A BIG GAP BETWEEN US

The speaker discusses the importance of building generational wealth and questions whether it is better to have a slice of someone else's success or to build one's own. They reflect on their personal experiences as a black woman and how attending Howard University expanded their perspective and opportunities. They also discuss the disparities in the black community, particularly in terms of wealth and wages, and highlight the need for black-owned businesses and collaboration to bridge these gaps. Hi Wealth Builders, welcome back to another episode of Sweet Millionaire Formula, the weekly show where we bring together individuals seeking to break the cycle of financial inequality by building generational wealth. I'm your host Courtney Davis, Tucson bestselling author and CEO of Sweet Millionaire Formula. For more information please follow us on Instagram and to keep up with our webinars and in-person activities. This is going to be another exciting episode, but first a word from our sponsors. Are you looking for your skin to glow this summer with a hydrating moisturizer that protects against UV rays? Well, Fall Weekend has the perfect item for you. Our new hydrating moisturizer gives you a hydrating skin moisturization that lasts all day. It's lightweight, non-breezy, and perfect for everyday use. When you get out the pool, you're going out to eat, you want to have that moisture and glow to your face, you will use our moisturizer at Fall Weekend Cosmetics. Guess what Wealth Builders? Build Generational Wealth period is released on Amazon. Sweet Millionaire Formula has produced its first book and it's number one bestselling. Build Generational Wealth is available now on Amazon. Tired of just hearing how to build wealth and want to know the actual steps? Well, we have the 12 steps to secure your financial future. It's available now on Amazon. Build Generational Wealth period. Hi, my Wealth Builders. I have a question because today I just had some thought-provoking experiences and encounters that allowed me to come to a consensus. I wanted to know, is it more important to have a slice of somebody else's pie or to have an entire cake that you have to bake? Now think about that. Are you willing to have a slice of a pie that somebody else has built or are you willing to have an entire cake? But the only caveat is you have to get the ingredients, you have to get the proportions, the measurements, the recipe, the pans, the oven, and you actually have to bake the cake. Right? So is it more important in today's society to look like you have wealth or to actually have wealth? Because I feel like some of the degradation of the black dollar happens because we abuse the roles that are placed on us by society. We abuse that. We abuse it severely because we feel like we have to, in order to impress you, I have to go spend everything that I have to buy the latest trends in order to impress people who don't even care about me if I miss one car payment or one car note. And I just thought that that was really interesting. And I wanted to kick off today's episode with that. Would you rather have a slice of somebody else's pie or would you rather build your own and bake your own cake? Me, personally, what I've had to experience and endure as a black woman in America, I cannot tell you anybody else's experience. I cannot relay to you the severity or disparities of anybody else's demographic. I'm talking from the perspective of a black woman who was born and raised in the projects of Cleveland, Ohio. I never thought that I would have a full scholarship to the number one HBCU, Howard University in Washington, D.C. I never even knew much life existed outside of the project. The most that I went to was the amusement park, Cedar Point, that was two hours away. The most that I was exposed to in my 18 years of growing up in Cleveland and being poor was, you know, a family reunion out in Columbus of people who, you know, I'd never seen before, but I know, okay, they own a house, they own land, they have a motorcycle. And to be honest, it wasn't until I got to Howard University and I was surrounded by rich and wealthy individuals that had come from all types of backgrounds until that's when I understood that black people are really wealthy and created wealth for themselves in a matter of everything that has happened, there have been generations of people who have come up in Howard University that have actually created a legacy of success, a legacy of the AKA, a legacy of the Delta, Sigma Theta, or Alpha Kappa Alpha, all of those similarities and all of those instances, I didn't know why they were so important and I felt like now I understand that a sorority is your lifeline outside of college. A sorority is the place of the line, the thin line that keeps you connected to higher positions and to, you know, futures beyond just a healthcare worker in the community, local hospital, but being a part of an HBCU that is number one in the nation and attending the HBCU and the experience, the people, the conversations that you have are so broad, some are so weird, some are so informative, some are so sexy, some are so wealthy, you know, I've experienced and had conversations with individuals from across all walks of life, whether it be from Nigeria, Ghana, New York City, Alabama, Florida, and there's this central experience that we're all coming to Howard University to experience, which is the black experience that we create. So the epitome of attending the HBCU is the experience that you're going to get because anywhere else, nobody understands or nobody gets it. But I feel like on a higher and when we vibrate, when black people and people across the African descent collaborate and we have a conjunction of prestige, environment, and we're smart, and we have family members and parents and generations of people who are backing us to say that we can do it, not only can you do it, but you will do it, and we're here to support you. To see that type of support and to know that I'm encountering business owners, Congress leaders, mayors, all of these professions outside of just a healthcare worker, a cashier, the local clerk at Dollar Tree, the uncle that cooks at the corner store, all of the experiences that I experienced in my 18 years were so small. And I couldn't even grasp the fact that not only was Howard University very pivotal, very, very vital in my expansion of myself, but it also expanded my heart, it expanded my vocabulary, it expanded my vision, it expanded my mental capacity to be able to dream so much further than just around the corner. I believe that when black people are prestigious and we're wealthy and we're surrounded by one another, it creates a heartbeat within the experience that allows each and every person that was in that experience to take the greatness away and put it in their own soul and go and do the things of the earth that God would allow us to do in his will and his way. But there's different experiences along the way that aid you into believing that you can achieve more, that basically shape and mold you into a different, whatever you was when you came with the package. After you get molded by HBCU, you get turned and spent and you're getting structured in a whole different way. It's like a new DNA makeup. It's like, for me, especially for me, I'm a Howard University dropout. After my second year, I decided that I wanted to scam, I wanted to run the streets, I wanted to do everything in Washington, D.C. that I could get my hands on because the city just moved 10 times faster. You had access to money, much larger capitals of money than I did in Cleveland, Ohio. Within my first year, I had a, my first semester, I believe, I had a 1.7. My next semester, I had a 3.0, paying 2.5. And then I got back down to a 1.0 because I just stopped attending classes altogether to fully focus on making money and to run the streets. And I know to some people, you're like, how? How could you squander an opportunity like Howard University, being able to graduate from Howard, right? And that's what I asked myself. When I got kicked out of the university and I received a letter that was like, this is your last day. You will be removed from this dorm. You no longer have access. And when it actually happened, I ended up losing just everything. And I was back on the street. You know, I had friends, connections, and other places of different dorms that I could go stay with. Thankfully and prayerfully, God always has something in the cut. But once I lost my scholarship and I no longer had housing, I was like, I will never be successful if I have to leave off this campus. I told myself when I stood in front of the dorm trying to move into my friend's dorm, I was like, if I don't go to Howard, I'm never in my life going to be successful. That's how bad in my soul I felt that I had dropped the ball. And I didn't realize that while I was making the moves and leaving the state and flying here and being there, I didn't realize that I was slowly but surely losing my scholarship funds, that the GPA mattered, and that it didn't resonate into me until it actually happened, until it was actually lost, until I was in the streets and I had to go apply for a job at McDonald's. I couldn't regulate all of the things that I was losing, because I was like, there's no way that I came all of this way, all of the things I had to overcome to get here, and now I'm here and I lose my scholarship? It was the lowest I have ever felt in my lifetime, and I just believe that it's a great segue to go into our topic for today. Our topic for today is addressing the disparities in the black experience and the black wealth and wage gap. And how is it that we are structured to make less but work the most? What are key points that are going to allow us to transition from working to owning to collaborating in the community, and then establishing a continual flow of cash generation black-owned businesses that allow us to funnel our money into our own businesses and bridge disparities that we experience in our communities by being visionary? So, I wanted to address today some of the disparities that black America sees in the workforce. It's highly disappointing that the majority of businesses, companies that we have access to are the healthcare field, security janitorial, fast food, bus drivers, childcare workers, maids and housekeepers, security guards, customer service representatives, industrial truck and tractor operators, transit and intercity bus drivers, and licensed locational nurses. So, those are the top fields that we are employed in, and we're just a proportionally representative of the low wage. The average American medium wage that you can make at the lowest of any position is $41,000. The max job that takes up about 31% is local bus drivers, transit bus drivers, school bus drivers in the inner city. The average income is between $29,000 and $31,000. That, to me, signifies that there's seemingly no way that the average black American person is only earning $31,000, which is $10,000 less than the medium you can make in America. It's crazy because, you know, in the higher professions, the higher paying professions, we are underrepresented. Only 5% of U.S. black physicians exist. For example, if you're going into the hospital and you are like, let me get a black doctor or I would feel more comfortable with a black doctor, no white person ever has to say, I feel more comfortable with a white doctor. There's already white doctors. But what we have to examine is the fact that the programs that exist from pre-K to 12 are designed and structured so that there's a prison to pipeline system. So the black men and women that complete their high school go off into college, which HBCUs cover nearly 30% of all professionals, all black professionals across the world. Black HBCUs are responsible for that large percentage of black professions, doctors, physicians, attorneys at law, things of that nature, right? There is an underrepresented number. If we are 13% of the labor force and only 5% of our race is represented in professions like doctors, then where is the fall off? Where is the lack of building up our children, our futures, our systems, our access to quality care? Where is the fall off happening? The fall off is happening in the wage disparity. And the fact that there are more black wage gaps than any other race, it speaks volumes. And it's important to understand that we have to, there is opportunity for us as black Americans to create more jobs for each other, to depend on each other and support each other's businesses a lot more. But the first thing we have to do is value one another. We have to value one another and we have to add value to one another. We cannot continue having low vibrational conversations. That's why here at Sweet Millionaire Formula, we're talking about building generational wealth, period. That's the standard. Your child is destined to come out at one and two and three years old with an IRA account, with an education fund. And you're putting your money into their education fund. The difference between where we're going and where we're at is intentional and automatic decisions. Intentional and automatic decisions. Right. So if I was to see five donut shops, one Asian, one white, one black, one Hispanic, one Arabian, as a black person, I'm intentional about finding the black one that's in the middle. Because as a consumer, it's my responsibility to pour into my community so that I can continue to, well, not that I can continue, but you can continue to employ those people who are working there, that single mom that's working at that bakery shop, who is using that money to pay for her children's diapers, pay her rent, and continue to be able to work. And it's not that you're indebted as a black person to be indebted to others, to our culture and to our race and to our businesses. But it's vital because this is the difference between us talking about the things that we're experiencing, the financial disparities, the racial discrimination, and closing that gap from it happening by supporting black-owned businesses. And it's not just food. We have healthcare facilities that we need to open up. We have construction companies that we need to open up. We have children and men and women that we need to send to college with full scholarships. There's more avenues of this earth to be explored, more avenues of financial management, accountants, operation managers, management analysts, marketing managers. All of the things that deal with money, that deal with science, that deal with mentality, that deal with healthcare, that deal with the oil industry, the minerals, we have no access, as it stands, as no black-owned gas companies ever in America. We have no access to the resources that allow us to have the raw material, the textiles to make clothes, the ingredients, the farms. We need to make sure that we are being two- and three-dimensional in today's society because if we serve a God that can do all things, then we know that with the vision that we plan for ourselves, and the words that we speak for ourselves, and the goals that we seek for ourselves, we have to structure our mindset to be in a position to serve the will of God according to the gifts that he's given us. And he didn't give us just hands. He gave us arms, fingers, elbows, and shoulders. So you have to maximize each and every part of your brain in order to be able to change the trajectory of the disparity that black people are experiencing. And I'm specifically speaking to those people who just want to work their job and they don't want to be asked for nothing else outside of that. You know how limiting you're putting your life? You probably are a sewer. You probably are a knitter. You're probably a hat maker. Or whatever it is that you do that sparks and that keeps you happy or keeps you in a habit of having an outlet and a resource that produces something, that's your medium. That's your means of transportation and communication with the world. Whatever it is that you do that's outside of your nine-to-five, whatever makes you money, whatever it is that you do outside of that is your bread and butter. It is your goldmine. It is your opportunity to strike into the world. Because say you open up a knitting company. Then you get to hire other black experts. You get to hire a director of marketing. You get to hire a director of photography. Which, you know, employs black boys who need to use cameras or computers or technology to transfer and express themselves. Each and every person on earth, I believe, is equipped with a gift that needs to be translated into a way that helps serve the earth. But I feel like if you're so close-minded, if you don't give yourself the opportunity to explore what actually you, what makes you happy or what makes you of value to the world, if you don't get busy exploring those things, then you're going to expire like expired milk. I know, personally, that people, black people, especially poor black people, they have to work for 15, 20, 30 years. It was a guy, actually, on the news who worked for Burger King for 27 years, was never late, and he never missed a day. They gave him an AMC theater card. They gave him a popcorn stash. They gave him a bag of candy. How much of a slap in the face is it that you will work and give 27 years to a company that will give you a bag of jelly beans after you never missed a day or never late? It wouldn't even be in the same category of making sense. It's illogical. But this is what happens when you trade your time for money instead of just using your purpose to generate services for the world and abide in the will of God and let him, he will provide blessings for you. Press down, shake it together, and run it over. But you have to trade your fear and your laziness and your lack of vision for reading books, reading the word of God, surrounding yourself with people who are going to infuse your mind with ideas that you can accomplish your goals. And that's what we do here at Sweet Rainier Formula. We infuse your mind with the ideas that you cannot, you can accomplish building generational wealth. And it takes one change of thought. One thought that, oh, I can't own this. Oh, I can actually own the facility. Oh, I can actually own the warehouse. I don't have to just work at the warehouse. No, you can own the warehouse. Those small decisions that we make mentally and change ourselves mentally, that's why we surround each other. That's why we provide each other good, positive energy here at Sweet Rainier Formula. Because we know that it takes effort, community, focus, a road map, all of the things that you need to get to the next level. And if we could just take one day of pouring into each other, one day of buying black, one day of commenting positive things on all posts that we see that our business ran. If we collaborate at our local library with one individual. All it takes is the power of one. One good thought. One good deed. One good habit. And then you're looking at a ripple effect of positive belief that you're sowing, you're going to also reap. You can't be so bent on, oh, no, the only thing I do is work there and they better ask me for nothing else. If you're going to have that mentality, then you're not going to reap nothing else. Then pass that job. And to see what the needs are. Pick up the trash from other people in the community. Start a trash brigade where you guys don't have to be criminals to pick up trash out of your local community. But you can be, like, freedom, not freedom fighters, but you can be, like, a community that people see and that, oh, you know what, people can be cleaning up their community. Let me clean up my community. Let me join this group so I can clean up the community as well. It's small things. Not a million things. And I think that once we understand that there are avenues that we can positively affect if we have a change of thought and are more intentional about bridging the gap in all areas. It doesn't just have to be in work, but in community, in collaboration. All of those things are important. And I think the human connection is the most important. And I think having a soul that feels a quest to make somebody else smile or having a mindset that is not so selfish and bent up about you, you, you, you, you. That is what opens the door for opportunities to be created when you say, you know what, today I'm going for something different. I'm going to drive down to this art facility and I'm going to ask them how can I collaborate them on getting my painting into this building. You know, but I want to drive out of state. I want to collaborate with other beauty influencers. I want to attend an expo in Philadelphia so that I can collaborate with other beauty influencers and get partnerships and professionals to be in my contact list. Each and every small step that you take to be better will relay and you receive it better. And I think it's important that we understand that we need each other to make the world go round. We need people in general to make the world go round. But if we're going to close the disparities that we're seeing as Black people, as Black workers, in industries especially that are, you know, local in our community, then it's nothing wrong with a person who wants to work in their community. Because working, creating a company, and that's not for everybody. But I'm saying that there's opportunities in the public sector as a software developer, wholesale manufacturer having a factory in China, being a lawyer, a magistrate, a judge, being a financial advisor, an accountant, a general operations manager, a marketing manager, a sales director, or a CEO of a company. All are still on the line of possibilities. Don't think that because you see on social media there's, oh, it's oversaturated. No. You're looking at 20 people from one state, from one city, from one town. There's literally 7.8 billion people in this world. There's limitless amounts of countries that you can travel to, to study abroad, teach in another country. Whatever it is that you can drum up or whatever it is that you can vision for yourself, the better life that you're supposed to have. A better life does not always mean you're driving a Mercedes and you live in a big mansion. A better life for somebody who lives in poverty, especially for me, is being able to run a business and employ people, employ a photographer, employ an assistant, and being able to run my company without fear that somebody's going to fire me for me being beautiful or for me being bold enough or for me having common sense or for me turning away sexual advances. All of those things that are so minute have nothing to do with the greater will that God has for us. Nothing will separate us from the love that God has for us. Like in Romans 8 and 38, it says, for I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the past nor future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord. When you start to take God at his word, you open up your Bible and go seek God for the words that he's written, for the dedication he's taken to pour back into us, for the continual blessing that he has allowed in our life for us to wake up each and every day. You have to know that there's a bigger purpose for you. You have to know that God deposited something in your mind. And you're listening to this podcast today because you're looking for confirmation that maybe I am supposed to be doing something much more bigger. Maybe my soul, it will get ignited if I go and volunteer at the local cheerleading camp. Whatever it is, it's a one thought away and one prayer away from you being able to get off of the hamster wheel of a constant routine that doesn't bring you any new life, doesn't bring you any new people, doesn't bring you any new money, doesn't bring you new experiences. Life is supposed to be lived each and every day. And you have to make a decision that you are not going to be doing anything that you are more important than a dollar that doesn't even mean anything. You have to make up in your mind that your self-care, your health, your diet, your longevity, you being there for your children, your mental state, your heart posture is more important than settling for one thing. Nobody ever said quit your job. But you can have your job and still contribute, service, will, gifts, and all of your magic into the earth. That's what we're craving. That's what we're looking for. That's what people need around you. And the more that you sow, the more that you'll reap. The things that you sow into people, whether it's a compliment, whether it's a comment, or whether it's your time or your money, if you're intentional about it being a positive outcome and it being a part of the will of God, pray so that you can have those returns and reap those returns, whatever you invest, you will shall reap. And don't look for instant gratification. Don't set your heart with intentions on I'm going to get this, I'm going to get that. No. Set your mindset that if I plant this seed in two years or three years, who knows where it can go. Start your podcast. Don't wait and think that it's oversaturated. No. Buy you a mic, set up your opinion, launch your opinion, have some chat GPT prompts and set yourself up to be a disruptor as well in your household. You never know what needs to be watching you. You never know what next was watching you. So the things that you do to make an extra effort to be intentional could change the people around you, literally for life's sake, you can save somebody else by going after your dreams. And I think that's the most important part of today's episode for me is because you can literally change your life by going after your dreams and it don't have to happen all at once. You cannot eat no whole cake in one piece, in one slice, in one go. No. When you go for a piece of cake, you're going for a slice at a time. You want to enjoy your life a day at a time. So what you plan for the future, plan it for the future. Don't be afraid that you're planning for the future, but know that to attain the goal, it takes a day by day by day intentional effort. I'm super excited for you guys. I know that after today's episode, you are going to be thinking of ways, writing your new goals down, putting off applications to do different things. And I'm glad that this episode gave you insight to do that. So we're going to address some comments, feedback, and questions from our previous episodes. So one of the comments that was left was, you know, I don't know what to do. One of the comments that was left was, how do I distinguish between being in a relationship that is stagnant or being in a relationship that is moving? My response to that is, first of all, being in a relationship, to just being in a relationship, maybe that suits some people. But for me, going into my 30s, my mid-30s, I believe that you should be in a relationship that is 100 and 100. You should not be in a relationship where you're 25 and they're 75, or they're 50 and you're 50. You want to come into a relationship where these are 100, 100. Because that's the way, or if it's 98, 99, you all fill each other with the 1%. But to drain somebody for 75% of their attention and emotion and finances, it's just draining. Don't get into a relationship or be in a relationship if you have to wonder, are we building wealth? If you're building wealth, the whole bottom line of being in a relationship is to ultimately get married, ultimately build wealth together, and have a great life together. There's nothing wrong with having a companion. But if you're with a companion, you need to make sure that you guys are building each other up, building each other's businesses up, building each other's fears up, filling each other's lives with happiness, joy, peace, and a sound mind. I believe that you will know if you're in a relationship that's building you up based on the time and effort. If you're together one year, you just got together, you all started going on dinners and dates, and it was just cute. And I think you will tell in the next year, are you guys now attending events, planning, and making goals together? In the third year, are y'all buying a facility, putting the money behind, which I talked about the year before? I think it's a continual effort. I don't think that one relationship is a one-off, but it's a continual effort. And I believe that you will know if your relationship is thriving by the fruit of your relationship. What are you guys adding to your relationship year by year? Right? Okay. So we're going to do a rapid fire, which is like five quick questions at the end of each episode that just gets you thinking. So house or condo? Car or motorcycle? Write a book or write a poem? Start a podcast or start an organization? Non-profit or for-profit? Take those questions however you may, and we will see you guys on the next episode of Sweet Millionaire Formula. Be sure to ask your questions in the Q&A section. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.