I learned how to be an entrepreneur by trial and error and since I am celebrating my 25th year in business I’d like share the truth about Black Owned Businesses
I learned how to be an entrepreneur by trial and error and since I am celebrating my 25th year in business I’d like share the truth about Black Owned Businesses
So I’m celebrating my 25th year as an entrepreneur this year. I was prompted to write this after someone called me about someone who has just lost their corporate job and they asked me “Why doesn’t he last anywhere more than a few months?” I thought about that knowing that I’m blessed to be a successful entrepreneur and I believe this person has the same passion and potential from their past experiences. It’s not that they can’t keep a job, they may be better suited to work for themselves.
The longest job I have ever had in my life was at Urban Network, a now-defunct magazine in Los Angeles. It was one of the most educational music industry jobs I’ve had in my career but I lasted there under two years. I’m glad the late Jerry Boulding hired me because working there was like college for me and I learned SO much from Jerry.
A few months after I started, I was assigned as the rap editor and I HATED that job and I begged them to give it to someone else. I believe Harry Akaki wanted the gig and I would have given it to him on a silver platter but I didn’t have the power to do so.
I was not that guy that you would find hanging in the hip hop spot, or playing hip hop music in my car so I was not qualified to rank hip hop songs on a chart. Then again I have worked at many organizations in the industry where a LOT of MFs were far removed from their titles, but they were not the same color as me and they made/make a LOT more money so I was/AM not an anomaly.
I was not into hip hop music and it reminded me of how I grew up and I wanted no part of that again. But they made me do it and I’m glad they did. My job was not only to do the chart and ACT like I was interested in the genre. I knew that I looked like a damn fool ACTING like I was interested in hip hop. Wearing baseball caps backwards, speaking hood dialect and not smiling for pictures and trying to act pissed off and hard. I was a happy MF, but I was also an actor and that was the hardest role I EVA had to play and I didn’t do it well. So the Oscar DIDN’T go to … To make matters worse they wanted to fire me for a job I didn’t want in the first place, dirty MFs (lol).
I’m embarrassed to even admit it. You would have thought I would have caught a glimpse of my damn self even in a rearview mirror while thuggin’ my way down these LA streets wearing Tims. I should have just stopped and said “Um, hey Kev, yeah … this shit isn’t working! WTF are you doing?” But I needed the MF money, I had to do what I had to DO. I had just moved to LA. I wasn’t trying to be on deese damn streets.
