WEALTH THROUGH SELF-EMPLOYMENT
Your communitys strength lies in the boarded up shops, storefronts and vacant lots.
Sam King
Small Black-owned enterprises are the key to a goal that for too many African-American, remains a dream deferred: economic empowerment.
Earl G. Graves-Publisher of Black Enterprise Magazine
In America, when the economy catches a cold, Blacks catch pneumonia: is a accurate aphorism incorporated in the mind set of the supporters of capitalism in America, who discriminate against people of African descent. Due to plant closing, company layoffs, automation, enforced early retirement, Federal and State budget cuts; weve become the expendable people, the first to be fired and the last to be hired. But when one door closes, another opens. We often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the one, which has opened for us, right in our neighborhood. Your kitchen table, car/van, basement, garage, farm, vacant lot, or that boarded shop and storefront in your community, can become a priceless treasure for those that can adopt the mentality of the entrepreneur. Launching your own business is like writing your own personal declaration of independence from the corporate beehive, where you sell bits of your life in forty-hour (or longer) chunks in return for a paycheck. Entrepreneurs are a unique breed, whose characteristics can be learned by anyone. He or she will see opportunities and sense a need for a new product or service, then rush to fill it. Their business may not necessarily be something new or original, just something that the public will buy. Often, entrepreneurs start by focusing on the publics desires, and then find the service or product to bring to the market. Though born in poverty, John H. Johnson built a publishing empire and was listed in Black Enterprise with sales of $293.7 million in 1993. He started with $500 that he got from his mother, who mortgaged her furniture to help him start his publishing business. His first publication was Negro Digest, a thought that occurred to him from being familiar with Readers Digest, a publication about Whites. Now, we have Jet, Ebony, and Ebony Man (EM). An entrepreneur has to be adaptable, once you start a business, expect it to move through different stages. At first, you do things alone. Eventually, you have to delegate work to others. Find new sources of supplies, and meet demands of the competition. To stay on top means constantly adapting to new circumstances.
BE YOUR OWN BOSS
If youre seeking to be your own Boss, your apartment, the vacant lots, boarded-up shops and storefronts in your neighborhood is equivalent to a goldmine, that can produce billions of dollars each year for the people who are willing to take that frightening plunge into the depths of entrepreneurial waters. Obtaining the American Dream-achieving prosperity, owning your own home, and being your own boss, can be accomplished from within your community. The many obstacles and barriers people of African descent face as a race is the major component in the lack of Black owned businesses throughout the United States, and these same obstructions serve as the impetus for the recent increase in Black businesses. In 1972, Black Enterprise featured a list of the United States 100 largest Black owned, industrial/manufacturing companies that generated $473 millions in sales. In 1993, Black owned businesses grew to the point that Black Enterprise now tracks not 100, but 200 industrial/service companies and auto dealerships, which generated sales of $10 billion for the first time. In 1970, Black business were viewed too weak, like the meow sound of a kitten by the American business community. Today, we roar like a Tiger, with that loud, deep rumbling utter. We are classified and respected as the BEST and the BRIGHTEST of small and mid-sized emerging businesses. Our progress is more than just making money it is a story of Black woman and Black men who are achieving in Americas free enterprise system. The free enterprise system is a way of economic life, open to hope, and economy open to new ideas, new products, new jobs, and a new breed of men and women. Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people in the African-American community see it as a healthy horse pulling a sturdy wagon. We are in a climate in which new, small independent business ownership can be born, grow and prosper in our community.
THINK BIG.
The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others resigned. It enables men and woman to hold their head high, to claim the future for themselves and not to abandon it to their adversary.
Another rags-to-riches story is the story of Herman J. Russell, who grew up poor in an Atlantas south side neighborhood, where, as early as his teen years, he was an optimist, thinking big and longed to become a major player in the mostly White industry of contracting and developing. At the tender age of 16, he was building his first duplex. Oprah Winfrey made the Forbes list of billionaires (2005), by grossing $1.2 billion. She got in this position due to being persistent.
YOU MUST ACT TODAY
Tomorrow is the day when the weak become strong. The winners act today. In the jungle, when the tigers are hungry, they eat. When the elephants have thirst, they drink. If they didnt ACT, both species would surely perish. Do you hunger for success: Do you thirst for a better lifestyle and happiness? If you dont act, you too will perish in a life of unsuccessfulness, poverty, and sleepless nights. In Spain young Bulls are tested for the battle arena in a specific method. Every one of them is taken, one-by-one, into the ring and urged to attack the matador, who pricks them with a lance. The boldness and courage of each Bull is then rated with great care, according to the number of times he establish his willingness to attack in spite of the painful sting of the blade. Therefore, you must remember that each day you will be tested by society in the same manner. If you persist, if you continue to try, if you continue to charge forward, you will succeed in running a successful business from your kitchen table, car/van, vacant lot or that boarded shop or storefront down the street. You must persist.
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