The Journey to Freedom Podcast
Journey to Freedom serves as an exclusive extension of the Living Boldly with Purpose podcast series—a platform that inspires powerful transformation and growth. Journey freedom is a podcast hosted by Brian E. Arnold. The Journey to Freedom is an our best life blueprint exclusively designed for black men where we create a foundational freedom plan. There are five pillars: Identity, Trust, Finances, Health and Faith.
The Journey to Freedom Podcast
The $12,000 Credit Card Gamble That Changed Everything
What happens when determination meets opportunity? Paul Tim Bundy's remarkable journey from Cameroon to entrepreneurial success offers a masterclass in perseverance, personal development, and financial wisdom that transcends cultural barriers.
Arriving in America in 1985 with dreams of education and freedom, Paul faced immediate challenges—from language barriers so significant people asked him to write things down to financial constraints that had him working security jobs while pursuing his business degree. Despite these hurdles, he graduated cum laude, discovering inner strengths he never knew existed.
The turning point came when Paul realized the conventional path wouldn't provide the freedom he craved. While many of his peers remained in the same positions even after obtaining advanced degrees, Paul sought control over his financial destiny. His initial venture into network marketing didn't yield financial success but introduced him to the world of personal development—a revelation that would transform his life approach.
With remarkable courage and virtually no capital, Paul and his wife launched a home healthcare franchise in 2002 using a $12,000 credit card advance. Their business flourished, expanding to four franchises and now employing over 300 people while serving thousands of seniors. This growth stemmed from Paul's unwavering commitment to self-improvement, dedicating at least four hours daily to mindset development.
Paul's wisdom extends beyond business tactics to fundamental life principles: rejecting scarcity thinking, taking complete responsibility for outcomes, and understanding that financial independence requires making your money work for you. His perspective reframes obstacles as mere inconveniences and views challenges as valuable feedback rather than insurmountable barriers.
Whether you're starting a business, advancing in your career, or seeking greater financial freedom, Paul's journey proves that with the right mindset, consistent self-development, and willingness to take calculated risks, extraordinary success is within reach regardless of where you begin.
I had to work on me, which is a working program. I had to work on my mindset because I believe this is up to me. We control this. We control everything my wife and I do. Now we want to take the responsibility of reaching out and helping someone else, because we all need a little bit of help.
Speaker 2:All right, welcome to another edition of the Journey to Freedom podcast, and I'm Dr B, I'm your host, and, just you know, day by day goes by, and we get to do more of these, and I get more excited about the people that are part of our lives, the people that are just making a difference, and I love to see that. I love to look at why, though, because you know some of the reasons or some of the things that we think about at least me as a Black African-American man that's in our country and all the things that happen and all the conversations that happen. Sometimes I just wonder, you know, am I making a difference? Am I doing the things that give back? Because when I think about living in my purpose and how I can give back to others that are doing, sometimes I wonder what impact or difference you make in your lives. And then you get to. You know I was just talking to my granddaughter, and you know she's only three years old, but I'm having like a normal conversation and just thinking about what her life gets to be like and what I get to say to her and what are going to be the themes of the things that I will tell her over the years and if success leaves clues, can I make sure that I'm giving her the best possible chance to be successful?
Speaker 2:Sometimes I think about our education system and think that are they doing enough or are we putting too much faith in what they're supposed to do and what their ability to do is? You know, because I kind of think of you know, when I think about schools and I don't know, paul, if you kind of came over here and you know from West Africa and grew up there and then you entered into some of our school systems and sometimes I think they're just made to help us get jobs and then make sure that we work within the system so that we don't bucket enough and then we get the chance to move out and do some more stuff. I can tell you're a reader. I'm looking at the bookshelf behind you.
Speaker 2:And so that's where we're self-educated, right. That's not somebody telling you how you're supposed to act. That's you finding out what is out there, what knowledge? Is there and how to make it happen, and so that's why I love this podcast, because I'm talking to real people who are doing real things, who are not part of well, we're all part of systems, but not necessarily saying this system was formed. We know it doesn't work, but I just want to perpetuate it.
Speaker 1:So nobody's saying that on this show, because we're looking at what success is, and so thank you for being on today.
Speaker 2:Thank you for your willingness to share with us and share your story, and I can't wait to hear it. I just love this is. My favorite part of the show is where I get to know people. You know, I was on a show yesterday and they just read my bio and I'm like you know. I know that's what you asked for, but my bio just talks about what I do.
Speaker 2:It doesn't talk about who I am, and so I love the fact that I get to find out who you are and then we get to talk about what you do, which is super important and it's things that make us happy, but it just means more when I know who you are and where you came from when I decide what it is that you do. So please go ahead and share with us. I can't wait to hear your story, and then we'll just kind of chop it up right after that.
Speaker 1:Good deal. Well, thank you, Dr B. It's an honor and pleasure to be on your podcast to share, to share what we you know my journey. I have to really congratulate you for the podcast. Journey to Freedom. That kind of it's intriguing. I like the name, so congrats on that. Thank you, and putting this avenue out there for us to talk, because I think an essential part of life is communication. It's a hard work. Oftentimes folks get into a lot of trouble because they don't communicate, they don't hear one another. So this is a chance for us to be able to share some thoughts and communicate and see what you know. If I say a few things that may help someone out there.
Speaker 1:I mean that's the purpose here, because I think that's what you're about, and I salute you for that, sir. Well, again, my name is Paul Tim Bundy and I came to the United States a while back 1985, from Cameroon, west Africa, seeking a better future. Actually, I came to go to school is really what it was Dad wanted me to. Dad was someone who I was used to I'm his first son and so dad wanted the best for me and so I told him. I said listen, dad, let me just come to America. There was something about America. There was something about America. I just felt like when I, if I came to America, all my dreams would come true. I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I didn't know what they were, but I just it was something that's about freedom, you know, being in control yourself, I mean, and then, and then I also. I was also happy, because that could not just come. He asked me from America, right.
Speaker 2:I wanted some freedom.
Speaker 1:So from Cameroon it's a long, it's a long journey. It's about a journey of about 16 hours, right, I mean. So you know, when you leave Cameroon it takes you to get here, and so you know, when you leave Calamari it takes you to get here. And so you know, I just wanted to make that, make that journey. I had some family members here and so I came to spend some time with them and go to school. Go to college is what I came for and, like I said, when I went to college, I fell in love with the people. Americans to me, you know, are the folks the most loving, you know. I mean, you know, folks with a heart to me, I mean I think this is the greatest world, the greatest country in the world. I believe that it has not changed. In fact, my faith in America has been grown over the years.
Speaker 1:Oh nice and we'll talk about that, you know. So I came here to go to college and it was a hard time because, as you know, I have an accent right. So when you talk to folks here I mean, uh, you know, uh, you gotta you have that accident, so it's hard for folks to understand you sometimes. So I remember when I was going to this community college, uh, I would talk, met this german, elder german, african american german. I was trying to be friendly with him and I would talk to him and say what did, did you say, because I was speaking pretty fast, right? And he would say, well, what did you say? And I said, well, just write it down.
Speaker 1:So I kind of got tired of that. I mean writing you know what I had to say down every time you know I kind of got tired of that. I said, well, I learned how to talk slowly.
Speaker 1:And so I went to college and had a, you know, had an associate's degree I think it was in finance, I believe now and I went on to a regular four-year university and graduated with a bachelor's degree in business, finance, cumulati. Wow, okay, yeah, it was a challenge. I'll tell you that. I mean it was a challenge, just graduate. Well, not that I mean I figured I had the brains for that, it was just the whole makeup of it.
Speaker 1:I mean I had to do math, which I hated. Man, I hated. Algebra is really what I hated. Dr D, I hated algebra, okay, but I figured that I had to get algebra and calculus to graduate, right? So you know, my dad was coming for my graduation, oh, Okay, you make a 16-hour flight and everything.
Speaker 2:That's what they were coming okay so.
Speaker 1:I had to step up. All right, it was not easy, let me tell you, but you know, I found out that there was some strengths in me that I didn't know. I had to step up. It was not easy, let me tell you, but I found out that there were some strengths in me that I didn't know I had. Okay, I got busy. That's what, paul. If you've got to get an algebra and calculus and all this, then you have to study, you've got to put in the work, you've got to figure it out. So I figured it out. I got into myself that's kind of when I knew that had some superpowers within me that I didn't know existed. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:And I think that will happen, of course, in a time of challenge. That time when you're challenged, you see, some strength comes out of you, some knowledge comes out of you that you may not think you had.
Speaker 2:When it came out, so I was able to study algebra.
Speaker 1:I mean, I passed it and I started teaching other people algebra. Can you believe that? Wow, you started teaching. I taught other students algebra. Wow, because I decided that it was so necessary for me to to, to, to, to understand this course, pass this course, to get that degree. Remember dad was coming.
Speaker 2:Yeah, dad's not going to be happy if you don't know this. If you don't really graduate.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. I graduated, like I said, cum laude, very happy.
Speaker 1:And then, when I graduated, while I was in school, I was working as a security guard. It was something I could do. I decided, well, I'll pay my way and all of that. Thankfully, that was paying for some of the college, so that was good. Ok, but I had to live here, so I wanted to support Dad with that. So I was working.
Speaker 1:Now, while I was working as a security guard, I got to thinking because the friends of mine who were also in college, going through college, were also working. Some were working in the bank as a teller and going to school as we did back in those days. And so I realized that when this guy graduated, he graduated from college and went to graduate school he still kept his job as a teller. Now, growing up, I wanted to be a stockbroker. That's really what I wanted to do. Okay, so, as a security guard, I said, well, if I go to graduate school, because when graduated I was going to go into graduate school and what I was going to study and whatnot. But then I said, well, let me look at what is what other folks who have graduated and gone to graduate school have earned, what I've been doing. And I saw folks doing same job or jobs they were doing while they were on a grant. I said, well, that's not for me, cause I didn't want to go to school and then end up doing the same job.
Speaker 1:I started looking into business opportunities at that point. What am I going to do for business? What can I do? Because I remember I wanted to be in control of myself. I wanted freedom. I wanted freedom. I wanted to be in control of my situation, especially financially. The only way I could I saw my student I was to be in business myself, so I got into Amway. Okay, back in the early 90s I got into Amway.
Speaker 1:I did not make much money I did not make I don't think I didn't make much money at all but I learned some things. I learned something I learned mindset, as, let's allow. I learned personal development, and that was a change for me. I heard from folks who said that I could be everything I wanted to be if I worked for it. It wasn't the color of my skin that necessarily. Well, of course, there's going to be challenges anyhow, but if you worked hard, you could end up overcoming some of these barriers. So I got into reading, which to me, is my superpower. I got into reading. Along the way, I learned some things. I learned some things that changed for me too. You know, one of the folks I read about, you know, was Mr Freddy Douglas. Yep, okay, mr Frederick Douglass.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:Okay and I heard that reading and stuff that he realized how important reading was, that it made it something he had to learn to do. So reading became a big thing for me. I started studying. I couldn't get enough books on personal growth, personal development. How do I get ahead? You?
Speaker 1:know things of that nature and that that desire for me is presented today. Now, like I said, after, after I graduated from uh, from uh from college, I wanted to. I didn't really want to work this. I mean, I did some jobs and whatnot, but my goal was to be in control of my own destiny. That was a big thing for me, you know, uh. And then later on, along as the years moved on, uh, we got into the computer age, where I? Uh got into computers, as you know, because we came back then and my wife my wife who used my sweetheart from high school, was in england. I had to come over from england here. Okay, join me. We started raising a family. We're in computers.
Speaker 1:She was a database administrator, I was a computer systems engineer, but again, that urge again to be in business myself kept tugging at me. It was in my heart to do more, to be in control of my business. So once she came on, we decided to. You know, she did some work in the healthcare field, taking care of seniors, and she said, well, honey, there could be, this seems like something we might want to get into. I said, fine, let's go for it. So we decided to buy a franchise, a home care franchisor. We bought a franchise, a home care industry, take care of seniors. That's what we said. We did that in 2002.
Speaker 1:And Brian, we did that just because I will tell you this. Anywhere in the world that would have happened to me. It was possible because I lived in America. Inside of the challenges, because I lived in America, I had an opportunity to buy something like that. Now let me tell you how we bought that. We didn't have any money. Okay, we took an advance on our credit card To buy a business. What I think? The advance was $12,000 and some changes Slightly under $13,000.
Speaker 1:We took an advance on our credit card to buy a franchise, brian. We started building a franchise in 2002. Two years later we bought another franchise because the first one was doing so well it paid for the second one.
Speaker 2:Wow, same industry.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, absolutely Okay. It's the cell, the self franchises, who were bought the second one two years later only two years, as a matter of fact, and it was much bigger than the one we had bought before, almost twice as big, paid for by the first one. Okay, we kept on building, kept on building, kept up, kept hiring people and doing things, and then eventually we uh, someone was selling. We bought that franchise, another one, the third one kept on building, kept on building, and then we decided to buy a fourth one in washington. Okay, today we uh, we employ north of 300 people. We've served thousands of people over the years.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, and we're blessed and I say that because I couldn't have done that anywhere else. It was because of what our forefathers Mr Frank Douglas, dr EW DeBoer, all these Malcolm X, all these you, dr B DeBoer, all these Mark Remex, all these, you, dr D, folks like you what you did for you guys made this possible for us. Okay, so it goes back to the journey of freedom. I think that you know I'm saying all this to thank the system, our people. You know I'm on the backs of what they've done for us.
Speaker 1:That's what it means, because, like I said we're at work, but if you don't have the opportunity to succeed, it's not going to work for you, and I think that what our people have done, what this society has done, what America represents Now, america is not perfect. No country is perfect. No country is perfect. No country is perfect, exactly, but I think that America represents the best of humanity, in spite of what we'll face today. So that's my story, Dr B.
Speaker 2:Oh man, I guess I love it. I've got so many questions Like. The first question I have is you know you were teaching people algebra. Do you still use algebra all the time?
Speaker 1:Not right now. Not right, that's a good one. Doesn't mean no. What doesn't mean I, I was in there because I remember I had to get that degree. I know, I know your daddy was coming right so.
Speaker 2:So when dad came and he saw you graduate, was he excited for you. Oh yeah, he was.
Speaker 1:I mean, dad did not earn a college. He did not earn a college degree. Okay, he was very well educated, self-made millionaire. He went to school, but he did not have a degree. He did not have the opportunity to have a degree. So he was very excited he won. I mean, to me it was just the he could. In fact, he earned his degree through. In my eyes, that's what it was.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, it was a big deal and it was kind of the handoff it sounds like to the next generation. I worked so hard so that you could achieve, and then you proved to him that you did what his dreams were.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, we went for all of our kids. Yes, 100%, absolutely.
Speaker 2:What I also want to talk about is just the identity. There's things that happen in our lives, pivotal points that happen in our lives that allow us to either excel or retract. And when those obstacles come and you have this identity of I want to pursue my dreams, I'm coming here. I think America is a place to do it. Then you get here and people act like they can't understand you and they make it difficult for you. What part of your identity allowed you to say that doesn't matter, I'm going to still push forward, because I guess I would believe that some people just go back home because it's easier.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, Dr B, you're right. I mean, I think that with regards to that gentleman who said he could not understand, I don't think that I would even believe that gentleman at all to be, honest with you.
Speaker 1:I mean the gentleman just didn't understand what I was saying. I mean it is what it is. I mean he was just being real with me, right, and I think that see to me things like that. I look at life as feedback. Okay To me. I took it as feedback, right, I mean because I have to relate to a wider audience right.
Speaker 1:And if I did not learn to relate to this one person, I'd be missing the boat. I mean, I think in life we have to look at things. We can't just look at things as someone is against me, all right, because everyone has a journey. I mean, again, your program is Journey to Freedom. Everyone has their journey, I mean, and in that journey you're going to go through obstacles, challenges are going to be there, right? I think the biggest thing is to have that sense of resiliency, if you will, to want to go after this, because challenges are going to come.
Speaker 1:I mean, I was in the office today and we had some challenges. We had some challenges in the office. I mean, I had a lady in the office who's been with us for a little over two years, a great producer and I'll go back to your question but great producer for the team, right? She said, well, paul, listen, it's time for me to move on. She's in her 60s and I respect her, but she's a great producer, you know. And I said well, paul, I really need to move on.
Speaker 1:It's the next chapter of my life, I think. Well, and we had a meeting, talk, and I gave us some other avenues here. I looked at different advantage points. How can we make this a win-win? I know what your priorities are at this stage of your life, but are you open to some other options here? What are those options? And we started talking. Could you go part-time? Could we create a different position for you here where we can take advantage of the resources you have, the experience you have? So it works for you, it works for us. So I'm just saying that in life, you know we can't these. They're going to come up. I mean, I think the test of a person you know is because life is going to throw this test at us. How we navigate through it makes a difference because, as you know, it's not what happens to you, how you respond to what happens, how you respond to what happens.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it reminds me I wrote a book that's called there Is no Tiger, which is about overcoming, overthinking and controlling anxiety. And I tell a story in the book because you're talking about challenges where everything was going wrong. You know, I had team members and we won a sales contest and we're going to St Martin in the Caribbean and things aren't going right. And you know I'm at the point where they lost our reservations for our rooms and you know we flew all, we flew on all the way from Los Angeles to, you know, to get there. So now we're at, you know, 12 hours of traveling. It's just irritated. And so I'm pretty short with the clerk, I can admit that. And the concierge comes running from the other end of the room and he's like what's wrong with you, man? And then I begin to tell him the story and he looks at me and he goes. You know he kind of goes. There's no tigers and there's no this he says. But on the island, man, there are no problems, only inconveniences.
Speaker 1:There you go, that's it inconveniences.
Speaker 2:There you go, that's it. So I've tried to live my life these days thinking inconveniences don't stop you. No, they shouldn't. Problems sometimes do, because of the way that we respond to them. But when we think of them as inconveniences, hey, this is just another blip in my short time on this planet that I'm trying to make things happen, which is just another blip in my short time on this planet that I'm trying to make things happen Absolutely, which is so cool. So you graduate from college and then you go into Amway and you're in, and I remember the Amway days. I think a lot of us did that. Yes, you know drawing circles and hoping somebody's going to come there.
Speaker 2:Then you sell like a couple bars of soap and you can make $2. I'm going to be rich. A few years later you're still only making $2. But the personal development, what kind of? Because that that kind of probably started your personal development. What kinds of things did you decide you were going to do to concentrate on you so that you could become the person that could buy the franchise and then be successful in the franchise? What were some?
Speaker 1:of the things that you did? Good question I had to work on me. I had to work on me, which is a work in progress.
Speaker 1:As you know, you never really get to work on you, right, I had to work on me I had to work on you right, how to work on me, how to work on my mindset, because I believe this is up to me. We control this, we control everything. I mean that's once you control. That's why I focus a lot on my study even today, because we again I'll talk about that later we started a personal development company.
Speaker 2:We did okay.
Speaker 1:My focus today is this A lot of us feel like you talked about the inconvenience, which is really, to me, it's all a matter of perspective. You just switched it. You said it's not a problem, it's an inconvenience, right there, you can deal with it. You see, it's an inconvenience. I mean, right there, you can deal with it. Because you see that, well, I couldn't. I mean, oh okay, we can take care of this.
Speaker 1:So for me, it was more mindset. I had to grow, that I had to realize I was bigger than who I was presenting myself to be. Believe in self, all right, challenges are always going to be there, but how do you become them? And then, when I saw people overcoming these challenges, especially people of color, doing that, okay, I said, oh well, if he can do it, I can do, because you know the challenge with us, you know and our community. I think that up to be is that we don't have a lot of role models we can lean on. Okay, there's no apprenticeship. Okay, I mean no one holding you up, all right. Now we see all these folks who are making it big and all these things and all that, but they're too far from us, right, we can't reach out and talk to them Right, which makes a big difference, I think, because you know, if you can talk to someone like we're talking now and if we can take their, that's's what I try, my wife, that I do now, what I take the responsibility, richard, help someone else, because we all need a little bit of help.
Speaker 1:I mean, you know we all do. I mean, and I think the biggest thing we like, and I mean the way I've seen it, the biggest thing I think, is that empathy for one another. We shouldn't, we shouldn't be a case where, because you've made it, you climb up a ladder and get under a tree and then you push the ladder down and the next person looks for a different ladder. Come on, no, that's not how Bill Gates does it. That's not how the other rich people make it. That's not a success. They have a system in place. What is that system? Can we use that in our favor? Because we're smart, we're strong people, we're very resilient people. We have it in us, it's in there. But if we don't know that, we don't act like we have it, it ain't going to come out how we showing up. Everyone has challenges, but we can't relate, and I know racism is a big part of it. I get that. But you know what? I don't let that stop me anymore. Stop the reason. No, no, it's an inconvenience. It's an inconvenience.
Speaker 2:I mean I'm not going to change my color.
Speaker 1:No, why I have to be proud of who I am. Yeah, I, I mean we have. I mean, look at OpenWay for you, look at all these other folks who have made it To me. That just proves to me that we can make it, absolutely, of course. And I think we need to tell our story more and more and more, because if we don't do that, then folks are going to gravitate to the lowest possible common denominator and not really, whereas we have a talent in us to make it happen. I mean, that's how my daughter, my daughter, became a. She's an MD, she's a dermatologist. Okay, she graduated last year. She's in a what is it? Her residency?
Speaker 2:right now Okay.
Speaker 1:Because she saw the possibilities. In our home we talk about possibilities. We have to not take excuses Because you've got to hold yourself to a higher standard. Dr B, you do, you do.
Speaker 2:One of the things that has been a common denominator in this show, as I've done now. I've done over 150 episodes of successful Black men who are doing things, but almost every single one of them has said you know, I wanted to see somebody else who looked like me doing it. And what I find is we keep seeing it, we keep seeing it, we keep seeing it, yes, but it's the person who takes advantage after they see it. And what I find is we keep seeing it, we keep seeing it, we keep seeing it, yes, but it's the person who takes advantage after they see it, without the excuses of well, because I guarantee there's some people in our community that says that you were lucky, that says that.
Speaker 1:Luck is a part of it. I prefer blessed. It's a part of it. I do.
Speaker 2:I know it's a part of it You're blessed. Know it's a part of it You're blessed, but they're saying that's the reason. It's like you didn't put any work in or you didn't go through or you didn't have any failures, like everything you touch turned to gold. Now you and I know that that is not the case.
Speaker 1:Not close. Not close, no, sir, that would be right. But again, I think that's kind of where we need to. I like questions like that, I like those kind of thoughts, but I think that's where we need to communicate, yeah, okay, and reason with each other. I don't want to say educate, because you know it could come out the wrong way. We need to talk Right. And let me hear my story Because, see, if I don't know your story, I may be judging it from the wrong lens. Of course, correct, so we need to. I think that's where we need to.
Speaker 1:Success, like you said, leaves clues and success involves it's a journey. And that journey there's going to be ups and downs, right, there's going to be things you're going to learn, unlearn, and all of that. It's a journey. They don't call it a journey. A journey means it's a process. To it, I mean, we've got to get away from this microwave oven type generational mentality and gimme, gimme, gimme. Like I said, the way we raise our kids, our dogs now is that you've got to earn it. Mom and dad aren't going to give it to you.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry we're not going to do that. Well, the thing that I love what you said about earning it and what I'm realizing more, because my life's goal is to help people become the person they need to be in order to do what God put them on this earth to do. But when you talk about earning it, you have to earn the right to become. But when you talk about earning it, you have to earn the right to become. You have to earn that, you know, because you can do, and a lot of people try to go do and think they're going to have. But until you become a person who can do the thing and when I think about earning, it's not like, okay, well, I got to go to a certain amount of years of school or I got to go sit with some mentors, I mean, those are all part of it, but you have to earn your stripes of who you are, you got to do the work.
Speaker 2:You got to do the work and you got to do the work. To do that, you have to become that person that can then do whatever. It is that thing. And there's so many of us that think that that somehow comes through osmosis, like if I watch enough television of successful people, I can be successful. But those are actors, right, they're pretending to be successful people, right, dr B?
Speaker 1:that's why I talked about in your early question I think it was your first question I talked about I got to work on me. Yeah, yeah, the most important work is to work on us. You know that. I mean I think we all that's the most important work. That internal work that no one sees right, that internal work, that disciplines. You know, sometimes we talk about morning disciplines, daily disciplines, what is it you're?
Speaker 1:after? Who do you really want to be? Who do you see yourself being? What do you want to make? What mark do you want to make in society? Because we all, like you said, we all have a message, we have a mission, right I?
Speaker 2:mean, what's our mission? What percent? Because I'm trying to find this number and, you know, I think I'm getting closer to it. But what percentage when I think about it, because you have a personal development company, which is even more helpful for this question. What percentage of time and it might be different seasons, it might be at this age, at this age, but should you spend minimum, I guess, on working on you as you progress?
Speaker 1:I would. I mean I spend at least a couple hours. I mean for me personally, I spend a couple, I mean I would say at least four hours a day, because that's important work To me.
Speaker 1:That's important work I mean you know, and that's to me, that's at least four hours, like I said earlier because see Dr B, to me and some of the reading I've read I've gone through we have to spend time with ourselves a lot. I mean, you know, I'm not much of a Bible person. I read it and all that, but if you notice the great historical people, you know even in the Bible spend time by themselves. They spend a lot of time by themselves. I mean talking to God and going. You know, they just spend time alone. That alone time is really important. We can't spend all our time on whatever Netflix or television or whatnot and expect to reach our dreams. It ain't going to happen. We have to spend time talking to ourselves, finding out who we are, what we put on earth to do, because, like I said, we make ourselves strong enough. Racism don't have a chance. No, no, don't have a chance. No is next right. I mean, that's the internal work we talked about, though I mean are we doing it?
Speaker 1:Are we doing it daily? How much time are we putting into it? Because I believe that if we work eight hours or whatever I think at least I we're 24 hours a day. Right like carnegie was saying, you know this, that's what we call opportunity time, because if you work eight hours, six hours, you got eight hours. What are we doing with that opportunity time, though? Yep?
Speaker 2:and you know so say it's that four hours waking time, that's 20 of the time that you have that you are working on, whether it's reading a book, or watching a YouTube video, or communicating with others. I mean, there's all kinds of ways that you can work on you taking a class.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:But what I see, what I see especially in our community and you can maybe help me the difference because you have to sacrifice a little bit I see when I see education as being that 20% where you're educating yourself, working on you, but then I see the other, where people are spending that 20%, is on entertainment, especially these days, because it's in our faces so much we can scroll up and down, we can watch videos all night, mindless stuff that takes us away from our lives, not realizing. If we spend some time working on the other thing, then our life doesn't need the entertainment. Right, because I don't see you as a big, I'm going to watch six hours of TV every day.
Speaker 1:Dr B years ago, when I was at Amway one of our uplines I see everybody reading the newspaper. I said what do you want to be? Do you want to be on the newspaper? Do you want to just be consuming information, or do you want to be mentioned in the paper? I mean, you want to mention it in a good way, right? You don't want to just read about stories, and I think that's the because you talked about. To me time and I'm sure you agree with this time to me is the most precious commodity really.
Speaker 2:Infinitely more valuable than money, exactly.
Speaker 1:Because you can't get it back. I mean, you can't get it back. So I think it's how we manage that, how we use that to allocate our time, that makes the biggest difference to me. I'm an early riser, that's just the way I do it. I'm going to wake up early. I'm going to locate that again. The big thing is, to your point again.
Speaker 1:What I was going to say was that I think sometimes we need to just spend time to ask ourselves what do we want? Who do we want to be? How do we want to impact the world? Our world, it doesn't have to be. How do we want to impact the world Our world, it doesn't have to be the whole country, like Dr King did and the other folks did. How do we want to impact our family? How do we want to make it better for the next generation? I think if we answer those questions to ourselves as soon as they give us that motivation, we want to spend less time on TV or whatever else we need to do and then be about the business of making that difference, because, like you said, you can't give what you don't have, and the self-education in me is a part of fitting out well, so to speak, to be able to share what we've got with other people.
Speaker 2:Well and here's how I know that and thinking about what you're saying, that time is infinitely more valuable than money. If I, if I were to say I would give you, say I'm a, write you a check for five million dollars, no strings attached, I just want to get, I'm a philanthropist, I just want to give out five million dollars, would you take it? And you would say, yes, of course I'll take it. Five million dollars, yeah, I could do so. I could give it away if I needed to, right. But then if I were to say I'm going to give you five million dollars, but the the condition is that you.
Speaker 2:You only get it for 24 hours and then you die. Would you still take it? There's no way, right, because our time doing things that don't move us forward, that don't grow us, that don't help us become that person. Yes, I want to ask you about trust, because you come over here, you know and you have to trust that. You have this belief that America is going to be all that you've dreamed about through the time that you're there. But then there's people and relationships that you have to trust as you're here. How did you develop that sense of who to trust, who not to trust? Because in our community we have so much trouble not only trusting, let's say, the white man, but we don't trust each other, we don't trust ourselves, we don't trust our wives and the women that are in our lives. We trust our mom, but other than that, we struggle with this thing called trust. How did you overcome at least the stereotypes of what happens in this country around trust, dr B.
Speaker 1:I think that that issue is all over, I think in Cameroon, where I'm from originally we have that issue too.
Speaker 1:It's gotten worse now with the way things are going. Now. Everyone wants it. Yesterday, they want to succeed so badly that they do the wrong things, they make the wrong choices.
Speaker 1:To me it's through a process of number one. You have to demand of yourself a certain standard. You want to be a person of integrity because you kind of attract what you are right. I believe that's very strong. You attract who you are. First of all, I want to hold myself to a's very strong. You have to trust who you are. So you know, first of all I want to hold myself to a person's integrity. I'm not saying I can't, I don't make wrong decisions or anything wrong. I do that. But I hold myself to a high standard.
Speaker 1:Where the folks that I've tracked you know I've been burned along the and they're going to do, you know, say something, do it. It happens. But it's been to me. For me it's been through a process of trial and error and then holding myself to a higher standard, and then when I do that, I attract certain people in my life that I can count on. You know, are they always going to be there? Now I mean I've been burned by family members and whatnot it's going to happen. But then you know, as you go, as you progress in life, they see you, they see who you're about and what you stand for and then you tend to attract, I think, different people in your life because they see that you want things done a certain way.
Speaker 1:It's a process and I'm not saying I prefer it in no way. I'm still learning. It's a process, but that is fundamental because, as you know, even in business, if you can't count on someone, you can't do business with them. I mean, why do folks flock over here to America to do business? Because they can count on the United States. Okay, they know we're a stable country and all of that. That's why they come in here. So trust is fundamental and we need to build that because, like I said, you know I mean it takes. I mean I remember Mrs Michelle Obama's book I think was it her book it takes a village. Yeah, okay, it takes a village. So it's going to take more of us pulling our resources together and doing stuff, but we can't trust each other, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh my gosh. And then when somebody as a business person, when somebody, I guess, compromises your trust in them, sometimes we still because they're friends or they're family, and we continue to not say okay, I need to put you a little bit further away from me, a little further at arm's weight, until you can now prove yourself that you can be trustworthy and so we have to, we have to take it away from our hearts a little bit sometimes yes, you know well because we're not helping them right.
Speaker 2:We're not helping them by allowing you to continue the behavior, and yet we do well, but don't be right.
Speaker 1:I mean, see, the thing is for me, I really will not do business with friends. Yeah, I mean I prefer not to do that because I think I value the relationship more than the money. Yes, okay, I mean, if we're business, let's do business. But it's hard sometimes to have a clean break because then if things go south with the business, it impacts the relationship Right. So I really prefer not to do business with friends. If we started out in business and we became friends, that's a whole different thing. But I will not. I mean I would just not do it. I mean it's going to be let's make it professional, because we tend to, you know, we tend to inadvertently, you know, combine the two, and I think that's where the problem comes in. I mean we have to just be upfront with each other, recognizing that issues are going to come up, and just deal with them. I think it makes it worse when you try to hide, right? Yeah?
Speaker 2:And that's what we do, right? That's exactly what we do, especially when there's a friendship there. And then we think about a contract. Right, the contracts that we have, that we sign, are based on a mutual distrust in the first place.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have to have this contract. Because I don't yeah or we don't trust that you're going to do yeah what you say you're going to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when you start that with friends, then you're going. I'm already starting off. You've been my friend all this time.
Speaker 2:We're supposed to be trust and I'm going to ask you to sign this thing that says we don't trust each other, yeah, yeah, exactly it puts us all in a bad situation yes it does, what I, what I want to talk about, because I think it's important, especially in this context, because you have I can't ask all my guests you know about money and how money works and and and you know rich dad, poor dad and all that kind of stuff because they they haven't proven that it proven that it's something that they can handle.
Speaker 2:You talked about an investment on your credit card for the $12,000, whatever it was to buy your first franchise. When we as a community sometimes get money, we spend more than we're making all the time and then we end up with all these money issues and we don't understand how to utilize debt and all that kind of stuff. I know all the lessons that you learned about money weren't at the community college. When you're going through your business classes or the university, what kinds of things did you learn around the way that would be beneficial, like our foundational things that we need to know about money in order to double, triple, quadruple the amount of money that we have?
Speaker 1:Great question, dr B. Great question. I learned that you have to respect money. Okay, I learned that you have to respect money. Okay, you have to respect money. Money is a tool. We have to have a budget.
Speaker 1:I remember my wife and I starting out. Remember I told you I was a security guard, right, yeah. And then I kind of graduated and became a leasing consultant okay, showing people apartments right, it's a graduation here. Uh, way back when and she was, um, she used to be cashier at a, at a retail store, okay, in fact, we used to have to. We ran out of it was an apartment we're in, so we had to wait. We had to put out two checks to pay rent. Okay, I mean, it is what it is, that's what it was. So we had to be on a budget. We couldn't just be frivolous with our money. So we started then to put ourselves on a budget. Okay, we're going to, you know, make sure we're in it. That's what we did starting out and eventually, as we knew more, we hung around folks.
Speaker 1:The first thing, I think you've got to have a desire to earn some money. You have to have a desire, you've got to want to get away from just paying the bills. That's why I asked the question before who do you want to be? What mark do you want to leave in society, in your family, what do you want to do for fun? Because once we ask ourselves all those questions, then we start saying, well, what does it need to get there?
Speaker 1:We start reading get around folks that have done some of this stuff and then we start seeing what we need to do. So I learned from others. Like I talked about the budget, paying yourself first is important. Putting money away is important Because, as we all know, you have a bank account and you take out more than you have in there. Guess what Overdrive? Right, you get to pay for it, you have fees and then you can only get to some point because it's not your money anymore. Now you're taking it from the bank. Yeah, yeah, right. So we have to learn to save money. We've done it from the bank. Yeah, yeah, right. So we have to learn to save money. We've done it over the years. Generations, our generations have done it. Black folks they do, but we have to get away from. We got to spend every dime we get. Now, again, how much are? We put some money away and then you're putting money for what? Have goals and dreams of what you want to do with them? Because I was going to read this to you. This is something that Dr B, I'm going to read this and just bear with me here. This is important Saving for greatness.
Speaker 1:Your savings, believe it or not, affect the way you stand, the way you walk, the tone of your voice, in short, your physical well-being and self-confidence. A man without savings is always running. He must take the first job offered on the early start. He sits nervously on life's cheers because any small emergency throws him into the hands of others. Without savings, a man must be too grateful. Gratitude is fine, it's a fine thing in its place, but a constant state of gratitude is a horrible place in which to live. A man with savings can walk tall. He may appraise opportunities in a relaxed way, have time for judicious estimate and not be rushed by economic necessity. And it's a long, but I'll leave it at that.
Speaker 1:So it goes by the savings thing. We have to buy into that concept, because if you don't have that, if you don't have the savings, you're not saving, you're not putting money away for yourself. Well, how could you invest in anything, how could you be a part of affecting in a positive way your economic future? Because, remember, we've got to remember that we are in a capitalist environment. So, guess what? We have to control some of that capital. We have to get off the sidelines. We are owners, we're stakeholders here, and one of the ways to be a stakeholder is you got to own some of the capital.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. If you can find a way to send that to us, we'll put it in the show notes.
Speaker 1:You like that. Okay, I'll send it to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like it, it's really good. One of the things that you just said that really intrigued me, because you kept saying we need to save, but when you added on to that, you said we need to save so that we can invest. Because when I think about the accumulation of cash or whatever, I think about a pool or like the Dead Sea or whatever that is where we put money. If we just put money in a pot or a can, it loses its value over time, because the amount of that you can buy with just inflation alone. So you're saving it, so you can put it somewhere where you can now have your money grow, and so that's such an important part of the savings. It's more than just go put it under your mattress or stick it in a you know, an account that doesn't have any any way to invest. It is. I have to have it, though, because I've got to take a portion of whatever I've got to pay myself first into that portion, so that I can make my money Work for you or make my money.
Speaker 1:Dr B, to add to that, Warren Buffett, whom we all know, said that if you don't have money working for you, you're going to work for a long, long, long time.
Speaker 2:I mean, we've got to have our money working for us. Well, and there comes our time thing again. Christy, what do you think about? You know, if I want to be a millionaire, do I want to be a millionaire slow? Or do I want a millionaire fast? Right, Because if I make $25,000 a year and I work for 40 years, I've made a million dollars. But that's way too slow, 40 years and I'm learning.
Speaker 1:It is, it is and if you, if you tap inflation in there, your middle is really worth.
Speaker 2:It's not worth a million dollars so people talk about all the time those get rich quick screens. Well, I hope so. I. I mean, I don't, I mean I don't think it. You know I gotta, you gotta be worried about the scans and stuff yes, you know get rich quick is way better than get rich slow yeah.
Speaker 1:And you're right, I mean the big thing to me is just getting around the right people. I mean because once you make money, once you're earning money, you know, then you start seeing. You know. I mean because you start searching for how do I get this money working for me, right? And you start running to throw out networking. That's the big part. We don't do a lot of. I mean I have my notes on here, because we don't do a lot of networking, we don't talk to one another Especially today right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're scared of each other and, like I said, we have to get away from that. There's nothing there for every one of us.
Speaker 2:Two things you said. One, you've got to be around the right people, and then two, that we don't live in a world of lack. Yeah, no, no, you can't, and I think that's a problem that we haven't even in our country right now. There's this belief that if you have, then the only way I can get it is take it from you, because there's not enough for both of us.
Speaker 1:But, dr B, that's a scarcity mentality. It is, I mean, think about it, the good Lord doesn't. I mean the whales in the water. They eat many fish. Do you think they have to? Don't eat as much fish.
Speaker 2:Well, these are my fish, not your fish. There's no more fish. So we got to Right exactly they. Well, these are my fish, not your fish, there's no more fish, so we got to Exactly.
Speaker 1:How about the birds? There's enough in there, for we have to get away from scarcity mentality now. There's plenty out there for everyone. The point is are we going to step up to the plate to get what is truly ours? That's why I go back to saying that it's a mindset thing. Once you know that you can get what you want, you know you can get to the point that you do the internal work now to get what you want. I mean you wouldn't be able to. I mean, look at these folks out there Dr Marion Golden, look at Oprah. I mean we can look all over. The success is out there for us to mimic. They have done it, so it's possible for us.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Well, you know, like our world, like I said, when we're watching entertainment. I was watching a show this last week. It was about the 1800s, you know Harrison Ford's in it, or whatever. And the man says well, I'm going to, we're going to be. You tell him his wife, we're going to be rich, honey. And he says but one thing I have to tell you if we're going to be rich, that means we have to take it from the people who already have it, otherwise we can't have it. And then his wife was like well, if you got to take it, make sure that you make it so bad for them that they can never take it back. And I'm like, oh my gosh, are we really?
Speaker 1:is this really?
Speaker 2:how people think and how they feel, because if we're willing to communicate, we're willing to be in group, we're willing to network, there is so many resources. I mean, that's how we left this show and just having people understand that you don't have to have this scarcity mentality. There is enough for you to win all of your dreams and still have more for everybody else.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, absolutely. I mean, the point is that you don't know what you don't know, right, and I think our biggest drawback really is awareness. Yeah, we don't know, we don't know enough. I mean, we're scared of what we don't know, right? So we just need to push the envelope in terms of how much more can we know? I mean, you know, like I was listening to Jim Quick one of the things I listen to he says knowledge is power. But, action is superpower. Yeah, because it's the black knowledge right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, if you act on what you know, then it becomes a superpower. So again I go back to awareness. Again, we don't know If you don't know ignorance. I mean, sometimes folks don't like to say they're ignorant, but it's again, we don't know If you don't know ignorance. Sometimes folks don't like to say that you can learn, but it's real.
Speaker 2:We don't know. There's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 1:There's nothing wrong with not knowing it gives you. Now you know what I need to learn to get there.
Speaker 2:If you don't know now, but now you've been exposed to it. If you still don't know a year from now, that's on you.
Speaker 1:Well, exactly, you're right but again, I think you're right and that's why I say that we have to be. What do we want to do? How do we? Because, see, not knowing too, I mean comes from you know, in my, the way I see it also, is that there's no desire. I mean, if you had a desire to want to do better, right, you're going to find a way to learn. Money is, in my view anyway. I mean money because I saw it, you know, doing what we did from where we started to where we are today. Money is an inconvenience. It cannot be determined if you want it badly enough?
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh my gosh. Well, what didn't we talk about? We've been talking for almost an hour right now and I still want more. This has been such a great conversation, but what do you want to leave us with? What do you want that we didn't talk about? That you want to make sure that our listeners know about?
Speaker 1:I would just say that we all have it in us to be great people. Our charge, what I try to do, and my wife and I does, is to we try to just make a difference in the life of folks we come across. We have to learn to realize that we can all lift each other. Let's be about a business of lifting each other Because, at the end of the day, what difference have we made in the lives of the folks we've come across? What we do in our business, in our company, premier Destiny, is that our motto is that we enlighten people, we empower people and we inspire them to the greatness, because we believe there's greatness in every one of us. We wanna help lift that, bring that up, because it's about collective consciousness, right, I mean, you know, and we all have it in us Some of us don't believe because we've been beaten down. The system has done whatever. I agree there is that the system has a part to play, but you know who has a bigger part to play? We do, we do, absolutely. We do, we do, and it's up to us to decide. We have to.
Speaker 1:Just you know, yes, there's craziness in the country right now. There's some changes happening, but you know what Change to me, is also opportunity. What is it? What can we do about it? Let's welcome the change and find out how we can use it to our advantage, because you know what Folks are going to benefit from this change. Why shouldn't we be a part of it? That's why sometimes I like to when I look at this brother's book right here. I'm sure you've read this.
Speaker 2:You know, this inspires me, this inspires me.
Speaker 1:You know these are some of the things we need to. You know we need to. You know, just keep you know again, just know that it's possible for us. You know my wife wrote a book. I'll just do a plot for my wife's book here.
Speaker 2:Really Money, okay, okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, that's my wife's book right there, so it could help someone. We have to be about a business. This is a woman who has a master's degree, you know, and she never wrote a book. She was able to write a book because of the opportunities we have in this country. Anyone else can do that. I will be writing my books. They're going to come up, not right now, but they're on their way, and if it's possible for me, it's possible for every one of us.
Speaker 1:We can do it, of course the last thing I'm going to say is we have to be about a business philanthropy. We have to help one another. Yeah, john and I love to give. We love to support causes because we believe that if you're blessed to be a blessing to your neighbor to others we're not going to take any of this stuff with us. We we're just keepers, aren't we? Let's make a difference. Thank you again, Brian. Thank you, Dr You're welcome.
Speaker 2:Do you have a website that people can go to?
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, it's Premier with an E PremierDestinycom, premier E-R-E-M-I-E-R-E Destinycom. Is there one thing?
Speaker 2:when they go there that they should absolutely do. Is there a book that they should buy? Is there a? Well, I mean, they can check.
Speaker 1:just go through what we have in there. Check our YouTube channel, LinkedIn and also Facebook. Let them just go through and see what. If they can help them, certainly reach out to us. We'll be glad to help them. But we have to be about the business of building each other up, and that's what Jordan and I have decided to do.
Speaker 2:Wow, thank you so much. Thank you for being on today. Thank you, yeah, just for the honor of being able to have this conversation with you. And you know, like I said, I love this, the podcast format, so much because we get to learn why somebody else was able to make it. We all try to make excuses. Well, nobody's doing it and it's hard, but when you see people that did not pick the excuses, that learned through the process, that kept going, that got around, people that are lifting each other up, that's what we need more of, and so that's what you gave us today in the mountains and just, oh my gosh, it was so good to talk to you. I want to do it again.
Speaker 2:I want to follow up all these wonderful things, and so, for those of you watching, go ahead and hit subscribe button if you haven't done that, because we're going to continue with great programming. I have Myron Golden going to be on the show here in a couple of oh wow, Let me know I love that for Golden.
Speaker 1:I mean, he is. I tell you he's one of my inspirations. I just listened to that watching YouTube. He is, but those are the kind of minds you want to get around. Dr D, yeah, please let me know when it's coming up, because I want to know what it is I will, I will.
Speaker 2:We're going back and forth and today, and so you know, as we continue, go ahead and, like I said, get the notifications hit, subscribe If this podcast meant something to you or you know somebody that it would mean for, send it to them. Send it to them because the only thing they could do if it could help them, and if they don't listen to it, then that's on them, but at least you offered it to them so that they could be as successful as they possibly can be. I want you not to forget that you're God's greatest gift. He loves you. If you allow him to, I can't wait to see you on the next one. Paul, it has been a pleasure. I look forward to talking to you and we will see the rest of you on the next one.