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Speaker 1: Afro Tech is back in Austin, Texas. This November is

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Speaker 1: the place for all things black, tech and web three.

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Speaker 1: The in person afro Tech Conference experience is bridging the

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Speaker 1: worlds of afro technologists, innovators, investors, corporations, musicians, and everyone

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Speaker 1: in between. So pull up, grabb your crew and grabbing

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Speaker 1: tickets and join this at the largest black professional conference

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Speaker 1: of the year. This experienced the afro Tech dot Com.

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Speaker 1: I'm will Lucas Mrs Black Tech Free Money. I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: ensued you to some of the biggest names, some of

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Speaker 1: the brightest minds in brilliant ideas. I feel black in

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Speaker 1: building or simply using tech to secure your back. This

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Speaker 1: podcast is for you. Johnny Baby is a social entrepreneur

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Speaker 1: marketing strategies with the passion for economic empowerment. Hall of Fame,

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Speaker 1: high school athlete and graduate at Hampton University. You're taking

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Speaker 1: this pursuit of excellent into the world of business and technology.

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Speaker 1: He's to grow with Google, Digital coach for Washington, d C.

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Speaker 1: And founder of the Shine How Our Foundation, where the

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Speaker 1: mission is to close the racial wealth gap in the

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Speaker 1: national speaker Trusted by the biggest companies on the planet,

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Speaker 1: asked Johnny, at what point does the company have a

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Speaker 1: corporate responsibility to invest in embudding entrepreneurs in their startups. Well,

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Speaker 1: I think it definitely starts at the top down UM,

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Speaker 1: just from timing and resource. UM. You look at the apples,

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Speaker 1: the Amazon's, Google's, Microsoft's, I mean, they're generating over nine

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Speaker 1: billion dollars in revenue UM combined, and they're getting these

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Speaker 1: trillion dollar valuations, and you know, it's really at the

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Speaker 1: hands of the consumers that are that are using these

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Speaker 1: products hardware, software and UM. Also, these companies are employing

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Speaker 1: some of the bright minds of our generation. So with

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Speaker 1: with great power and responsibility. Well, great power comes with

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Speaker 1: great responsibility. So I think, UM, at the top, you

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Speaker 1: definitely should see these companies as we have during the

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Speaker 1: pandemic UM even more see companies doubling down on corporate

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Speaker 1: responsibility and and racial equity, etcetera. UM. But there's there's

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Speaker 1: there's not limitations around smaller companies doing this too. I

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Speaker 1: think smaller companies definitely lead with their why and they

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Speaker 1: lead with mission more than ever because UM, it can

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Speaker 1: be a competitive advantage in the marketplace when you're looking

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Speaker 1: for talent and you're trying to to uh kind of

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Speaker 1: uh penetrate new markets or game market share. Like having

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Speaker 1: a mission driven product or service or company can definitely

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Speaker 1: differentiate yourself and do good at the same time. So

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Speaker 1: you kind of touched on this a little bit and

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Speaker 1: from the respect of acquiring good talent, you know. But

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Speaker 1: so when companies like the Apples and Googles of the

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Speaker 1: world that you mentioned, when they go and invest in startups,

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Speaker 1: whether it be mentorship or etcetera, are they doing it

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Speaker 1: to potentially look for companies that could be you know,

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Speaker 1: acquired ultimately, Yeah, well, I think then the consumer, the

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Speaker 1: talent market is more informed. We're more intelligent than ever before. Um.

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Speaker 1: We see the great resignation is really highlighting the power

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Speaker 1: shifting to the people. And these companies are one doing

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Speaker 1: good because it's important to do so morally. But I

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Speaker 1: also think that competitively, employees care like, what are you

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Speaker 1: doing to help people who look like me? What are

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Speaker 1: you help doing to help make the world a better place?

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Speaker 1: Because ethically and morally, employees wanted to feel good when

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Speaker 1: they're at work, and they want to work for companies

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Speaker 1: that are doing the things that make them feel good

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Speaker 1: and make them feel Um. Like a contributor to the

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Speaker 1: greater good of humanity. Right if you're if you're working

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Speaker 1: for a company that's that's doing shady things and controversial,

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Speaker 1: then you know, it's reflection of your body of work

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Speaker 1: and it's on your resume. It's kind of a stain

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Speaker 1: at the same time. So people care and companies need

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Speaker 1: to care just as much. What does good corporate responsibility

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Speaker 1: look like from your perspective when you're talking about you know,

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Speaker 1: companies reaching back to help budding companies grow, What does

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Speaker 1: that look like in practice? Yeah, I mean, I think one,

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Speaker 1: UM creating funds, grant funding for small businesses, for startups

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Speaker 1: of color or startups and in various identity groups, UM

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Speaker 1: creating accelerator programs for business owners get the education that

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Speaker 1: they need to get the mentorship that they need to

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Speaker 1: lower the barriers to injury and access to investors, and

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Speaker 1: UM other accelerator programs, And so I think grant funding, accelerator.

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Speaker 1: UM obviously like credits benefits that UM credits that can

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Speaker 1: subsidize the cost of the service of these big tech companies. Uh.

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Speaker 1: I know a lot of you know, the Googles and

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Speaker 1: the Amazon will offer like add credits two businesses or

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Speaker 1: maybe an AWS will offer some type of like UM

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Speaker 1: cloud support, etcetera. So those things have huge values to

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Speaker 1: to startups who are bootstrapping and and super tight on funds.

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Speaker 1: I think being able to lean into what we have

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Speaker 1: and also hire good people to to facilitate these type

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Speaker 1: of initiatives is really the way that UM big companies

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Speaker 1: can can do corporate social responsibility correctly. And you mentioned

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Speaker 1: there is also an opportunity for smaller and medium science

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Speaker 1: companies to you know, have a hand in helping their counterparts,

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Speaker 1: other small and medium sized companies grow. What ideas, you know,

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Speaker 1: could a company who's doing let's say a million dollars

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Speaker 1: year or five hundred thousand dollars a year in that range,

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Speaker 1: let's say five hundred thousands to a couple of million

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Speaker 1: dollars a year, what ideas could they involve themselves with

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Speaker 1: that could help other companies who are trying to get

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Speaker 1: out of the kitchen per se, you know, to make

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Speaker 1: it happy. Yeah, that's a great question. I mean one

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Speaker 1: they can serve as mentors. All of these accelerators, the

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Speaker 1: tech stars, the y combinators, the aws UM they are

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Speaker 1: always looking for mentors to to help serve those folks

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Speaker 1: that are in the accelerator the program right, and so

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Speaker 1: lending your time and your expertise as a mentor can

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Speaker 1: be a huge benefit to an early stage founder. UM

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Speaker 1: can save them years on their journey, thousands of dollars

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Speaker 1: of investments or mistakes that could be made UM. So

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Speaker 1: that's just one way, just kind of donating volunteering your

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Speaker 1: time UM. I also think from a financial perspective, you

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Speaker 1: can UH earmark funds to invest in other companies. If

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Speaker 1: you're doing a million and five million, you might you

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Speaker 1: have you probably have some disposable resources that can be

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Speaker 1: UM can be pulled together and H deployed in a

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Speaker 1: very intelligent way. UH. And you can partner with organizations

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Speaker 1: who get it right. There's visible hands, there's black ambition.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of really great UM social UH corporate

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Speaker 1: responsibility organizations that are focusing on UH founders of color

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Speaker 1: that can help you deploy your funds more intelligently. If

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Speaker 1: that's not your lane, so UM those are Those are

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Speaker 1: probably like the two initial ways I think that a

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Speaker 1: medium sized business can can make an impact on founders

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Speaker 1: of color. Yeah, I think about because you've got me

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Speaker 1: thinking now, in another way is hiring them to do

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Speaker 1: their service for your company. So I think about you, like,

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Speaker 1: let's say if you are in a bank and you

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Speaker 1: you know, you've got a pretty well established small bank

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Speaker 1: and you need a cleaning company, you know, or things

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Speaker 1: like that, like you could hire that company who's providing

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Speaker 1: a service. And so it's not always a little speak

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Speaker 1: on that. Supply diversity is huge bro like UM. I mean,

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Speaker 1: obviously these big mega tech companies that have plenty of resources,

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Speaker 1: and it's important that they're thinking about supply diversity, which

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Speaker 1: essentially is to your point, maybe there's cleaning crews that's need,

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Speaker 1: there's food services, there's UM, real estate, all these different

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Speaker 1: management or functions that these big tech companies have a

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Speaker 1: need they have, you know, they need to to hire

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Speaker 1: someone to do that. And so being intentional about hiring

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Speaker 1: diverse businesses to supply the things UM your business needs

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Speaker 1: can be a huge lift for that business like that

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Speaker 1: that puts them on a whole different trajectory in terms

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Speaker 1: of revenue and sustainability over time time. And so hiring

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Speaker 1: black that to me is a great way to invest

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Speaker 1: back in the community. UM. And then even like hiring

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Speaker 1: this for as like UM like RFP contractual agency perspective

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Speaker 1: or company perspective, but also hiring talent in house. So

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Speaker 1: one thing that I I kind of the mental model

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Speaker 1: that I use when I'm working with big tech companies

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Speaker 1: and helping them think more intelligently and efficiently how to

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Speaker 1: serve black owned businesses. It's like UM. The culture comes

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Speaker 1: in like three flavors. One, it's like representation, so there

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Speaker 1: needs to be people who look like the community that

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Speaker 1: you're serving on your team and facilitating this work. Number two,

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Speaker 1: the competency. They need to understand the culture. They need

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Speaker 1: to understand the trends, the language of this community. And

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Speaker 1: then also the values right and so are we aligned

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Speaker 1: in the values of mobilizing or accelerating this economy? UM

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Speaker 1: together and so those three pieces really kind of help

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Speaker 1: build a foundation for how companies can hire and deploy

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Speaker 1: funds and also UM execute on initiatives that serve these

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Speaker 1: these communities. Why is it good business to provide assistance

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Speaker 1: to black owned starters? When you think about you know,

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Speaker 1: there's a moral responsibility UM, and that helps some people

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Speaker 1: get it that they should be doing this, But when

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Speaker 1: you talk about the business implications, why is it good

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Speaker 1: business to be invested into, into startups from people of color. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's that's a very popular question. And I mean, I

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Speaker 1: think economic empowerment is is important because I also think

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Speaker 1: about like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and when people are

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Speaker 1: struggling and just focusing on survival, they can't operate in

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Speaker 1: their full potential. They can't be great contributors to their

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Speaker 1: local community or to the now national community. They can't

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Speaker 1: bring new ideas, they can't innovate. So I believe that

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Speaker 1: economic empowerment allows people to have greater control over their time,

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Speaker 1: over their resources, and be greater contributors to society. And

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Speaker 1: we live in America, in a country that practices capitalism

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Speaker 1: and puts great value on innovation. I think providing more resources, um,

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Speaker 1: we're spreading resources more equitably will create more innovation from

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Speaker 1: the from these different communities that have so much talent,

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Speaker 1: where you know, so rich and culture and um just

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Speaker 1: unique value that allow it's really untapped. It's untapped capital,

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Speaker 1: intellectual property that's there that if you can give them,

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Speaker 1: get them out of survival mode and give them space

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Speaker 1: to to implement and too I d a and create.

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Speaker 1: There's a whole new world of opportunity that we can

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Speaker 1: come and stumble upon, and resources and ideas and services

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Speaker 1: that we haven't yet thought of. So that's to me,

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Speaker 1: the initial thought around economic empowerment. Plus I also believe

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Speaker 1: that social justice is a byproduct of economic empowerment. So

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Speaker 1: when you put more financial resources and capital and marginalized communities,

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Speaker 1: they now can start businesses and create a more self

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Speaker 1: sufficient economy. They now can donate and elect officials in

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Speaker 1: their local communities that look like them, that have their

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Speaker 1: best interests in mind. They now can invest in education

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Speaker 1: in their local communities and have better schools. So I

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Speaker 1: think foundationally it just creates better UM infrastructure and better

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Speaker 1: society for all people, and it gives it gives marginalized

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Speaker 1: communities more self sufficient UM resource and opportunities. So that's

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Speaker 1: that's kind of what I think about when I say

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Speaker 1: economic empowerment. I want to talk about accelerators for a second,

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Speaker 1: because it used to be, at least from my perspective,

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Speaker 1: that when you joined an accelerator it was to prepare

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Speaker 1: for some you know, some sort of demo day like

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Speaker 1: where you get to ultimately present in front of investors

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Speaker 1: and you know, they wave checks at you right, UM,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't necessarily seem that way anymore, but maybe that

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Speaker 1: black entrepreneurs are using it in different ways. Can you

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Speaker 1: talk about how, at least again, at least that's from

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Speaker 1: my perspective, how accelerators have evolved to help entrepreneurs more

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Speaker 1: than just putting them in front of vcs. Yeah. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think traditionally the accelerator programs are certainly UM and

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Speaker 1: access to capital play. They're definitely a kind of market

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Speaker 1: validation play, and those things still, those factors and elements

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Speaker 1: still exist and they're very important. UM. I do feel

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Speaker 1: that there's a huge education components to accelerators that has

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Speaker 1: been been there. It's been a part of accelerators, but

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Speaker 1: even now, more than ever, it's being thrust to the

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Speaker 1: forefront as the value proposition for accelerator programs. UM. And

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Speaker 1: I think when I say education, it's really like access

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Speaker 1: to information intensive training and then also mentorship and having

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Speaker 1: subject matter experts, business leaders luminaries come in too to

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Speaker 1: really map out the steps of the process and and

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Speaker 1: help early stage founders think about the challenges and solutions

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Speaker 1: that they're up against. So UM, education is really important.

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Speaker 1: But I do think still yeah, and still you want

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Speaker 1: to get to a point where at the end of

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Speaker 1: your accelerator, when you're culminating this whole thing, there is

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Speaker 1: access to capital, there is access to networks that can

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Speaker 1: take you to the next step. UM. I think the

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Speaker 1: accelerated program is really just to prepare you for either

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Speaker 1: a an investment, be a UM like rapid growth, or

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Speaker 1: see the next accelerator program for your business stage. So

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Speaker 1: in that particular perspective, why when you think about UM

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Speaker 1: getting investment at the end of it, are we building

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Speaker 1: companies that are designed to scale in enough of a

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Speaker 1: way that it makes sense for us to be in

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Speaker 1: front of investors, or does the accelerator help we through

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Speaker 1: those folks who aren't ready for that. Yeah, I think

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Speaker 1: it just depends on the accelerator. UM. You know, I've

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Speaker 1: seen that Amazon with the Black Business Accelerator focusing on

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Speaker 1: e commerce sellers that our early stage, and they may

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Speaker 1: or may not be ready for, you know, the VC

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Speaker 1: fund to come in and like drop half a million

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Speaker 1: or drop a million on their brand. They may not

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Speaker 1: be there, But that accelerator is for a certain stage

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Speaker 1: of business owner, compared to maybe an AWS impact accelerator

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Speaker 1: where they're they're really specific looking for founders who are

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Speaker 1: ready for that next step or oy c or tech

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Speaker 1: stars like those. The Inseke process looks different like that

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Speaker 1: to me, is you know, maybe the biggest variation is

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Speaker 1: just like what is your um your outcome that you're

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Speaker 1: looking to help founders get to, and then you essentially

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Speaker 1: accept and source founders that can help that are ready

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Speaker 1: to take that step in and they're really close to

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Speaker 1: getting to the outcome with a little help and support

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Speaker 1: from your accelerator. When you think about those businesses that

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Speaker 1: are you know, still in those very early stages, Black

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Speaker 1: entrepreneurs who may not in many cases come from a

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Speaker 1: lineage of entrepreneurs, but they're really good at a thing,

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Speaker 1: whether that be you know, developing a hair care product

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Speaker 1: or of some sort of food or etcetera. I'm making

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Speaker 1: up things, but they are doing it in their kitchen,

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Speaker 1: they're doing it in their garage, They're doing it, you know,

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Speaker 1: in somebody's commercial kitchen or etcetera. What are some of

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Speaker 1: them most common UM business related issues that they walked

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Speaker 1: into the door with that they need resolved that prohibits

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Speaker 1: them from being able to reach a new level of

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Speaker 1: their business. Yeah, I think UM. The common misconception is

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Speaker 1: that everyone needs access to capital. That's what every business

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Speaker 1: owner thinks their biggest problem is. However, there was actually

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Speaker 1: a study done by UM the Russell Center for Innovation

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Speaker 1: down in Atlanta. Shout out to my my virtual mentor

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Speaker 1: j Bailey. They did a study with like five thousand

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Speaker 1: small business owners, early stage folks and asking them what

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Speaker 1: their greatest needs were, and surprisingly overwhelmingly, the number one

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Speaker 1: need and that survey was community and networks. Number two

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Speaker 1: was mentorship, Number three was access to capital, and number

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Speaker 1: four was UM technical skills training UM. And so if

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Speaker 1: that sheds any light and what folks really need, we

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Speaker 1: we know that community is extremely important and and and

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Speaker 1: that's largely because entrepreneurship has has not been accessible to

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Speaker 1: black and brown communities for for, you know, a very

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Speaker 1: long time, and it's becoming more and more prevalent. We

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Speaker 1: see women, Black women are the fastest growing group of

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Speaker 1: small business owners and entrepreneurs in the country, and it's

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Speaker 1: no surprise because they're the most educated for the Black community,

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Speaker 1: and technology has democratized information. UM. But I think that

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Speaker 1: UM being pursuing that that entrepreneurial endeavor, trying to diversify

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Speaker 1: your streams of income. You're gonna be a bit of

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Speaker 1: a black sheep in some families. You're gonna stand out.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna be doing different things, and you're not going

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Speaker 1: to be understood. So being able to be in a

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Speaker 1: group of like minded folks who are stepping out of

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Speaker 1: that nine of five or that thirty year career um

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Speaker 1: zeitgeist mentality, you need to find people who are who

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Speaker 1: are like minded, who are who are walking that same

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Speaker 1: path UM, just to give you the confidence to to

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Speaker 1: to hang in there when times get tough. UM. So

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Speaker 1: it's really a qualitative piece of just community can be

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Speaker 1: really valuable. Having folks who who can answer questions that

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Speaker 1: that you're that you're experiencing that can help you overcome

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Speaker 1: the imposter syndrome. UM. Those things are held of valuable.

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Speaker 1: And then UM in terms of like technical skills, I

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Speaker 1: think helping people actually UM get their businesses online. So

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Speaker 1: one of the early stage things is like having a website,

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Speaker 1: having a domain that you owned. You really need to

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Speaker 1: own virtual your website because that's virtual real estate. So

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Speaker 1: many people put a lot of eggs in the social

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Speaker 1: media basket thinking like that is going to be their

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Speaker 1: storefront and that's how they reach their audience. But a

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Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram CONSI spend your account could delete your

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Speaker 1: account at any time and there's really nothing that you

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Speaker 1: could do. Your business would essentially lose that channel or

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Speaker 1: that stream of revenue. So having a website is a

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Speaker 1: major step that I work with and I advocate for

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Speaker 1: small business owners. Of course, building up an email list,

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Speaker 1: your email list is the most underrated asset into any business.

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Speaker 1: People think the vanity metrics of followers are really what

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Speaker 1: we're all working towards, but no, really, you should just

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Speaker 1: be trying to generate leads, provide value in exchange for

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Speaker 1: people's contact information so that you can sell and market

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Speaker 1: to them um and and that will be the group

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Speaker 1: that would really help you sustain your business and generate

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Speaker 1: the most revenue. So getting folks online technology moves really

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Speaker 1: really fast, and we just want to make sure that

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Speaker 1: we're not getting left behind in the education and the

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Speaker 1: access to the technology, and that we have the skills

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Speaker 1: to execute and flourish. There is just still the case then,

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Speaker 1: because there was a phrase that went round over the

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Speaker 1: last couple of years that black black businesses in particular,

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Speaker 1: we're over mentored and underfunded. Is that still the case?

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Speaker 1: You know? That's I think that's a quote from my

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Speaker 1: man Ryan Wilson after Gathering Spot he he came on,

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Speaker 1: UH did a podcast with him, and that's one of

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Speaker 1: the thing that he said. I think that is still

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Speaker 1: the case. Um. But it's arguable because I as a

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Speaker 1: as a business educator, I cared deeply about the education piece.

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Speaker 1: So I'm always thinking, you need education before you can

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Speaker 1: handle a million dollars, right because quite frankly, I think

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Speaker 1: you don't need a million dollars until you already know

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Speaker 1: I know exactly what I would do with this million

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Speaker 1: dollars as a business owner, right, Like, typically the demand

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Speaker 1: will hit you before you need the money. You're like,

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Speaker 1: oh shoot, we need to hire, Oh shoot, we need

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Speaker 1: to fulfill this order, and we need the capital in

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Speaker 1: order to do this, right, And so you'll kind of

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Speaker 1: you really will know when you need half a million

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Speaker 1: or a million dollars. That's how you know you are

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Speaker 1: like capital ready. Um. So I think the challenge as

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Speaker 1: a business educator, as a an advocate for corporate social

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Speaker 1: responsibility is really to help more black founders and companies

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Speaker 1: and startups get to a place where they are capital ready,

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Speaker 1: where they are ready to take on this this UH

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Speaker 1: cash or this capital injection, where they have a great

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Speaker 1: demand for the capital. And it's obvious and clear to

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Speaker 1: any investor, to any partner that this business is UM

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Speaker 1: getting traction and it's it's a scalable venture. So that's

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Speaker 1: where I want to get more black businesses to where

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00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:49,160
Speaker 1: the undeniable need for capital is prevalent and UM well documented.

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Speaker 1: It was m part of the mission of your work

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Speaker 1: is to help us understand the history, UM and how

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Speaker 1: wealth is generating, why wealth wasn't arrated in our community.

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Speaker 1: And you have a seven step methodology that you believe

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Speaker 1: helps us, you know, increase our net worth. UM. Why

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Speaker 1: is history so so much a part of that? When

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Speaker 1: I mean we get inundated with our history all the time.

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Speaker 1: What is what are we missing about that? Then that

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Speaker 1: you feel like this is important to reinforce or a

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Speaker 1: different perspective on it that UM that helps us, It

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Speaker 1: helps us get over the hurdle. Yeah. Man, I think

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Speaker 1: history is so valuable because it can help predict and

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Speaker 1: see the future when we look back at when we

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Speaker 1: look at our current state. So many black founders and

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Speaker 1: entrepreneurs will say the words imposter syndrome. They will yearn

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Speaker 1: for community. And we're very aware of the feelings that

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Speaker 1: we that we hold, the sentiments how we show up,

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Speaker 1: but we don't always know the root cause of some

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Speaker 1: of these ailments or dispositions that we possess. And I

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Speaker 1: think it really goes back historically to our what we

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Speaker 1: call we have this eight step methodology in our Shine

377
00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:23,439
Speaker 1: Heart Family Legacy Accelerator, and one of our core principles

378
00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:27,440
Speaker 1: is find your roots. And in that module we talk

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Speaker 1: about two questions, where are you from? And how did

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Speaker 1: you get here? And where are you from? Leans into

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Speaker 1: your genealogy because if you ask a black person, a

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Speaker 1: Black American, where they're from, they're gonna tell you an

383
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Speaker 1: American city that's named after a slaveship. They're gonna tell

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Speaker 1: you some city that is not really where they're from.

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Speaker 1: You know, that's where they were born, that's where they

386
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Speaker 1: were raised, but they're probably they're definitely from Africa, and

387
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Speaker 1: some at some point in their lineage they come from Africa.

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Speaker 1: So doing your genealogy, whether that's ancestry, whether that's twenty

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Speaker 1: three and me or African ancestry, doing your ancestry because

390
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Speaker 1: you know, okay, I'm from Nigeria, I'm from Cameroon, I'm

391
00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:09,200
Speaker 1: from ben in Togo. That that gives you a sense

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Speaker 1: of pride and identity when you're here in America. And

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Speaker 1: then number two, doing your family tree helps you see

394
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Speaker 1: like how did I get here? Who were the folks

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Speaker 1: that are in my family tree? In my lineage? That

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Speaker 1: preceded me into showing up in this place where I

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Speaker 1: am and what you're what folks do? We've gone through

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Speaker 1: this course and I helped folks unpack this. You start

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Speaker 1: to find there's threads and their superpowers found in your lineage.

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Speaker 1: You start to see. For example, my second great grandfather

401
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Speaker 1: was born a slave in in eighteen twenty one, and

402
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Speaker 1: he bought his own freedom in eighteen forty two for

403
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Speaker 1: a thousand dollars which at the time is probably equivalent

404
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Speaker 1: to like half maybe a quarter million, I don't know,

405
00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:54,960
Speaker 1: a hundred thousand dollars. But then he went on to

406
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Speaker 1: to die. When he died in nineteen o six, he

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Speaker 1: had a net worth of fifty dollars, which is probably

408
00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,399
Speaker 1: equivalent to three or four million dollars. He had he

409
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:07,800
Speaker 1: had like multiple farms, he was he was like a

410
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Speaker 1: real estate mogul in his own right. And when I

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Speaker 1: heard that, it gave me a great sense of pride,

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Speaker 1: a great sense of identity. And why I'm I'm so

413
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Speaker 1: entrepreneurial in nature, and why I'm so um cares so

414
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Speaker 1: deeply about creating wealth and expanding the abundance of my

415
00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:30,360
Speaker 1: assets and in my net worth. UM. And so I've

416
00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:33,880
Speaker 1: helped so many folks really discover who they are and

417
00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:37,239
Speaker 1: why they are from their history, and they show up

418
00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:41,280
Speaker 1: differently now. The impostit syndrome is eradicated. Now they have

419
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Speaker 1: a sense of responsibility over their lives to start that business,

420
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Speaker 1: to push forward. And we all always tell folks we

421
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Speaker 1: are the leaders of right now. This is our dash.

422
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Speaker 1: You know, there's gonna be people that there's obviously people

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Speaker 1: will come before us, and it's gonna be people that

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Speaker 1: come after us. But where will we leave those folks

425
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:05,959
Speaker 1: both positions were they being when we passed the baton?

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Speaker 1: That's the question that we have to ask. And if

427
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:10,359
Speaker 1: you could dial it down to your own lineage and

428
00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:13,320
Speaker 1: say where would your family be when you pass the baton?

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00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:16,120
Speaker 1: That to me is a fire starter and gets people

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00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:19,640
Speaker 1: really really fired up. To to go build a business

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00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:25,440
Speaker 1: that that transcends and stands the test of time. There's

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Speaker 1: a stat that's on your website that I've research and

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00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,040
Speaker 1: I found it to be valid, and it says self

434
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:34,840
Speaker 1: employed people make up of Americans but account for sixties

435
00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:38,880
Speaker 1: seven percent of millionaires. And there's so many people who

436
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:43,359
Speaker 1: are employed and want to be a full time entrepreneur

437
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:45,159
Speaker 1: um because they want to be a part of that

438
00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:48,159
Speaker 1: sixty seven percent of millionaires. Right, And what are some

439
00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:52,800
Speaker 1: of the first milestones in transitioning from employment to self

440
00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:56,359
Speaker 1: employment um that people can take responsibly? So if if

441
00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:58,639
Speaker 1: they get an idea, do you say, okay, all right,

442
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:00,760
Speaker 1: let's just go all in with you, Like, what are

443
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:03,359
Speaker 1: some of the most schools they can take responsibly to

444
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:07,520
Speaker 1: make their transition? Listen, do not do what I did.

445
00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:10,960
Speaker 1: I had an entrepreneurial seizure. I was working at Nike.

446
00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:13,240
Speaker 1: I saved ten grand and I was like, you're a

447
00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:17,480
Speaker 1: cool You're a cool f you I'm out. And I

448
00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:21,320
Speaker 1: just started my company with very little revenue and just

449
00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:23,600
Speaker 1: like a dollar and a dream, right, And by the

450
00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 1: grace of God, I've been able to like flip that

451
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:28,600
Speaker 1: and and grow. But that's not the advice that I

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00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:32,000
Speaker 1: give to small business owners. What I think that most

453
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,720
Speaker 1: people should do practically is use your nine to five

454
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,320
Speaker 1: as your angel, investor into your side, hustle into your business,

455
00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:43,560
Speaker 1: and not every entrepreneurial venture has to be a full

456
00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:47,120
Speaker 1: time business a full time job. You can work at

457
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:49,600
Speaker 1: nine to five and have a business on the side.

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00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:52,840
Speaker 1: There's three ways to be a full participant in the

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00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:56,480
Speaker 1: American economy. You can be a consumer, and historically Black

460
00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:59,640
Speaker 1: people are extremely good at consumers. I want Black people

461
00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:02,280
Speaker 1: to become or intelligent consumers where we're shopping and buying black.

462
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,560
Speaker 1: Number two, you can be a producer, which means you're

463
00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:08,520
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur. You're creating jobs. That means you're creating our

464
00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:10,840
Speaker 1: product or service that solves a problem. You have a

465
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,920
Speaker 1: solution that people will give you money in exchange for that.

466
00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 1: Number three is investor. So in order to UM really

467
00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:22,040
Speaker 1: grow and have your money work for you, you need

468
00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:25,280
Speaker 1: to be investing your your money into other things that

469
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:27,960
Speaker 1: are growing in the economy, whether it's a business, whether

470
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,400
Speaker 1: it's an asset, real estate. UM. A lot of times

471
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:34,320
Speaker 1: people think they have to be as an entrepreneur actively

472
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:38,400
Speaker 1: doing another thing, but you also can be a real

473
00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:41,160
Speaker 1: estate investor and have a nine to five and that

474
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 1: can be very passive for you, but also have your

475
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,720
Speaker 1: money working for you and be generating cash flow as

476
00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:51,160
Speaker 1: a business owner. So finding things that you can do well.

477
00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:53,120
Speaker 1: I also like to tell people like, what are your

478
00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:55,240
Speaker 1: skills that you're using at your job? What are the

479
00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:59,400
Speaker 1: skills that you acquire through your your fifty thousand a

480
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:03,640
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollar degree? How can you sell those skills

481
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:08,800
Speaker 1: to someone else for in exchange for cash? And also

482
00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:12,240
Speaker 1: when you're thinking about how to scale your business and

483
00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:16,000
Speaker 1: create some like reliable income, how can you partner with

484
00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:19,120
Speaker 1: another business? So I'm a huge proponent of B two

485
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:22,400
Speaker 1: B b TC is great. Most times Black folks who

486
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:26,880
Speaker 1: are looking for UM that side hustle, we're always thinking

487
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:28,680
Speaker 1: B to C like how can I sell to my cousin?

488
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:32,720
Speaker 1: How can I sell to my Instagram followers? But that's

489
00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:36,360
Speaker 1: a lot like chasing cat, hurting cats and chasing pennies

490
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:40,000
Speaker 1: a lot of times. How about you find a business

491
00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:42,600
Speaker 1: that needs your service and you sell your business as

492
00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:47,080
Speaker 1: a resident UM contractor for that business or whatever. If

493
00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:52,400
Speaker 1: you offer UM yoga services, go to the women's health

494
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:55,920
Speaker 1: clinic and say, look, I'll provide to yoga sessions to

495
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:59,760
Speaker 1: your your customers a month for X amount of rate,

496
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:01,800
Speaker 1: and we'll do this for twelve months. So now you

497
00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:04,200
Speaker 1: have a twelve month contract where you have a retainer

498
00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:07,000
Speaker 1: and that can create a baseline revenue for your business.

499
00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:09,920
Speaker 1: Right now you have the space to maybe hire uh

500
00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 1: and adding and hire a coordinator, and you can start

501
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:19,320
Speaker 1: to grow your business on the foundation of one solid contract.

502
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:21,840
Speaker 1: So it's not as hard as it might seem to

503
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,040
Speaker 1: find that business to the business, but the business has

504
00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:27,360
Speaker 1: capital and they have customers. To me, it's a really

505
00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:34,520
Speaker 1: logical and um a first step that is viable for

506
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:53,840
Speaker 1: most small businesses. Black Tech Green Money is the production

507
00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:56,800
Speaker 1: of Black and the aff Ro Tech, Black Effect podcast

508
00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:00,120
Speaker 1: Network and iHeart Media. It's produced by Morgan the Bone

509
00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:03,920
Speaker 1: in Me Well Lucas, with additional production supported by Love

510
00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:07,760
Speaker 1: Beaching Rose mc lucas. Special thank you to Michael Davis.

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00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,480
Speaker 1: Something That's a SERRANTO. Learn more about my guests and

512
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:13,120
Speaker 1: other techas brothers and innovatives at afro tech dot com.

513
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:15,640
Speaker 1: The video version of this episode. We'll drop the Black

514
00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:18,240
Speaker 1: Tech Green Money on YouTube next week, so tap in

515
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:22,440
Speaker 1: enjoy your Black Tech green money, Share us with somebody,

516
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:26,280
Speaker 1: can reat your money. Peace and love,