Branden Thompson is a native Houstonian who graduated from Prairie View University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He founded TradeHouse. A company that's partnered with an educational platform to properly teach people how to invest in the foreign exchange market. Within only two years of its inception, Trade HOUSE (a wealth management organization) has grown to 80,000 active members. Co-Founders of Trade House, a wealth management company; they're on the show to discuss hosting the "I Am 3" Conference in Miami.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're coming to bed hunt Yep, honey, I'll be right there.
Just gotta turn out the light. Oh oh, some thing's
never change, like your kids always leaving tiny toys on
the floor for you to step on and Gango saving
folks lots of money on their car insurance. Sweetie, I
(00:24):
think I left the downstairs light on. Please don't make
me go. Fifteen minutes could save you or more. The
Black Effect Presents features honest conversations and exclusive interviews, a
space for artists, everyday people, and listeners to amplify, elevate,
and empower black voices with great conversations. Make sure to
listen to The Black Effect Presents Podcast on I Heart Radio,
(00:47):
Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. On April four,
Dr Martin Luther King was shot and killed in Memphis.
A petty criminal named Aimes Earl Ray was arrested. Case
closed right James L. Ray was upon for the official story.
(01:08):
Some of the evidence, as far as I was concerned,
did not match the circumstances. This is the MLK Tapes.
The first episodes are available now. Listen on the I
Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
(01:28):
Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
has the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and
Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's given me
advice on many occasions. In occasion didn't notice, I'm not broke.
You know. He'll be interview with celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and
industry decision makers. It's what he likes to do, it's
what he likes to share. Now it's time to hear
(01:49):
from my man, Rashan McDonald money making Conversations. Here we come.
Welcome to Money Making Conversations. I am your host, Rashan McDonald.
It is time to stop reading other people's success stories.
You hear me say that every week, and start writing
your own. I always tell people you're here by gifts
you have, by passions, following your dreams. I tell people
to leave with your gifts and don't let your age, friends, family,
(02:12):
or co workers stop you from planning to living your
dream just because they want to stand that four day
all week. J'all, don't when you have to stay, don't
let you. Don't let fifty sixties tell you that's it.
I gotta have to retire don't let your friends tell
you what you're capable of doing, and don't let your
family members tell you that's all you can do. Uh,
it's on my show. That's why I created money making conversations.
I'd like to bring people on the show that I
(02:32):
call game breakers, some of my celebrities, some of them
our CEOs, entrepreneurs, and what I like to call industry
decision makers. My next guest is Brendan Thompson. He is
a native Houstonian. You know I got it, so you
know I love him already because I'm from Houston Texts.
He graduated from Preview and m that's an HBCU for
for anybody who don't know about the power of a
(02:54):
of of HBCU. That's prev am used to. Degree was
an electrical engineering. My degree was from your Houston and
mathematics we talk about in a minute. While he was
able to finish through with this engine and degree, I
couldn't make it past physics. He found a trade house,
a company that partnered with an educational platform to be
to teach people how to properly invest in the foreign
(03:15):
exchange market. Within only two years of its exception, trade house,
a wealth management organization has grown to eighty thousand active members.
In fact, the co founders and Brendon are actively engaging daily.
They help mentor and coach new members who joined their
wealth management group. Regardless of one's location or age, Please
(03:36):
work with the money making conversations straight out of family family,
prayer of view and m thinking about my board, Will Packer,
who was also electrical engineer. Brendon Thompson, How you doing, sir?
You don't how you doing? Sign? Well? First of all,
you know what part of used to you from? I
gotta break it down because I'm a fifth ward boar.
What what part of used? You grew up in city text?
(03:56):
You know the same most cities right there right then,
See I'm Houston, Texas. You know, even me saying mo,
I said fear for you all of a sudden I
asked him to say, well you, oh, but sit so
you're gonna start char change. But that's a great area
I grew up. I knew a fair familiar with that
area of the They kind of grew up before being
counted in Houston, Texas. And so would you be in
(04:19):
with what what has inspired you? You went to hbc
U School, which is Prey of View in them, which
is like forty five minutes outside of Houston, Texas. You
have Texas Southern right there in Houston, Texas. Down the
road you got Southern University. Up the road, you got Grambling,
Why Prayer of You? And m so A Shawn. If
I could just give you a little backstory on, you know,
(04:41):
my college journey. I started off at Hampton University. To
be honest with you, start off at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia.
And for those of you that know about Hampton, it's
a private school HBC as well, but very very expensive.
So you know, I couldn't, you know, continue because of
financial holes. So I decided to transfer. And when I
(05:03):
was looking at schools to transfer to in Texas, you
know I looked at you, of H I looked at
t S you, and I also was looking at Preview.
You know, you have ah no not to say anything
bad about the school, but I just heard that you
would get swallowed up. You would just be like another number.
It wouldn't give you that same HBU HBCU feel t S.
(05:25):
You didn't have my my degree. They had electronic engineer,
but they didn't have electrical engineer praev You happened to
be the only school within that Houston area that that
accepted the bulk of my transfer credit. So I went
ahead and I became the panther rolled up that rode
down to the baby. Don't the panthers up there? Now?
(05:46):
It's a cool thing about it. Like a good friend
of mine, Lonny Love, she graduated from PREV and m
she's blinding Love. She's the one of the co host
of the talk show The Real and she graduated electrical engineering.
So they now Preview has been known. When I graded
from high school, a lot of my friends went down
to Preview and have I'm living very successful lives. But
you were talking about the culture, Like I graduated from
(06:07):
University Houston. You can't get into the numbers game. Forty
thousand students walking around on that campus and when I
when I was there, they didn't have that college life.
It's much more of a commuter school. And so my
executive producer of Money Making Conversation, she's a Hampton grad
So when you said happened though, she all are dancing
in the studio throwing our hands up in there, and
(06:28):
so all right, So I got a lot of Pride
and then my boy, Will Packer, he graduated with electrical
engineering degree from FAM. You now, you got electrical engineering degree,
but you're not doing as they say electrical engineering, So
tell me about that transition. So when I transferred to
(06:48):
the p V, you know, I went ahead and finished
off and got my degree in electrical engineering, as you mentioned,
And before I even walked across the state, the stadiums
are already had an offer to the Born Company. So
the boring company offered me a full time position where
I started my journey in Long Beach, California. So I
hadn't you know, um ever been to California before in
(07:11):
my life, and it was a dream of mine to
go and lived there. But you know, I didn't know
exactly how I was gonna get there, so Long Behold.
You know, Boning offered me a full time positions, like
maybe a month or two after I graduated from p V,
I moved out to Long Beach started my journey. And
I'll be real with you, Rashaan, you know, it didn't
take me too long to figure out that corporate America
(07:32):
just wasn't fit for me. Right. I found I found
that I was like a shark in a swimming pool.
I was the youngest blackest person on my team and
every team I was on, and I started to feel like,
you know, my my gifts and talents just weren't being
put to good use. Um. You know, maybe I wasn't
the smartest in the company, but I had the most
(07:53):
I feel like uh business stavvy, I was. I was
more of a person that can solve problems. Maybe now
you know, mathematical, I could, But my best you know
strengths were you know, business. And I saw that I
was on the wrong side one of the company and
just the wrong side of you know, becoming successful on
how to approach it. So when I came across you know,
(08:16):
the foreign exchange market, you know, it was like a
light bulb that went off. I said, wow, I said,
this is something that I can actually use as an
exit strategy. Because I was I was, no, no dummy,
I wasn't about to just quit a six figure job.
But you know what, if I can really hone onto
this skills, if I could really understand this industry, I
(08:38):
could use this as a exit strategy to go full
time investor entrepreneur. So I came across the foreign exchange
market about twenty seventeen. So I have been working at
Bone for maybe like eight or nine months, and as
soon as I really understood what the industry was, I said,
you know what, I'm walking off my job in about
a year and a half. I can't. I can't do
(08:59):
this anymore. You know, I'm not as happy as I
thought I would be. I thought making six figures would
be you know that golden ticket. You want to be
a six figure on it. That's what everybody wants to
be in college, you know, coming out. And so as
I realized that, you know, it wasn't about the money,
it was more so about the fulfillment and what you
were doing on a daily basis. And I wasn't getting
fulfilled as a person. And so, you know, as I
(09:21):
began to get a mercy the skill set and I
got better and better, I said, you know what, this
is something that I could really take all the way.
And at the top of twenty nineteen, I went ahead
and fired my boss before they fired me, and uh,
and I took my talents all the way to to
full time entrepreneurship and I didn't look back. Now, you know,
(09:42):
let's go, let's go and talk about where he was
at a six figure in Houston, Texas salary and a
six figure salary in California. To them Salaris. Now, the housing,
the rent, the taxes is super crazy in California, right there,
you know, is a game changing right there. Just putting
(10:03):
just buying tags for your call is crazy in California.
I'll just let you know, I think I was paying,
Like I paid up my tax on my car like
forty dollars in Texas. It was like a thousand dollars
in California. It's just the numbers are just different. And
how you living. Yeah, you got the numbers on your paycheck,
but you giveing it out as soon as you cash it.
(10:23):
So that was part of the process too as a
forty hour week guy. Now as an entrepreneur, the reason
I brought you on the show, I never the foreign
exchange market. I don't know what that is. I'll be
perfectly honest with you, Brandon, I don't know what you
when you start talking like that, you you come on,
You've coming. You know. I brought you in the show
to educate me as well as my viewers and listener.
(10:44):
What is the hard exchange market? So the foreign exchange
market is it is the largest financial market in the world,
the largest financial liquid market in the World's generating you know,
anywhere from six point five to seven point seven trillion
dollars a day on a given day. This is in volume.
So when we're talking about you know, trading, you know,
(11:04):
in a foreign exchange market, you are literally trading you know,
currency pairs, you know, in their exchange rates. So as
currency pairs, you know, uh exchange rate fluctuate, you can
make money on the rise and fall. So you know,
just like stocks or something like that, you only make money,
you know, on the rise of a share you get
in that five dollars a share. If it goes up
ten ten dollars to share, you make money. Where well
(11:27):
as in whereas in the porn exchange market, you can
make money on the rise and fall of an exchange rate.
So for example, if we were to go out of
the country, let's say from from Houston, texts, we fly
to Italy. Right, a lot of Italy there there there, Um,
I want to say, their currency is the euro, right,
the currency is the euro. So when we get there,
(11:47):
we can't spend US dollars. We have to convert our
US dollars to their primary currency. So just for simplistic,
you know, simplistic understanding, Let's say it's aitute one ratio.
For every two U S dollars we give them equals
one euro, so we give them a thousand U S
dollars in return, they'll give us five hundred euros. Now,
(12:09):
let's say we're on that trip, is all expense paid.
You know, we're just having a good time. We don't
have to worry about anything. We just have some spending cash,
that five hundred euro that we converted over from a
thousand dollars. Let's say at the end of that trip
we end up spending nothing, we still have that five
hundred year old We get back to the States, and
we realized that we cannot spend euro in the United States.
So all we have to do is, you know, I'm
(12:31):
pretty sure people have seen it in the airport, go
to those foreign exchange center booths and say, I want
to exchange my five hundred yearrol back to U S dollars.
I didn't spend any of it when I was on
the trip. Now, logically, thinking people are gonna be expecting
a thousand U S dollars back. But what can happen
to things can happen. You can get more or less
(12:52):
than what you exchange. You can give them that five
hundred yearrold and they give you two thousand U S.
Dollars back and you profit a thousand dollars. Or you
can give them that five hundred year old and they
give you five U S dollars where you lost five
hundred dollars. The education and that is where you understand
what's going on. So if I understand the foreign exchange market,
(13:12):
I see that. You know, the euro can get stronger
to the US dollar, meaning that when I exchange it
over it can double triple whatever what I did. What
it was before I exchanged it, So at first it
was two dollars, but when I exchange it back, it's
four dollars. So I can actually make money, not by
spending it, not by necessarily working, but just by exchanging
(13:35):
currency at the right time. I don't know if you
caught the rashan, but you know that's the basis of
what the foreign exchange market is. It's just buying and
selling currency and making money off of the fluctuation of
the value. Well, you know, because you know, you know,
I travel or been to Mexico, been to Europe, you
know the currency exchange, and I never really pay an
attention to it, you know other than the when them
(13:57):
there in the moment. And so a lot of people
don't a lot of people, African Americans especially, they travel
and they either get get caught up in the complications
or they're just spen spend cash, and especially go to Mexico,
you give away with just spending cash a lot of
a lot of places that you go. But I've never
heard this because I'm a stock buyer, you know, buy stock,
I buy mutual funds and investing insurance policies that that
(14:19):
that that that give me a secured interest on my
on my money that I invested as a universe or
a whole, you can get a secured interest usually about
four percent. So that's for Rashan McDonald's mindset it has
always been when it comes to investing. You said, hold up,
put the brakes on the part the break of the shop.
The far exchange is also a market that I can
(14:41):
invest my money into. Are you saying that as well? Absolutely?
How so do I come to you do I They've
got a stockbroker offices open like they do it. I
know you can. You can definitely come to me. That's
that's exactly what we do. We teach people how to
you know, um participating. So to be completely honest with you,
(15:03):
you don't have to pay anybody to to get started
and start trading in the foreign exchange market. It but
but who's you to get some education and get a
mentorship and be attached to some type of platform that
can give you guidance. But honestly, you can go start
a startup broker right There's there's thousands of brokers online.
If you just google for egg broker, you can start
(15:23):
an account for free and you can put as little
as Some brokers allow you to put as little as
tim bucks in your account to get started summer fifty.
It just depends on the broker. And once you get
that broker, you then attached that broker to your your
trading platform, which we use either metatrator for or mediatrtor five.
(15:43):
These are actually actual apps on your phone that you
can download for free. So once you get your broker,
they'll give you some credentials to connect that broker account
to your trading app, which is could be Mediatrtor for
Mediatrator five and then you start trading. It's as simple
as that. You know what we do is we we
we give you that guidance, We give you that you know,
(16:04):
that mentorship to show you not only you know how
to just put money in your account, but how to
actually make it grow consistently. And that's what that's what
that's what trade house is all about. Right absolutely, Okay,
So you know it's finally here, the season of celebration,
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(16:26):
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(17:11):
dot com. What grows in the forest trees? Sure you
know what else grows in the forest, Our imagination, our
sense of wonder, and our family bonds grow too, because
when we disconnect from this and connect with this, we
reconnect with each other. The forest is closer than you think.
(17:33):
Find a forest near you and start exploring. I Discover
the Forest dot Org. Brought to you by the United
States Forest Service and the AD Council. Hi, everyone, I'll
roker here as a guy with his own catchphrase. I
appreciate that Smokey's only said only you can prevent wildfires,
but I'm filling it because there's a lot more to report,
(17:53):
like when they're parched or windy conditions out there. You
gotta be extra careful with things like burning yard wish.
After all, wildfires can start anywhere, even in your neck
of the woods. Go to Smokey Bear dot com to
learn more about wildfire prevention. Brought to you by the U. S.
Forest Service, your state Forrester and the AD Council. Let's
let's talk about your background here a little bit. You know,
(18:14):
you went to prayer of you what to Hamptons first,
and it was also money has always been to the
forefront of your conversation because, like you said, it was
too expensive, so you had to come back to the
Houston area and uh consider texas southern, but it didn't
hit your major and then you wanted to like that
HBCU culture, that that that's structure, that felt you walked
around as a competitive environ with people that look like you.
(18:36):
With the prayer of you got that degree, I went
to California Snoop Dogg Country realized that okay, cool Snoop Stoop,
I gotta go, brother, gotta go. I gotta get out
of California, gotta get out of Compton. Their air where
I'm out. And so now you're back in Houston, most City,
Boar and trade House. You know the reason I say
that because you seem like an innovative. You seem like
(18:59):
a person who sits around who is your core group,
who who is your thinking team? Who was inspiring you
and your group to be able to take a lot
of these ideas to the next level because you know,
like with all of my Apple, Microsoft, they just start
by themselves. They had a little core group of fellows
that that managed to build these franchises out. Who who
is your team? Absolutely? You know, my my younger brother,
(19:22):
Bryce Thompson. He was actually one of the first people
that I introduced, you know, to the skill set. And
you know, he was in college at the time, struggling
college student at Morehouse College, and um, you know, when
I've seen this, I said, Man, if I would have
had this in college, this is definitely something that would
have changed the trajectory of my finances. And you know,
(19:43):
I always wanted to put him on something, but I
wanted to make sure it was sustainable, and I knew
that he can have, you know, a long longevity in it,
and so I passed this along to him and then
you know, he got a few of his friends on.
Shout out to Nathan and Samuel Ian Jackson right now
though Perez, just to name a few. It started what
(20:05):
about four or five of us, but you know I
was the one that kind of spearheaded it, brought it
to everybody, and then we started to you know, collaborate,
and you know, amongst us, we we started spreading it
to the colleges. I called it the rich college Kids
tour Um because simply I didn't I didn't want to.
I didn't want to start, you know, and my my,
(20:27):
uh demographic because we were already in college, I said,
I mean I already graduating college. I was looking for
people that were already in the learning environment and we're
looking for extra money. So I feel like that was
the best market to start, Like, we can get you
here in college where you're already in a in a
in a mindset to learn something new, and you you
want to get more money because we know the struggling
(20:48):
college students story. I said, this would be the perfect
you know, demographic to start at and really take this
to the next level. Wow. So you guys have been
viewing your brother Bright's have been featured in Forest magazine.
Now we're just that do for your brain? Come on
that Forbes, man. It definitely legitimizes it. You know. Um,
you know, like you said, are are our people don't
(21:10):
really understand, you know, the the investment world. I feel
like we've we've taken over a lot of different industries
from entertainment, sports, you know, but I feel like business
and and the finance well is something that we're still
you know, competing to really you know, hold the crowning.
So like to have that article written for both of
us in that light, you know, just just it gives
(21:30):
validity that that we can be you know, on top
of that space and that you know, it's it's it's
a lot more room for us. We just have to
you know, put ourselves around the right people that had
the right information. You know. It's really interesting when I
hear you talk because you're young, which is a blessing,
but you but you figured it out. You know, I
always tell people you can just figured it out. I
(21:50):
don't give you just sit down and figure it out.
But don't you have to trust yourself? And then when
I say trust yourself, obviously you graduated, you went to California,
was living to quote unquote plan, and then you said
the plan is not working for me. So when did
you start trusting yourself? Brandon? Well, you know, I always
(22:14):
was was one of those people that I wasn't necessarily
like a logical thinking. I'm a logical thinking, but I'm
very intuitive, right, I'm very intuned with with with with
the spirit right and and and my inner self. And
one of the people that I looked up to one
of my I guess you could say my virtual mentors
(22:35):
is Napoleon Hill. And I probably start watching um and
reading some of his material. Back in tw and uh,
I watched the video on YouTube called the Seventeen Keys
to Success by Napoleon Hill, and I will watch you know, Uh,
I guess an excerpt every day before I went to class.
It was seventeen of them. And you know, once I
(22:58):
realized some of the things I was doing was actually
on accident, like you know, manifesting things, and he actually
made it like an actual thing. While I was like, Wow,
I can actually be intentional about manifesting my life. I
could be intentional about, you know, the things I do
to get success. So once I understood that there's intentionalism
behind succeeding, then I start doing those things on a
(23:21):
on a daily basis. And I realized that, okay, cool.
If I want to do something that's outside of the normal,
that that might look crazy to other people, it's okay
because if I'm intentional enough and I understand the formula
and the recipe, to success. It's gonna all make sense
at the end of the day. We know. An interesting
thing of what I love about you, first of all,
is that you don't forget the value of being an
(23:43):
hbc You graduated and then your your scholarship that you
created to fund HBCU students in the stem uh lane,
Why is that important? It's it's super important. Um, it's
it's not enough of us in that space one. And
so I wanted to be a an example to say, hey,
(24:06):
look I'm somebody that Yeah, I'm not in the field anymore.
But I did use it as a platform. Um, and
you can do it too. And then I also know
that you know, it's a lot of it's a lot
of smart kids out there that are struggling in school
and they want to be able to focus. I remember
struggling at Hampton more specifically, UM, when I was going
(24:30):
from my electrical engineering degree, and it was so it
was such a different experience because my finances weren't in order. Well,
your finances are in order. In school, it's hard to to,
I guess, focus on the scholastics. It's hard to focus
on the curriculum. You're more so focusing on man How
(24:50):
am I gonna even buy the book? How am I
gonna pay my rent? How am I gonna eat? You know,
am I even gonna have enough money to go to
school the next semester? So it's a lot of the
it's a lot of the tractions when you don't have
your finances in order. And so if I could take
that that thought away from a student and say, hey,
you know, college is is your semester is paid for?
Just focus on the on the books, just focus on
(25:12):
getting the internship, and and that's gonna do you well
off well, way way more well. You're gonna be way
more well off if you're able to focus just on
school then focusing on finances. So that was really big
for me to be able to, you know, give back
to two people that I know have been in my
shoes before and understand the power of them, you know,
(25:32):
taking that that that whole out of their life, so
that could really focus on what's important. You know, um,
what grows in the forest trees, Sure, you know what
else grows in the forest, our imagination, our sense of wonder,
and our family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect
from this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other.
(25:57):
The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest
near you and start exploring. I discover the fourth Dot
Org brought to you by the United States Fourth Service
and the ad Council. And we're live here outside the
Perez family home, just waiting for the And there they go,
almost on time. This morning. Mom is coming out the
front door, strong with a double arm kid carry. Looks
(26:20):
like Dad has the bags. Daughter is bringing up the rear.
Oh but the diaper bag wasn't closed. Diapers and toys
are everywhere. Oh but mom has just nailed the perfect
car seat buckle for the toddler. And now the eldest daughter,
who looks to be about nine or ten, has secured
herself in the booster seat. Dad SIPs the bad clothes
(26:41):
and they're off. But looks like Mom doesn't realize her
coffee cup is still on the roof of the car.
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Enjoy reading your synopsis that were sent over about you,
because you talked about your mom and uh, you and
your brother Bryce, and I remember my mom, you know,
she said we were born in fear for my father
(27:51):
passed before she passed. She's passed now. And one of
the things she wouldn't move out of that house. You know.
We grew up with a you know window, our audition unit.
And she moved the stove. You know what we do
you leaning on You're gonna get burned, you know, gat stove.
You know, the whole thing was hot, and I told us, say, hey,
I wanted to tear down the house. She wouldn't let
(28:13):
me tear it out of house. That's okay, cool, because
I wanted her to live and experience central air conditioning,
central heat, you know, just just you walk into the
room and it's warm, you know. And uh. And I
was able to do that and now and and before
she passed, because that was that was one of my
dreams of giving her that life. Of course, she never
went back into the old part of the house that
she wouldn't let me tear dout. Basically, I built a
(28:34):
new part of the house onto an old part of
the house. When I read about, you know, the relationship
with your mom and how you and your brother Bryce
were able to retire her and allowed her to follow
her or live her passage, talk about that. The importance
of that, oh man, I think I think every child
wants to be able to pay homage to their parents,
you know, whether it's financially or it's them just succeeding
(28:59):
at a hot or to make them proud. So you know,
graduating college was definitely one of the things that you know, um,
that motivated me to finish. You know, graduating college was like, Okay,
I gotta do it for my mom. She she didn't
she didn't get to go. So you know, she made
it important that I made it importance on it that
I should go and I should finish so I can
(29:20):
have more opportunities than she did. But you know, getting
into a space where I was financially, you know, sustained,
sustained enough to not only take care of myself, but
then trickle it down and be like, hey, mom, you
don't have to work anymore. You know, I'm making enough
money where I can send you, you know, allowance every
week for you to not only cover your bills, but
(29:42):
for you to actually live a better lifestyle than you've
been living. And you know that's always been a dream
of mine. You know, they say you gotta have a whip.
You don't have a while, you know what I'm saying,
Then it's gonna be hard to really push through those
tough times. You know, the hire stands for will help you, right,
So on those tough times, you gotta have something that
your anchor to that you're you're pushing for as bigger
than yourself. And so you know, just having my mom
(30:04):
in the back of my mind, knowing all the sacrifices
that she made for me to even you know, get
to college. You know, it made me feel like a
sense of responsibility that I had to at least try
to pay it back. I know I can never pay
it back, but I could at least, you know, you know,
try my hardest to to to give her, like you said, uh,
an experience that she probably wouldn't have gotten if I didn't,
(30:26):
you know, make that um the forefront of my goals. Well,
you know, before COVID, that's what they said, no mask,
And we've been doing doing virtual and events for the
past year. You got the I Millennial three conference happening
this month in Miami, my favorite city. By the way,
I don't know why you're doing it down there, brand,
I know why. I love why you're doing it down there.
(30:46):
It's happening again. Talk about how it started, you know,
because the keyword you are millennial, and so you know,
literials get a bad rap about wrap and I think
they're easing up now because the fact that you understand mentorship,
You crave me mentorship, you seek out mentorship, and I
think that's something that's important. It was something I didn't do.
I didn't understand when I was growing up, and you
(31:08):
guys understand the value of mentorship and just hanging around
people who are experienced. Talk about the Millennial Millennial three
conferences happening in Miami this month. Oh, I'm super super
excited about I AM three. You know, it's gonna be
a industry shifting event, you know, just to give you
a little backstory on I AM you know, it is
(31:29):
a you know, essentially an event where we come together
as an organization and we just give value from you know,
teaching how to market mindset, you know, you know, strategies
on you know, looking at the market and becoming more profitable,
and then as well as entertainment. You know, we want
to have fun while we're there. But you know, we
(31:49):
started off I AM one in Atlanta, Georgia at the
Four Seasons Hotel downtown and we had about maybe even
people show up very great and out, you know, for
our first one. And then the second one we had,
I AM Too was in Houston, Texas at the Marriott
Hotel in West Chase District in Houston, Texas, and um
(32:11):
it was about fourth dolland over four thousand people, you know,
and then the pandemic hit right after that. So now
you know, we've been able to finess our way into
the hard Rock Stadium, you know, where the Dolphins play
in Miami, Florida, and you know, we're expecting you know,
anywhere from fifteen thousand and twenty thousand people in attendance.
(32:33):
We're having performers like the Baby Uh come out and
give us entertainment as well as I'm actually performing on
on one of those days as well, which is something
I don't know if you you knew that I got
into music as well, but you know this, this is
gonna be a life changing event for not only people
that are there, but the people that have been looking
at this industry and at this lane of investing an
(32:56):
entrepreneurship and say wow, like maybe this is something I
should get and like it's becoming mainstream, Like your favorite
rappers and entertainers are now starting to become more you know,
more keen to to getting getting informed and getting educated
on this space. So I think it's it's well needed
because you know, the culture needs needs influencers and people
(33:19):
that are in the industry that that we look up
to to say, you know what this is the right
way to go. Learning how to invest is cool, Learning
about cryptocurrency is something that you need to take serious.
And so I'm truly excited for this event and I
know that it's gonna be the catalyst that takes me,
my organization, my family to the next level where you know,
you have me at rock Star the Baby you know
(33:39):
right there. But my staff they always laughing, Listen, that's
that's my song man, rock Star the Baby got in
performing and doing this thing, and that I would laughing
when they had that Super Bowl commercial, I said, see,
I told you that's my poor rock Star. But it's
really great inclosed. Man, what's your advice for the younger
generation in terms of creating generational wealth when you're talking
about this, Brandon, if there's any advice I can give you,
(34:04):
know the younger generation out there is you know, when
you when you're growing up and you have dreams, whether
you're a years or nine years or you have dreams
of big dreams, and as you go go into real life,
you know, you you tend to get jaded because of
the people around you, the media and all that. You know,
keep listening to that voice inside of your head, still
staying at that that that dreaming phase and understand that
(34:25):
you cannot listen to people that don't have the information,
the resort, the results, or the lifestyle that you that
you want. Right if if you're listening to them, ask
yourself when I switch lifestyles with this person, when I
switch bank accounts with this person. If the answer is no,
then keep following your heart. I love it. Thank you
again for coming on the show Money Making Conversation. I'm
(34:46):
based in Atlanta. I still have at home in Houston,
so if you come through Atlanta, please drop out Money
Making Conversation. I got my building right here in the
heart of Atlanta and Petrie Corners. But more important to man,
I want to keep supporting your brand. Send me some
flyers so I can make an announcement. Buy what you're
doing down the hart Rock Stadium. I love you boy. Yeah,
you know you're going big man. As they say, go big,
(35:06):
go home, brother. But if you if you got a brand,
you know you're gonna feel that stadium next year. Man,
I swear to you you will. Okay, if Travis Scott
can do it in Houston, the Astra world, come on,
why can't you do it? Why can't you say that,
why can't you shake the bank? Come on now, why
can't you shake the bank? We're gonna do it like that, brother,
Thank you many app coming on money making conversations. Okay,
(35:26):
all right. If you want to hear seeing in my
interviews on money making conversation, or if you want to
hear the singles shake the Bank by by Man here please,
you can streaming online or you can go to YouTube
channel right now. I'm reas Sean McDonald. I am your host.
(36:09):
In this season of giving, Coals has gifts for all
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(36:52):
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(37:14):
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You're coming to bed hunt Yep, honey, I'll be right there.
Just gotta turn out the light. Oh oh, some thing's
never change, like your kids always leaving tiny toys on
the floor for you to step on and Gango saving
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(00:24):
think I left the downstairs light on. Please don't make
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Black Effect Presents features honest conversations and exclusive interviews, a
space for artists, everyday people, and listeners to amplify, elevate,
and empower black voices with great conversations. Make sure to
listen to The Black Effect Presents Podcast on I Heart Radio,
(00:47):
Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. On April four,
Dr Martin Luther King was shot and killed in Memphis.
A petty criminal named Aimes Earl Ray was arrested. Case
closed right James L. Ray was upon for the official story.
(01:08):
Some of the evidence, as far as I was concerned,
did not match the circumstances. This is the MLK Tapes.
The first episodes are available now. Listen on the I
Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
(01:28):
Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
has the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and
Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's given me
advice on many occasions. In occasion didn't notice, I'm not broke.
You know. He'll be interview with celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and
industry decision makers. It's what he likes to do, it's
what he likes to share. Now it's time to hear
(01:49):
from my man, Rashan McDonald money making Conversations. Here we come.
Welcome to Money Making Conversations. I am your host, Rashan McDonald.
It is time to stop reading other people's success stories.
You hear me say that every week, and start writing
your own. I always tell people you're here by gifts
you have, by passions, following your dreams. I tell people
to leave with your gifts and don't let your age, friends, family,
(02:12):
or co workers stop you from planning to living your
dream just because they want to stand that four day
all week. J'all, don't when you have to stay, don't
let you. Don't let fifty sixties tell you that's it.
I gotta have to retire don't let your friends tell
you what you're capable of doing, and don't let your
family members tell you that's all you can do. Uh,
it's on my show. That's why I created money making conversations.
I'd like to bring people on the show that I
(02:32):
call game breakers, some of my celebrities, some of them
our CEOs, entrepreneurs, and what I like to call industry
decision makers. My next guest is Brendan Thompson. He is
a native Houstonian. You know I got it, so you
know I love him already because I'm from Houston Texts.
He graduated from Preview and m that's an HBCU for
for anybody who don't know about the power of a
(02:54):
of of HBCU. That's prev am used to. Degree was
an electrical engineering. My degree was from your Houston and
mathematics we talk about in a minute. While he was
able to finish through with this engine and degree, I
couldn't make it past physics. He found a trade house,
a company that partnered with an educational platform to be
to teach people how to properly invest in the foreign
(03:15):
exchange market. Within only two years of its exception, trade house,
a wealth management organization has grown to eighty thousand active members.
In fact, the co founders and Brendon are actively engaging daily.
They help mentor and coach new members who joined their
wealth management group. Regardless of one's location or age, Please
(03:36):
work with the money making conversations straight out of family family,
prayer of view and m thinking about my board, Will Packer,
who was also electrical engineer. Brendon Thompson, How you doing, sir?
You don't how you doing? Sign? Well? First of all,
you know what part of used to you from? I
gotta break it down because I'm a fifth ward boar.
What what part of used? You grew up in city text?
(03:56):
You know the same most cities right there right then,
See I'm Houston, Texas. You know, even me saying mo,
I said fear for you all of a sudden I
asked him to say, well you, oh, but sit so
you're gonna start char change. But that's a great area
I grew up. I knew a fair familiar with that
area of the They kind of grew up before being
counted in Houston, Texas. And so would you be in
(04:19):
with what what has inspired you? You went to hbc
U School, which is Prey of View in them, which
is like forty five minutes outside of Houston, Texas. You
have Texas Southern right there in Houston, Texas. Down the
road you got Southern University. Up the road, you got Grambling,
Why Prayer of You? And m so A Shawn. If
I could just give you a little backstory on, you know,
(04:41):
my college journey. I started off at Hampton University. To
be honest with you, start off at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia.
And for those of you that know about Hampton, it's
a private school HBC as well, but very very expensive.
So you know, I couldn't, you know, continue because of
financial holes. So I decided to transfer. And when I
(05:03):
was looking at schools to transfer to in Texas, you
know I looked at you, of H I looked at
t S you, and I also was looking at Preview.
You know, you have ah no not to say anything
bad about the school, but I just heard that you
would get swallowed up. You would just be like another number.
It wouldn't give you that same HBU HBCU feel t S.
(05:25):
You didn't have my my degree. They had electronic engineer,
but they didn't have electrical engineer praev You happened to
be the only school within that Houston area that that
accepted the bulk of my transfer credit. So I went
ahead and I became the panther rolled up that rode
down to the baby. Don't the panthers up there? Now?
(05:46):
It's a cool thing about it. Like a good friend
of mine, Lonny Love, she graduated from PREV and m
she's blinding Love. She's the one of the co host
of the talk show The Real and she graduated electrical engineering.
So they now Preview has been known. When I graded
from high school, a lot of my friends went down
to Preview and have I'm living very successful lives. But
you were talking about the culture, Like I graduated from
(06:07):
University Houston. You can't get into the numbers game. Forty
thousand students walking around on that campus and when I
when I was there, they didn't have that college life.
It's much more of a commuter school. And so my
executive producer of Money Making Conversation, she's a Hampton grad
So when you said happened though, she all are dancing
in the studio throwing our hands up in there, and
(06:28):
so all right, So I got a lot of Pride
and then my boy, Will Packer, he graduated with electrical
engineering degree from FAM. You now, you got electrical engineering degree,
but you're not doing as they say electrical engineering, So
tell me about that transition. So when I transferred to
(06:48):
the p V, you know, I went ahead and finished
off and got my degree in electrical engineering, as you mentioned,
And before I even walked across the state, the stadiums
are already had an offer to the Born Company. So
the boring company offered me a full time position where
I started my journey in Long Beach, California. So I
hadn't you know, um ever been to California before in
(07:11):
my life, and it was a dream of mine to
go and lived there. But you know, I didn't know
exactly how I was gonna get there, so Long Behold.
You know, Boning offered me a full time positions, like
maybe a month or two after I graduated from p V,
I moved out to Long Beach started my journey. And
I'll be real with you, Rashaan, you know, it didn't
take me too long to figure out that corporate America
(07:32):
just wasn't fit for me. Right. I found I found
that I was like a shark in a swimming pool.
I was the youngest blackest person on my team and
every team I was on, and I started to feel like,
you know, my my gifts and talents just weren't being
put to good use. Um. You know, maybe I wasn't
the smartest in the company, but I had the most
(07:53):
I feel like uh business stavvy, I was. I was
more of a person that can solve problems. Maybe now
you know, mathematical, I could, But my best you know
strengths were you know, business. And I saw that I
was on the wrong side one of the company and
just the wrong side of you know, becoming successful on
how to approach it. So when I came across you know,
(08:16):
the foreign exchange market, you know, it was like a
light bulb that went off. I said, wow, I said,
this is something that I can actually use as an
exit strategy. Because I was I was, no, no dummy,
I wasn't about to just quit a six figure job.
But you know what, if I can really hone onto
this skills, if I could really understand this industry, I
(08:38):
could use this as a exit strategy to go full
time investor entrepreneur. So I came across the foreign exchange
market about twenty seventeen. So I have been working at
Bone for maybe like eight or nine months, and as
soon as I really understood what the industry was, I said,
you know what, I'm walking off my job in about
a year and a half. I can't. I can't do
(08:59):
this anymore. You know, I'm not as happy as I
thought I would be. I thought making six figures would
be you know that golden ticket. You want to be
a six figure on it. That's what everybody wants to
be in college, you know, coming out. And so as
I realized that, you know, it wasn't about the money,
it was more so about the fulfillment and what you
were doing on a daily basis. And I wasn't getting
fulfilled as a person. And so, you know, as I
(09:21):
began to get a mercy the skill set and I
got better and better, I said, you know what, this
is something that I could really take all the way.
And at the top of twenty nineteen, I went ahead
and fired my boss before they fired me, and uh,
and I took my talents all the way to to
full time entrepreneurship and I didn't look back. Now, you know,
(09:42):
let's go, let's go and talk about where he was
at a six figure in Houston, Texas salary and a
six figure salary in California. To them Salaris. Now, the housing,
the rent, the taxes is super crazy in California, right there,
you know, is a game changing right there. Just putting
(10:03):
just buying tags for your call is crazy in California.
I'll just let you know, I think I was paying,
Like I paid up my tax on my car like
forty dollars in Texas. It was like a thousand dollars
in California. It's just the numbers are just different. And
how you living. Yeah, you got the numbers on your paycheck,
but you giveing it out as soon as you cash it.
(10:23):
So that was part of the process too as a
forty hour week guy. Now as an entrepreneur, the reason
I brought you on the show, I never the foreign
exchange market. I don't know what that is. I'll be
perfectly honest with you, Brandon, I don't know what you
when you start talking like that, you you come on,
You've coming. You know. I brought you in the show
to educate me as well as my viewers and listener.
(10:44):
What is the hard exchange market? So the foreign exchange
market is it is the largest financial market in the world,
the largest financial liquid market in the World's generating you know,
anywhere from six point five to seven point seven trillion
dollars a day on a given day. This is in volume.
So when we're talking about you know, trading, you know,
(11:04):
in a foreign exchange market, you are literally trading you know,
currency pairs, you know, in their exchange rates. So as
currency pairs, you know, uh exchange rate fluctuate, you can
make money on the rise and fall. So you know,
just like stocks or something like that, you only make money,
you know, on the rise of a share you get
in that five dollars a share. If it goes up
ten ten dollars to share, you make money. Where well
(11:27):
as in whereas in the porn exchange market, you can
make money on the rise and fall of an exchange rate.
So for example, if we were to go out of
the country, let's say from from Houston, texts, we fly
to Italy. Right, a lot of Italy there there there, Um,
I want to say, their currency is the euro, right,
the currency is the euro. So when we get there,
(11:47):
we can't spend US dollars. We have to convert our
US dollars to their primary currency. So just for simplistic,
you know, simplistic understanding, Let's say it's aitute one ratio.
For every two U S dollars we give them equals
one euro, so we give them a thousand U S
dollars in return, they'll give us five hundred euros. Now,
(12:09):
let's say we're on that trip, is all expense paid.
You know, we're just having a good time. We don't
have to worry about anything. We just have some spending cash,
that five hundred euro that we converted over from a
thousand dollars. Let's say at the end of that trip
we end up spending nothing, we still have that five
hundred year old We get back to the States, and
we realized that we cannot spend euro in the United States.
So all we have to do is, you know, I'm
(12:31):
pretty sure people have seen it in the airport, go
to those foreign exchange center booths and say, I want
to exchange my five hundred yearrol back to U S dollars.
I didn't spend any of it when I was on
the trip. Now, logically, thinking people are gonna be expecting
a thousand U S dollars back. But what can happen
to things can happen. You can get more or less
(12:52):
than what you exchange. You can give them that five
hundred yearrold and they give you two thousand U S.
Dollars back and you profit a thousand dollars. Or you
can give them that five hundred year old and they
give you five U S dollars where you lost five
hundred dollars. The education and that is where you understand
what's going on. So if I understand the foreign exchange market,
(13:12):
I see that. You know, the euro can get stronger
to the US dollar, meaning that when I exchange it
over it can double triple whatever what I did. What
it was before I exchanged it, So at first it
was two dollars, but when I exchange it back, it's
four dollars. So I can actually make money, not by
spending it, not by necessarily working, but just by exchanging
(13:35):
currency at the right time. I don't know if you
caught the rashan, but you know that's the basis of
what the foreign exchange market is. It's just buying and
selling currency and making money off of the fluctuation of
the value. Well, you know, because you know, you know,
I travel or been to Mexico, been to Europe, you
know the currency exchange, and I never really pay an
attention to it, you know other than the when them
(13:57):
there in the moment. And so a lot of people
don't a lot of people, African Americans especially, they travel
and they either get get caught up in the complications
or they're just spen spend cash, and especially go to Mexico,
you give away with just spending cash a lot of
a lot of places that you go. But I've never
heard this because I'm a stock buyer, you know, buy stock,
I buy mutual funds and investing insurance policies that that
(14:19):
that that that give me a secured interest on my
on my money that I invested as a universe or
a whole, you can get a secured interest usually about
four percent. So that's for Rashan McDonald's mindset it has
always been when it comes to investing. You said, hold up,
put the brakes on the part the break of the shop.
The far exchange is also a market that I can
(14:41):
invest my money into. Are you saying that as well? Absolutely?
How so do I come to you do I They've
got a stockbroker offices open like they do it. I
know you can. You can definitely come to me. That's
that's exactly what we do. We teach people how to
you know, um participating. So to be completely honest with you,
(15:03):
you don't have to pay anybody to to get started
and start trading in the foreign exchange market. It but
but who's you to get some education and get a
mentorship and be attached to some type of platform that
can give you guidance. But honestly, you can go start
a startup broker right There's there's thousands of brokers online.
If you just google for egg broker, you can start
(15:23):
an account for free and you can put as little
as Some brokers allow you to put as little as
tim bucks in your account to get started summer fifty.
It just depends on the broker. And once you get
that broker, you then attached that broker to your your
trading platform, which we use either metatrator for or mediatrtor five.
(15:43):
These are actually actual apps on your phone that you
can download for free. So once you get your broker,
they'll give you some credentials to connect that broker account
to your trading app, which is could be Mediatrtor for
Mediatrator five and then you start trading. It's as simple
as that. You know what we do is we we
we give you that guidance, We give you that you know,
(16:04):
that mentorship to show you not only you know how
to just put money in your account, but how to
actually make it grow consistently. And that's what that's what
that's what trade house is all about. Right absolutely, Okay,
So you know it's finally here, the season of celebration,
and no matter how you celebrate with family and friends,
whether you're preparing for reys magos or Karamu lighting the Manura,
(16:26):
are going to midnight mass, Coals has just what you
need to make those traditions special. Plus you'll find gifts
for all your loved ones. Send warm wishes with cozy fleeces, sweaters, loungeware,
blankets and throws. Support minority owned or founded brands by
giving gifts from Human Nation and Shame moisture, or treat
them to everyone's favorite active wear from top brands like Nike, Adidas,
(16:50):
and under Armour. And in the spirit of giving, Coals
Cares is donating eight million dollars to local nonprofits nationwide.
Committed to the health and well being of our communities.
No matter how you celebrate, when you shop at Coals,
you're right where you belong. So this season, give with
all your heart with great gifts from Coals or coals
(17:11):
dot com. What grows in the forest trees? Sure you
know what else grows in the forest, Our imagination, our
sense of wonder, and our family bonds grow too, because
when we disconnect from this and connect with this, we
reconnect with each other. The forest is closer than you think.
(17:33):
Find a forest near you and start exploring. I Discover
the Forest dot Org. Brought to you by the United
States Forest Service and the AD Council. Hi, everyone, I'll
roker here as a guy with his own catchphrase. I
appreciate that Smokey's only said only you can prevent wildfires,
but I'm filling it because there's a lot more to report,
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like when they're parched or windy conditions out there. You
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After all, wildfires can start anywhere, even in your neck
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learn more about wildfire prevention. Brought to you by the U. S.
Forest Service, your state Forrester and the AD Council. Let's
let's talk about your background here a little bit. You know,
(18:14):
you went to prayer of you what to Hamptons first,
and it was also money has always been to the
forefront of your conversation because, like you said, it was
too expensive, so you had to come back to the
Houston area and uh consider texas southern, but it didn't
hit your major and then you wanted to like that
HBCU culture, that that that's structure, that felt you walked
around as a competitive environ with people that look like you.
(18:36):
With the prayer of you got that degree, I went
to California Snoop Dogg Country realized that okay, cool Snoop Stoop,
I gotta go, brother, gotta go. I gotta get out
of California, gotta get out of Compton. Their air where
I'm out. And so now you're back in Houston, most City,
Boar and trade House. You know the reason I say
that because you seem like an innovative. You seem like
(18:59):
a person who sits around who is your core group,
who who is your thinking team? Who was inspiring you
and your group to be able to take a lot
of these ideas to the next level because you know,
like with all of my Apple, Microsoft, they just start
by themselves. They had a little core group of fellows
that that managed to build these franchises out. Who who
is your team? Absolutely? You know, my my younger brother,
(19:22):
Bryce Thompson. He was actually one of the first people
that I introduced, you know, to the skill set. And
you know, he was in college at the time, struggling
college student at Morehouse College, and um, you know, when
I've seen this, I said, Man, if I would have
had this in college, this is definitely something that would
have changed the trajectory of my finances. And you know,
(19:43):
I always wanted to put him on something, but I
wanted to make sure it was sustainable, and I knew
that he can have, you know, a long longevity in it,
and so I passed this along to him and then
you know, he got a few of his friends on.
Shout out to Nathan and Samuel Ian Jackson right now
though Perez, just to name a few. It started what
(20:05):
about four or five of us, but you know I
was the one that kind of spearheaded it, brought it
to everybody, and then we started to you know, collaborate,
and you know, amongst us, we we started spreading it
to the colleges. I called it the rich college Kids
tour Um because simply I didn't I didn't want to.
I didn't want to start, you know, and my my,
(20:27):
uh demographic because we were already in college, I said,
I mean I already graduating college. I was looking for
people that were already in the learning environment and we're
looking for extra money. So I feel like that was
the best market to start, Like, we can get you
here in college where you're already in a in a
in a mindset to learn something new, and you you
want to get more money because we know the struggling
(20:48):
college students story. I said, this would be the perfect
you know, demographic to start at and really take this
to the next level. Wow. So you guys have been
viewing your brother Bright's have been featured in Forest magazine.
Now we're just that do for your brain? Come on
that Forbes, man. It definitely legitimizes it. You know. Um,
you know, like you said, are are our people don't
(21:10):
really understand, you know, the the investment world. I feel
like we've we've taken over a lot of different industries
from entertainment, sports, you know, but I feel like business
and and the finance well is something that we're still
you know, competing to really you know, hold the crowning.
So like to have that article written for both of
us in that light, you know, just just it gives
(21:30):
validity that that we can be you know, on top
of that space and that you know, it's it's it's
a lot more room for us. We just have to
you know, put ourselves around the right people that had
the right information. You know. It's really interesting when I
hear you talk because you're young, which is a blessing,
but you but you figured it out. You know, I
always tell people you can just figured it out. I
(21:50):
don't give you just sit down and figure it out.
But don't you have to trust yourself? And then when
I say trust yourself, obviously you graduated, you went to California,
was living to quote unquote plan, and then you said
the plan is not working for me. So when did
you start trusting yourself? Brandon? Well, you know, I always
(22:14):
was was one of those people that I wasn't necessarily
like a logical thinking. I'm a logical thinking, but I'm
very intuitive, right, I'm very intuned with with with with
the spirit right and and and my inner self. And
one of the people that I looked up to one
of my I guess you could say my virtual mentors
(22:35):
is Napoleon Hill. And I probably start watching um and
reading some of his material. Back in tw and uh,
I watched the video on YouTube called the Seventeen Keys
to Success by Napoleon Hill, and I will watch you know, Uh,
I guess an excerpt every day before I went to class.
It was seventeen of them. And you know, once I
(22:58):
realized some of the things I was doing was actually
on accident, like you know, manifesting things, and he actually
made it like an actual thing. While I was like, Wow,
I can actually be intentional about manifesting my life. I
could be intentional about, you know, the things I do
to get success. So once I understood that there's intentionalism
behind succeeding, then I start doing those things on a
(23:21):
on a daily basis. And I realized that, okay, cool.
If I want to do something that's outside of the normal,
that that might look crazy to other people, it's okay
because if I'm intentional enough and I understand the formula
and the recipe, to success. It's gonna all make sense
at the end of the day. We know. An interesting
thing of what I love about you, first of all,
is that you don't forget the value of being an
(23:43):
hbc You graduated and then your your scholarship that you
created to fund HBCU students in the stem uh lane,
Why is that important? It's it's super important. Um, it's
it's not enough of us in that space one. And
so I wanted to be a an example to say, hey,
(24:06):
look I'm somebody that Yeah, I'm not in the field anymore.
But I did use it as a platform. Um, and
you can do it too. And then I also know
that you know, it's a lot of it's a lot
of smart kids out there that are struggling in school
and they want to be able to focus. I remember
struggling at Hampton more specifically, UM, when I was going
(24:30):
from my electrical engineering degree, and it was so it
was such a different experience because my finances weren't in order. Well,
your finances are in order. In school, it's hard to to,
I guess, focus on the scholastics. It's hard to focus
on the curriculum. You're more so focusing on man How
(24:50):
am I gonna even buy the book? How am I
gonna pay my rent? How am I gonna eat? You know,
am I even gonna have enough money to go to
school the next semester? So it's a lot of the
it's a lot of the tractions when you don't have
your finances in order. And so if I could take
that that thought away from a student and say, hey,
you know, college is is your semester is paid for?
Just focus on the on the books, just focus on
(25:12):
getting the internship, and and that's gonna do you well
off well, way way more well. You're gonna be way
more well off if you're able to focus just on
school then focusing on finances. So that was really big
for me to be able to, you know, give back
to two people that I know have been in my
shoes before and understand the power of them, you know,
(25:32):
taking that that that whole out of their life, so
that could really focus on what's important. You know, um,
what grows in the forest trees, Sure, you know what
else grows in the forest, our imagination, our sense of wonder,
and our family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect
from this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other.
(25:57):
The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest
near you and start exploring. I discover the fourth Dot
Org brought to you by the United States Fourth Service
and the ad Council. And we're live here outside the
Perez family home, just waiting for the And there they go,
almost on time. This morning. Mom is coming out the
front door, strong with a double arm kid carry. Looks
(26:20):
like Dad has the bags. Daughter is bringing up the rear.
Oh but the diaper bag wasn't closed. Diapers and toys
are everywhere. Oh but mom has just nailed the perfect
car seat buckle for the toddler. And now the eldest daughter,
who looks to be about nine or ten, has secured
herself in the booster seat. Dad SIPs the bad clothes
(26:41):
and they're off. But looks like Mom doesn't realize her
coffee cup is still on the roof of the car.
And there it goes. Oh, that's a shame that mug
was a fan favorite. Don't sweat the small stuff. Just
nailed the big stuff, like making sure your kids are
buckled correctly in the right seat for their agent's eyes.
Learn more to n h t S a dot gov
slash the right Seat visits dot gov slash the right
(27:06):
Seat brought to you by Nitza and the AD Council.
Look at your children's eyes to see the true magic
of a forest. It's a storybook world for them. You
look and see a tree. They see the wrinkled face
of a wizard with arms outstretched to the sky. They
see treasuring pebbles. They see a windy path that could
lead to adventure, and they see you. They're fearless. Guide.
(27:29):
Is this fascinating world? Find a forest near you and
start exploring and discover the forest dot org. Brought to
you by the United States Forest Service and the AD Council.
Enjoy reading your synopsis that were sent over about you,
because you talked about your mom and uh, you and
your brother Bryce, and I remember my mom, you know,
she said we were born in fear for my father
(27:51):
passed before she passed. She's passed now. And one of
the things she wouldn't move out of that house. You know.
We grew up with a you know window, our audition unit.
And she moved the stove. You know what we do
you leaning on You're gonna get burned, you know, gat stove.
You know, the whole thing was hot, and I told us, say, hey,
I wanted to tear down the house. She wouldn't let
(28:13):
me tear it out of house. That's okay, cool, because
I wanted her to live and experience central air conditioning,
central heat, you know, just just you walk into the
room and it's warm, you know. And uh. And I
was able to do that and now and and before
she passed, because that was that was one of my
dreams of giving her that life. Of course, she never
went back into the old part of the house that
she wouldn't let me tear dout. Basically, I built a
(28:34):
new part of the house onto an old part of
the house. When I read about, you know, the relationship
with your mom and how you and your brother Bryce
were able to retire her and allowed her to follow
her or live her passage, talk about that. The importance
of that, oh man, I think I think every child
wants to be able to pay homage to their parents,
you know, whether it's financially or it's them just succeeding
(28:59):
at a hot or to make them proud. So you know,
graduating college was definitely one of the things that you know, um,
that motivated me to finish. You know, graduating college was like, Okay,
I gotta do it for my mom. She she didn't
she didn't get to go. So you know, she made
it important that I made it importance on it that
I should go and I should finish so I can
(29:20):
have more opportunities than she did. But you know, getting
into a space where I was financially, you know, sustained,
sustained enough to not only take care of myself, but
then trickle it down and be like, hey, mom, you
don't have to work anymore. You know, I'm making enough
money where I can send you, you know, allowance every
week for you to not only cover your bills, but
(29:42):
for you to actually live a better lifestyle than you've
been living. And you know that's always been a dream
of mine. You know, they say you gotta have a whip.
You don't have a while, you know what I'm saying,
Then it's gonna be hard to really push through those
tough times. You know, the hire stands for will help you, right,
So on those tough times, you gotta have something that
your anchor to that you're you're pushing for as bigger
than yourself. And so you know, just having my mom
(30:04):
in the back of my mind, knowing all the sacrifices
that she made for me to even you know, get
to college. You know, it made me feel like a
sense of responsibility that I had to at least try
to pay it back. I know I can never pay
it back, but I could at least, you know, you know,
try my hardest to to to give her, like you said, uh,
an experience that she probably wouldn't have gotten if I didn't,
(30:26):
you know, make that um the forefront of my goals. Well,
you know, before COVID, that's what they said, no mask,
And we've been doing doing virtual and events for the
past year. You got the I Millennial three conference happening
this month in Miami, my favorite city. By the way,
I don't know why you're doing it down there, brand,
I know why. I love why you're doing it down there.
(30:46):
It's happening again. Talk about how it started, you know,
because the keyword you are millennial, and so you know,
literials get a bad rap about wrap and I think
they're easing up now because the fact that you understand mentorship,
You crave me mentorship, you seek out mentorship, and I
think that's something that's important. It was something I didn't do.
I didn't understand when I was growing up, and you
(31:08):
guys understand the value of mentorship and just hanging around
people who are experienced. Talk about the Millennial Millennial three
conferences happening in Miami this month. Oh, I'm super super
excited about I AM three. You know, it's gonna be
a industry shifting event, you know, just to give you
a little backstory on I AM you know, it is
(31:29):
a you know, essentially an event where we come together
as an organization and we just give value from you know,
teaching how to market mindset, you know, you know, strategies
on you know, looking at the market and becoming more profitable,
and then as well as entertainment. You know, we want
to have fun while we're there. But you know, we
(31:49):
started off I AM one in Atlanta, Georgia at the
Four Seasons Hotel downtown and we had about maybe even
people show up very great and out, you know, for
our first one. And then the second one we had,
I AM Too was in Houston, Texas at the Marriott
Hotel in West Chase District in Houston, Texas, and um
(32:11):
it was about fourth dolland over four thousand people, you know,
and then the pandemic hit right after that. So now
you know, we've been able to finess our way into
the hard Rock Stadium, you know, where the Dolphins play
in Miami, Florida, and you know, we're expecting you know,
anywhere from fifteen thousand and twenty thousand people in attendance.
(32:33):
We're having performers like the Baby Uh come out and
give us entertainment as well as I'm actually performing on
on one of those days as well, which is something
I don't know if you you knew that I got
into music as well, but you know this, this is
gonna be a life changing event for not only people
that are there, but the people that have been looking
at this industry and at this lane of investing an
(32:56):
entrepreneurship and say wow, like maybe this is something I
should get and like it's becoming mainstream, Like your favorite
rappers and entertainers are now starting to become more you know,
more keen to to getting getting informed and getting educated
on this space. So I think it's it's well needed
because you know, the culture needs needs influencers and people
(33:19):
that are in the industry that that we look up
to to say, you know what this is the right
way to go. Learning how to invest is cool, Learning
about cryptocurrency is something that you need to take serious.
And so I'm truly excited for this event and I
know that it's gonna be the catalyst that takes me,
my organization, my family to the next level where you know,
you have me at rock Star the Baby you know
(33:39):
right there. But my staff they always laughing, Listen, that's
that's my song man, rock Star the Baby got in
performing and doing this thing, and that I would laughing
when they had that Super Bowl commercial, I said, see,
I told you that's my poor rock Star. But it's
really great inclosed. Man, what's your advice for the younger
generation in terms of creating generational wealth when you're talking
about this, Brandon, if there's any advice I can give you,
(34:04):
know the younger generation out there is you know, when
you when you're growing up and you have dreams, whether
you're a years or nine years or you have dreams
of big dreams, and as you go go into real life,
you know, you you tend to get jaded because of
the people around you, the media and all that. You know,
keep listening to that voice inside of your head, still
staying at that that that dreaming phase and understand that
(34:25):
you cannot listen to people that don't have the information,
the resort, the results, or the lifestyle that you that
you want. Right if if you're listening to them, ask
yourself when I switch lifestyles with this person, when I
switch bank accounts with this person. If the answer is no,
then keep following your heart. I love it. Thank you
again for coming on the show Money Making Conversation. I'm
(34:46):
based in Atlanta. I still have at home in Houston,
so if you come through Atlanta, please drop out Money
Making Conversation. I got my building right here in the
heart of Atlanta and Petrie Corners. But more important to man,
I want to keep supporting your brand. Send me some
flyers so I can make an announcement. Buy what you're
doing down the hart Rock Stadium. I love you boy. Yeah,
you know you're going big man. As they say, go big,
(35:06):
go home, brother. But if you if you got a brand,
you know you're gonna feel that stadium next year. Man,
I swear to you you will. Okay, if Travis Scott
can do it in Houston, the Astra world, come on,
why can't you do it? Why can't you say that,
why can't you shake the bank? Come on now, why
can't you shake the bank? We're gonna do it like that, brother,
Thank you many app coming on money making conversations. Okay,
(35:26):
all right. If you want to hear seeing in my
interviews on money making conversation, or if you want to
hear the singles shake the Bank by by Man here please,
you can streaming online or you can go to YouTube
channel right now. I'm reas Sean McDonald. I am your host.
(36:09):
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(37:14):
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