How to Get Your Man Off the (Wage Slave) Plantation!

 

To the women:

I was sitting in BARNES & NOBLE one day. As I was making notes on an index card, a thought came to me, and I immediately wrote it down. The thought became this quote:

“If another man controls the earning capacity of your man, then he’s NOT your man!”

Sisters have to ask themselves how free they really are when their men receive a paycheck from other men to feed, clothe and shelter their families. In my conversations with young brothers, they want to start their own businesses to gain economic freedom to meet their parental duties, child support payments, or just provide a better way of life for their families without having to answer to someone else’s time clock. Yet, they feel the weight of providing “security” through a “job” is preventing them from launching.

My message to the sisters is this:

If your man wants to create financial independence through enterprise, hear him out. Then, I would ask him what his motive is. What you should hear from him is that he wants to create financial independence for his family and make a contribution to his community and people. That should be the measuring stick for why your man wants to seek financial independence through entrepreneurship. There is NO such thing as a “selfish entrepreneur“.

Also, sisters must ask themselves if they’re prepared for the mental shift from “security” to “freedom”. Thomas Jefferson states that a person who chooses security over freedom deserves neither. Sure, one may be receiving “benefits” like health/dental care and bonuses. However, these “benefits” are being minimized by companies in order to reduce expenses and be competitive. Therefore, “security” is an illusion.

What I recommend for brothers (and sisters) is to be a “straddler”. If you are working a job, launch your “side hustle” and develop it until its revenue can replace your paycheck. The straddling time frame can be anywhere from 3-5 years. This will allow time to choose an industry, conduct research, develop a product or deliver a service and develop a marketing and distribution method of getting that product/service to market.

Hopefully, this blog will encourage sisters to support and encourage the men in their lives to “RUN!”, as Harriet Tubman instructed. In the movie SANKOFA, the character Nunu made it clear to Noble Ali that she would not marry nor mate with a brother who continued to “be a head man for the white man”. Her real message to Noble was, “I want us to be together, but you have to get up and get free!“

Maybe more sisters should take Nunu’s position so that we can ALL get free!

 

 

NO Friends in Business?

I was recently talking with a friend about negotiations in business. There’s a cat in NYC that stated one of his primary business rules:

“In business, there are NO friends.”

On one level, it may sound harsh, cold and cutthroat. However, it ultimately makes sense because in business, everyone is ultimately responsible for his or her own welfare and the welfare of the team s/he represents.

If I’m the CEO or owner of a sports team in a negotiating deal with a player or executive I want to hire, I have to keep the interests of my team first. Everyone wants to have a win-win situation, but not at the expense of neglecting the fiduciary responsibility to my team.

The one thing that helps is to be emotionally detached from the outcome. By doing that, you won’t get too high or too low. Emotions have a tendency to cloud your judgement if you lack emotional intelligence.

Friendship in business is like the first rule in foreign policy:

“There are NO permanent allies; only permanent interests.”

Entrepreneur vs. Businessperson: What’s the Difference?

In business, people assume that entrepreneurs and businesspeople are the same. Well, there are those that argue differently. One happens to be an entrepreneur, professor and the recipient of an MBA from the University of Michigan. Fernando Trias de Bes, author of THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP, states that the difference between entrepreneurs and businesspeople is an issue of creating vs. managing. Entrepreneurs are creators, while businesspeople manage and grow companies. Bill Gates is celebrated as an entrepreneur, but it was Steve Ballmer and Paul Allen that were the businessmen behind Microsoft’s growth.

Entrepreneurs usually have “creative control” over the product line and services of a company, while businesspeople are in charge of a company’s infrastructure and business model. Now, there are some that can do both, but usually most entrepreneurs either focus on being entrepreneurial or involve themselves in the daily operations of a company.

The one that starts a company may not be the best one that maintains it or even grows it. The great entrepreneurs know who they are and know if and/or when to “leave” and bring in a person or team to operate the business. Part of the decision depends on what your end game is. Do you want to create a business that serves your lifestyle? Or, do you want to create a business that can be ultimately sold to a larger conglomerate?

A perfect example is Col. Sanders. Sanders sold KFC to his first two franchisees for $2,000,000. The owners grew KFC into a publicly traded company and sold it to the Heublein Corporation for approximately $300 million. This is what we would call a high potential business, which requires businesspeople. A lifestyle-oriented business allows an entrepreneur to maintain control of his business without having to relinquish a significant amount of control.

When considering starting a business, know who you are and know what your endgame is. Answering those questions will give you an indicator as to who you are and what you will be in the business world.

Japan: An Industrial Economic Model for Black America?

I discussed the need for African people to engage more in the manufacturing and distribution areas of business. In order to become a major economic force on a global level, African people must begin to own, control and produce.

Both Dr. Claud Anderson and Dr. John Henrik Clarke stated that we should use Japan as a model of how industrialization and vertical integration can be used to become a major political and economic power.

For example, if African people chose to own and control the coffee and cocoa industries, they would control the farming, the processing of the coffee and cocoa nuts, the shipping, distribution and retail. They would have a single corporation (or cartel of corporations) controlling all aspects of those respective industries. What strengthens their grip on the industry is linking vertical integration with their cultural value systems as their competitive edge and creating a barrier of entry to prevent competitors from easy entry.

Now, what industries can we choose to dominate on a vertical integration level? Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu gives 5 areas to consider:

1. Food
2. Clothing
3. Music
4. Sports
5. Movies

Claud Anderson states that African people should dominate as producers where they are the primary consumers. Since these 5 industries find us as the primary consumers, then we should find a niche within those industries to control as our own. The American Sports Empire is a $262 billion industry, yet we’re satisfied with being the labor force and raw material.

In closing, I think we need to look towards what we can produce. Nations are not built on barber shops, hair salons and network marketing. Service and sales cannot generate the type of wealth needed to become self-sufficient on a collective level. With a purchasing power of $1.2 trillion, the time is now to shift our minds from being consumers to producers. We’ve never been a poor people; we just make poor decisions with our resources.

Nature rewards the producer and punishes the consumer. At some point, African people should grow tired of economic ass-whippings. Unless they’re into S & M…

Black Economic Globalism

Recently, I’ve been watching specials about the rise of China, India and Dubai as global economic players. The fact that these areas have become fertile ground for American businesses to get in on the ground floor of these booming economies should be a signal to us as a people about embarking on investing in Africa and its $12 trillion opportunity. Quiet as kept, Africa has served as the breadbasket to empires like Greece, Rome, Arabia, and modern nations such as Japan, China, UK and America. The common thread is that if these empires had NO access to Africa and her various forms of wealth, we would be looking at a radically different global economy.

Therefore, I wonder if we need to begin thinking, speaking and behaving more as “black globalists” as opposed to “black nationalists”, especially in economics. Geography is becoming history as American companies are operating across political borders and (to some extent) beyond government regulations.

In Maulana Karenga’s INTRODUCTION TO BLACK STUDIES, he spoke of two types of pan-Africanists. One is the continental pan-Africanist, where the focus is on Africa and repatriation is a significant part of continental pan-Africanism. The other is global pan-Africanism, where Africa is still the focal point. However, everywhere Africans go, they build enclaves or “quilombos” to represent their culture, politics, economics and history. They bring Africa with them where ever they go.

As this global economy takes on a new form, we need to re-valuate how we will define and position ourselves economically. Borders are no longer the obstacle they once were to conduct commerce. We must also begin to initiate and strengthen our connections with the African World Community if we are to be an economic global force in the 21st century.

We’ve been spectators at the feast, begging for crumbs from the table for far too long. Now is the time to grow our own food, bake our own bread, construct our own tables and cook our own meals.