of credit of this is because Kim

612
00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:01,880
Speaker 3: has said multiple times that they wouldn't be here if

613
00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:05,840
Speaker 3: that didn't happen. Fast Forward. They did something between seven

614
00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:07,840
Speaker 3: and ten million dollars in the last twelve months. Yes,

615
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:11,920
Speaker 3: and they had their own factory, and they have incredible

616
00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:16,200
Speaker 3: amount of employees and it's a it is a thriving enterprise,

617
00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:18,200
Speaker 3: and they have raised millions of dollars and they have

618
00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:19,520
Speaker 3: generated millions of dollars.

619
00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:21,760
Speaker 1: It wants to be a multi Millionaire's incredible.

620
00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:26,600
Speaker 3: They're an ulti beauty. They're just killing it. And I'm

621
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:28,040
Speaker 3: gonna get to see them in a couple of days,

622
00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:32,760
Speaker 3: and it's just the story after story after story. If, like,

623
00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:36,280
Speaker 3: you know, you walk into a Silicon Valley venture capitalist

624
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:38,000
Speaker 3: office and say I want to do something for curly hair,

625
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:39,920
Speaker 3: and they had their natural hair. Both of them have

626
00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:43,239
Speaker 3: really beautiful natural hair. Why can't They're gonna be like,

627
00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:45,600
Speaker 3: what are you talking about? Like, get out of here,

628
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:49,040
Speaker 3: where's your sas product? I need to fintech product. But

629
00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:52,360
Speaker 3: there was just something I saw in them, and I

630
00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:55,000
Speaker 3: believe they're gonna, you know, be one of the groups

631
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:58,320
Speaker 3: that makes me very very wealthy, even wealthier.

632
00:30:58,480 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 4: That's awesome.

633
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:04,000
Speaker 2: If someone doesn't win a game show and just has

634
00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:06,600
Speaker 2: a little bit of money to invest in their business,

635
00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:09,960
Speaker 2: what do you suggest they do with it?

636
00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:13,920
Speaker 3: I really believe that the very first thing you should

637
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,719
Speaker 3: think about is hiring a fractional or you can call

638
00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:22,760
Speaker 3: it part time or contract executive assistant type who can

639
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:26,080
Speaker 3: free up the CEO's time and that you may be

640
00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:28,960
Speaker 3: a solopreneur or just you, but can free up your

641
00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:33,960
Speaker 3: time from the menial tasks and the minutiat so that

642
00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,320
Speaker 3: CEO can do what they do best, which should be sales,

643
00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:42,080
Speaker 3: maybe fundraising. If you go that route and customer service.

644
00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:45,760
Speaker 3: So a lot of people, and I've studied this with

645
00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:49,000
Speaker 3: a lot of companies, they'll spend twenty plus hours a

646
00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:54,040
Speaker 3: week invoicing or talking to someone on the phone or

647
00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:57,120
Speaker 3: doing things that are like posting or doing things that

648
00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:00,360
Speaker 3: very important things. And I said me, you know what,

649
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:01,560
Speaker 3: I probably the wrong phrasing.

650
00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:03,360
Speaker 1: They're very important, tedious, but.

651
00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:06,000
Speaker 3: They're tedious, and they can be done by someone who

652
00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:08,040
Speaker 3: loves doing that stuff right and can do it all

653
00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:10,560
Speaker 3: day long. But you can hire them for five hours

654
00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:14,080
Speaker 3: a week, ten hours a week, little by little right,

655
00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:16,280
Speaker 3: and you can start taking it off your plate so

656
00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:21,440
Speaker 3: that you then can put the same ten five twenty hours.

657
00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:24,000
Speaker 3: Imagine if it's like the thing that brings you the

658
00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:27,160
Speaker 3: most opportunity, if you're able to do that twenty times

659
00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:28,880
Speaker 3: the amount of times you can do it today or

660
00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:31,800
Speaker 3: two times, it would just bring more opportunity back.

661
00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:35,880
Speaker 1: Yeah. Being able to delegate is also and important quality

662
00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 1: because sometimes you feel like, if I don't do it,

663
00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:39,200
Speaker 1: it's not going to get done right.

664
00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 3: Like those it's true and tell you that that's true, though,

665
00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:43,440
Speaker 3: it's not going to get done the way you wanted

666
00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:47,280
Speaker 3: to because they're not you. But as multiple people have

667
00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:50,880
Speaker 3: said that I've studied, isn't it better to have somebody

668
00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:54,080
Speaker 3: do something eighty percent as well as you do if

669
00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:55,880
Speaker 3: it means you can go out there and do what

670
00:32:56,080 --> 00:33:00,840
Speaker 3: you do best at the full capacity. Right, They're not

671
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,720
Speaker 3: going to write that newsletter as perfectly as you would

672
00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:05,920
Speaker 3: have because it's not your voice, but they're gonna get

673
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:08,040
Speaker 3: you close enough so you can be over here having

674
00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:09,720
Speaker 3: the meeting with the Fortune five hundred company.

675
00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:10,960
Speaker 1: Oh, he's gonna get some AI.

676
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:15,480
Speaker 3: You can do that too to use. You can comin it, right.

677
00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:15,800
Speaker 4: Yeah.

678
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,840
Speaker 3: I just think that that is such a like a

679
00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:21,320
Speaker 3: great investment early on that people, and you don't have

680
00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:23,720
Speaker 3: to wait too long to do it. And I just

681
00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:26,760
Speaker 3: meet so many founders who are just inundated. They're like

682
00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:28,600
Speaker 3: and they're or they're late to meetings and stuff, and

683
00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:28,920
Speaker 3: I'm like.

684
00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:32,880
Speaker 2: Wowcause they have a black female and black female founders

685
00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:34,880
Speaker 2: spend about four to five hours a week I read

686
00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:36,280
Speaker 2: chasing unpaid in voices.

687
00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:38,640
Speaker 3: There you go, look at that see a week. So

688
00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:41,240
Speaker 3: have somebody who really likes to shake people down.

689
00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:42,840
Speaker 1: Like I think time.

690
00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:47,720
Speaker 4: You all know who I'm talking about, don't.

691
00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:49,880
Speaker 1: Your brother's here too? And I want to make sure

692
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,120
Speaker 1: that we acknowledge that this isn't a part and time

693
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:52,920
Speaker 1: for him.

694
00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:54,960
Speaker 4: You have you must have a very happy mother.

695
00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:57,520
Speaker 3: Oh yes, and she's doing her thing too, So.

696
00:33:57,520 --> 00:33:59,920
Speaker 1: We're yeah, we went. Your brother's there, and I just

697
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:03,320
Speaker 1: want to acknowledge why this is My brother said, Hi, Roke.

698
00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:07,360
Speaker 4: It didn't you just have downloads or something.

699
00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:09,439
Speaker 3: I'm gonna say, what what happened today?

700
00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:10,160
Speaker 4: Shout him out?

701
00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:13,880
Speaker 3: He just got He just reached two hundred and fifty

702
00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:18,480
Speaker 3: million views on YouTube through his show Real Life Street Stars.

703
00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:21,440
Speaker 4: Really all heard about it.

704
00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:23,560
Speaker 3: Y'all know, Realist Life and so yeah, you want to

705
00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:27,319
Speaker 3: say think about it? Come stut the camera where y'all

706
00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:30,000
Speaker 3: need to be right here? Where you going to? Where

707
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:30,840
Speaker 3: you're in Dallas?

708
00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:34,640
Speaker 5: Tell us about your show three stars, famous blue couch

709
00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:35,960
Speaker 5: with the light wall in the background.

710
00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:37,680
Speaker 3: Yes, Well, who are a couple of people you've had

711
00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:38,320
Speaker 3: on recently?

712
00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:43,560
Speaker 5: You know, Charleston White, Mark Cuban, Jaguar, right, you know

713
00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:44,680
Speaker 5: the famous interview.

714
00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:46,320
Speaker 1: Jaguar right, the whole gamut.

715
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:48,080
Speaker 3: Okay, there, the whole gamut.

716
00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:52,160
Speaker 1: It's a lot of wealthy yeah, White Mark Cuban.

717
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:56,160
Speaker 3: I would love to see y'all on that show went too.

718
00:34:56,360 --> 00:35:00,080
Speaker 5: Yeah, y'all just come down there famous anytime.

719
00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:01,880
Speaker 3: You'll, cause we hear your voice from the background, but

720
00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:03,759
Speaker 3: we don't want what's that decis? I'm sorry, I'm taking

721
00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:07,400
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go ahead. What's the decision to be off camera? Like?

722
00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:08,560
Speaker 3: Why did y'all make that decision?

723
00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:10,799
Speaker 4: So nobody could mess it up?

724
00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:13,560
Speaker 5: If someone gets the big hit or something though, the

725
00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:14,719
Speaker 5: show is always going to go on.

726
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:17,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's not about y'all, it's about your guests.

727
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:19,080
Speaker 1: It's about the guests.

728
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:22,239
Speaker 3: I think that's a real good key for success, right

729
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:24,719
Speaker 3: because you figured out what exactly it needed to be

730
00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:26,960
Speaker 3: to reach the two hundred and fifty million, and I

731
00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:29,399
Speaker 3: have to say it took thirteen years. With the last

732
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:31,040
Speaker 3: two years is where you got most of the viewers.

733
00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:34,440
Speaker 1: That consistency really mad as people never know when that's

734
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:37,520
Speaker 1: going to happen to backstays capital and I know somebody

735
00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:40,600
Speaker 1: from the spot get an investment, but.

736
00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:43,399
Speaker 5: I think one of the biggest investments was getting Mark

737
00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:44,880
Speaker 5: Cuban on the couch and that much.

738
00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:47,120
Speaker 3: That is I did that, Yeah, I got I got

739
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:49,440
Speaker 3: him on there and we've talked about it before, but

740
00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:51,319
Speaker 3: there they've stayed independent because I try to tell as

741
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:54,320
Speaker 3: many founders as I can, including my own family, stay

742
00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:56,160
Speaker 3: independent as long as you can, so you can have

743
00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:58,680
Speaker 3: more control. You can you can sell pieces of your

744
00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:02,040
Speaker 3: company for more rather than when you when you first started.

745
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:04,719
Speaker 3: You're at the mercy of the investor. Right, so they

746
00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:07,319
Speaker 3: built up something they can ask for anything right now.

747
00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:09,319
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, because if you do so, if you try

748
00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:11,239
Speaker 1: to get that investment too early, you're giving up a

749
00:36:11,239 --> 00:36:12,360
Speaker 1: lot for very little money.

750
00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:13,680
Speaker 3: That's it. That's it.

751
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:18,239
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, congratulations crowding bro, and tell people your your

752
00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:20,160
Speaker 1: your handles so they can find it.

753
00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:23,600
Speaker 5: And you know, real life street stars with a Z

754
00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:24,880
Speaker 5: why and the Z?

755
00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:25,680
Speaker 3: Yeah?

756
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:28,920
Speaker 1: Real life. Now, your mommy said the whole family's lid.

757
00:36:29,040 --> 00:36:31,440
Speaker 3: Well, my mom is miss Early and Sims. She is

758
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:34,160
Speaker 3: seventy four and at seventy four she started her own

759
00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:35,560
Speaker 3: iour line.

760
00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:37,120
Speaker 4: At seventy four years seventy four.

761
00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:39,080
Speaker 3: She has six designs. Every time we do a pop

762
00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:42,480
Speaker 3: up anywhere, we just did a pop up in Puerto Rico, Napa.

763
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:46,000
Speaker 3: Everywhere she sells out. And Katy Perry has a pair,

764
00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:49,600
Speaker 3: Oprah has a payer. She's just because she she's so

765
00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:51,759
Speaker 3: stylish and she was always wearing other people's glasses and

766
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:53,640
Speaker 3: they would stop her in the airport, stop her everywhere.

767
00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,160
Speaker 3: We love your look. And finally she was like, let

768
00:36:56,200 --> 00:36:58,120
Speaker 3: me just do my own, my own line.

769
00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:00,000
Speaker 1: So, was this a glasses your sister in life?

770
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:02,640
Speaker 3: No, she was. We have a whole thing about that

771
00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:08,080
Speaker 3: because I can't forget. But no, no, you know you

772
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:13,680
Speaker 3: are allowed to wear anything you want. Angel No, but

773
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:15,600
Speaker 3: she so she has six gird my mommy is wearing

774
00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:19,120
Speaker 3: a pair, and we're like literally like sold out. So

775
00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:22,200
Speaker 3: we get another group sent to us because it keeps,

776
00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:24,359
Speaker 3: you know, we keep depleting the resources.

777
00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:28,600
Speaker 2: So you are you your brother has this crazy podcast, Yeah,

778
00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:33,080
Speaker 2: mom has this glasses line. You guys didn't grow up

779
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:35,839
Speaker 2: in a wealthy family with everyone teaching you.

780
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:36,319
Speaker 4: How to do this.

781
00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:38,319
Speaker 2: And I love this is one of my favorite lines

782
00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:40,560
Speaker 2: from your book. If I can find it, I can't

783
00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:41,000
Speaker 2: even see it.

784
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:41,160
Speaker 1: Now.

785
00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:43,160
Speaker 4: When you're looking for someone.

786
00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:45,759
Speaker 2: To emulate and you can't find anyone you can relate to,

787
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:48,120
Speaker 2: take that as a sign that the person you're looking

788
00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:49,480
Speaker 2: for might be yourself.

789
00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:51,640
Speaker 4: Lean on that.

790
00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:53,040
Speaker 2: Because a lot of us are told, you know, you

791
00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:55,400
Speaker 2: can't be it if you can't see it. Yeah, I

792
00:37:55,440 --> 00:38:00,000
Speaker 2: didn't have any role models wanted to be black financial journalists.

793
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:01,719
Speaker 4: There's nobody who looked like me.

794
00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:03,640
Speaker 2: There's nobody who looked like us when we wanted to

795
00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:05,040
Speaker 2: create this financial platform.

796
00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:06,960
Speaker 4: You don't always have to see it to be it.

797
00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:08,799
Speaker 3: That's exactly what I don't believe in that you have

798
00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:10,719
Speaker 3: to see it to believe it or to be it.

799
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:15,160
Speaker 3: Exactly what you're saying. I think that we sometimes have

800
00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:17,279
Speaker 3: to be our own heroes because nobody's coming to save us,

801
00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:19,600
Speaker 3: so we sometimes have to be the first. And that

802
00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:21,320
Speaker 3: does mean what did they say that there's gonna be

803
00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:24,040
Speaker 3: arrows in the back when you're the first at some things?

804
00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:25,920
Speaker 3: So it does mean those things we talked about, and

805
00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:29,560
Speaker 3: the kind of pressure and the trolls. But I can't

806
00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:32,960
Speaker 3: tell you how fulfilling it is to have every single

807
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:35,839
Speaker 3: day of my life to have people tell me, either

808
00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:40,480
Speaker 3: online or in person, usually through tears, that I've changed

809
00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:42,879
Speaker 3: their life or have helped them in such a meaningful way.

810
00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:48,439
Speaker 3: And that's because of seeds planted back when I thought

811
00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:52,040
Speaker 3: everything was not working out. That's because of seeds planted

812
00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:54,879
Speaker 3: when I was at the airport, because of the perseverance,

813
00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:58,120
Speaker 3: because of the grit. Those things have happened, and so

814
00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:03,080
Speaker 3: I can't help but to say it was all worth it.

815
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:04,920
Speaker 2: And people are going to actually be able to hear,

816
00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:06,320
Speaker 2: see and work with you in person.

817
00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:13,040
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I'm excited. All stars tell us about it.

818
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:16,400
Speaker 3: So I have your first million Live happening in April

819
00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:19,080
Speaker 3: ninth through the twelfth and Los Angeles at LA Live.

820
00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:22,960
Speaker 3: Go to your first million dot Live to see the tickets.

821
00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:25,759
Speaker 3: I'll give you a really great discount if you use

822
00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:28,320
Speaker 3: the word live as your discount code.

823
00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:29,839
Speaker 1: That's easy because you heard this.

824
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:35,359
Speaker 3: Here we are having So we're having an evening with Ray.

825
00:39:36,040 --> 00:39:38,080
Speaker 3: She's gonna talk to us from the Peacock Theater, which

826
00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:39,040
Speaker 3: is where the Emmys were.

827
00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:40,240
Speaker 4: Just hell, let's fantasy.

828
00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:42,000
Speaker 3: Gorgeous, Yes, gorgeous.

829
00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:43,520
Speaker 1: Building and I love listening to talk.

830
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:45,560
Speaker 3: She has been she has gym.

831
00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:47,839
Speaker 1: Yeah, okad living legend.

832
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:48,120
Speaker 2: We'll have.

833
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:52,560
Speaker 3: We have Rich Paul who's in the building, clet Sports, Yes,

834
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:56,840
Speaker 3: Bron's agent, and much much more. We have mis Sheila Johnson,

835
00:39:56,880 --> 00:40:00,959
Speaker 3: the first black woman billionaire in the country. Uh. Gary

836
00:40:01,040 --> 00:40:04,680
Speaker 3: Vaynerchuk will be there teach your song about marketing ourselves MeV.

837
00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:10,239
Speaker 3: We're gonna have Janelle James, who is ava on Abbott Elementary,

838
00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:16,120
Speaker 3: the principal she's hosting. She's hosting yet, and I hope

839
00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:18,520
Speaker 3: she comes and carries it like that. I just think

840
00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:21,040
Speaker 3: she's gonna kill it. Yes, she's gonna she canna probably

841
00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:22,560
Speaker 3: cuss me out for being so early in the morning.

842
00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:24,400
Speaker 3: She's gonna do all kinds of stuff. And then we

843
00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:28,239
Speaker 3: have TLC, the legendary TLC will be closing out the

844
00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:31,760
Speaker 3: event and with a full concert.

845
00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:35,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, because they're on tired. They've been doing this yere.

846
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:38,240
Speaker 3: They just yeah, they had to unfortunately cancel a few dates,

847
00:40:38,239 --> 00:40:41,319
Speaker 3: so we're gonna keep you know, t Bosom is so

848
00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:43,440
Speaker 3: important to me and so special to me, and we're

849
00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:45,919
Speaker 3: keeping an eye on her health. Whatever she needs, we're

850
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:48,600
Speaker 3: making that happen. We definitely have some friends of hers

851
00:40:48,640 --> 00:40:50,440
Speaker 3: who will come through if things don't work out. But

852
00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:51,920
Speaker 3: I'm so excited for TLC.

853
00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:53,640
Speaker 4: And how do people sign up for that?

854
00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:56,280
Speaker 3: Again? If you go to your first million dot live

855
00:40:56,920 --> 00:40:59,160
Speaker 3: and then use the code live for any of the

856
00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:02,160
Speaker 3: ticket uh ticket tiers. And let me tell you, it's

857
00:41:02,200 --> 00:41:05,000
Speaker 3: not just watching people. We're also going to have Arlen's

858
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:07,359
Speaker 3: Academy in real life. You'll be able to learn from

859
00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:11,520
Speaker 3: our experts and you'll be able to experience things, bring

860
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:13,160
Speaker 3: your family, bring everybody with.

861
00:41:13,120 --> 00:41:16,120
Speaker 1: You, and you talk about networking. This is a great opportunity.

862
00:41:16,239 --> 00:41:19,719
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean there's I know that when I go

863
00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:21,920
Speaker 3: to a conference or to an event, I don't want

864
00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:23,839
Speaker 3: to sit there and just listen to people. I want

865
00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:27,120
Speaker 3: to meet the people who could be my future partners.

866
00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:29,239
Speaker 3: I want access to people in the room who have

867
00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:32,160
Speaker 3: made their first million. You're going to be among many

868
00:41:32,239 --> 00:41:34,960
Speaker 3: of my investors, like so many people who have invested

869
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:37,120
Speaker 3: in backstage and just in my life are going to

870
00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:41,960
Speaker 3: be at the event, walking among you, talking, collaborating, and

871
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:44,040
Speaker 3: I say you meet. If you can meet two or

872
00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:48,000
Speaker 3: three really strong people who you keep a relationship with,

873
00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:49,600
Speaker 3: it's already worth it. Yeah.

874
00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:51,160
Speaker 1: Absolutely. And also get the book.

875
00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:56,080
Speaker 2: Okay, your first million Live. You got your first million book.

876
00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:59,799
Speaker 2: Follow Arlen on Instagram. I love her Instagram handle our

877
00:41:59,840 --> 00:42:00,600
Speaker 2: life and was here.

878
00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:01,280
Speaker 3: Yeah.

879
00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:03,160
Speaker 2: And if you think we are ever letting you get

880
00:42:03,160 --> 00:42:05,960
Speaker 2: out of wealth Wednesday, Orbit, you are incorrect. So you

881
00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:08,680
Speaker 2: will be back very soon shopping gems. But we're just

882
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:09,240
Speaker 2: so happy.

883
00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:10,719
Speaker 3: Thank you, And I'd love to talk to you about

884
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:13,719
Speaker 3: your angel investing world. We'll talk about that offline because

885
00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:14,480
Speaker 3: I definitely want to.

886
00:42:14,560 --> 00:42:16,800
Speaker 1: I'm in my heupfully early stages, but I'll tell you

887
00:42:16,880 --> 00:42:19,480
Speaker 1: everything because I know for me, that's definitely my next step.

888
00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:22,880
Speaker 1: And I've said that, like what is philanthropy and also

889
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:26,080
Speaker 1: investing looking like from me moving forward and being able

890
00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:29,279
Speaker 1: to do more for other people. So that's really the goal.

891
00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:30,080
Speaker 1: I'm gonta have you a.

892
00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:32,000
Speaker 3: Lot of money too, Okay, I'm gonna save you a

893
00:42:32,040 --> 00:42:32,800
Speaker 3: lot of heartache.

894
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:34,120
Speaker 1: And yeah, I heard it here first.

895
00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:38,399
Speaker 4: She'll be great at it. She is authentically wonderful. It'll

896
00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:38,799
Speaker 4: be great.

897
00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:39,480
Speaker 3: All right.

898
00:42:39,560 --> 00:42:41,719
Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much. We appreciate you. On this

899
00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:42,520
Speaker 1: Wealth Wednesday.

900
00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:45,239
Speaker 3: Well,