Black Entrepreneur Blueprint 537 - Jay Jones - The Power Of Entrepreneurship - If You Don't Feed Me You Can't Starve Me

[00:00:12] Welcome to BLACK Entrepreneur Blueprint, the number one podcast and resource for Black Entrepreneurs.

[00:00:19] On your host Jay Jones, and BLACK Entrepreneur Blueprint was created specifically to educate and inspire Black Entrepreneurs

[00:00:27] to launch, build and grow successful sustainable businesses.

[00:00:33] Join us as we help building economic power base in the worldwide Black community by building and supporting Black owned businesses.

[00:00:41] If you're currently an entrepreneur or want to be an entrepreneur, you're invited to join us each and every week here at BLACK Entrepreneur Blueprint.

[00:00:50] Welcome to the B.E.B. Family and get ready to elevate your entrepreneur IQ.

[00:01:00] Welcome to the BLACK Entrepreneur Blueprint episode number 537.

[00:01:07] I'm your host Jay Jones, and today we have another outstanding and informative show in Stored for you.

[00:01:13] Today's show topic is the Power of Entrepreneurship. If you dont feed me, you cant starve me.

[00:01:20] Let me repeat that, the Power of Entrepreneurship. If you dont feed me, you cant starve me.

[00:01:28] So many of us who are trying to be successful entrepreneurs or prospective entrepreneurs with trapped in a job that we hate with no backup plan.

[00:01:38] What Entrepreneurship gives you guys is power.

[00:01:42] And today I'm going to give you eight powerful tips to help you take full control as an entrepreneur.

[00:01:49] And we're talking about control of your business and also control of your life.

[00:01:54] So make sure you lock in. Also remember, if you dont have anything to write any show notes down, just go to the website Black Entrepreneur Blueprint.com

[00:02:03] Click Episode 537 and you have all the show notes there ready for you.

[00:02:10] Now before we get to today's show content, I just want to share a few things with the Black Entrepreneur Blueprint family.

[00:02:17] First and foremost, I want to welcome all first time listeners to Black Entrepreneur Blueprint.

[00:02:22] Welcome to the B.E.B. Family and please stick around until the end of today's broadcast.

[00:02:27] And I'm going to share all my social media contact information and resource links such as the link to our new revised website Black Entrepreneur Blueprint.com

[00:02:38] Make sure you guys go to the website, click the Learn tab and we have all types of resources to help you elevate your entrepreneur IQ.

[00:02:47] A lot of free resources and then there are some paid resources also.

[00:02:52] But you click the Learn tab and that drop down you'll see all types of content on marketing, sales, mindset, strategy.

[00:03:01] How to scale your business e-commerce. It's all there waiting for you right now at the website.

[00:03:07] Go to Black Entrepreneur Blueprint.com and hit the Learn tab and then click on any topic that you need help with.

[00:03:14] Please take advantage of all the free content there and the resources to help you grow and scale your business.

[00:03:22] Now let's get ready for today's show content.

[00:03:25] I want to apologize in advance guys, my voice isn't that great today.

[00:03:30] I was out there in New Orleans celebrating the Eagles victory over the Saints this past weekend.

[00:03:36] We had a ball out there and yeah man it was Eagles fans all over the place and we took over New Orleans

[00:03:43] And we actually pulled out a very tight game so I'm super happy about that but my voice took the run of it.

[00:03:50] So bear with me a little bit today guys.

[00:03:52] So today we're going to talk about the power of entrepreneurship.

[00:03:55] And my subtitle is if you don't feed me, you can't starve me.

[00:04:01] And it all really breaks down into power guys the power of entrepreneurship.

[00:04:07] So I don't know if you've ever been at a job or in a situation with somebody has the power over you.

[00:04:13] If somebody feeds you that also means that they can stop feeding you, meaning that they can starve you.

[00:04:20] And I'm going to give you guys eight powerful tips to help you take full control as an entrepreneur and also in your life.

[00:04:28] And I'm going to give you some real life examples of what not having power feels like and what having that entrepreneurial power feels like.

[00:04:38] And it's a marked difference guys.

[00:04:40] So let's start off number one and I'm going to talk about your job.

[00:04:45] So there's nothing wrong with having a job.

[00:04:47] Okay. And I talk about this all the time if that's the way you're built, that's the way you're built.

[00:04:53] There's no shame in that or you could be an entrepreneur that likes to have a full time job and has a side hustle or part time business which is also fine.

[00:05:04] Or you can be like me who got tired of corporate American all the politics to BS all the constraints that it had upon me.

[00:05:13] And I decided when I left that was it.

[00:05:16] I was going to go on my own take rope and I was going to actually eat whatever I was able to catch, but there's ways to do it and you have to be comfortable with the way that you decide to be an entrepreneur.

[00:05:28] Part time being full time whatever, but we're going to give you eight powerful tips guys to help you take full control as an entrepreneur.

[00:05:36] But let's start off with control. What type of control does your job have?

[00:05:44] Your job controls how much money you make.

[00:05:47] They also control how much time off you get and your job also controls your lifestyle.

[00:05:54] And that can be a combination of how often you work, the times that you work or and or rather the money that you can make.

[00:06:02] So one of my friends is a firefighter for the city of Philadelphia.

[00:06:07] So his hour is crazy. He's on like three or four days straight and it could be overnight or whatever and then he's off several days.

[00:06:15] So your job can actually control your total lifestyle. But let's talk about excuse me.

[00:06:23] How you job controls how much money you make.

[00:06:25] So when most people take jobs if it's not a sales position or if there's no bonus involved, you're on a salary.

[00:06:33] So you know every week or every two weeks what you're going to receive in your salary.

[00:06:39] Now for some people that's fine, if you're making $500,000 a year, that's probably more than enough.

[00:06:45] But if you're just scraping by what your job is doing basically is limiting how much money you make.

[00:06:53] Is that a good thing to me? No. Another way a job controls you is by how much time off you get.

[00:07:01] And so I remember one of the worst days of my life.

[00:07:05] I had started a business, the business didn't go well and I went back to corporate America for a minute to get my footing together to actually make some more money.

[00:07:14] So I can go back out on my own.

[00:07:16] And during this time I had just started this new sales position and the Million Man March was coming up in DC.

[00:07:25] And unfortunately, this is one of my biggest regrets in my life.

[00:07:29] I literally had started working there like several days before the March.

[00:07:34] So I wasn't able to take off and go to the Million Man March with a lot of my good friends and my brothers and stuff.

[00:07:42] And I missed that event because they controlled when I could get off.

[00:07:48] A more recent example is my wife and I were just talking about this.

[00:07:53] I lost my father-in-law about a month ago. He transitioned at the age of 88, lived a great life.

[00:08:00] But he was sick and my wife and I had to go and stay with my mother-in-law on him for about two weeks prior to him transitioning.

[00:08:10] Now if I worked in corporate America unless I had that time saved,

[00:08:16] I wouldn't have been able to go and help my mother-in-law on my wife and the other family members as my father-in-law transition.

[00:08:24] So you get to be the master of your own time.

[00:08:27] Yes, you have to make sure that your business is running smoothly.

[00:08:30] But there's nobody telling you hey, Jay, you don't have any hours left to take off or you're going to have to miss these important events because you don't have time.

[00:08:39] One of the stories I talk about when I discussed the benefits of entrepreneurship is the time I was able to spend with my girls when they were in middle school and high school.

[00:08:52] And being able to attend almost everything that they did because I controlled my own time, and I was able to set my own schedule.

[00:09:00] So when my girls were in high school, they had three years apart.

[00:09:02] And even middle school, their favorite sport was feel hockey.

[00:09:07] So from my oldest daughters freshman year in feel hockey to my youngest daughters, senior year in feel hockey in high school, which is the seven years span,

[00:09:18] I'd never missed a home game and a way game, a scrimmage, an AAU game, anything that was important in terms of feel hockey.

[00:09:28] I'd never missed any of the honor roles, I'd never missed any of the plays, I'd never missed anything that they were in.

[00:09:35] And we laugh about it now but even when they were younger than that, I was one of the dads that was always on the class trips.

[00:09:42] So I knew all their friends and it was just amazing to be able to spend that time and share that time with my daughters as they were growing up.

[00:09:52] So when I talk about the power of entrepreneurship, just that freedom and flexibility that it provides for you to focus on the things that are truly important to you.

[00:10:03] You can't get that time back with your kids.

[00:10:06] And anybody that has children know that it looks like they grow overnight.

[00:10:10] And so before you know it, they're off the college and they're on about their own life and you're going to miss a lot of those times.

[00:10:18] So I've been blessed to be able to take control over my life through entrepreneurship.

[00:10:25] So once again, your job controls how much money you make, how much time you get off and your lifestyle.

[00:10:31] And this is something that I want you guys to understand.

[00:10:34] When you make a finite amount of money each month or every two weeks or whatever, you basically can tell how you're going to spend that money each month, right?

[00:10:46] And one of the things that this does, it gives you a limiting belief on what you can achieve.

[00:10:53] So here's a real life conversation I have with my wife about maybe two months ago.

[00:10:57] Now my wife is in education, she's a principal at an elementary school. She used to be a teacher.

[00:11:04] But I was just talking about yeah, maybe you know I'm possibly looking in the near future to buy a condo and a law sangeless area because I'm traveling out there.

[00:11:14] I do a lot of business with my mortgage business out there and law sangeless.

[00:11:18] And so I'm like it would only make sense for me to have a place out there.

[00:11:24] Now with my wife's limiting beliefs, she's thinking well, how can we afford a place out there?

[00:11:31] But if you're working on whatever your salary is and you know that you make say $80,000 a year.

[00:11:40] You know every two weeks you bring home what $45,000 or whatever it is.

[00:11:45] Now what you do is you say to yourself, man, I'll never be able to afford a $5 million home in law sangeless because I know what I make.

[00:11:55] So those are some limiting beliefs that can affect your lifestyle, that's your job controls.

[00:12:01] Your job controls how much money you make, how much time you get off and your lifestyle.

[00:12:07] Many people can't dream big because their money is already accounted for before they get paid.

[00:12:13] Now I'm not going to tell you that having your own business is going to make you a multi millionaire.

[00:12:19] But what I will tell you is that it gives you a chance, it gives you an opportunity.

[00:12:25] Now some people don't like that.

[00:12:27] Some people like hey, every two weeks I'm getting X amount of dollars on cool with that.

[00:12:32] That's fine if that's you.

[00:12:34] But if you're looking to take it to the next level and you're looking to bet on yourself, entrepreneurship is what you need to do.

[00:12:42] So as opposed to saying man, I'll never be able to buy a $5 million home in law sangeless.

[00:12:48] Somebody who's an entrepreneur who has no limits on their income, you say you know what?

[00:12:53] I may not be able to do it this year or next year or the year after.

[00:12:57] But if I work hard, if I work smart, then there's a possibility for me to have unlimited income which will allow me to go buy that house in law sangeless or wherever it is.

[00:13:09] So that's how the job controls you.

[00:13:11] That's why we're talking about the power of entrepreneurship.

[00:13:15] If you don't feed me, you can't starve me.

[00:13:19] And what I mean by that is if your job is feeding you, your job can also starve you.

[00:13:26] I have a son of a friend of mine who's in the financial space.

[00:13:31] Now he's working off of assets and management.

[00:13:34] He's a financial advisor.

[00:13:35] He lost a couple of his clients due to some mishab from somebody else on his team.

[00:13:43] And so now that's going to affect his bonus.

[00:13:46] Now what does that mean? It's going to affect his lifestyle.

[00:13:50] Somebody else is in control of your lifestyle.

[00:13:53] And for me, I just got fed up with the corporate BS and all the politics, the nepotism and all of that good stuff.

[00:14:00] And I always knew I was going to go out on my own because that's something that I can't deal with.

[00:14:06] So you have to understand guys the mindset of an entrepreneur.

[00:14:10] You know, the Bible talks about giving man a fish or you can feed him for a day or teach him how to fish and he can eat forever.

[00:14:19] I'm paraphrasing but you guys understand.

[00:14:22] So it's just like your job can give you a paycheck today so you can eat today.

[00:14:26] But they're not teaching you how to fish so you can feed yourself.

[00:14:31] So if you don't feed me, that means you cannot starve me.

[00:14:36] So today I'm going to give you guys some advice on feeding yourself and I'm going to give you eight powerful tips to help you take full control as an entrepreneur.

[00:14:46] Tip number one, always have multiple streams of income.

[00:14:50] I know you've heard this before but do it.

[00:14:54] Okay, always not sometimes but always have multiple streams of income.

[00:15:01] It could be investment income.

[00:15:02] It could be real estate income.

[00:15:05] It could be income from a side hustle.

[00:15:08] Always have multiple streams of income.

[00:15:10] If COVID didn't teach you anything, you better have learned that you can't just count on one form of income.

[00:15:18] Okay, how many people out there that are listening to this got jammed up with COVID may have lost their job or the hours got cut back and then they were asked out.

[00:15:30] So if you didn't learn anything from what happened with COVID, then something's wrong.

[00:15:35] But number one always have multiple streams of income.

[00:15:38] And that income doesn't have to be some crazy exotic business.

[00:15:43] It could be something that simple as going through your house, cleaning out one room at a time, finding old stuff and putting it on eBay or Amazon and selling it.

[00:15:54] That's another form of income.

[00:15:56] So let's keep it simple there.

[00:15:58] Tip number two, never be solely reliant on a job for income.

[00:16:04] Never be solely reliant on a job for income.

[00:16:08] That goes back to the single stream of income I was just talking about.

[00:16:12] Also think about the politics that go on in corporate America.

[00:16:18] People don't get raises. That should get raises. People get fired, that shouldn't get fired.

[00:16:24] You have nepotism. You have all types of things that are going on cutbacks.

[00:16:30] And for example, if God forbid your manager doesn't like you, they can stunt your growth in the company.

[00:16:37] So never be solely reliant on a job for income guys.

[00:16:42] I'm telling you, it's one of the silliest things I've ever heard.

[00:16:46] Yeah, you're doing well today, but in an instant things can change.

[00:16:51] I was talking to my oldest daughter, the other day and she was just saying that her manager who she loved,

[00:16:58] decided to move and go to a new company.

[00:17:01] They paid them a lot of money and he was like, you know what? I'm gonna do me.

[00:17:06] And that's what you have to do guys. You got to do you.

[00:17:09] So never be solely reliant on a job for your total income.

[00:17:14] It's silly. It makes absolutely no sense.

[00:17:19] Now, I'm going to digress for a quick second.

[00:17:22] Some people are going to be like, well, what do I do for income?

[00:17:25] And I told you just a minute ago, it could be as simple as cleaning out your house or your garage and selling stuff on Amazon or eBay.

[00:17:35] But you want to do something that is within your wheelhouse, so it's not a big ask for yourself.

[00:17:41] So you don't want to do something to earn additional income that's not within you or that's not synergistic with you or what you like to do.

[00:17:51] And we'll talk about that a little bit more later. That's number two.

[00:17:55] Number three guys, I'm telling you, I see this all the time.

[00:18:01] Do not wait until you're out of a job to start your business.

[00:18:06] Don't wait till you lose a job.

[00:18:09] You get fired down size whatever to start a business.

[00:18:13] That's the worst time to start a business.

[00:18:16] You need to have this up and running while you're working in corporate America.

[00:18:21] And if it makes sense, and you want to go full time, then you transition full time.

[00:18:27] But here's what people do. They wake their, oh, you know, I love my job.

[00:18:32] Everything is good. I mean, I really like my job, but they're paying me.

[00:18:37] And guess what? When they stop paying you, now you're ass out and you're trying to figure out how you're going to take care of yourself.

[00:18:43] This is the exact same thing that happened to one of my best friends from college right after the crash 2008, 2009.

[00:18:53] And I think this might have happened about 2009.

[00:18:57] And he was basically reduced to, I mean, he was just like, man, what am I going to do?

[00:19:04] He almost had a nervous breakdown because he doesn't know how to make his own money.

[00:19:08] And this is what I call a reluctant entrepreneur.

[00:19:12] It's somebody that becomes an entrepreneur because they have no other choice, because they just lost their job.

[00:19:20] Never really thought about what seriously thought about doing his own thing until he lost his job and couldn't find a job.

[00:19:27] So do not wait until you're out of a job, guys, just start your business.

[00:19:32] That reluctant entrepreneur stuff it usually never works out.

[00:19:36] Now, he was all going home and then all of a sudden about eight months down the line. He gets a job offer.

[00:19:43] Even though he had a little traction with his business and he goes back to corporate America.

[00:19:48] So what that told me was, and I don't know all his total situation, but what it told me was the only reason you thought about being an entrepreneur is because you lost your paycheck.

[00:20:00] All right, and I talked about being pacified by a paycheck before.

[00:20:04] And that's what a lot of you guys are pacified by that paycheck.

[00:20:08] Now, there's nothing wrong with that if that's the path you want to take.

[00:20:12] But if you want to be an entrepreneur, you got to take that pacifier out your mouth eventually and then go full bore on your own thing.

[00:20:20] But number three guys don't wait until you're out of a job to start your business.

[00:20:24] It's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I tell my youngest daughter this too. She's talking about doing something on the side. Oh, dad.

[00:20:32] You know, I don't have a lot of time. I say, yeah, that's the problem when when you do have time, got for a bit if you lose your job, you're not going to be prepared.

[00:20:41] And then you're going to be starting from ground zero. So number three don't wait until you're out of a job to start your business.

[00:20:47] And we're talking about the power of entrepreneurship. If you don't feed me, you can't starve me.

[00:20:53] And I'm giving you guys eight powerful tips to help you take full control as an entrepreneur.

[00:21:00] Tip number four.

[00:21:01] Find a part time before time business that synergistic to you and what you enjoy.

[00:21:08] Okay. Why you're working in corporate America?

[00:21:11] If you're looking for a side hustle, find something that synergistic.

[00:21:16] All right. Something that you like, something that you're good at, something people will pay you for.

[00:21:22] I said those are the three criteria when you're going out on your own. Do what you love, do what you're good at and do something people will pay you for.

[00:21:31] All right. So that's something that you have to really think about. For example, now if I was in corporate America and something happened

[00:21:41] and I had to, you know, go out as an entrepreneur. I'm going to try to probably pick something that I'm familiar with.

[00:21:49] Maybe the industry that I was working in in corporate America. And here's a real life example.

[00:21:55] So one of my good buddies who is an amazing cook doesn't have any formal training, but man, this brother can make all types of of foods.

[00:22:06] You know, dinners, entree, desserts, everything and amazing cook. And I told him he was getting frustrated with his job. I said, bro, you cook dinner every night.

[00:22:18] That's your thing. You and your family sit down to eat pretty much every night of the week.

[00:22:23] So I said, all you need to do is start taking out your camera as you're preparing dinner. Right?

[00:22:29] Take that camera out, get a tripod or whatever if you're serious about this. And you go and you prepare, hey, this is what I'm making a night. This is how I do it.

[00:22:40] Bye, bye, bye, bye. Of course you're going to need some editing.

[00:22:43] And you're doing something that's synergistic with what you love. So you're not changing your way you move.

[00:22:50] You're not changing your routine. You're doing something that you naturally do. I said, now I said, if you would do this and you would build up your YouTube channel or whatever.

[00:23:03] And you can actually start selling products right there from your YouTube channel. So if you use a specific mix of spices, you can sell your spice line.

[00:23:15] Okay, you can sell other people's products. What number four find a part time or full time business that synergistic to what what you do and what you enjoy.

[00:23:27] Okay, so that's just an example of that. So if you don't like to cook, you wouldn't start a part time business making cakes, right?

[00:23:35] No, but find something that synergistic to you. So when you don't have to change your daily regimen, when you don't have to make massive changes in your lifestyle, this is why people would have followed this pattern.

[00:23:49] Doing something that synergistic to what they do are more successful than people would out of just chasing a paper. You can chase your purpose or you can chase paper.

[00:24:00] So when something synergistic, the chances are more that you'll be successful than you trying to change your whole routine. All right, so that's number four.

[00:24:11] Number five prepare for rainy day. I know it sounds super simple, but prepare for rainy day because it's not if it's going to rain is when it's going to rain and a rainy day could be you losing your job.

[00:24:23] You getting sick or hurt where you're out of your job for a while or whatever, but you need to create like a slush fund to help you start your business or support you in the case of income loss.

[00:24:35] So once again, I used my buddy as an example. He did have a little slush fund when he got laid off from his job, but he went through that real quick and the real or the bigger problem was he didn't have a go to plan.

[00:24:50] He didn't have another plan to be able to replace that income when he lost his primary income, which was his paycheck. That's why I talk about you don't wait till you out of a job to start your business.

[00:25:04] Now, once again, so you need number five to prepare for a rainy day. If you're working in corporate America, if you're saving hopefully putting money aside, making sure that in case something happens, you're able to sustain yourself for a certain period of time.

[00:25:20] Tip number six, always test your ideas before you go full speed ahead. I know a lot of people would like damn the torpedoes full speed ahead.

[00:25:30] I love that aggressive type attitude, but you always need to test before you go full speed ahead. And here's what the true test is to see if you have a viable business idea.

[00:25:42] The true test is not asking your family and friends what they think about this business idea, because half of them don't know. They're just going to say yes, because they want to support you.

[00:25:53] It's not using a focus group as the only means to determine if this is a great business idea. The number one indicator of a successful business or how to test a business is when people go in their pocket and take their harder money and spend it for your product or service.

[00:26:13] So, always test your ideas first before you go full speed ahead. Now I talked about my friend before I had another friend who wanted to get into e-commerce space.

[00:26:26] He bought thousands of razor blades, which I guarantee you are still sitting in his garage right now because he wanted to create a razor brand without testing it.

[00:26:37] And so once again, you could have done that very easily by running dummy test. And what I mean by that is this, you get a mock up of your razor, you get a graphic artist to produce that.

[00:26:50] You run traffic to a landing page that has a sales offer on it. Now you start trying to sell the razor before you even buy it. You know your manufacturer, you know how much it costs, you notice shipping, you have all that information.

[00:27:06] You bought samples just a few to make sure that it's a good quality product. So now you're running test traffic to your landing page to see if people will buy it.

[00:27:17] And here's what you do. If you find success in people are buying it, then you contact the manufacturer, get the razors and fulfill the orders.

[00:27:26] If you're running traffic and x amount of people, the number that you want, don't buy it, say only three people bought and you drove a hundred thousand people to your landing page. That's not a positive result.

[00:27:39] So then you take those three people that purchase and refund their money. But you always test your ideas first before you go full speed ahead.

[00:27:48] Simple as weighted test guys is drive traffic to a landing page with whatever your offer is. If you're a CPA and you work at a major firm and you want to start your business on the side, focus in on entrepreneurs that you do taxes for entrepreneurs.

[00:28:05] You create a landing page with your offer free consultation, whatever you're trying to sell and then you drive traffic there. And once you get your first one two or three clients, then you have proof of concept.

[00:28:19] All right, but always test your ideas before you go full speed ahead and go broke, you know, exhausting all your resources on an idea that isn't even validated yet. Tip number seven, keep an open mind and look for ways to solve problems keep an open mind and look for ways to solve problems.

[00:28:40] So solving a problem is the easiest way to be a successful entrepreneur. People don't care how tall you are, how much you weigh, what color you are, whatever.

[00:28:51] If you can help them solve a problem, then guess what? You're going to be their best friend. If that product or service solves a problem, you're going to make money. So look all the products that you buy that solve problems and I guarantee you probably don't know who created it or who your own is.

[00:29:10] One product that comes to mind is proactive, right? So they're not as big as they used to be, but proactive would have tons of commercials on and their proactive skin care product would help people with their acne.

[00:29:24] And so that's a big problem. proactive was a solution, multi millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars in sales over a period of time. So solving a problem.

[00:29:36] So if you bought proactive and it solved your problem, you don't care who the owner of the business is, right? You don't care what color they are, where they're from, whatever. They solve the problem and that's one of the biggest things that you can do to take control as an entrepreneur solve a problem. Now your next question may be, hey Jay, where do I find these problems, right?

[00:29:58] So you can start by some of the problems you have, what are problems that you have that you can solve that you think other people have those same problems. So you think about that also, what can you provide a solution to for others? You may be good at certain things that are a solution for other people, right?

[00:30:21] So you need to be able to keep an open mind and look for ways to solve problems. The easiest way to make money as an entrepreneur, guys, is solving a problem or problems, be it with your product or your service.

[00:30:36] So if somebody owes the IRS $75,000 in back taxes, that's a problem, right? But if you're a CPA who can negotiate with the IRS to get those taxes or back taxes down from 75,000 or whatever, then you're solving a great problem.

[00:30:56] The bigger the problem you solve, the more you can charge for the solution. The bigger the problem you solve, the more you can charge for the solution.

[00:31:06] Number eight, last but not least, learn to take authority over your life in circumstances by speaking life-giving affirmations on a daily basis, speaking life-giving affirmations on a daily basis.

[00:31:21] The power of life and death is in the tongue. That's what the word says, right? So you need to speak affirmations daily.

[00:31:29] Negative energy I'm telling you is a real thing. So if you're around negative people, evil people, that's a real thing. We all emit an energy and you want to be able to take authority over the energy that comes around you.

[00:31:45] So if you're in your prayer life, right? A lot of times when like God do this, God do this. But God also gives you authority. And that's what you need to do and you need to take it by speaking affirmations every day.

[00:31:59] Being in the morning when you wake up, afternoon, evening, whatever. I am going to be a successful entrepreneur. This business that I started is going to be a multi-million dollar business within 12 months.

[00:32:12] Whatever your affirmations are, I am healthy. I am whatever they are. You need to have a list of affirmations that you say every day. Now you don't think people are listening, but guess what? The universe is listening. Negative thoughts. Even joking around.

[00:32:29] Man, I ain't never going to get this business started. Man, I'm going to be broke as a joke. You rest in my life. Just act me speaking here is that you want to speak affirmations daily. Not just about your business, but about your life.

[00:32:43] My business will be a multi-million dollar business in 12 months. I'm going to lose 20 pounds in six months.

[00:32:50] I'm going to repair my relationship with my brother or sister this year. Whatever your positive affirmations are, the universe is listening, guys.

[00:33:00] And you need to speak those into the universe. Not your head. Say them out loud every day. I'm going to learn how to build a successful business. I'm going to take care of my family.

[00:33:12] I'm going to be able to do this, that or whatever. You're speaking it into existence. Okay?

[00:33:19] Ornably not just in your head. Say it out loud. And I know some of you probably like yo what was Jay talking about.

[00:33:26] But trust me, this is something that I've been doing for tens and tens of years. And I've spoken things into existence when I had no idea how it was going to happen.

[00:33:37] I always speak into existence that I'm going to build a multi-million dollar company. Almost lost it all twice. So it didn't look like that was going to happen, right?

[00:33:48] But it did. It actually wanted my business as well as a multi-million dollar company when it collapsed. My mortgage business.

[00:33:56] But I always spoke life into my business, into my family, into the community, not death. Life in death once again is in the power of the tongue.

[00:34:08] So make sure that you speak positive, life giving affirmations on a daily basis about your business, about your personal life, about your health, whatever.

[00:34:19] But on a daily basis. And I'm telling you things will change for you. Before I tell you this last story about the power of entrepreneurship, let me just share my social media contact information and resource links.

[00:34:33] So I mentioned at the top of the show, make sure you utilize the website blackhunterpreneurblueprint.com. If you're lazy, go to b-e-bconnect.com

[00:34:43] It will take you right to the website, hit the Learn tab and we have all types of resources to help you elevate your entrepreneur IQ.

[00:34:52] Scaling your business mindset strategy, marketing, e-commerce, anything you need to help elevate your entrepreneur IQ. Now if you want to get in touch with me anything long family hit me on my email.

[00:35:05] J. Jones at blackhunterpreneurblueprint.com, J.A. Y. J. O. N. Yes at blackhunterpreneurblueprint.com

[00:35:13] Facebook, blackhunterpreneurblueprint, Twitter or X, whatever you want to call it, J. Jones 001. That's J. A. Y. J. O. N. Yes, 001.

[00:35:26] Instagram I have two accounts, the first one is J. Jones for real J. A. Y. J. O. N. Yes, the number four R. E. A. L. Second one is black entrepreneur Blueprint. Also don't forget to connect with me on LinkedIn.

[00:35:41] Just go to LinkedIn, type in J. Jones, black entrepreneur Blueprint. Connect with me there and also don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel.

[00:35:48] Go to YouTube, type in black entrepreneur Blueprint hit that subscribe button. We have additional content on YouTube that is not on the show. And for all you first time listeners we drop new heat every Monday morning 5 AM Eastern Standard Time on all your major podcast platforms and YouTube.

[00:36:08] So wherever you're watching this or listening to this, make sure you hit that subscribe button so you'll be alerted when the new episodes drop. Now let's get back to the last segment of the show.

[00:36:20] So we're talking about the power of entrepreneurship if you don't feed me, you can't starve me. And I just want to end with a story and this is really one of the most important points of demarcation for me as entrepreneurship pertains.

[00:36:36] So I had gone left corporate America. I was a stock broker for Dean with her Reynolds and then Maryland left corporate America for about three years with my first business came back because it wasn't generating enough money.

[00:36:52] So I said, I'm married. My first daughter was getting ready to be born so I went back in the corporate for about a year or so came back out again had another about two three year run.

[00:37:04] Then my son got sick. My wife had to stop stopping working so that messed up our income. So I had to go back in the corporate for this didn't even last a year and this is the story guys that really put me over the top.

[00:37:18] So I went to work for the better business bureau and for those of you guys who don't know that's not a national organization individuals actually on the better business bureau in their area.

[00:37:31] So you can actually buy a better business bureau franchise. I don't know if they're still available to sell now you probably have to buy an existing territory. But you think that it's some big national organization is not basically it's a sales organization that selling better business bureau memberships pretty much that's really all they're doing anyway a friend of mine said, hey there's a you know the Philadelphia BBB is looking for a sales rep.

[00:38:00] I told them about you. I interviewed they hired me now they promised me X but didn't deliver at all and one day I've been out in the field. I've been busted my home trying to sell BBB memberships and all that good stuff we're back in the office on payday excuse me and I didn't have direct deposit at the time because I just started and she goes around the manager goes around the office and gives everybody a check but me.

[00:38:30] And I'm looking at them like hello and I said, you know I've been here for a month. I'm on this pay cycle. I didn't receive a check and she said well I didn't know you were working. I said what do you mean you didn't know I was working.

[00:38:47] I'm in the office every day then I go out in the field. I bought back deals you know sign contracts. I got a lot of contracts in the pipeline or I have a lot of prospects in the paper pipeline what do you mean?

[00:39:01] I'm not working and she looked at me begrudgingly and she gave me a check for not what my salary was supposed to be it was less than half of that. And that's when I knew I said you know what this is a wrap. I can't do this anymore. I ripped the check up in front of her face now I damn sure needed it. I don't know in retrospect if I said it ripped it up but I ripped the check up in her face.

[00:39:29] I put it on the desk and I said this is the last time you will ever see me. And what that taught me was the power that a job has over you.

[00:39:42] Once again they have the power of how much money you can make if you make any at all. How much time you get off and your lifestyle.

[00:39:51] I vow right there that I'm never going to be in that position again that I'm going to have to be at somebody else's will or best to earn a living for my family.

[00:40:04] And so once again guys if you don't feed me you can't starve me that's called independence. I didn't episode about indestructible income that's what I try to create income that you can't stop.

[00:40:19] People don't even know the income that I have with my other businesses and products and I do that purposely so nobody can sabotage that income.

[00:40:28] But when you have somebody else feeding you guys, meaning giving you a paycheck they can actually starve you out also. And for me that was my straw that was the straw to broke the camel's back. That was the tipping point where I said that's never going to happen to me again God willing.

[00:40:47] And it hasn't happened since and this was 20 years ago, 25 years ago or whatever. I'm telling you just being the degradation she's going around giving everybody's checks. We're all in our cubicles. So it wasn't like a private thing.

[00:41:03] And she skips right by me a couple of times and I'm like, hello. And the thing that really pissed me off was she had to check their for me. She was trying to I don't know creating an example or something or I don't know what she was trying to do.

[00:41:18] But it didn't matter because I ripped it checked up and I hauled ass. And that's the last you won't see a J Jones. I'm never going to put myself in that position again. So I know that maybe a little extreme for some people.

[00:41:31] But that's my mindset because I had already been out of corporate for a little bit had to come back in and what that did is it jump started me to the point where I didn't have to go back to corporate unless I wanted to go back to corporate.

[00:41:45] Okay. Now I actually did take a consulting gig because I wanted to learn something about advertising and native advertising. So I took a side consulting gig why I had my business.

[00:41:58] This is probably about 10, 15 years ago because I wanted to learn some of this technology. So if you do take a job guys don't necessarily if you're looking to be an entrepreneur let me preface that.

[00:42:11] So if you do take a job don't necessarily look at the money per se but look at the skills that that it can give you to help you when you go out on your own. You always want to add ammunition and skills to your belt your arsenal. So when you do make that full time jump now you're able to do it more easily because you have additional tools in your belt.

[00:42:35] So that's today's show guys the power of entrepreneurship if you don't feed me you can't starve me take control and authority over your life over your entrepreneurial journey over your job over your life in general. Remember it's not a dress rehearsal this is it.

[00:42:54] All right. So the faster you can get to the point that you want that you want to be the better and I know sometimes it's hard it's trying sometimes you don't feel that you have what it takes to be successful but if you put your nose to the grindstone focus connect yourselves with mentors or people that are doing what you want to do you can definitely get there.

[00:43:18] Also don't forget if you want to show notes just go to the website black entrepreneur blueprint.com and all of the episodes up but the last three episodes right on the front page so just click on episode five thirty seven and the show notes to this episode will be right there.

[00:43:36] Now I say this each in every week because it's true we get more and more downloads because of you the B.E.B family I appreciate you guys so much please continue to spread the word about the podcast about the website make sure you take advantage of the website guys and all the resources and all the ecosystem around black entrepreneur blueprint.

[00:43:57] Remember guys it's not about me. It's not about you. It's about us. It's about building an economic power base in the worldwide black community by building and supporting black owned businesses love you guys see you same time next week peace.