Ujamaa | Cooperative Economics - Master P + Baron Davis to Buy Reebok

 I got my toughest challenge a few months ago when someone tried to label me. I'm not one for labels, so I stumbled when asked "What are you?": a Mentor, Wellness Trainer, Personal Finance Advisor, Life Coach. I simply tell people I am a businessperson. I challenge everyone in the world to begin to act and think like one. Why??? Because once you leave the safety net of your parents home (usually @ 18 years of age), everything else in your life with be a contract --- economically and spiritually. I think back to leaving college and everything from the cell phone, apartment lease, rental truck, job offer, car loan, and monthly credit card bill were all contractual obligations. If I'm not a businessperson, then why am I signing a contract??

So it's only fitting that the black candle of Kwanzaa on Day 4 symbolizes my most blogged about subject, Cooperative Economics. Economics was one of my favorite subjects in school because it had basic assumptions that focus on what humans do when they are facing certain options --- the guns vs butter theory. A quick trip down memory lane:

A nation, and I apply this to your concept specifically to your household, must determine how to spend its monies (budget). If you spend it all on butter (food, schools, etc.) then everyone's bellies are full but this nation may not be safe. If you spend it all on guns (fences, alarms, rifles), then you may feel very safe but go hungry. Ironically, these are the simple items most people and politicians still fight about today. 

• Increase the security defense budget?
• Decrease the budget for food, school, and health assistance?
• What about arts, culture, drug mitigation, violence mitigation?

In your home, one must decide:

• Do you buy a home, how much?
• Do you buy that new car or take the bus?
• How much do we spend on food, toys, education?

All tough decisions but necessary ones that must be made. So my challenge is for people to be humble, focus on strengthening your knowledge and collectively working together to build and expand the economic profile of yourself and your family. Work hard, then harder as we have one life to live. If you're pop culture, you now call this concept the gig economy or accumulating side hustles. 

I call it UJAMMA - I look at how history has treated the middle class in America and across the world and more importantly I looked at how history has treated people of color, anyone who looks different. I took Economics and loved it and realized very quickly the data doesn't lie. The middle class is getting gutted and poorer, year after year. Communities of color make advancements, but due to government policies or the lack thereof suffer massive setback during recessions, depressions, and periods of health pandemics. If you've read my previous posts on this subject, this equates to a person of color losing a massive amount of their equity or wealth roughly every 8-12 years. 

So I challenge you to focus on where I spend most of my energy, achieving balance and UJAMAA. I have a cooperative of investments that ensure I will withstand things I cannot control and the things I know people will try to do to hold me down. 

• I have a saving account that will withstand 1-2 economic recessions
• I have an investment account to supplement my retirement and fund investments
• I work a Corporate job, earning pay and benefits such as a 401K which I've maxed out every year for 18 years (someone is giving you free money)
• I have a side hustle, where I work with persons of color, veterans, woman, single moms as I try to diversify Corporate America while bring them value in the Cybersecurity space
• I own real estate which pays for itself and provides income for my next real estate venture

I just learned that Master P and Baron Davis are looking to buy Reebok for roughly $2.4 Billion dollars. Ironically, what I was more interested in is who is the investment team that came together to pitch the deal terms. Fact is most deals done are done as a cooperative, in Silicon Valley they rely on Venture Capitalists and in our community we must embrace this concept. I also challenge you to shop with black owners but I challenge my black owners to think bold. My cyber services are not limited to a group of people, many of your products will need to be able to supply the world. This helps you achieve SCALE. A level where you can supply many people across the country and eventually the world. Sky's the limit