Building an Income for life
Good to see you made it to the next section of the Blueprint. Now we get down to the heart of building wealth. The first statement of your business plan is “Build an Income.” Income is like oxygen, you cannot live without it. Income in a business is called revenue. The best way for most of you to start as an adult is to get a job to produce an income. In the introduction section of this Blueprint, we have established working is your superpower because it can propel you forward. Sadly, not many of you understand this because the unemployment rate for Black men is extremely high. The statistics do not even count the men not looking for work, meaning it is probably closer to double or triple the government statistics. Our goal is to start a new trend of men producing.
What does an income do for you? It pays for living expenses and responsibilities. This is only a portion of what it does. After all of your responsibilities are taken care of, what do you do with the rest? Do you have anything left after you pay your bills? If you do, this is called disposable income. In business, disposable income is called profit. This is where your secret source of power comes from. Do you use your disposable income to consume or do you use it to produce? Production is the focal point of the Blueprint.
A builder of wealth focuses his whole operation on disposable income and profits from working and business operations. You can spend your money on clothes, entertainment, or just having a good time, but what it does is make you have to start all over at the beginning. It is okay to have some fun while you are young, so may I suggest you try some balance. A good balance would be to save your disposable income 3 weeks out of the month and have fun 1 week per month. Just a suggestion.
Let’s look at Larry Phillips, our resident wealth builder. He realized his income from his job as a janitor went to paying most of his bills in his one bedroom apartment. He decided to get a second job as a parking valet at an expensive hotel on the weekends. This income from his second job on Friday and Saturday nights and sometimes Sunday went right into a savings account to build capital.
If working is your superpower, then disposable income is the force behind that power. Earning an income opens the door to bringing you wealth. Let’s look at the different forms of earning an income to show you the entrance to another whole side of life most people will never see. Let’s move on.
Income vs Investment
You work to earn an Income. Your Investment works to earn you wealth.
These statements may be the greatest deception invented to keep people in a perpetual cycle of poverty. The majority of people cannot distinguish between the two. Let’s look at the differences between these two look alike items, but oh so different financial tools.
1 Income pays for living standards and expenses.
1A Investment builds wealth.
2 Income doesn’t make you rich.
2A Investment should not be used to pay bills.
3 Disposable income should be used to build capital not spent on consumables.
3A Some portion of profits from investment can be spent on luxury and consumables.
4 You can only work so long for an income.
4A Investments can continue to work for you and your family through successive generations.
This may even be harder to explain than most financial items. Let’s go to Larry, our resident wealth builder to help us understand. Larry knew his job could not afford him the seed money to invest. His job produced an income of $27,000 and it paid his living expenses, but he had to budget tightly to stay current on his bills. He got a second part-time job for investment only. He did not use any of this money to pay bills. This job was pure disposable income to build a capital base. He saved $7,800 a year doing this. He did not let this money just sit in a savings account. His capital went straight to work for him by purchasing stocks. How did it turn out for Larry?
While Larry was working his first job as a janitor to pay for his apartment, food, and clothing and an occasional basketball game. His second job was a pure capital play working for him immediately. His total investment was $7,800 x 10 years = $78,000. It doesn’t stop there, remember his money was working for him. He caught the tech boom of the early 2000’s and compounded it annually at 35%. At the end of ten years his money had grown from $78,000 total investment to $443,000. After ten years Larry did spend a little money. He gave his parents $10,000 and he purchased a truck for $10,000. The truck was a business expenditure. He spent $5,000 for fun. He also donated $2,000 to Jr Achievement.
What’s that you say? It took too long to make this money. Building wealth is not a 100 meter sprint. It is a marathon. You must pace yourself. Larry was just getting started. His next move was even more daring. He quit his part-time job. Then he took $200,000 of his capital for downpayment to purchase a 3 unit brownstone for $800,000 in bad need of repair. He took another $75,000 to fix the place up, doing most of the work himself because he was a janitor who knew how to fix things. At the end of one year Larry’s apartment building was worth $2.2 Million. Larry made $1.1 Million in 1 year on a $275,000 investment. Is it taking too long now? Oh, and Larry still has his job as a janitor to pay his bills. He now makes $36,000 a year. But, he moved into his new 3 bedroom apartment in his own building with tenants paying the mortgage in the other two apartments.
Why does Larry still have his job? Because income pays for living expenses and investment builds wealth. Larry’s next move happens because he is a wealth builder. He meets a nice lady who has a jewelry business. He partners with her in business and life. He feels they can make $200,000 a year selling jewelry. When this happens, he can quit his janitor’s job because profits from his jewelry business can pay living expenses. Now, he can go into real estate on a full-time basis. He still has a stock portfolio growing at 25%.
Larry has demonstrated very well the difference between income and investment. I hope you can clearly see the difference now. Anyone of you men out there can follow in Larry’s footsteps if you are willing to put in the work, make smart moves, and manage your money wisely. Larry has set his goal of making $50 Million over the next 20 years. This is the potential each one of you have right now today. Are you ready? Go Quickly!
The Bright Side
of life
Remain positive!
How do you remain positive and cheerful in doing something as extremely difficult as building wealth? I know, right? My friend, this is a question that has been asked across the ages. This question even stumps me on the regular. The closest answer I can give you is you have to turn it over to your creator. Even then, you are going to go through trials and tribulations. Your dignity is always going to be put to the test and I hate to tell you, somebody is always going to try to get you off your square. You are going to fail on several occasions. But there is good news for you. You can get back up and try it again tomorrow.
As a builder, you are going to make mistakes and these can cost you greatly. Then you will have the added distraction of not a single person will believe in what you are doing. To make matters worse, some people will deliberately try to sabotage what you are doing. In the past, I have had business partners run off with the seed money used for investment. Not once, but twice. Then there are the terrorist running around destroying the community. Then to put the final nail in the coffin, throw in racism just because. There you have it, a Molotov cocktail of hell and brimstone. This is enough to make most people quit and many will.
The solution. You have to be the agent of good cheer. The only way you are going to remain positive is turn over your burdens to God. This will not make you a perfect person, but it will give you the ability to endure all of the hard knocks and blows surely coming your way. It will also give you the drive and energy you will need to keep going when everything is falling apart around you. In the last chapter about Larry, I didn’t tell you the part when his family talked and joked about him behind his back. I didn’t tell you about the part when people in the school district he worked for as a janitor looked down on him. And I didn’t tell you about the part where his friends disowned him because he wanted to work for his future and they wanted him to rob and sell dope instead. Larry didn’t have a girlfriend, so they thought he was weird. It wasn’t until he gave his parents $10,000 one Christmas, when people start seeing Larry as a Real Man.
God will help soothe your soul when all of the negative forces come against you, but you are the person totally responsible to keep your cool and composure when you come under fire. I put this Bright Side in the income section because this is where you will start. If you never get off the ground at the start, there will be no wealth. Your attitude determines your altitude. Meaning it will be easier for you to advance if you have a good attitude about working your job. Most likely your employer will be of another race. Sometimes cultural differences can lead to conflict and get you fired. Your number one job is to be consistent and keep that cash flow coming. You must learn how to defer to and work with authority. This can be really hard to do, but getting fired will set you back months, if not years.
A good attitude will also help you find the right people to work with in your pursuit of wealth. There is nothing worse than telling parts of your business to a person that will use the information to do you harm. This includes a girlfriend or spouse. In other words, find people who share an interest in wealth building and are not lazy expecting you to do all the work. Remember in the last chapter, people remain poor because they cannot distinguish between income and investment. Do not let people talk you into giving them your hard earn capital. Be a loner, until the right positive people show up. Larry waited and was rewarded when he found the real jewel in the jewelry business, LaTasha. Remain positive friend!
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Employment
It has been established by this Blueprint that working is a man’s superpower and disposable income is the force behind that power. It is time to perform that power with the vehicle of employment. In some Black communities scattered across this country more men are not working than do work. This is a humbling statement. The aim of this co-operative is to build wealth with our talent and skills. What’s more important than skill in working a job is brute force strength used to bring in dollars to households. Do you have any strength within you?
How many of you are currently working? Good, then I do not have to explain how to get a job. Most of you know you must put your best foot forward when presenting yourself for a job interview. Employment is about your attitude in keeping a job to promote yourself for advancement. Employment is about persistence and endurance to keep going to the job day in and day out to build a cash flow. Employment is about holding a position to start a capital base from which to build wealth. In other words, keeping employment is more about the reasons why you have a job. Why do you go to work? If you have strong convincing reasons why you work a job, then you are more likely to keep it.
Presently, there are many businesses seeking applicants for employment. This seems like the perfect time to find a job to start your wealth building engine. Okay, then what’s the solution to keeping a job. The secret is to look for a job you like to do that’s similar to your interest. Once again let’s go to our resident builder Larry Phillips to shed some light on the subject.
Larry got his job as a janitor. There is a problem with this. People put on airs in America, almost everyone thinks being a janitor is the lowest possible position you can hold. Even his family used to tell him, “Larry, you ain’t nothing but a damn janitor.” Wow! Speaking of support from your loved ones! Larry started his employment by thinking of his current status and about his future. He really didn’t know which direction his life was going, but he knew he wanted something more than what his parents achieved. His thinking went, “If I take this position and I do a good job at least I can have an income until I retire or until something better comes along.” This is stability. “If I take this position, I can have two and a half months off in the summers while still being paid.” This is vacation and leisure time. “If I take this position, I will have medical insurance, a small life insurance policy, and a pension when I retire.” This is security. “If I take this position, I will learn how to fix things. Maybe I can become a contractor or go into real estate.” This is developing a professional skill. Larry is smarter than he looks.
It seems Larry found great reasons to work even though everyone around him looked at him with pity and disapproval. It wasn’t always a pleasure. How many of you think work is supposed to be fun? Maybe this is your difficulty. Work is a responsibility. Larry didn’t enjoy cleaning up vomit, blood, or poop, but that was his job and he took it seriously. He also had a sense of accomplishment. When the principal asked him to do a job, it was done better than expected. Many times, Larry did things without being told. He knew job security was about, ‘If you let me go, you will have a hell of a time trying to replace me.’
This is what you call a man with a future and a destiny. The key to employment is stability while building a solid foundation. Larry made sure his position of “Custodial Engineer” was solid with a strong foundation. You cannot build anything on a shaky foundation. How many of you work a week and get paid then quit? How many of you wait for something better to come along wasting time? How many of you make fun of young men going to work at McDonalds or the supermarket? Ha, Ha, the joke’s on you. When other employers find out you are a man that is dependable, comes to work on time, and you take the initiative doing tasks without being told, believe me they will try to recruit you to join their team. This promotion will probably include a sizable pay raise. A good work ethic will do this for you. As a future wealth builder and business owner, ask yourself this question. Would I hire an employee like me with the job performance I do for my employer? Be honest with yourself. If not then do a better job for them.
Paid in full $$$
How about pay? Are they paying me what I’m worth? The biggest confusion may be income vs investment, but the greatest detriment to your living standards and way of life is thinking you are more valuable than you are being paid. Let’s go back to the rule. Income pays for living expenses and investment builds wealth. If you think you are worth more than you are being paid, then prove it by building a capital base to start your money working to show what your worth. Hey Larry, we need you again.
Larry lived in the South Bronx, NYC. Although it was one of the lower rent boroughs, it was still expensive to live there. Larry didn’t cry, howl, and complain about how much he was being paid, he went out and did something about it. He first went to the library to get books on how to build wealth and make money. He looked at Suze Orman on TV to teach him wealth building skills. He spent his time teaching himself basic financial literacy. How many of you read? I know you are reading this and that is a great starting point, but I mean read an entire book on men building business and wealth. Do you know what reading does? It makes you look at your situation and environment in an entirely different light. It shows you the possibilities of what can be. It also sharpens your intelligence. Back to how much you are worth.
Larry, are you still there? After he studied, he decided to become an investor to start his business life. The third statement in your business plan is “Start a business”. He knew he could not build capital with his current position and he wasn’t about to quit or replace his job because it was on a firm foundation for all the right reasons. He had one resource in abundance more valuable than anything else, his time. If he needed more money to prove he was worth more than he was paid, then he would spend his time getting a second job. He set some parameters. He wanted a job that wasn’t too strenuous, he already had one of those, being a janitor. He wanted a job that didn’t conflict with his full-time position. He also wanted a job that paid him more than $100 a week. He found one parking cars in midtown Manhattan working weekend nights at an expensive hotel. His pay averaged $150-$200 a week. He also received tips from the hotel guest who liked his cheerful disposition. He received $100 tips at least 10 times while he worked there. He made almost $80,000 in this part-time position over a period of 10 years. I’m hoping you are starting to see you are in control of yourself, time, and money. No one can start you, no one can stop you but you. Looks like a superpower to me.
Did Larry feel like he was missing out on life by working two jobs for a decade during his 20’s and early 30’s? Of course, he did. He is a human being with feelings. But remember, wealth building is a process. Something happened to Larry during the process over time. Larry was so focused, his mind stopped looking at what he was missing and started zoning in on what he was gaining, making it easier to go to work every day. When his money started piling up and then started earning profits, he never looked back. He wasn’t just a lowly janitor or a car jockey anymore, he was Lawrence Phillips Master Wealth Builder.
He didn’t talk to anyone about what he was doing, he kept it to himself for privacy and his protection. He kept on letting people think of him as a man with nothing. You will find this is the best policy. Loose lips, sink ships. I can go on telling you the benefits of working and the power it brings, but you already know the truth. The first statement of this Blueprint is deep inside of you.
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.
I think I have presented my case for employment. The ball is in your court… Get busy!
Budget
Keeping Score
Let’s say you had the chance to go see the Lakers play the Knicks in Madison Sq Garden. You have great seats on level one and you are excited. The game starts, the action is terrific. After a few baskets, you notice something strange. You look up at the scoreboard and it’s dark, but the game is still going. You think it’s a technical glitch but the announcer is not saying anything. Then you say, maybe it’s a prank, but the game continues. Then the game is halted and its halftime. You look at other people, they seem confused also. The players come out of the locker room and play starts again in the 2nd half, still no scoreboard. The announcer gives a play by play with no mention of score or time. The game comes to an end, teams shake hands, lights are turned down, and people leave. Who won?
Would you enjoy this type of NBA game? No one would, but this is exactly how the majority of Black men in this country conduct their life. They do not keep score of their money and they lose track of time. If you don’t want to see a basketball game like this, do you think anybody has any interest in your life watching you fumble your money away and wasting time. Do you even want to live like this? My young wealth apprentices, this is what happens when you do not have a budget. If you do not keep a budget, then how will you know if you win? Let’s start with the basics.
Budget- an estimate of income and expenses for a set period of time.`
Let’s start with keeping track of your money. A budget is an estimate of how much you make and how much you spend. Sounds simple right? The question is do you write it down to really know where your money is going. You would be surprised how much of your money slips through the cracks. $5 spent here and $10 spent there could add up quickly and you don’t know if the spending was really necessary. Let’s say every day you let just $5 slip through the cracks. A small amount, right? $5 x 365 days/yr = $1,825 Would you throw away eighteen hundred dollars a year intentionally? It doesn’t look so small now, does it? Of course, we know much larger amounts fall on the floor every single day. It’s just $20, who cares? You should! If I had to guess, people easily toss $5,000 – $10,000 down rabbit holes every year without a second thought. Then they get mad at their boss because they cannot get a raise because they feel they do not make enough money. If you want a raise manage your spending with a budget.
I want you to do a little exercise on the next 1st of the month. This exercise will take 30 or 31 days. Go get a piece of paper draw a line down the center. Put a heading on top, Monthly Budget. Why monthly? Every financial matter occurs on a month to month basis. You pay your rent monthly (maybe weekly). You pay your bills monthly. You must keep track of your money monthly. On your piece of paper put “What I Earn” on the first line on the left hand side of the middle line. Put “What I Spend” on the first line of right hand side of the middle line. If you get paid weekly, add up every payday within a month, usually 4 and sometimes 5. When you get the total put it under “What I Earn”. Then go to the right side of the paper and write down every single item you spent money on along with the total every day. The list will include rent, phone bills, credit cards, food, clothing, entertainment, 7-11 stops, alcohol, Uber rides, gasoline, car notes, video games… write down everything. This side of the paper will be long and may continue to the backside of the paper. When you get to the 1st day of next month add this list of expenses up and then be prepared to be shocked.
Do you spend more money than you make? How is this possible? Because you are putting expenses on a credit card, going into debt. Surprise! Young wealth builder you are losing the basketball game because your scoreboard was turned off. Now that you have had time to recover, how can you fix this huge problem that you didn’t even know existed? First, let’s state the problem. If working is your superpower and disposable income is the force behind that power. Your problem is you don’t have a disposable income, meaning you don’t earn a profit. Second, I want you to look at that list on the right side of the paper and see what’s necessary and what’s just spending for no good reason. Third, draw a line through all items that’s spent for no good reason. Then add up the necessary spending items and look at the total. Do you earn more money than you spend now? If the answer is yes, this is great news, you can fix the problem. If the answer is you still spend more money than you make, then you have a huge problem. It can still be fixed, but you have to make major changes.
Let’s visit Larry to see how he fixed his problem of barely getting by. Larry worked a variety of jobs in fast food restaurants before he landed his janitor’s position. Once he got his job, he moved from his parent’s house and found the most decent apartment he could find at the lowest possible rent, a nice size one bedroom apartment. For food he joined the supermarket membership club and used his card to catch food on sale with discounts. For clothing, he went to discount outlets and bought things from the clearance rack. He didn’t own a car, so he used public transportation, purchasing a weekly card for unlimited rides. If he wanted to have a little fun, he used coupons and went to the matinee to watch movies. He went to Knicks games when they had special discount nights. He didn’t mind sitting in the nosebleed section. His family looked at him and called him cheap. He wasn’t a cheap person because his brothers and sisters were always asking him for favors and loans. They knew he always had money in his pocket. He kept money because he wasn’t spending his money to impress other people. If you want to impress people by spending frivolously thinking you are a VIP, then you are not cut out to be a wealth builder. You can stop here because what I’m demonstrating will make you upset.
Larry kept track of every penny he earned and spent. He was quite thrifty, but he realized if he wanted to become a man of means and wealth, he had to use much more force to bring in disposable income. He could save a few dollars here and there, but never enough to build a capital foundation. He knew what you and I already know. In order to earn more income, you must get a second job. Larry did get the second job and after 15 years of constant effort, he is a millionaire and owns 3 businesses along with his equally matched partner, LaTasha.
Budgeting is a process that fits right along with your system of building wealth. If you are not keeping score, how will you know you are winning the game? Do not spend your money on items that will bring you no wealth or value. Remember mismanagement has caused many Black entertainers and ball players millions of dollars. The money you earn is just as important to you as if you are making millions too. Let’s look at the other factor of not knowing what’s going on in the game because the scoreboard is dark, keeping track of time.
Time keeps running
You will run out of time, before you run out of money.
What did you do two weeks ago on Wednesday? Can’t remember? Neither can I. Most of us can’t remember what we had for lunch yesterday. Remembering what we did is less important than what we achieved on those days. Each person is given a specific number of days to live. Our expiration date is not known which makes us mortal beings. This is tragic, yet beautiful at the same time. On one hand, some of us live with extreme fear of the unknown date of our demise. On the other hand, it gives us the courage to take advantage of our days, living our lives to the fullest. By knowing this condition of human mortality, shouldn’t we spend every waking hour doing what’s important. The first statement of the Blueprint is “What every man on this planet wants most is to be able to provide for his family comfortably with a few luxuries thrown in with good measure, no matter his race, religion, or creed.”
Time is one resource we cannot get back. Yesterday is gone never to return. If you didn’t take advantage of time doing what’s most important to you, would you consider this a waste? If we lose money, you can regain your composure and earn all of it back. Lost time just disappears into the void never to return. This makes time more important than money. A wealth builder may not remember what he did last year on March 18th, but he does know whatever day it was, he spent his day pursuing wealth. You take full advantage of time when you produce income. Producing is so much more fulfilling when you are working on your plan and it is producing results for what’s most important to you.
In the dark scoreboard example, we didn’t know when the game would end, it just stopped at some point. This is exactly how your life will end. It will just stop and you will not know it has ended. The unknown of life ending suddenly must propel you to produce your best work every single day. This my young apprentice is true wealth. As a wealth builder your business is about the wise use of capital. Some people will see your pursuits and think you are somehow evil or immoral. They think money is the root of all evil. The correct expression is “For the love of money is the root of all evil. 1 Timothy 6:10.” They cannot even get the reference right. Evil spelled backwards is Live. People that think your wealth building career is evil is backwards themselves. Live your life like it’s your last day on earth. Produce results to squash this nonsense. Money is just a tool, do not fall in love with it. If you fall in love with something, fall in love with the freedom you have to produce for your family and community. Fall in love with the time you have on this earth to take care of your responsibilities. Fall in love with community prosperity. Fall in love with a high OGOG score. Do not fall in love with money. Time is more important than money. Now, let’s have some fun.
Passive Income
Interest
Dividends
Rents
Royalties
You work to earn an Income. Your Investments build wealth.
We have expressed these two rules throughout the “Earn an Income” section of your business plan. I would like to add a third rule to your business plan statement about income.
Your Wealth returns Passive Income and Capital Gains.
This is magnificent news for the wealth builder. This is the reason why you pursue wealth in the first place. Once you achieve a certain level of wealth, your business plan travels full circle returning to Earn an Income and Build a Bank on its own volition. Meaning instead of you working for money, income, and wealth, it does the work for you. That’s right, your wealth can bring in income without you lifting a finger of effort except making wise decisions on your part. How about them apples? I’m sure you are a bit confused about this turn of events. Let’s proceed further.
When you first begin your quest to build wealth, you will have to work a tremendous amount of time to gain a foothold. Two and three jobs is the norm to build a capital base. Some of you will go slower than Larry Phillips, our resident wealth builder, taking 10+ years. Others will be more aggressive, taking less than 10 years. Either way you will be rewarded by your wealth returning passive income and capital gains. We will focus on passive income in this chapter.
Passive Income– Income that requires little to no effort to earn and maintain.
Active Income- Income that requires working and effort from an individual with a considerable time commitment.
Passive Income has 4 different variations.
Interest– Returns paid to holders of savings accounts by a bank or to bondholders of a business.
Dividends– Returns paid to stockholders from profits of businesses.
Rent– Returns paid to landlords by renters.
Royalties– Returns paid to artist, inventors, and skilled tradesmen from their works of art such as music, movies, video games, inventions, and licensing deals. Another name for royalty is residual. Many businesspeople use the term residual income.
How long can you receive earnings from passive income? The answer depends, but you could conceivably receive passive income for life passing it on to your kids for their lifetime too. Does this sound like a great benefit from working your tail off to build wealth? Let’s look at Larry to see how far he has progressed towards building passive income.
Larry has just begun to receive passive income. He has 2 real estate properties returning profitable cash flows. His 3 apartment Brownstone affords him a 3 bedroom apartment with him paying no rent worth $2,500 a month. He does pay out of pocket for insurance, taxes, and repairs on the building. His single family house pays him close to $1,000 a month gross profit before expenses. Once his tenant’s rent pays off the mortgages on these buildings, he will receive close to $12,500 gross profit every month on these two properties alone. He plans on purchasing more buildings. He receives about $400 every 3 months from dividends from his stock portfolio. He just started the jewelry business with his newlywed wife LaTasha. She creates her own jewelry and the business is profitable immediately. Their plan is to land a licensing deal for her jewelry designs from a department store or specialty retailer. He plans to work 1 more year for the schoolboard and retire after 20 years of service to receive a partial pension of $1,000 a month.
I want to introduce a new term to your wealth building definition. The term of Stewardship. It means to look after one’s property with wise decision making and responsibility. We can say Larry is a good Steward over his businesses. Larry is 39 years old and he has 25 extra years to reach his goal of a $50 Million estate. He is worth $1.8 Million at the current time. The rule of wealth is your assets should spin off free cash flow of 8 -10% in passive income. This means Larry will have at least $4 Million of passive income if he retires at the age of 64. Not bad for someone who started as a janitor and a car jockey. This concludes the income section of the Blueprint. You are now ready to become a Banker armed with the full knowledge of building capital from income.
Postscript Conclusion
Patience, sacrifice, and delayed gratification are the key characteristics a wealth builder must possess. Unfortunately, you will be surrounded by people who may not understand what you are doing. What people do not understand they condemn. Sacrifice is such a ugly concept for people. It seems to hurt them to have to use patience and wait on the best. Most people want money immediately to satisfy needs and desires. They will look at you as uncaring, controlling, and mean because you will not meet their demands. Do not fight back because this only causes you more wear and tear to your spirit. Believe me when I say this. Keep your cool.
I have given you a great deal of information about producing an income. Most people will not read, study, or put in the hard work to build wealth themselves. Please do not listen to their advice. Wealth building is a seed time and harvest process. Do not be tempted to give people your seed capital because they have a financial emergency. The exception would be a life and death situation. You may be the first wealth builder in your family, so it is best to keep your activities to yourself. Use Larry as an example. He let people think of him as less than a man, just to continue building in peace. The simple 3 step business plan is a timeless piece of information as old as ancient Africa, East India, and Asia. This Blueprint is just sharing their knowledge. Read about the wealthiest man ever, King Mansa Musa from the African Empire of Mali. You are a descendant from Kings, not the crap American history has labeled you. Proceed young Prince.
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2 Joe's are not Average
Complacency, yea that’s your game. Mr Joe you are the one man who could turn our community around in a hurry pointing us to a bright future over the horizon. Yea you could, but you have gotten too comfortable. You have put in the time of 20 plus years and suffered many indignities they have especially set for Black men. Now you are tired of it all. You still work and maintain for your wife and the family. 401K and insurance plans should meet retirement. Let your grown kids come in and out of the house. Keep the grandkids when their parents are suffering or just need a break. For the most part you just sit down and relax and think, I don’t have to go through that crap again.
Wake up Mr Joe, it’s a mirage. A false sense of security. You must keep growing and never rest on your laurels. This pandemic has probably awakened you already. Financial death is just one economic catastrophe away. You are the man who should be first in line trying to tear down that door of bringing more dollars into the home. You know how to hit the ball like Hammering Hank. You have the experience. You know where all the traps are hidden because you have stepped in a few of them yourself. Nothing like a bear trap around your shin. Go ahead, show us your scar. Are you listening to me Mr Joe? I figure you have a good 15 years to bring at least $500,000 more into your estate. If you have a 20 something son running around out there creating mischief, you more than anyone should be leading by example. We are really counting on you. Wait for a second. I have something to tell you.
It’s me, Coach T. Sir I don’t know your situation, but if you are reading this far, you know we have trouble spots all over the community. We both know we can do better. If you can, please try to get a second job to build capital to invest or start a small business for 1 year and follow the blueprint. If it doesn’t work out or it’s too hard, no harm no foul. If it does then we can count on you to be a Cornerstone in the community. If you can do this it will make a world of difference to our bottom line and I’m sure your son will see the example and want to do it too. Thank you, Sir. Coach T
Humiliation, yea that’s your game. This is for the brother Joe’s who have been involuntarily detained by the state or the county. Yea, I see you in there. Where bad days are tolerable and horrible days damn near destroy you. You are uncomfortable Joe and I am not leaving you out. You are a part of our community, whether you were predator or prey. I know a few of you don’t belong in there. Here is the gist, whether you did or you didn’t isn’t my concern. Your actions in the past cannot be changed, but they can be redeemed. Let me explain. You still have life. It’s up to you to get off that road you are on and make it back to civilization. You crossed that line somewhere in time where you felt you had no responsibility to the rest of us. You felt you wanted to get even or maybe destroy something. That led you right where you are now, without liberty. Do you know what can get you off that road immediately? Building! Building is the exact opposite of destruction! It’s a healer and rewarder, not a destroyer of life. You listening brother Joe?
Go back to the introductory page and read work ethic to gain a position. The game is chess and you are a pawn that has been captured. Some of you might be able to get back in the game soon, some might have to wait for a long time. Both of you have the time right now to learn how to play chess. You have this blueprint in hand if you have access to the internet. That’s the start. But I wouldn’t come here to see you if I didn’t bring you a gift to make a difference in your world and alleviate some of the hardship. You ready, here it is. Yahoo Finance! YF is your tool to bring you back to civilization, to the community, to your family and to manhood. I would say 85% of you are on the inside because of money issues. All being off the books, so your activities ran afoul of the law. Well brother Joe, Yahoo Finance will make you the man you were trying to be, but legal.
What makes YF so spectacular? You can run your own business of an investment stock portfolio through a simulation. It’s called paper investing. You can start with a $10,000 portfolio or a $10,000,000 portfolio. Here is why it is so addicting. All your actions are linked directly to the stock market live in real time. You want to be a businessman, here is your chance to do it first online. Learn about stocks and learn how to research companies, to know whether to buy or sell. It is free. You can practice all you want. Then when you are ready for reentry, you will have a skill in place. Now you must follow the blueprint for the rest.
Brother Joe, I know you have been humiliated, but I don’t feel sorry for you. You are a man and have to Bulk up and carry your own weight like the rest of us. This giving is a two way street. When you come out you can join us but you must come correct. You have to pay your dues and start at the bottom. Believe me it’s a good place to start. Cheering you on. Coach T
S & P 300
Why is the 2 Joe’s on the income page in the blueprint? Because you gentlemen are two sides of the same coin. You have taken yourselves out of the game. You are two extremes and anyone can end up just like you. You did not want to get kicked out of the game, but you did anyway. What this co-op wants is for you to get back in the game and play right in the center of the chess board where all the action happens. It begins with you getting paid by working and building wealth.
I want you men to pay close attention to this chapter. 99% of all mistakes in wealth building come from the 3 S’s & 3 P’s. The top 2 mistakes are: #1 Trying to succeed without first surviving. #2 Trying to protect a wife and family without producing and providing. Sounds familiar. These mistakes are putting us in the poor house. I know you want to succeed and provide for your families, but you are going about it all wrong. Your priorities are mixed up. Let’s begin at the beginning.
You must launch from a stable operation, before succeeding. You have this idea for a restaurant and you go to the bank for a loan. The banker ask you if you have any collateral? You have any experience? Are you bringing in any income? That’s an easy NO for the bank. You are approaching the bank from a position of weakness and desperation. You try another bank, but they have you as being rejected from the first bank on record. Then you quit and say the banks don’t want to help anybody. Nope, wrong. The banks are in business to make money. You have to think like them. When you entered the bank, you didn’t have anything. You are not stable; you’re not even surviving.
A wealth builder follows proper stages. Larry is the perfect example. He started from the survival position with his custodial job. Larry moved on to stabilization when he started his second job and opened a mutual fund. He kept going learning about stocks cutting out the middleman by managing his own portfolio. He took his time and built a solid portfolio almost to a ½ Million dollars. Now, he is ready to move into the successful stage. If Larry walked in a bank at this point for a loan to start a business, do you think they will turn him down? They could, but it will not be because Larry is weak or desperate. Follow the stages in order.
#1 Get 2 jobs to start your revenue rolling in. Survival
#2 Build a bank where your money will start working for you. Stabilization
#3 Get ready to launch an offensive assault in a business. Succeed
Every instinct within you wants to provide for your family. Some of you do not have a problem with this. Many of you will always have trouble with this. It has been a concerted effort for centuries to destroy your ability to take care of what every man desires, to provide for their loved ones. In some areas in this country, the legislators want to write laws to take us back to the times when we were literally starved past the point to feed and house our families. However, this does not take away from your obligation to produce for the family.
Your job is to produce. I put the 3 S’s up first, because if you follow the stages of the S’s, it will make you a producer. What if you don’t earn enough? Then, sacrifice is the card you play. You give up the small wants you do every week. Things like alcohol and substances, a car note, clothes… in order to provide for them. In the survival stage maybe, you can’t stack pennies. You may have to start with $100 a month going into your account. Whatever happens, your goal is to bring in income to take care of your responsibilities at home and stack money with the excess. Start with 2 jobs.
#1 Produce, so you can provide.
#2 Provide first, then you can protect.
#3 A good offense of wealth building is your whole families’ best protection.
3 S’s 1. Survive 2. Stabilize 3. Succeed
3 P’s 1. Produce 2. Provide 3. Protect
Go Quickly!