August Is Black Business Month!
Our history is rich with "Legacy Builders". The originals came from the plantation, then through segregation, with the mindset of building and leaving something more for their families.
During those times, almost every black man had a "side" job that he did to help support his family. Some repaired furniture, some repaired cars, some "junked", some did other things, but they all had a "hustle" meant to accomplish several goals. First Goal: Consistency; No matter what happened to his real job, his family would not have to change their way or standard of living. Second Goal: Create Wealth; He wanted more for his family. He wanted to be able to buy a home, a real car, and just better day to day items. Third Goal: Leave a Legacy for his children. He wanted his children to have something that he had not had in a land so ripe with discontent for his kind. He wanted to be sure his children were self-sufficient.
We need to take a moment to reflect on this past message. We don't all need to be "Big Names and Bright Lights" to leave a legacy. We just need to retrain our childrens thinking and mindset so that they see that working for someone else or having "careers" is fabulous, however, what happens when they (or you) go to that career tomorrow and get "pink-slipped"?
We need to equip, assist and rekindle those entrepreneurial fires, in them (and ourselves). We have to become more willing to be self-sufficient. More willing to take risks, not be so fully dependent on a paycheck from a corporation or getting a paycheck signed by a "boss" that they couldn't pick out of a line-up. We have to be tired of seeing empty skulls of former "Black Owned Businesses" within our neighborhoods and communities. We need to be an integral part of the business conversation and the rebuilding process that is taking place around many cities.
We need to take our place today so that we too can be a part of the Business Black History. The Black Business History that built the cities in which we live that is a part of our familys history. The same Black Business History that has or is dying away because the originals passed on, and we didn't want what they left because it was just a corner store, or he was just a scrap man. We don't have to build fortune 500 companies, just companies that last.
I'm pledging to do just that! Don't know what the outcome will be but, what I do know, is that I want to be able to give my grandkids a sense of familial financial-worth. A better sense of security than my children had and hopefully, a future where they don't receive weekly paychecks, but quarterly dividend checks.
WHAT WILL BE YOUR BLACK OWNED BUSINESS LEGACY?