Blueprint for Success
Black Men Building Wealth Forever
What every man on this planet wants most is to be able to provide for his family comfortably with a few luxuries thrown in for good measure, no matter his race, creed, or religion.
Hello sir, welcome to the Blueprint for Success for African American males. The determination of success is measured by the freedom of living well with all of your expenses paid and disposable income fully invested. If we as group of people were playing in a sports tournament, we would be losing by double digits. The game is not over yet, it’s only halftime and we have plenty of time to correct our strategy to win the game. What game is it? The game of life.
First, I want you to look at the top statement of being able to provide for your family. Would you say it is true? Before you answer the question, I want you to think about other races of males and consider if they think this statement is true. Of course, we cannot pretend to know what they are thinking, but we can look at their actions to see if their pursuits are aimed at providing for their families in the best light possible. Look at the White, Asian, and Hispanic men in your city and if you use a little microscopic vision, you will see this statement is just as true for them as it is for us. Each group uses different tactics but the aim of providing is in their hearts like ours.
The question is, if this is the most important factor in our mind, heart, and soul, then why come our every waking action doesn’t address what’s utmost in importance to us? In other words, why are we not earning in abundance to take care of our families?
There could be millions of reasons why this might be, but the Blueprint is about focusing on how to be the best producer you can be. We are not here to make excuses, justifications, or start arguments. We are here to put in the necessary efforts to make you the best provider and protector of your home. If we get enough men to produce, then our communities will be flourishing places to be proud of and great places to visit.
Can I call you friend? Well friend, there are many options available to you to spend your time, the majority of which will never get you to what’s most important. There is only one that will. Develop your talent and skills to produce. This Blueprint will be your guide to be successful in your pursuit of bringing wealth to your family, neighborhood, and community.
Coach T
Capitalize!
What’s your number?
Simple enough question, can you tell me your number? What number? Your net worth number. How much are you worth? Why? Because this is the most important determinant on how you will live in this country. Not where you were born, not what color is your skin, and not even how much education you have. Can you hear me? It’s not about material possessions or taking things from others like a tyrant, it’s all about how your money flip those dollars. Your money in your wallet earning more money just like bankers do is called Capitalizing. This simply my friend is what net worth is all about. Good news, anyone of you can learn how to build net worth by Capitalizing. This is what this cooperative is all about.
Back to my original question. What’s your number? Is it 0 (Zero), meaning you are worth nothing. “Oh, I made $35,000 last week slanging.” Buzzer please! That’s a big fat zero!!! You can’t count this money. Why? It is like going to a court of law in any county across this country. It’s not about what you heard or saw, it’s all about what you can prove! If you cannot prove you made this money, then you might as well go out and toss it up in a club because money under the table will not propel you forward in life. Money is about having freedom to have options and maneuver around without the worries of not being able to afford the good things in life, to be able to provide for your loved ones in comfort, and to be able to have the time to create foundations from which to build wealth upon. Is this what you really want? If so, let’s continue.
Most of you don’t even have a Zero number, if I had to guess, it’s a negative number. Why? Because most of you are in debt or have poor credit. Am I right? SIDE NOTE: Credit is not that doggone important in your development. Don’t believe me? Okay, I will prove it. If I came to you and said I wanted to buy your car but I was going to put it on three different credit cards plus a couple of IOU’s. What would you say? How about, if I came to you and pulled out two stacks of $10,000 in newly minted bills of fresh cash, then what would you say? Now which looks more important to you? Capital or credit? Now we are getting to the matter of net worth.
Welcome to First State Development, we are here to guide you in your journey of becoming a man of worth. You live in the United States of America and you are worthy of living like a man with means and options while living in comfort and not under pressure and strain. You are a man and you deserve the best, but only if you are willing to put forth the effort and produce a good work. As the director and GM of this cooperative I want to tell you we care for you. Here we will give you the information, support, and the guidance it takes for you to complete your journey. But we are going to need something in return. That you have the same loving attitude of assistance towards 3 young men or boys with the same potential and hunger to seek the light that you are now coming into on your own. That you teach them freely and openly, the same that we will do for you. Can you do this? Then by all means join us in this adventure to build your net worth into the stratosphere. The sky is really the limit for everyone of you by one simple method, CAPITALIZE.
I will answer the question for your number: $1,000,000+
Capitalize
Capitalizing is a remarkably simple concept on how to operate strategically in life. It goes as follows: You go out and earn an income from your own efforts and with the money you make, you save a portion of it to stack up. Then every day for the rest of your life, you guide all of your activities to adding more and more capital (money) to your stack. Once your stack is large enough, it takes the lead of earning profits, then you can direct your capital to earn you as much wealth that you can manage. In other words, your money can and will start doing all the work for you and it can lead your life going forward into the future.
This is how each and every one of you can live your life. The further you move forward, the larger your capital grows and the more your opportunities blossom in front of you. Every living being and organism operates this way. If you are not growing, then you are dying. If you are not producing every single day and earning a profit through your efforts, then you are declining. Keep on declining and it will lead to an early death. Which way do you operate? Do you grow every day or do you decline every day?
Imagine a whole neighborhood full of men not working with no visible means of earning a living. You see all the storefronts boarded up and most of the houses burnt out or badly damaged. Then you venture further into the neighborhood to see drugged people wandering around doing stupid things on every corner all day long wasting time. This is the scorecard we have in many of our communities in modern day 2024. What’s wrong with this picture? Easy Answer: Most of our Black men are not producing a good work through their efforts. Too many of them are producing negative works perpetrating harm on their neighbors, further decreasing the value of our communities. The answer is Capitalizing.
Most of the leaders and politicians think the answer is to “Give back”. Think about the meaning of this word. Giving back is like looking back. Giving backwards, looking backwards, and running backwards will never move you forward. Think about it, someone who has their bills paid and live in fine houses wants to give money back to people that will stay in a vicious cycle of poverty. Sounds awfully backwards to me. You cannot drive forward while looking in your rear view mirror. It doesn’t work. A non-profit cannot grow because is doesn’t make profits to re-invest in the community. In fact, they spend most of their time asking others for money to help you. About time the money trickles down to you, once they take their cut, you would be lucky if you could buy cold cuts for a sandwich. Chinese proverb: Feed a man a fish, he eats for one day. Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime. This is Investing Forward or Capitalizing neatly summed up into a nice bow.
Let’s look forward into the future for a minute. Envision a community full of energized young men all producing and building their own stacks of capital pushing forward into the future charging full speed ahead, growing from one level to the next. Each man building his own million dollar estate and investing in his own community, leading his children, and building fine luxurious homes living his best life. This is what Capitalizing is capable of achieving. If you want to stop living a closed end life walking backwards, then make the decision to turn around, start moving forward to produce a great work. Come join us, we will succeed together! CHARGE FORWARD!
Postscript: Be the change that you want the world to be. My friend, we all want this to be a better life and a better world. If you do not know this by now, your life is only going to get better by changing who you are on the inside of yourself. Most of us as people have a habit of looking at others and blaming them for our life not being so good. Okay, there may be some truth in what others have done to cause you to be in poverty. Guess what? Whoever’s fault it may be, the only person that can solve your problem is you. That’s right, you, and only you, can make your life better. By joining this Master Builder’s Cooperative, the officials here want you to go all the way and make yourself a Man to be reckoned with. We want you to be devastatingly wealthy, handsome, and healthy. This is the way we see you. Reach deep down inside yourself; We can see you and the man you want to be. We give you the permission to be a Black Man of Steel. Start thinking BIG!
Live the Process
Building Wealth is a Process
If you come to this cooperative thinking I have some easy formula or magic bullet that will get you rich quick, then you come to the wrong site. I’m sorry to tell you, building and development does not work this way. There is a great misunderstanding in our community about how money is made. Let’s delve deeper into the subject.
Many people feel that a prosperous person did something evil to get their money. The thinking is they took advantage of some poor helpless people and now they need to be brought down to their knees begging for mercy because they are a mean immoral person. I have heard some cruel horrible stories of Black men and women going into business to serve their neighborhoods only to be robbed, maimed, treated worse than a dog, and some killed. Do you remember Nipsey Hussle? Rest in peace my friend.
This only shows the majority of people in our community do not understand becoming wealthy is a process. Building wealth is a seed time and harvest process. It takes a whole heaping magnitude of work to build just a small measure of wealth. All the while, people standing on the sidelines are throwing rocks, glass bottles, and rotten eggs at you. When a person bust their behind working 80 hours a week, then makes it through all of the hurtful insults, and runs the gauntlet of the tiring tax code from the government every year and finally makes a little money, people wonder why they never come around.
The conversation goes like this, “Now that Jerome has bought that big house in the Hamptons, he never comes around here anymore. He thinks he is better than us.” Sounds familiar? None of this nonsense is true. Jerome is tired! He doesn’t think he is better than anyone. He just worked harder than everyone else. He deserves his rewards! I will tell you this, Jerome definitely does not trust you. He remembers all of the times you told him he would never make it, his work is total Black man bull crap, or that he was trying to get rich on the backs of poor Black people. Do you know the sad joke in all of this? People will fondly remember Black Wall Street with tears in their eyes, but in the same breath go down the street and terrorize Sheila at her bakery. Enough of this.
What I hope to accomplish in this cooperative is to awaken the giant inside of you men out there and show you that the true wealth comes from inside your spirit and soul. In order for wealth to reach out to the world into your households and communities, it takes investment, production, and good will. Each and every young man in our community has been given the ability to produce, provide, and protect from his creator. I should not have to tell you this because you already know it. Learn the process, trust the process, and live the process, then we individually as a cooperative of men can turn our communities around to be a pleasant place we call home. Go Quickly!
Read the "Larry" section of the blogsite to get an example of how a business process works from start to finish. Start at #1 and proceed numerically to the finish. Larry Phillips can symbolize any African American male in America.
Click on links below to move to new section
A Simple Plan
If you Fail to Plan, then you are Planning to Fail.
When you wake up in the morning and start your day, do you have a goal in mind? If you do have a goal, do you have a strategy on how to reach it or do you kind of wander through the day hoping things come up? If you wander around too long, days turn into weeks, weeks can turn into years. Before you know it, 10 years have gone by and you are right back in the same place or worse. As a builder, it is much easier to live each day with a plan in place. We will write a simple plan right now for your use.
- Earn an Income
- Build a Bank
- Start a Business
This is your simple plan. Any man can use this plan and succeed. This Blueprint has devoted a section for each of these three steps to simplify reaching your goals. Let’s set a standard goal for every man that wants to produce in his community.
$1 Million is the goal.
This is a goal large enough to build a nice estate for your family. It is not so large that it’s out of reach for most men in our community. With this Blueprint each man can reach it with the right efforts. Let’s continue on to the next steps.
Ownership Mandate
Making an Economy
Capital
Land & Assets
Management
Labor
This is the simple format of an economy. Yes, just four units make up the parts. Which of the four do you participate in? Most likely the last one, labor. If you do have a job, do you like your job? Think about this for a moment. If you participate in only one section of the economy and you dislike the section, this can be a huge problem moving forward. The purpose of this Blueprint is to get you to your goal of $1 Million. Would it be easier going to your job every day if you knew it would lead you to your million dollar goal. If so, then you are on the right track.
Let’s get back to the economy format. What is the most important part of your participation in the format? It is the first one, capital. No wealthy estate has ever been built without invested capital. The greatest source of confusion is thinking if you are just a laborer working for others, you have no power to build wealth. Any person beginning as a laborer has the power to go straight to building capital by saving a portion of their income. If you save $200 a week, at the end of the year you will have $10,000 in capital. Do you still think being a laborer is shabby?
The second in importance of the four parts is management. Yes, that’s right management. Why? Because what you do with the money you earn has a greater significance than how much you make. Many entertainers have made great sums of money only to go broke in the end. They lost all of their money due to mismanagement. Knowing what to do with your capital is what this Blueprint is all about.
Ownership is what you do with your capital. The “start a business” statement in your simple plan is purchasing land and assets with your capital. Gold is the oldest asset of wealth in history. A one gram gold bar cost less than $100. Can you afford this? This real opportunity shows just how accessible building wealth can be to get started right now today if you are ready. See how this is all working together. The next time you get upset about your job or you feel powerless about being at the beginning, just remember this is a great place to start and you have many options to advance in the position of laborer. Keep going quickly!
Work Ethic
Do you know you have a Superpower? That’s right, you can be a Superhero. The power you have is working. It is an amazing thing to watch men throw away their superpower. Your ability to work in a position can propel you to great heights. If this isn’t a great power to have, then you are missing the boat. Every single night hundreds of people cross the southern border to gain this superpower to propel themselves into better living conditions. Could it be these new immigrants can see we have opportunities placed right at our feet by living in America?
By living cheaply as possible and working full-time, you can have $10,000 in one year with $200 in savings per week. Do it for ten years, you can have $100,000. Looks like a superhero to me. How does it look to you?
You have one of three choices. You can sit down and wait for someone to give you money to eat and live. Not really appealing and you are at the mercy of everybody. You can go out and jack somebody to get money. This is completely hazardous to your health and freedom. These two choices are full of pain, suffering, and tragic endings. Definitely not superhero material.
A builder of homes and communities can only choose the one true option of working. This option is full of creation, miracles, happiness, gifts, and power. This is the stuff superheroes are made of. Develop a work ethic so your life can be full of hope and promise leading to a better future for your kids and the community as a whole. Work to be Black, bold, and beautiful. Develop quickly!
Let it be...
And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. Matt 10:36
Building is not all peaches and cream. It is full of roadblocks, hazards, attacks, and downright hatred. As soon as you make up your mind to better your life and build wealth, the critics of what you are doing will unleash a nastiness you didn’t think was possible. What do you do when this happens? I will tell you what not to do is retaliate or take revenge. First it is unproductive. Second, it could easily end you in jail or worse. Since we have been brought to these shores, we have experienced the worst type of hatred. We know how our OGOG Master builder OW Gurley on the home page ended. His life’s work ended in flames along with his community.
What’s most painful and insidious is the hate coming from within. What do you do? You must try to avoid conflict at all costs to maintain your composure, positivity, and confidence. The avoidance tactic can leave lasting scars too, but it is much better to let things be than try to fix them if someone is dead set on trying to stop you. Sometimes you are caught in a situation where you are damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. This means, you can be doing everything right and still be labeled a bad guy. That’s the label people love placing on Black men throwing you under trains, buses, and tractors. Do not let this happen, walk away fast, run if you have to. It is always better to leave a situation that don’t want you. This means this wasn’t a good place for you to build in the first place.
Do you know how to destroy a constant hate coming your way? You place all of that ill will back on their heads by succeeding in a massive way. Fire is probably the most destructive force on this earth. But with all of fire’s ferocity and violence it can easily be conquered by water. Do not throw gasoline on fire. Leave the envy, jealousy, and hate surrounding you by finding fertile soil to place your capital seeds in to invest. Then water your investment seeds and watch them grow and prosper. Do not invest in people, neighborhoods, or cities that hate you. Let it be…