ORLANDO, Fla. – If we asked you to guess what dozens of startup companies could have most in common with one another, “investors” would be a decent choice. “A determined problem-solver with his focus on the future,” though, would be a better one, so as it applies to our latest program.
This week on “Black Men Sundays,” host Corie Murray interviews Ron Story Jr. — author, founder of podcast service PitchDB and longtime self-made entrepreneur — for a better understanding of Story’s outlook on building wealth and finding fulfillment.
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When asked what one should do in order to become a full-time entrepreneur, especially people with other jobs and responsibilities to manage, Story gave Corie some tips.
“No. 1, don’t quit your job. That’s the first thing, right?...Let’s use real estate, everybody thinks of real estate as something separate from a business, but in reality, real estate is just the housing business,” Story said. “If you went to the bank and you said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna buy this four-unit apartment, but I’m gonna quit my job,’ the bank will be like, ‘No, we’re not gonna give you the loan, because that four-unit apartment ain’t gonna pay you enough to pay the mortgage and live your lifestyle.’ So we would never do that if we were investing in a four-unit apartment, but a lot of times when we’re starting our first business, our goal is, ‘Oh, I’m gonna stop doing what’s paying me every month and then I’m gonna start doing something that’s not paying me every month.’”
For your financial independence, Story suggested to “stop buying dumb stuff,” or rather to “keep the expenses low,” as he also put it.
“If we can lower our expenses first, it makes it easier for us to buy those investment properties, or to buy a business that’s paying us enough every month passively to cover those expenses,” Story said. “A great example is that I think it’s easier for a janitor to retire than what it is for a doctor. Why? Because the doctor has student loans, the doctor has all his lifestyle expenses because he has to look like a doctor, in a certain car, because he’s a doctor he has all these things where his family has expectations of him; where the janitor may be making 20 bucks an hour and his expenses may be $2,000 a month while the doctor’s expenses may be $15,000 a month. Well, it’s easier for me to build a business that can replace my $2,000 a month than what it is for you to build a business that will replace $15,000 a month. So, expenses are our biggest barrier to financial independence.”
Going back to the “more than 40 companies” detail, it’s the real deal. Story described how he was able to provide just the right kind of help to dozens of startup companies, in what began with conventional pitches and turned into a snowball effect of further recommendations.
In general, get your foot in the door, be cordial and helpful, but do not allow others to step on your toes.
“Right off the bat, I marketed myself as the sales guy, right? So I would tell people ‘Hey, man, I can’t code, but I know y’all probably can’t sell. How do we work together? Can I help you develop your sales process so that y’all can sell more software? Can I help you develop your sales process so you can get more clients, or that you can find investors or whatever you’re looking for in the business?’ And they would pay me to do that. Once I became known for that, a couple of investment firms in St. Louis started to recommend me to their portfolio of companies,” Story said. “So the first thing is to get a skill that nobody else has...I stopped calling myself the financial advisor and the insurance guy and I just said, ‘No, I’m just the best salesperson that y’all know.’ So then from there, they started relying on me, because here’s the thing: people gonna put you in a box. I could have been the little Black kid from east St. Louis that just happened to hang out with startups in St. Louis, but I went in and I said, ‘Don’t put me in that box, put me as the best salesperson you got contact with.’”
Hear the full interview and more in Season 2, Episode 13 of “Black Men Sundays.”
Black Men Sundays talks about building generational wealth. Check out every episode in the media player below.