Black Entrepreneur Blueprint 559 - Jay Jones - Don't Wait Create - The Power Of Self-Validation For Entrepreneurs

[00:00:12] Welcome to Black Entrepreneur Blueprint, the number one podcast and resource for Black entrepreneurs. I'm your host Jay Jones and Black Entrepreneur Blueprint was created specifically to educate and inspire Black entrepreneurs to launch, build and grow successful, sustainable businesses. Join us as we help build an 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. Welcome to the BEB family and get ready to elevate your entrepreneur IQ. Welcome to the Black Entrepreneur Blueprint episode number 559.

[00:01:07] I'm your host Jay Jones and today we have another outstanding and informative show in store for you. Today's show topic is, Don't Wait Create, The Power Of Self-Validation For Entrepreneurs. Don't Wait Create, The Power Of Self-Validation For Entrepreneurs. So, too many entrepreneurs sit around waiting for permission approval or validation from other people before they move forward. But what happens if you validate yourself or you green light yourself?

[00:01:36] This is the ultimate power move and that's what we're going to talk about today. And I'm going to give you five tips on how to create self-validation in addition to some other key points and real life examples. Now, before we get to today's show content, let me just share a few things with the Black Entrepreneur Blueprint family. First and foremost, I want to welcome all first-time listeners to Black Entrepreneur Blueprint. Welcome to the BEB family. Please stick around until the end of today's broadcast.

[00:02:05] And I'm going to share all my social media contact information and resource links, such as the link to our new updated, revised, and revamped blackentrepreneurblueprint.com website. Make sure you guys utilize the website. Go to blackentrepreneurblueprint.com. Hit the Learn tab. There is a drop-down and we have all types of free resources on scaling your business,

[00:02:30] marketing, e-commerce, side hustles, real estate, everything you need to help elevate your entrepreneur IQ. So go to blackentrepreneurblueprint.com and make sure you get the free content. Now, for all you first-time listeners, we drop a new episode every Monday morning, 5 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, on all your major podcast platforms and YouTube. So wherever you're listening to this or watching this, make sure you hit that subscribe button

[00:02:59] so you'll be alerted when the new episodes drop. Now, let's get ready for today's show content. Today we're going to be discussing the power of self-validation for entrepreneurs and I'm going to give you five tips to help you achieve that self-validation and I'm also going to give you some real-life examples. In addition to that, we're going to break down what is self-validation, why is it important, and how to create that self-validation. Now, today's show is going to be a little bit shorter, guys.

[00:03:28] I've just had some oral surgery, so my jaw is killing me right now, but I'm blessed to be able to get out of the surgery without getting my jaw wired shut. So, literally, that was a possibility based on this surgery. So, thank God that my jaw didn't have to get wired shut. Now, my wife might not be too happy because she says I talk too much anyway, but we got through that and we're ready to rock. So, let's talk about the power of self-validation for entrepreneurs. Don't wait, create.

[00:03:57] The first thing I want to do is I want to define what is self-validation. What is self-validation? So, it's the feeling of having recognized, confirmed, or established one's own worthiness or legitimacy. It's the feeling of having recognized, confirmed, or established one's own worthiness or legitimacy. So, you have to have that confidence and belief in your skills.

[00:04:23] And many times, as entrepreneurs, we go through the ups and downs and we may lose that confidence. So, sometimes we look for outside validation for us to continue to move forward. But that is the definition of validation. Now, let's talk about real quick why it's important. Self-validation can empower you to make decisions and choices based on your own values and desires rather than seeking approval from others or from the outside.

[00:04:49] It also allows you to live the life you want to live without having to be validated by others who may not see your value. So, validation a lot of times is connected to the word or the term value. Okay? So, if people don't see your value, you may not feel validated. So, that's why this is something that's super important for entrepreneurs because it's something that's internal.

[00:05:14] And the more that you recognize the fact that you are validated, you self-validated, the more successful you can be as an entrepreneur. So, here's a couple of reasons why self-validation is important. People doubting that you can accomplish something. So, when people doubt you a lot of times, then that's going to mess with your self-confidence. And so, I remember a time when I first got married.

[00:05:40] I was working in corporate America as a stock broker at Merrill Lynch. And right before we got married, I left my job to start my first business. Now, my fiancee, wife now, knew everything that was going down. But my father-in-law had a conversation with me. And I understand where he was coming from. But he was like, what makes you think you can be successful as an entrepreneur? And I said to him, there's many successful entrepreneurs out there.

[00:06:10] I said, why can't I be successful? But basically, he was doubting that I could accomplish something. And 25, 30 years later, whatever it is, you know, I've gone through the ups and downs as an entrepreneur. Almost lost it all twice. But have been blessed to be able to come back and build two multi-million dollar businesses behind that. And so, I was able to accomplish that stuff.

[00:06:34] But the reason why self-validation is important, one reason is once again, people doubting that you can accomplish something. Another reason self-validation is important is people close to you, like family and friends, may be envious. And I hate to say this, but when you strike out on your own, looking to blaze your own trail, daring to be great.

[00:06:57] Other people who may be working a nine-to-five job or a thankless job or be in positions where they're not happy with their life, they may be envious of you because you're going out and trying to capture that gold ring. You're trying to climb to the top of the mountain. And they're not doing it. So, self-validation is important because people close to you, family and friends, may be envious. And you always have to remember the source. My mom used to say this all the time.

[00:07:27] When somebody is talking to you and telling you things, what is the source? Remember the source. The source of the information. Where is it coming from? All right. What is the intention of the conversation? So, what do they say? Misery likes company. So, a lot of times if other people are miserable in their life, they want you to be miserable. All right. And a lot of times, unfortunately, that means close family, family, friends, brother, sister, mother, father, cousin, you know, best friends, whatever.

[00:07:58] So, another reason why self-validation is important is people close to you like family and friends may be envious. And the last reason why self-validation is important is you're not going to be living by default like most people. And when I say living by default, it's doing the same thing that 99% of the other people do. You go to work every day. You know, you got your job. You come home. You're waiting for your two weeks a year vacation. And that is living by default.

[00:08:27] I always talk about daring to be great. Right. Living life on your own terms. And so, self-validation allows you not to live life by default. So, many people are scared, right? Because they see what most people are doing. They see most people go to high school. Some decide to go to college. They graduate. They get a job. They go to this job that they probably don't like. You know, they probably don't care for a lot of the people in the job.

[00:08:57] They probably don't feel like they're paid well enough. But they continue to do it. That is the default position. So, when you have self-validation, you're able to move away from that default position and be able to live a remarkable life. Whatever remarkable means to you. That's what I tell my daughters all the time. I pray that you live a remarkable life. You live in your genius. You take calculated risks. You plan. And I'm telling you, the time flies.

[00:09:26] It feels like literally I was just in college. You know, I got two grown daughters and I'm about to, I'll never retire, but I'm about to slow it down probably within the next two or three years. Keep the podcast rocking because it's something that I love doing. But you don't ever want to get into the rut by living by default. Dare to be great. Live a remarkable life. So, these are some of the reasons why it's important to have self-validation because if

[00:09:55] you don't have that, you're going to fall into the rut. And I don't care how old you are, 40, 50, 60, whatever. There's still time. As long as you wake up in the morning and you have breath in your lungs and you have relatively good health, you have an opportunity. Some people just say to heck with it and they just keep doing what they want to do. And then, not what they want to do, what they're programmed to do. And then they're waiting for retirement.

[00:10:21] And God forbid you have half, you know, a decent amount of time after retirement if you even make it there. You know, I was talking to somebody in the hospital not long ago and I went to visit somebody and I met a couple of people there and it's a guy that gave me some real great wisdom. He was about 75, 80 years old. He said you have what's called the go-go years, the slow-go years, and the no-go years.

[00:10:49] So, the go-go years are when you're young and vibrant and you can enjoy traveling and living life. That's your go-go years. Now, your slow-go years as you get in your 60s or whatever and you kind of slow down, you can't do as much as you used to do, but you're still able to out there, get out there and go. Then you have the no-go years when you're, you know, in your 80s or 90s or whatever, you're not driving, you know, you're relying on other people to get you around.

[00:11:19] And he was like, you have to enjoy life. He said I'm in my slow-go years, but I damn sure was rolling in my go-go years. He said I'm doing a lot in my slow-go years. And I, when I get to those no-go years, I don't want to have any regrets. And that's something that really stuck with me. So, I'm going to tell you, I don't care if you're listening to this and you're 21 years old, you're going to be 50 years old before you know it. God willing. I'm telling you, it goes super fast.

[00:11:48] So, don't live life by default. Engineer your life. Be intentional about your life. Live a remarkable life. Self-validate. Don't wait for somebody to validate you because you know what? They may never validate you. So, I want you to think about this real quick in terms of validation. And there's nothing wrong with, you know, working a corporate job or whatever. You know, if you're not an entrepreneur, I get it. Go, you know, do you.

[00:12:16] I call those people civilians, right? Then there are other people that like the stability, I guess you can call it stability, the stability of corporate America and then they have a side hustle. Then there's others that are full-time entrepreneurs and you know, they're going full speed ahead, right? But in terms of validation, I had a conversation with somebody a couple months ago. I forgot who it was. But when you go on a job interview and you're sitting across the desk from the person that's

[00:12:45] interviewing you, they're looking to either validate you or reject you. And to me, that's too much power for somebody to have. They may not see all the skills and attributes you have. They may not like you because of what you look like, what you're wearing. You might not be the right color. You might be the wrong religion or whatever it is.

[00:13:09] And so you're giving people the power to validate if you can take care of your family or not. So if you don't have a job that somebody validates you for, what are your other options? The only other option is self-employment, right? Being an entrepreneur. So I never liked the feeling of somebody validating, how dare you tell me what I'm worth? How dare you tell me how much money I can make?

[00:13:37] So when you're in a position that you need something from somebody else or you need that validation or stamp of approval, you're at their mercy. And when you go through your job reviews every quarter or annually or whatever it is, they have to revalidate you. We have to re-stamp you on the forehead that, okay, yo, Jay is good. We're going to keep him here. But the thing that always puzzled me was when did it become this?

[00:14:04] When did I have to have somebody else validate my worth? Validate, you know, my contribution. And so if you don't want somebody validating you and having that power, then you need to be a full-time entrepreneur. Okay, I just, I digressed a little bit about that. But it's why it's important, guys, that you have self-validation because if you don't have that, then you're going to be waiting for somebody else to validate you.

[00:14:33] And I did an episode not long ago titled, if you can't feed, if you don't feed me, you can't starve me. Meaning that if you're not responsible for my income, you can't cut that income off. All right. You don't have the power to do that. And entrepreneurship, you know, yeah, a lot of it is about, you know, our passions and talents and all that good stuff. But it's really about control. How much control do you want over your life?

[00:15:02] Or do you want to give that control to somebody else? And when I'm saying this, I don't want to make it sound like working in corporate America is bad because I've been there, done that. It's not bad if that's what you want to do. But if you want to be a full time entrepreneur, then you need to have that self-validation. So I just wanted to share that with you. Now, let's talk real quick. And today's episode is going to be a short one.

[00:15:29] How to create that self-validation. I'm going to give you five or six ways. I think five ways how to create that self-validation. Number one, have faith in yourself and your abilities. Have faith in yourself and your abilities. You know what you're good at. You know what you're not good at, right? One of the things that you can do is you can talk to your closest friends and family members and ask them, what are you good at?

[00:16:00] You know, what's something that you come to me all the time for? It could be advice. It could be working on cars or whatever. It depends. But you need to have faith in yourself and your abilities. Okay. So that's the number one thing. It's all about, do you believe there's a thing called imposter syndrome out there?

[00:16:20] And a lot of people have it as entrepreneurs, but you have to truly believe that you are or have come to a certain point where you have value. Validation is value. Okay. Number two, move with small steps and accomplish micro goals to increase your confidence. So we're talking about how to create self validation, move with small steps and accomplish micro goals to increase your confidence.

[00:16:50] So when you've accomplished certain things. So for example, if you start a business and you say, well, the first, you know, in the first three months, I want to generate $3,000 in revenue. Now that's probably not enough to live on, but it's a small micro accomplishment. It's a micro goal. Check that off the box. Your other goals may be, Hey, I want to get five new clients each month. That's a micro goal.

[00:17:19] You haven't hit where you want to go yet, but you're getting there. So you want to move with small steps and accomplish micro goals to increase your confidence. Many times when we start a business, we're like, yeah, I want to earn six figures the first year, half a million, the second, a million, the third, but bop, bop, bop, bop. And they may not be realistic. So when you give yourself small wins, that's going to help increase your confidence.

[00:17:47] And we're talking about how to create self validation. Tip number three, and this is big. Don't listen to outside noise. Do not listen to outside noise. You want to eliminate negative people, negative energy and negative messaging that is around you. Okay. Don't listen to the outside noise. Remember self validation is internal. And if you're listening to noise, that's, that's not conducive for self validation.

[00:18:16] People telling you, Oh, you can't do it. I don't know why you quit your job. You're never going to be a success as an entrepreneur. And if you keep listening to this, then you're going to start believing. You're not believing that nonsense. Remember garbage in equals garbage out. So when you fill your mind with positive things, positive affirmations, you know, I say positive affirmations every day when I'm in the shower in the morning.

[00:18:42] And if I'm in the shower at night, whatever positive affirmations in this year, within the next eight months, my hot sauce company will be a multi-million dollar hot sauce company. I'm going to be a better man of God. I'm going to be a better husband. I'm going to be a better father. I'm going to be a better son, a better brother, whatever it is. Positive affirmations. Don't let the outside noise.

[00:19:07] Don't listen to the outside noise and stay focused and eliminate negativity, negative people, negative energy. That's tip number three. Tip number four, how to create self-validation, create an environment that supports self-validation, like a networking group of like-minded entrepreneurs. So you want to keep the negativity out, but you want to keep the positivity in.

[00:19:33] And one of the things about being an entrepreneur is that you can't practice this thing. Either you do it or you don't. And when you have a group of like-minded people that are also entrepreneurs, they speak your language. They understand what you're going through. So for any entrepreneur, I don't care what stage you're in, be it if you're thinking about being an entrepreneur, you're a new entrepreneur, or you're an experienced entrepreneur.

[00:20:01] You need to connect yourself with a network of like-minded people that have gone through and are going through exactly what you're going through as an entrepreneur. It's a different language. I'm telling you totally, totally different than being a civilian. You have more commonality, obviously, with, with other entrepreneurs, people that can help you move from stage one, two, three, and so on and so forth.

[00:20:29] So number four, create an environment that supports self-validation. So when you see other people out there hustling and getting it and being successful, that's contagious, man. And you want that. That's why even though I have a home office, I have an also a WeWork or shared office space where I go to probably three times a week to have that energy so I can see other people winning, so I can see other people in action.

[00:20:59] And so you need that. So you want to create an environment that supports self-validation. All right. That's number four. And number five, you want to create vehicles you need to accomplish what you want. And let me give you a real life example with me.

[00:21:24] So back in the mid to late 1990s, I wanted to publish a magazine. So I was in the media business. I at the time, I had been in and out of corporate trying things, not working, going back into corporate, coming back out. So I was working for Gannett, which produces the USA Today, their major media publisher.

[00:21:50] And so I was an account executive and I used to work with a lot of businesses and I used to work with a couple of magazines or media companies. And I was like, damn, I would love to create or be a publisher of a magazine. And I said, I enjoy, you know, writing. I enjoy the actual delivery of information and it can be very profitable. So I said, you know what?

[00:22:16] Let me put out some, some resumes just to see if I can get some experience to be a publisher of a magazine. Now, you know what happened, right? I had absolutely no experience publishing a magazine. So guess what? Who's going to hire me as a publisher? So what I did was, you know what? I said, let me create the vehicle I need to accomplish me being a publisher. And what I did is I created my own magazine, you know, and it was called the Home Improvement

[00:22:45] Mag, right? Home Improvement Magazine, something like that. And what I did was I became the publisher. I found a graphic artist and designer that would design my ads. I had content. I had writers in addition to myself. And I started going around and I hired some sales reps commission only to sell. And so I created my own magazine. I became a publisher, right?

[00:23:14] Nobody was going to give me that opportunity. So I took it upon myself to create that vehicle, right? Now, let me give you another example. So subsequent to that, I wanted to have my own entrepreneur radio show. So I'm reaching out to a lot of the radio stations. Hey, you know, I'm a serial entrepreneur. I'd like to do a show or an hour a week about entrepreneurship.

[00:23:42] I wanted to find out if you had any spots available or would you be interested in, you know, me coming on and hosting a show. Now, I must have reached out to probably 20 radio stations in the Philly area. Everybody else said no, right? And which again, why would they say yes? Right. I don't have the experience of it. It's something that I wanted to do, but never had the experience.

[00:24:07] So what I did was I went and bought airtime on an AM station and I created the podcast, which was the, uh, well, the radio show, which is a precursor to black entrepreneur blueprint podcast. And it was called the entrepreneur advantage. It was on a, uh, predominantly white station. So I had to keep it generic. And so I actually went on and I did that for about a year and a half.

[00:24:32] And then I had people reaching out to me that wanted me to come on and actually be an air on air personality for entrepreneurship on different radio stations. Now, did I do that? No, because what I've learned was back in 20, what year was that? I think I started the podcast 2013, 2014. It was called internet radio.

[00:24:59] And I said, man, I can reach the multitudes worldwide with this quote unquote internet radio. So I turned it down and then I created black entrepreneur blueprint, the podcast. And then I was able to take what I wanted to do. I didn't have to validate and wait for somebody to validate me as a radio talk show host. I went and bought the airtime, created my own show. And once I built the table, other people started coming to the table.

[00:25:29] They wanted me to host or they wanted to pay me, but I didn't want to do that because I wanted a broader and larger reach. So I said, you know what? Thank you. But no, thank you. I'm going to start this quote unquote internet radio program, which we now call podcast. And that's how black entrepreneur blueprint came into effect. But one of the things in terms of self validation, number five is you create your own vehicles. You need to accomplish what you want.

[00:25:59] I didn't wait for somebody to hire me as a publisher of a magazine because guess what? They weren't going to do it. And I tried, but I kept getting no. And I understand why, because I didn't have the experience. I didn't wait for a big radio station to hire me as on air talent for my entrepreneur show. I went and I created that vehicle itself. And so these are the things guys in terms of how to create self validation that are super important.

[00:26:27] Before we get to the last segment of the show, where I'm going to talk about creating your own table, as opposed to asking for a seat at the table. I just want to share my social media contact information and resource links real quick. Everything I'm about to tell you guys is on the website black entrepreneur blueprint dot com. So I mentioned at the top of the show, guys, utilize the website. There's free resources for everything you need to grow and scale your business.

[00:26:56] Go to black entrepreneur blueprint dot com. Click the learn tab. Click the learn tab. There'll be a dropdown and they have all types of topics on there that you can get free content from. Be it podcast episodes, articles, PDFs, downloads, workshops, the whole shebang. Black entrepreneur blueprint dot com. Now, if you want to get in contact with me, guys, anything long. Hit me on my email. Jay Jones at black entrepreneur blueprint dot com.

[00:27:23] J A Y J O N E S at black entrepreneur blueprint dot com. Facebook black entrepreneur blueprint. LinkedIn. Just go LinkedIn. Jay Jones black entrepreneur blueprint. Instagram. I have two I G accounts. The first one is Jay Jones for real. J A Y J O N E S the number four. R E A L. Second one is black entrepreneur blueprint. YouTube guys. Make sure you connect with me on YouTube.

[00:27:49] I have additional content on YouTube that is not on the podcast. Yes, the show does come out on YouTube, but we have additional content on YouTube. So go to YouTube type in black entrepreneur blueprint. Also Twitter or X. I'm Jay Jones zero zero one. J A Y J O N E S zero zero one. Now let's get back to the last segment of the show.

[00:28:14] I wanted to close out the show with this segment and I want to talk about creating your own table as opposed to getting a seat at somebody else's table. So we're talking about self validation and many times the reason we don't have that confidence is because nobody is coming to us and asking us to partner or join, you know, with, with whatever they're doing.

[00:28:40] So if a lot of people are coming to you and saying, Hey, you know, you know, Jay, you know, I want to partner with you with this, that, and the other thing. That's validation. That's external value validation, right? But when you create your own table, you're building a platform that basically validates yourself. Right. And so when you put in the work, the others are going to want to work with you. So when it comes to partnerships and here's another example.

[00:29:09] So when I started the podcast, I was begging people to come on the show. Right. Because the platform wasn't established, not begging, but you know, yeah, yeah. Okay. You know, yeah, we'll come on. But like to now every day in my inbox, and this is no exaggeration, I have anywhere from seven to 10 requests to be interviewed on black entrepreneur blueprint, seven to 10 every day, all day. Right.

[00:29:39] So now I've built the platform and I've created my own table. There are businesses that want to partner with me. They're brands that want to partner with me. So I'm validated, but nobody validated me at first. I had to build and create the platform for people to external people to validate me. I knew I was bonafide, certified, functified, whatever you want to call it.

[00:30:07] I knew I knew what I was talking about because my experience as an entrepreneur, you know, the highs, the lows, I've seen it all from, you know, building millions of dollars. I've seen a million businesses to almost losing it all twice. So I know exactly what my value is. Nobody has to give me external validation because I self validated myself a long time ago. And the way to do that, guys, is creating your own table, whatever that may be.

[00:30:35] So when people see that you have value, that's when partnerships come. You know, I was when I did BEB live in L.A. a couple of years ago, I had somebody that was in the film industry and they were talking about, you know, how can I get my, you know, my film on Netflix and such and such. And I said, the first thing is, number one, you want to have Netflix come to you.

[00:31:02] So in order to do that, you're going to have to release your film. You're going to have to get X amount of downloads. And I said, the way you find out how to partner with Netflix is what are the parameters that they look for when they bring a show on the platform? And so I said, you build yours first and then others will come because you have value.

[00:31:24] So many times when we're entrepreneurs, we haven't really created the value that allows or entices other individuals or partners to want to work with you. So you can't put the cart before the horse. The beauty is you don't have to wait for somebody to self. I mean, for somebody to validate you, you can do it yourself. So if I was waiting to become a on-air radio host, I may never be there. Okay.

[00:31:52] But I've created my own platform. Now I have radio stations. I had a couple of stations in DC wanting me to do a live show every Saturday, but I'm not driving down to DC every Saturday to sit in the studio to do, you know, a one or two hour show. I don't care how much you pay me. It's not worth it right now. I have an international ability to connect internationally with people that listen to the podcast.

[00:32:22] Now I can't even count how many countries that actually download the podcast. It actually amazes me. We got podcasts coming from Korea. We got downloads from Russia. I mean, all kind of Belarus. I mean, places I would have never imagined. You know, but that didn't happen overnight. I built the table. I built the vehicle or vehicles that are going to want people, make people partner or want to partner with me.

[00:32:51] So I get brand deals. You know, I've done an audio course, call in radio. They, they can't, that's a platform for audio. They wanted me to create something for them. They paid me a lot of money to create an online audio course for them. A lot of different companies now come and they want to partner with me.

[00:33:15] So the beauty of it is guys, when you self validate, that puts you on a different track. You're not waiting for somebody else to validate you, to give you that stamp of approval on your forehead. You're taking it and empowering yourself. You got to know what you're doing and you have to have self-confidence. So many times we don't have that confidence that, you know, yeah, I know what I'm doing.

[00:33:41] So right now, if you drop me in any auditorium and you put me on the stage and people would ask me questions about being an entrepreneur, that's my sweet spot. I don't care. I don't need to know nothing. Give me a microphone and start hitting me with the questions. I know I'm validated. I'm bona fide. I'm certified with this because this is what I do and I've been doing it for years.

[00:34:08] So anywhere I go, if you did that to me, you don't have to validate me externally because I know I'm validated. And that's something that it's funny. I tell people when I do my online, not online, but when I do my live sessions and stuff like that, people bring me out to speak. I said the best part of me speaking is actually the Q&A because you can see my superpowers.

[00:34:33] And my superpowers are, it's basically my experience being an entrepreneur, people asking me questions, giving people some insight that they may not have based on my 30 plus years of being a serial entrepreneur, a successful serial entrepreneur. Now, I've had over 17 businesses, four or five of them were abject failures, but that's part of the process. So knowing what your superpowers are, validating yourself.

[00:35:03] I don't care who you put me in the room or up against. When you start talking about entrepreneurship, I'm going to be up there at the top when people start asking me questions. And people will know that I know what I'm talking about because I've been already self-validated in addition to having the experiences to be able to talk to people and convey my masterclass or convey my knowledge of what I'm talking about.

[00:35:31] My know-how rather, not knowledge, know-how. Know-how is when you do something. Knowledge can be acquired anyway. Y'all can watch a documentary, I'll have knowledge. I can listen to some people talk, I'll have knowledge. But I don't know-how until I do something. So people will know right away that, yo, this dude has know-how. He knows what he's talking about from experience. Don't wait for anybody else to validate you. If you got the goods, you got the goods. You know it.

[00:35:59] When I was growing up in Philly, you know, this is before AAU really took off. You made your bones on a basketball court at your neighborhood rec center, right? So I lived in Germantown, right? So my rec center was right up the street, Johnson Street Playground or Mallory, whatever you want to call it. I think they renamed it now. But yo, yo, that's that dude from Mallory. I was bona fide, certified. I knew it. I knew this, that I was good.

[00:36:28] I knew I could play. Nobody had to validate me externally because I just knew, because I had the goods. Just like with entrepreneurship, I know because I've done the work. I've taken the bruises, the punches, the beatings. I know what it is and I know what I'm talking about. So nobody has to validate me. I know exactly what I'm talking about. And I just want to give you guys a little tip too.

[00:36:54] You don't have to be the best of the best of the best to self-validate. As long as you're one, two, three, four steps ahead of somebody else, you're a master. Okay. To that person. Okay. So you don't have to be at this crazy level to self-validate. If you know three, you know, three steps ahead of me when whatever I'm trying to do, then guess what?

[00:37:21] Look, you're a master at this compared to where I am. So that's what you have to understand. Do not waste your time waiting for people to validate you because it may never happen. Self-validation. Today we're talking about don't wait, create the power of self-validation for entrepreneurs. Before we close it on out, guys, I say this each and every week. We get more and more downloads because of you, the BEB family.

[00:37:50] I appreciate you guys so much. Please continue to spread the word about the podcast, the website, the ecosystem, the online courses, the books, everything designed to help you elevate your entrepreneur IQ. Remember, 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.