On this week of Money Making Conversations Master Class, the host of Divorce Court & Killer Relationship, Judge Faith Jenkins, talks sex, marriage and more! We discuss her new relationship book, "Sis, Don't Settle: How to Stay Smart in Matters of the Heart." She reveals how the lessons learned hosting "Divorce Court" and "Killer Relationship" influenced themes within the book. She explains how to get out of your own way when it comes to dating.
We also have franchisee and store owner of Nothing Bundt Cakes, Charlie Shabazz. Charlie gives necessary advice on how to start and successfully run a franchise. She shares the hurdles she overcame choosing and starting the fifth store location of Nothing Bundt Cakes, and how she involved the surrounding community.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's to show that she
is the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and
Brandon expert Rashaan McDonald. I will know he's giving me
advice to many occasions in incason didn't notice, I'm not broke.
You know he'll be interviewing 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 from
(00:25):
my man, Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations. Here we go.
Welcome to Money Making Conversation master Class. I am your host,
Rashwan McDonald. I recognize that we all have different definitions
of success. For you, it may be the size of
your paycheck. Mine has inspired people to accomplish their goals
and live their very best life. The very best life
may be different for a lot of you guys out there.
(00:48):
It's time to start reading other people's success stories really
and start writing your own. People always talking about their
purpose or their gift or jumping out on faith without
a plan. Where if you have a gift, leave with
that gift and don't your friends, family, or co work
can stop you from planning or living your dream. My
guest is Judge Faith Jenkins. She's an attorney arbitrary arbitrary
(01:09):
arbitrator Arthur and Emmy nominating host of Divorce Court. That's
where you know her. That Faith looks familiar, that sounds
famili That is her. Had the good fortune of meeting
her several years ago with my good friend, attorney civil
rights attorney Benjamin Crump introduced to me and relationship for
him there and I've been watching her from afar, just
admiring her rise in this industry. She's on the longest
(01:31):
running TV court show. She's also has a new crime series,
Kill a Relationship with Faith Chinkins. I'll tell you I
love those type of shows. It airs on Oxygen. The
series takes deep dive at the heart stopping evil stories
of love going horribly bad, faith to brides, unparalleled insight
into every case where a breakup means one thing, someone's
going to die. We're going to talk about her career
(01:54):
and both those shows, but let me tell you why
she really owned money making Conversation Masterclass. I also want
to talk about how relationship book sys don't settle, how
to stay smart in Matters of the Heart is an
awesome of love, wisdom and advice for women on how
to play It's smart and the dating and relationship game.
Please work with the money Making Conversation masterclass. Judge Faith Jenkins,
(02:17):
How you doing, Judge? However, Sean, how are you? Thank
you so much for welcoming. That was an amazing introduction.
And I know that you know we started this business,
you know, just trying to get in and then this
too is kind of interesting. You fight to get in,
then you have to fight to stay, and then you
(02:38):
want to you want to stay with options. I see
you starting to diversify. Like I said, we mentioned Oxygen
that showed that you're doing to kill a relationship with
branding your name, attaching your name and not just kill
a relationship, is selling your name as well. And this
new book. But let's go back to the first really
big opportunity that came your way was divorce court. How
did that come about? And how did that change your
(03:00):
inspective on what you wanted to do with your career
because this is entertainment. Well, what happened is I was
in New York working as a prosecutor for about eight years,
I'd been working in New York. I started a big
law firm. Then I moved to work for the government.
And after I left the Prosecutor's office, I got a
(03:20):
call to be on television just to talk about a
high profile case and give my legal opinion on the case.
And then the George Zimmerman trial happened, right and I
was called to opine on the George Zimmerman trial every
day of the case, and I would be on Fox News, MSNBC,
and CNN all in the same day. That's how I
(03:41):
met your friend been crumped during that time period. So
after that, someone when Hank Cohen tells this story, he's
the executive producer of my very first court show, he
said he saw me on one night with Al Sharpton
and the next night I was on with Bill O'Reilly say,
if she can handle those two audiences, she has brought
(04:03):
up hell, she can probably be on TV to do anything.
And so that's when I got my first step branching
out doing court television. Well, it's interesting you say that
because some people say I would never do this type
of show because because they're extremes there, you know, you
have that conservative Fox audience and now that I know
liberal or left side of the wing of the of
the MSNBC audience, why did you choose not to take
(04:26):
a side? Well, my job was to provide legal analysis
and give my objective opinion on the case, and so
that opinion didn't change with the differences in the audiences
political opinions. Right, So I wasn't a political commentator. And
even at some point they asked me to start giving
political commentary and I decided not to because my job
(04:50):
was to illegal analysts. That it's my dog. So I
decided to There was my decision. I knew what my
area of expertise was and that was to give legal commentary,
and so I just decided to stay true to what
I was really there to do and be an expert
(05:11):
on there was stay in your lane and grow your brand.
So was it in the mindset because like I said,
you're a prosecutor. So did television dropped into your lap?
Was that? Was that a lane that you was thinking about,
Judge faith that you are getting into television? And then
so now you was getting these opportunities to hone your
skills and these little sharp bursts, you know, because I
(05:31):
know that you talk and then you leave you How
do you think I did. Did you think it reacted?
They call you back and go, Okay, they calling me back.
That's a good thing. So when did you feel that
you have value on these in the television games. Well,
I knew it was important to add my perspective to
the cases that were being discussed as a black woman,
(05:54):
as a former prosecutor, and I know a lot of times,
you know, prosecutors get a a bad rap and people
talk about not wanting to be in the field because
they could never put people in jail. I've heard all
those things. But at the same time, you can't just
want to be an activist. If you really want to
see and change, you have to be a part of it,
(06:16):
and you have to have a seat at the table.
Prosecutor job is a very powerful job. A lot of
times what would happen with someone's case would literally depend
on who got their case. So if I got a
case and I would look at that case and it
was a young person from Harlem, which is where I
was living at the time, I would have a different
perspective than a lot of my colleagues across the hall
(06:38):
from me, who would have handled that case differently. So
it was very important for me to add my perspective
and bring my experience and my background to that job.
And I had one job only and that was to
do justice in my cases, to do but what I
believe was right. So when it came time to calling
on me for television, they would looking for people like
(07:01):
me who could add a different perspective and opinion when
giving analysis on these cases. Okay, all the world of
the world of the media we live in is social media, okay,
and social media tends to have an opinion and troll
you good or bad. So when you're bouncing because you
starting to develop your career, you know your social media
(07:22):
is starting to grow and people starting that comments. Did
you have any negative feedback on playing these different sides
on your on your social media feeds? And how did
you handle that? Yes? And but I developed a thick
skin pretty early on. Rashaan. I started doing pageants down
in the South and right, I was twenty two years old, right,
(07:46):
so I was used to a certain level of just
criticism in general. And I think that anytime you're in
the public eye, no matter what you're doing, you are
going to get some type of criticism, right, So when
you have to learn really early on, and as I'm
sure you are aware as well being in front of
the camera, you just have to develop thick skin. You
(08:07):
believe in what you're doing and you believe in the message.
You know, they say new levels, new devils to hire
your visibility. The more you're going to have people who
criticize you, the more you're gonna have people who like you.
But you can never allow your self esteem and how
you feel about yourself to be built up on people's
compliments or being torn down by their criticism. You have
(08:28):
to know who you are, especially when when you're in
the business that we're in, and be confident and that
you're presenting your best self to the world no matter
what people are saying. Absolutely, here's something interesting. You know
we're going to get to the divorce court. I want
to slide over to the forensic world or killer relationships,
and I'm gonna tell you something. I get up in
four thirty. I go downstairs when I working out doing
(08:52):
my stretches, you know, forensic files. I am a junkie
for forensic file type shows, and so it comes on
to every half hour working out and lasting under the
last two minutes, they're gonna give a verdict and what
happened to that person? So what could I guess you're
talking to asking a question for a person like me,
It's kind of like addictive television. What attracted you to
(09:15):
the Project Killer? Relationships? And what do they say the
type of people who watch these type of shows true crime.
For some reason, I too, am really fascinated by the genre,
and I think there's something about the good versus evil, right,
And there's also something about getting to the bottom of
(09:36):
what happened and telling the story. And everyone wants to
know the answer to one question and that is why, right,
So we really get caught up in those stories because
they are real. I start, I branched out. I started
my own production company, and this is the first show
that I've created that I'm executive producing. I did it
(09:56):
because I believe that there should be a diversity of
voice in storytelling, and I wanted to add my name
and my perspective to this genre. So this is the
first show from my production company. I think that with
these types of shows, not only is it fascinating to
watch and learn, but it's also it could be a
(10:18):
learning tool because you're looking at all kinds of red flags.
For this show, in particular, I wanted to pull from
two worlds that I was in the world of relationships,
which I started very early on in my career appearing
in family court in New York, and the world of
the criminal investigations. I'm a trained investigator, that's what I
learned to do as a prosecutor, and have this show
(10:42):
because relationships is something that we can all relate to.
We all have them, whether it's a love relationship, of
family relationship, or friendship. And so I wanted to dig
into the world of relationships and how those relationships start out,
how they turn, and what makes someone commit such an
extreme act the end. But you now, it's because when
(11:03):
I know you're absolutely right, I always tell my my wife,
I go, you know, if something was to happened to you,
then they would just look at my record. There's the
way he watches forensic file. He this guy's a plotter.
I believe my DNA has set up that if something
bad happened to I'm going to jail. I'm because my
my track record is so bad. I'm looking at these
crazy cases all the time. So they would to say
(11:25):
he got the idea from watching First and Files and
some type of show like Killer Relationships with Faith Jenkins.
Do you like these type of shows? So you apply
to her murder, you apply to her demise, and I
do like them in the sense of, first of all,
they're startling to me, and it's like the word, how
could that happen? Why did they do that? And I
always get I always this was the thing that always
(11:46):
bothered me. You can get a di voice, you can
you can get at the point you can actually just
say hey, I'm out. It's that simple. But they go
to the darkest side of it all, and that's where
the greed part comes out of it. And that's what
the selling point of Killer Relationship is that they could
have just walked away, they could have went through the
(12:08):
proper channels and got a divorce. But they wanted it all.
They didn't want ninety seventy, definitely didn't want fifty fifty.
They wanted it all. That is that the single thing
that you saw as well, and these stories you're telling,
that is a big theme and the reason you'll find
that most of the individuals in these cases go to
(12:31):
the lens. They do. There's another theme throughout the season
you'll see, and that is everybody has a secret, right
the lens that these people are willing to go through
to keep their secrets from being revealed and exposed. Wow. Wow, Well,
let's let's slide over a little bit of relationships now
divorce core. Okay, sitting on that, but the people coming
(12:54):
in there with these with these emotional moments, and you
what now you learn the most about that experience and
what do you value? Its two questions, what do you
learn the most and what do you value the most
about that experience? Because to me, it leads into you
writing your book that we're about to talk in the
next subject matter here, Yes, and divorce Court has been
an amazing experience. I hosted the show for two seasons,
(13:17):
and this is actually my last year hosting it because
I am moving in a different direction with my production company.
But I learned a lot from hearing all of the
different issues and perspectives that people brought into the courtroom.
Number One, I learned that people don't most people don't
have relationship problems. They have problems they bring into their relationship. Right.
(13:41):
A lot of the issues I heard were issues that
were unresolved in people's lives and when you're bringing all
of that into a relationship. A healthy relationship is not
something you attracted, something you create, and you can't create
a healthy relationship if you have two unhealthy people coming together, right.
So that for me was just solidified what I knew
(14:04):
about that, and I did my absolute best to try
to enlighten a lot of the couples that came into
the courtroom so that when they left the courtroom they
feel like they're leaving with something greater than when they came,
even when they're going their separate ways. And I also
encouraged them to most of us have been through a
breakup at some point in our lives at one point
(14:24):
or another. I encouraged them to move forward in that
breakup with compassion and empathy and understanding. Of course, it's
a difficult time in your life, but it doesn't mean
you have to try to destroy the other person on
your way out the door. So that was a really
important principle for me to share as well. We'll be
(14:45):
right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald.
Now let's return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan
McDonald kill a relations ship with Faith Jenkins is on
the Oxygen Channel. Then we go to the book. Yes,
I pronoun as much as I could here, and I
(15:07):
highlighted as much as I could because I know I
don't have coffee. I wanted to see you a hard cover.
I'm good girl, I'm good. I got it on my app. Okay,
my net gallery app. I got it. I'm rocking and
rolling here. Now, sis don't sell. I have six sisters
and you know, married, divorce of some you know relationships.
(15:30):
I thought, why are you messing with this person you
as a as a female. And then then I'm also
looking at the Vorce Court. I'm putting that in my
mind when I'm reading it. I'm saying you, you're getting
to see this all the time. With Steve Harvey is
a Strawberry Letter. I felt the Vorce Court was your
Strawberry Letter, you know, for for this book. You know,
because you get to see it and you make these crafty,
(15:50):
smart decisions with these people and you get to see
how they interact. And when he did, Steve Harvey did
Strawberry letter for five days a week. He was responding
to emotional letters that allowed him to craft his mindset?
How did you craft your mindset? Was it divorce court?
Was it girlfriends? It was just past relationship? What started
this whole sisto selling? Need to put it on paper?
(16:15):
And the second part of that title really says at all,
how to stay smart in matters of the heart. That's
what I wanted to write about. It actually started prior
to me doing television, when I started working in family
court in New York. My first court appearances were in
family court in New York handling divorces, child custody, a child,
(16:38):
child support cases, and then from there I was also
living my old life as a single woman in New
York City, so I didn't get married until after I
turned forty years old. And what happened is I had
this career that everyone around me deemed was so successful,
(16:58):
but people started asking me why I wasn't married, why
I was still single when I was going to settle
down all of these questions, and I didn't think being
single was something I needed to explain or defend. That
was just my journey at the time. There are lessons
that I needed to learn. I needed to learn a
lot about relationships because I didn't have this huge standard
(17:21):
of what loved looked like in my life growing up,
people talk about relationships being a science and dating as
an art. I knew none of that. And we prepare
just like you prepare for your show. I prepare when
I was in law school for exams. We prepare for
everything in life that we want to be successful for,
but a lot of us don't prepare for relationships. Why
(17:42):
is that? So I started learning to prepare myself for
the relationship that I wanted and what that looked like
and what that meant for me. And I pulled from
all of the experiences that I had with women in
family court, with women in divorce court, my own personal
life and dating experience, and I combined those to put
them in the book. Because I got married after our
(18:05):
turn forty, I had a lot of a dating experiences.
I had a lot of lessons that I learned the
hard way. But the moral of the story is I
met my husband. He's an amazing man. I'm happily married now.
If I would have waited to live my best life
after because I was waiting on a partner, I would
have spent half of my adult life just existing and
(18:26):
not really living right. Well, you know it's interesting because yeah,
got own production company. I see a TV show at
this book now, you know about especially at postparty because
see you talk about Ali mcbell, you know, like they
made a big deal when she turns thirty. You know,
like what are you doing? They So so as soon
as you start talking about that, I went to that
section of the book, you know. And then because we
(18:47):
are hit with dead lives. You know, you supposed to
graduate from high school eighteen, at twenty two, ye supposed
to be out of college, you know, thirty, twenty nine, thirty,
where's your man? Where's your child? Where's your career? So
you're here with all these markers in life and basically
that's what you You're just taking those same markers and
applying it to emotion and not being swayed by what
other people say you should be doing I think you
(19:09):
should be doing. Is that correct? That is correct? These
are arbitrary timelines. Who decides we're not running a race
in life because we're not all running in the same direction,
So it can't be a race, right, there are almost
eight billion people on this planet. We can't all be
doing the same things at the same time. And so
(19:30):
a part of this book is encouraging people to embrace
their own personal journey and ignore the noise, because guess what,
the questions don't stop. As soon as you get married.
They started asking you or when you're gonna have kids.
You have one child, they started asking when you're going
to have another one. So that's why you have to
decide early on that you're going to live your best
(19:51):
life right where you are and embrace your journey. And
it is okay if your journey includes your personal choice
not to marry, not to have children, and no one else.
You can't let anybody else put that kind of pressure
on you to make a decision because they believe in
an arbitrary timeline that you don't right. It was, it was,
(20:11):
it was, you know, always such chapters stick out for me.
You know, I had to go to wait for sex.
But let me explain that chapter right there, because everybody
feels a pressure to to that's part of the relationship.
Why was that an important part? You know, I know why,
But I'd like for you to tell my listeners and
my viewers. When you say wait for sex, I know
(20:35):
it's referencing a woman, but also shouldn't that be said
to a guy to stop putting that unnecessary pressure on
a woman that's part of her role in the racial
relationship that she has to have sex with him. Well,
one thing about the book is, although it's called System Settle,
I really wanted and talked about universal tru sys standards
for love for anyone to read. And I've had several
(20:57):
guys come to me and say they've enjoyed a many
aspects of the book. That was an important chapter because
it really is about what are your goals for love
in your life? What is it that you really want
to accomplish. I say in the very beginning of my book,
this book is not for everyone. If you're looking to
just have a sex buddy that you can hook up
(21:19):
with from time to time and that's your goal, then
this is really probably not the book for you. If
you're trying to lock down Booker from the barbershop who
you see you once a month, this is probably not
the read for you. This book is really about people
who are on this journey to attract that authentic long
term love and partnership in marriage if that's what they want.
(21:42):
So that part when I got to that part about
waiting for intimacy in a relationship. It really is about
establishing a foundation with someone and establishing boundaries in your
relationship and getting to know a person and what they're
really looking for. And establishing boundaries should not scare off
(22:03):
a person who is ready, willing and able for authentic love.
You know. You know, I want to tell you, first
of all, enjoy the book. I enjoyed the book because
of the fact that that's why I brought that thing
about the guy. You know, like I said, because a
lot of people read a book and they see you
on it. Oh Jesus men bashing you know, not you know,
(22:25):
and that's not at all. I want to make sure
I said that. But that's what I was just saying,
is that when you said wait for sex, and that
should be both ways. Because men, I'm a man, we
feel it can put that undue pressure that Okay, this
is part of the you know, this part of the dinner,
this part of the day, this part of the its
a week. You know, we're supposed to be doing some
other than just talking, and that's the pressure instead of
(22:45):
getting to know the person. So it's also in your
book you kind of like set aside defining what that
relationship ship is so they can understand what you want
out of it, because a lot of women don't set
those I guess I wouldn't say rules, but this is
what I want. Are you willing to be? Is am
I correctings? Assuming that there is the correct approach correct.
(23:07):
A big part of it is communicating yes, and knowing
who you are and knowing where you are at this
point in your life and being honest about that. If
you're not looking, if someone tells you that they're just
looking for a casual relationship, they're not looking for marriage,
then we got to stop trying to convince people to
(23:27):
change their mind. That's not our job. Accept people when
they tell you what their goals are, when they tell
you where they are right now and their life path.
Accept it. So if that's not where you are, then
it's time for you to pivot and go in another direction.
So that's what I talk about in the book. When
you talk about opening, honest communication, when someone tells you,
(23:48):
believe them and then decide you can go in a
different direction. If you're not on the same life path
at that point, well you know I talk about it
in my opening. I always talk about don't let you
for in the co workers stop you from playing or
living your dreams. That's what your book is about. You know,
don't let people tell you that you're thirty, you're out
of the game, you farty, you're out of the game,
(24:10):
or that you know that you can't get to reclaimed.
But I think the book that I got the most
out of your book, you know, systn't sell How to
Stay how to Stay Smart than the Matters of the Heart,
was that the decisions you make should be the decisions
that justify your path. Like you said, you got married
in forty in the age of forty, and people will
people end and that you're attractive, you're successful. Then they
(24:33):
put that old thing, what's the problem, and then they
start making like you the problem. And so so this
book tells you stop all that madness. I am not
the problem. I have control of my life and I
will meet the right person that understands who I am
as a person that really was was singing out and
really was the champion. Message that I took away from
(24:55):
chapter after chapters that you know, women, especially this day
and age with social media, with you being able to
crack the glass ceiling, being able to women are the fastest,
especially Black women the fastest growing. And I'm gonna tell you,
by the way, this book is not women written for
Black women, white women. It's women for women. So this
is not a racial book. This is a book that
allows you to see that we all women have to
(25:17):
deal with the same issues. We all need to be
able to cultivate the same understanding that we can be successful.
And reading this book system settle how to stay smart
in the matters of the heart allows you that journey.
That is what my takeaway was. And and I wanted
to bring you on the show. I know we're we
talked about the dvorce cord and you know, kill a relationship,
but I just had that and I want to support
this book. I want to put put the you know
(25:39):
this part of the snippets of this interview on our
social media just to drive traffic and let people know
this is a book that that's a must read us.
It's a quality read and you will take away nuggets
that I think that will make you honestly feel not
so disappointed in your life or a loan in your experiences,
right right, And that's why I wrote it. Everything you
(26:02):
said is why I wrote it because this is something
that I would have wanted to read as a single person,
as a person who wanted to learn more about relationships.
Because we're always trying to educate ourselves. That's why we read,
That's why we listen to the podcast, That's why we
watch shows like yours, because we are trying to educate
ourselves so that when we move forward, we can make
(26:23):
better decisions. When you know better, you do better. And
so that's why I wrote about this book. I want
people to use it as a practical guide to attract
the kind of relationship they really want and deserve in
their life. She's an incredible legal mind, you know as
the host of Divorce Courts. She has her own production company,
so now she's producing television shows kill a relationship with
(26:45):
Facing Genkins. Now she's an incredible author. Her book, Relationship Book, says,
don't settle how to stay smart in the matters of
the heart. Guys, pick it up. It's a must read
for you too, because we all need to know how
they're thinking. Oh they're thinking too okay, and if you
understand how they think, you could probably get the right
mate in your life. Faith Jenkins, thank you for coming
excuse me, Judge Faith Jenkins, thanks for coming on my show. Okay,
(27:06):
thank you, Rashwan. It's great to see you again. And
I will support this. I'm telling you I will, all right.
Thank you, Thank you so much. If people wanted to
hear see any interviews of money on any money Interviews
on Money Making Conversations Masterclass, please go to Money Making
Conversation dot com. I'm with Sean McDonald. I am your host.
Thank you. We'll be right back with more Money Making
Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. You are now tuned into
(27:31):
the Money Making Conversations Minute of Inspiration with Rashaan McDonald. Hi,
I'm ra Shan McDonald for Money Making Conversations Masterclass with
your daily Manage of Inspiration. I sat down with the
founder of the Lift Bar, Melissa Butler. She shared the
importance of HBCUs and how I attending wanted to change
your life. Family changed my life. Before I got to
(27:51):
fam you, I didn't know how culturally diverse Black people are.
I didn't know what made us special. And you know,
when you grow up, you always hear that. You know,
we have to work twice as hard. And I think
at an institution like FAMU and like other HBCUs. You know,
you're surrounded by black excellence, so it doesn't become something
(28:13):
that you have to strive for. It becomes your default.
Fam you taught me how to make excellence my default,
and it taught me how to have just cry and
the diversity of black people. And you can listen to
this full interview with Melissa Buttberg. It's available on money
Making Conversations dot com. Now let's return to money Making
Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald. Please work with Money Making
(28:35):
Conversations master Class. The franchise owner of a Nothing Bumpcake location,
CHARLISHI Bands. How do you know, charl I'm wonderful. How
are you resigned? I'm happy to be here. Thank you
for having me. Well, first of all, let's talk about
the relationship. You know, in my business, somebody had delivery
gifted me your prominent and I was happy. Body know
(29:00):
what they followed it. The didn't know I love sweets,
and I immediately invited you because I asked you, I said,
because you know, I'm gonna be honest with I stereotyped it.
I thought she was just a delivery person. She said, No,
I am the owner of this location. I went wow,
and I said, can you come on my show? And
we've been going back and forth because your schedule has
been busy, and finally you're able to come my man
show in Black History. Mon. Yes, yes, it's proud and
(29:23):
talk about what you do it. Let's talk about before
you made this decision, Charlie to be a franchise. So
a little background. I'm a CPA. So I've been in
accounting my whole life. Always knew I wanted to be
an accountant from Philadelphia. I went to Temple University for
my undergrad and accounting had a taxation class, and like,
(29:43):
I want to do taxes, So I went and got
my Masters in taxation and m That's what I did.
So I was a tax accountant for most of my life,
and I thought I would do that for the rest
of my life. I'm gonna tell you something I am
afraid to do. Tame. I would degree in mathematics. Cannot
I'm even an easy for them. I get nervous that.
I swear to you, I will go to H and
(30:06):
R whatever whatever about that don't tax I would take
it easy for them. You look, you know, just just
do this on you. So for you, I am like
borrowing down to you to say, because you're confidently saying this, taxes,
that's what I do. I do taxes, taxes. When you
look at it, the guy and I'm the people tell me.
I'm pretty smart and my degree, you know, I may
be easily, but I swear to you I will not
(30:29):
do my taxes. I've never ever done my taxes because
they intimidate me, intimid the whole process of making a
mistake intimidated. Yeah, and so, but so that means that
you have to be a confident person then right, yeah,
you know, Um, the law changes often, so you're always
doing your continuing education credits and understanding the new laws
and you know once you and don't get me wrong.
(30:53):
I started out as a personal tax return preparer, and
when I moved to Atlanta, I decided I want to
be a business tax return prepare And I was totally
intimidated by that. Okay, um, but I googled a CPA.
I called her, I told her, listen, I want to
work for free. I don't know business taxes. Can I
please come to your office and you teach me. And
(31:14):
I learned for free, just free, free, free, free, free, free.
So she's said, uh, yeah, so because she asked for
your resume and she saw, I'm gonna get this person
this skills a temple graduate for free, knowing what your
ultimate goal was exactly. So she um, it's a huge
mentor for me. And so I learned business taxes and
(31:37):
I had a corporate job. That's how I moved to
Atlanta from Philly. UM large bank made me an offer
that I couldn't refuse. So packed up, you know, a
little jeep and I moved to Atlanta. UM found an
apartment three days later. And Tucker, So, Tucker has been
where I moved to first, at my first home, had
(31:59):
my first job, job, and now the Bakries and Tucker.
So I have a deep roots with Tucker Tucker Georgia
because it syndicated national. Yes, yes, Georgia, Yes it is.
Now let's let's talk about that. The differences, you know,
because we always talking about fear on this show. You know,
you you moved, you know, you are all female, you know,
transitioning from another major market to another major market. But
(32:22):
it is northeastern NATA South. Were there any what were
the fears and making that move that decision to come
to Atlanta because there were something there were a lot
of fears, UM, but I was done with Philly. You know,
I needed to change, So I kind of left it
open to where the job opportunity took me. So DC, California,
there were all options, sexes. So when the door opened
(32:46):
to Atlanta, I was like, well, that is where I
need to be. So I came confidently with fears of
what if I don't do well at this job? If
you know, what if? What if? What if? But I
was like, I could always go back to Philly. You
know all my fears in Philly. So do you know
that's um always was a fallback plan if it had
(33:06):
to be, but never looked back. I remember when I
left IBM to pursue a stand up career, and I
left on great terms. In fact, I tell people when
The Showman, I was in tears when I made that
decision a year in advance, because it was such an
emotional decision that even though that knew working for IBM
was not my future, it just didn't It didn't excite me.
I felt I saw myself being blocked in creatively, and
(33:29):
I went, Okay, this is not me and so because
they had a successful model and they wanted people to
grow in that model, and I wanted to do things
outside of that model, and I went, nah, this is
not me. But I know for a year, I kept
thinking I can always go back, you know. And then
finally I said stop, stop, stop that theory security blanket away,
(33:50):
and stop that theory that you can go back. And
because that's not why you left. You left to pursue
your dreams. And that's right, that's key right there. You
left Philadelphia to pursue your dreams, and in doing so,
you had to take away that thought process. When did
you take away that thought process that I had that
you could always go back. Well, to make it even more,
(34:12):
you know, I took a temp position at this bank.
I didn't even have a signed contract. I took a
temp job and took a leap on faith. So once
I proved myself because I was confident, I was like,
I can do the work right. I got a full
time contract, a fount my apartment, started building my network
or friends, and I was like, this is my home now,
(34:34):
you know. And so so you did free work. We're
gonna come back after this break because you got a
lot of talking. We didn't even talk about an Her
story is so interesting. But you're the perfect guest for
the show because I want people to hear how it
seems simple, it seems difficult, but fear drive so many
people from reaching their their ultimate dream. And it was
(34:54):
walking away. You know. I know that I've walked away
from a lot of levels. It's a lot of people,
and you always seen and people have called me a
renaissance man, and sometimes I don't know what that means,
but when they look at my resume, go, you did this,
you do this, you did this, and you've been good
at all these things. And I say, because everything I
do I have done in my life I wanted to
do it. How are you doing, Victoria? You're calling in
(35:16):
a money making conversation master class and you're speaking to
me and charlish your bass. What can I what are
you talking about? What question can we ask me? Up?
You with good evening? Good evening? How are you good? Good? Um? Okay?
So UM, I was just listening and I just want
to come in you um for taking the chance from
(35:39):
moving from the Northeast and then I coming to Atlanta
and all that. Um was there ever a time in
your life where you didn't have it all together like
me and like you, you couldn't hold on some money
and it would just liquid it. And Victoria, I'm a CPA, right,
I'm gonna count and I take care of everybody's money. However,
(36:02):
Georgia Power had me no lights one day when I
came home. Okay, so you know, Rashaw I was talking
about saving and how you wish you could, you know,
save and put things away. It was so easy for
me to tell my clients, Yeah, you need to save,
you need to put ten percent here, you need to
do you know, but just keeping it real. It's hard
(36:23):
to implement those things when you financially are and where
you want to be. So absolutely the struggle was absolutely real,
and I just think the key to it was just
stand in my lane. You know a lot of my
friends was like, Oh, we're going out, We're going out. Nope,
not me, not tonight. You know, you know, you have
(36:44):
to sacrifice a lot of things in order to get
to where you need to be. So, like Rashawn said,
if you don't have a plan, you can't you know.
I had a spreadsheet that I opened up every morning
when I was in Corporate America, and it was my debt.
I had all my credit cards on the spreadsheet. I
had a payment breakdown on how I was going to
(37:05):
get each balance to zero, and I was committed to
the two hundred dollars here to two fifty year, one
hundred and fifty year, the saying, oh I got a
zero balance on my Discover card, let me use that
ten thousand from there, pay down my master card and
then I got zero interests on the bald. You know,
it was just maneuvering and figuring out, but having the
(37:28):
plan and being committed to the plan, and that's how
I was able to get myself out of that credit card.
That that is inevitable when you don't come from money
and you have an undergrad degree, you have a master's degree.
You know, you move and you're by yourself. You don't
really have that family support system. So no, it was
(37:48):
absolutely real and I just had to sacrifice. Victoria did
she happy out with that answer? We would think and
I ask how how would I how would I be
able to um being part of the franchise of are
you just? Are you saying that nothing? Bunt Cakes is
(38:11):
offering franchise opportunities absolutely. Um. You know, I speak to
a lot of potential new franchisees and a lot of
them are very intentional. I want to open a nothing Buntcakes.
That was not my story of Victoria. Nothing bunt Cakes
was not necessarily the plan. The plan was to open
a bakery and Tucker in this new plaza that needed
(38:34):
a bakery. So I was like, Okay, I'm gonna bring
a bakery to Tucker. We don't have a bakery. I
had a client that had a different bakery franchise, so
it was initially going to be something else. And when
that didn't work, the landlord is looking at me. He's like, hey, Charlie,
where's that bakery you're bringing. I'm scrambling, you know, like,
oh jesus, I'm googling bakery franchise. You know, other things
(38:59):
popped up in it morphed into nothing bunch cakes. So
I would say the plan was to have a side business,
which sometimes you have to have to open it up
just a little bit and be receptive to the pivots
and the changes and say, okay, I thought it was
going to be this, but this is coming full circle
for me, so let me embrace this and make this work.
(39:23):
What's the definition of a franchise? I'm sorry, what's the
definition of Victoria? That's question number three, Victoria, that's your
last question. Victor R jacking my show. I was a
great movie. The final netflix is um the Founder. I
believe it's called with McDonald's. So it takes you through
(39:46):
the whole franchise like life. So basically, Victoria. Two women
came together twenty plus years ago. They had a great
bunch cake and great frosting. Right, they said, listen, let's
open up little bakery. Let's have a store. You have
a business. It does well. You create the cookie cut
(40:08):
type of thing. You know, you mastered the recipes, and
it's like, can I give somebody this and can they
do it without my expertise? And once you prove the concept,
and if you watch Shark Tank a couple of episodes,
you'll learn all this. Once you prove that the concept
can be done by anyone anywhere, that's the birth of franchising. Right.
(40:30):
So okay, so they said, look, we have the recipe,
we have everything. We you know, worked out the kinks.
We know how many people you should hire or we
know you know what locations are do well with this,
and they kind of mapped it out. They give you
the blueprint, so you take the blueprint. Will you buy
the blueprint? Let's be clear, you buy the blueprint? Victoria. Well,
(40:54):
let me tell you something. I've been baking since I
was ten years old. I make really good I'm sorry,
I'm serious, Victoria, I'm not. I'm not denying that victory.
First of all, that's what the show was designed. Money
making conversation Domestic class was to get the community excited
about speaking to people like Charlie because they do exist,
(41:14):
they do exist, and there they do have stories, and
her story has gravitated you and hopefully motivates you to
be a star, a star. And like she said, bakery,
you know, like I said, I'm an award winning baker
and I have no desire to open the bakery. But
you go to my timeline, you think I'm baked, and
people two four hundred pounds due every time I look,
(41:34):
you're eating something. And but but it's the passion. I
hear the passion in your voice. I think what she's
saying right now is that what is the plan? You know,
what is the plan? And she speaks to people all
the time, and so no, your question, I tease you
about asking questions. Your curiosity is incredible, but now it
has to be put on paper. And once you put
it on paper, then the emotional pushback happens. You know,
(41:56):
how do you make that dream happen? And that's really
where it all starts, you know, whether you want to
be a singer, whether you want to go to college,
they're always dreams, but they are when you start creating
application to that dream, that's when the struggle happens. And
when that struggle happens, how do you react to it?
What is your plan the pushback on that? Because we
(42:17):
all have rainy days, we have rainy days in relationships,
we have rainy dads on job. And that word rainy
days doesn't necessarily mean rain, it's just meaning difficulties. It
means when it's supposed to be sunshiny, it's gloomy, And well,
how do you act doing gloom? And so this show
Money Making Conversations Masterclass that you're listening to, and Charlie's
doing an amazing you know me, I should be worried
(42:37):
about her. You know, she's just brilliant sitting over here,
just responding. So confidently and casually to these questions, and
to have a guest like that, she's in studio. She
came in here, she brought in some of her samples.
It's to show confidence. And I just want to thank
you for calling in and leave your number and your
ZIP in your email address so we can reach out
to you, Okay, Victoria, because we really want to continue
(42:58):
that conversation. Plus I wanted to send you one of
my money Making Conversations guys to the success. All right,
thank you so much that I go to sleep with
with this station on, like it's always on in my
room and I really find refuge in it. So thank
you so much. Thank you, Victoria. Make sure leading information
from mess Charlie, get the little brain send up in here.
(43:21):
We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations master
Class with Rushan McDonald. Now, let's return to Money Making
Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald. We know the thing about
it now. You you said you were going in there,
but I know we're about to wrap this break up
in a few minutes here, but I want to ask
(43:41):
you a couple of questions for me. There. You were
going in there to open a bakery at the side
business as a side business, and you should say like that, okay, cool,
Then let me get your history here now temple okay,
accounting CPA. Where did the baking skills if there were none?
They were none? M okay, Yeah. I used to just
(44:02):
cut the cookie roll, you know, like spray the pan
and like just put the little block of chocolate chip
dough on it, stick it in the oven. Yeah. That
was the extent of my baking skills. You know. Also,
if someone set seven years ago you're going to own
a bakery, I would say, wow, interesting because I don't bank,
(44:24):
right right. So, so so you in Tucker, Georgia. You you,
but you're in a visionary because you feel that you
want to feel a need. Okay, So talker walkers through
that step of going to the landlord, ye telling them
what you're gonna do, because you have to have a
plan yea. And the first plan wasn't nothing, but can
talk about that, okay. So the plaza was coming, great location,
(44:46):
and Tucker, I need to be a part of it.
I'm dripping by every day going to my corporate job.
So one day I took a right and I found
you know, sign rolled down the number, called them, Hey,
I have an idea for a baker. Do you have
any space available? Absolutely? How much space do you need?
I'm just talking to him about, you know, kind of
faking it too. I made it, and so I was
(45:08):
kind of on the hook to bring a bakery. So
that is when the will started spinning and I was like, oh,
that fell through. What else can I do? Oh? I
was committed to bring in the bakery. Okay, okay, you
open in twenty seventeen. Yeah, when did you start this?
Late fifteen? Late fifteen. We started communicating with the landlord.
(45:32):
I'm at dinner one night and I had Nothing bunch
Cakes in California at a cousin's birthday dinner, and it
was the best cake I ever had, and I thought, Wow,
I gotta come back to LA to get this cake.
You know. Yeah, it's moist the cream, cheese, you know.
So I had it, tasted it. I just didn't know
(45:54):
it was a franchise. I didn't know there was one
here in Georgia. I didn't know any of that until
someone mentioned it again and I said, oh, let me
google google Nothing Bunchcake franchise. Boom came up. I'm almost
signing a deal with another bakery franchise. Okay, okay, so
the spirit said, don't just see what nothing bunch Cakes
(46:17):
has to say. I emailed them, she replied back. I
told her what was happening about me with this other franchise.
She said, wait, don't you do it? Charlie, hear me out,
and I heard her out and the rest is history.
You know, I canceled the deal with the other bakery
franchise and when with nothing Bunecake. So why as this
(46:38):
off air where a black women the fastest growing segment
in entrepreneurship, Why all black bomen from what I see
and all the amazing Black women that I know, I
think our mothers have a lot to do with that.
I know my mother, Um, you know, she pushed her
girls to be what she was not able to accomplish,
(46:58):
you know. So it was just having that fierce you
know that, you know, amazing black role model of a
mother to say you need to travel, you need to
go to college, you need to be better than me,
you need to do better than me. You know, the
school is your number one priority. That just pushed me
(47:20):
to continue to see myself out of North Philly. You know,
a lot of my friends didn't never been out of
North Philly, so they couldn't see themselves living outside of
North Philly, let alone, you know, having a business or
going to college. So I think our mothers are the
backbones of to while we're so successful and we're very
(47:42):
passionate women. I grew up with six of them, so
I know about the female passion. We come back, we're
gonna find out how big her bakery is, either pros
and cons of franchising, what to consider before franchises. She said,
you know, she was about to sign another local franchise
location bakery, and and she sat down with the nothing
but cake individuals, and they said, hey, we're the one,
(48:04):
and she's not looked back. If we're right back with more. Charlie,
Sha Bass, Charlie, you got another phone called? Is that
Tayron or Tayron Tarn? Is it tarn like the capital right? Okay?
I appreciate you, my friend, and I I apologize. And my
name is Roshaun. You think I would get everybody's name right?
(48:25):
And I apologize. I apologize. Yeah, yeah, I say the
same thing when I get someone else's name. Well, one
name I can't get wrong. It's Charlie. It's Charlie's. Charlie's
on the show with me and we're talking about franchising.
What's your question today that you might want to ask
me or her? Well, I just wanted to, uh, you know,
give give y'all props. Um. I listened to w c
(48:49):
OKA often and I just was listening in on the
conversation and I just wanted to say, you know, thank
you all for just support the black owned businesses as
well as you know, small businesses and on the whole,
but black owned. It's definitely what is your name? I'm sorry?
(49:19):
You know, I really appreciate the ron because of the
fact that you know, when you when you're trying to
talk to people, there's fear and that you know, especially
when you're offering advices like what's what's the scam? Because
black people have a natural you know, scam radar. You know,
there's another agenda here, and the agenda here is just
providing information. That's all and and basically what we're having
(49:40):
it's just a conversation and we as allowing you to
listen in on our conversation that we might have at
a restaurant that we might have You know, walking down
the street and these questions, Like Victoria was so excited
to hear you call in and say, I really appreciate
this conversation. It's what we want to hear. That's the
conversation you want to create. And the thing I love
the a boy Charlie's conversation was she was just a
(50:02):
business minded person that got into this and that what
stops so many people. You didn't have to be a baker.
You just had to have the passion and the ability
to work hard to achieve your successes a franchise e.
That's what excites me about the conversation. What are your thoughts? Absolutely, well,
you know the journey. The journey sometimes you know in
(50:24):
the beginning is the shaky road, you know, and it
takes you know, it takes that vision to be ignited.
And like you said, you know, fear is that thing
that stops most people's ideas and visions and goals because
they don't really know what they're stepping into. And as
(50:45):
I was hearing her story and stories before hers, um,
you know, I definitely related. And you know again, um,
I just you know, I just appreciated just hearing everyone's
journey to where they are now, and um, and I
know that you know in the future, I know, I'm quitty,
sure there is you know, there's a long term goals
(51:09):
you know, this is you know other goals that. Yeah,
but but as far as what I've heard, you know,
I definitely related to. So thank you. I appreciate because
she has a little announcement to tell us. Then thank
you for calling on the show here moneyment covers? Are
you telling me? Off air? He was talking about long
term goal, short term goal. Now, short term goal was
just to get all place open and bakery with a
(51:31):
name on it. There was Repstable. Yeah, now you told
me all fair of what else is about to happen
in your life as an entrepreneur as a franchise e.
Well you now are Sean. I let my CPA license
labs and so I said, you know what, accounty, that's
not my thing anymore. This is my thing now. So
now how can I transition to this to legacy to
(51:55):
open another one? Wow? Yeah? So, um, thank god I
just got my approval. A couple of weeks ago. I
was nervously just like, oh, I hope I could announce
on the show. But it was a true blessing and
a lot of hard work. You know, I definitely deserved it. Um,
Tucker is four and a half years old now, so
I kind of worked through the kinks of being a
(52:16):
small business entrepreneur to you know, now be confident to
open another one. Now, what's the timeline of being on
that opening? So the territory is central Atlanta? Hey, Atlanta
were coming? Um, you know, I was like, I mean,
where is it Atlanta? You know, so Tucker was the
closest location to the city of Atlanta, So our second
(52:38):
baby will be in the city. We're going to cover
everything from North Shrewood Hills to downtown. Okay, so we
got Atlanta covered. Yeah. Well you gotta know you got
your third phone call, Thomas. How are you doing? Thomas
H Thomas, Charlie's here long with Rashan McDonald. What's your question.
I just want to say good even to both through you.
(53:00):
I'm an avid listener. Want to commend Charlie and the
system before a CPR just for all that you're doing
me being a business owner myself, a new a fairly
new business owner. The want that you talked about, Charlie,
the pivoted you know, giving you have an accounting background,
(53:20):
doing something totally unrelated to what you were doing, and
the thing that I find to be true and you
sound of a similar nature. But God, I commend you.
Commend you, commend you. I love or son for this
platform giving others to come on here to learn, quire, share,
continue to build an uplift each other. And like Rashun
(53:43):
talking about earlier, that fear, I too know. I've wrestled
with it for years, but by the grace of God,
last year I pushed through myself. So I can go
on and on, but I won't. I just keep it short.
But I just want to commend you. I'm gonna make
I eat it nothing, nothing but cakes every now and again.
I was first introduced to it about three years ago
(54:05):
at a corporate function, and I do make it a
point to go there. Now that I know that you
have a location in Tucker, I'm gonna make it a
point specifically to come to see your location. Thank you, Thomas,
and congratulations to you as well. Thank you. I just
wish you well to much success on your current store
as well as your new endeavors you're about to embark upon.
(54:26):
Thank you. I appreciate you so much. Thank you so much. Well,
you know this is the Charlie's your bass show. She's
your co host of money making Conversation, Mouse to Class
and Charlie the second location. Yes, so we're just working
through the l OI. And you know, for those of
you who are thinking about owning a business having a
(54:48):
brick and mortar, an actual storefront, an LI is a
lease of intent. So before you have at lease for space,
you negotiate kind of the upfront. How much am I
going to pay per square foot? How much is this?
How much is that? How long will the least term be?
What do you cover? What do I cover? You know,
(55:09):
so exactly. So we got really lucky with Tucker because
it was a brand new construction, brand new facility, brand
new plaza, brand in space. The timing was right because
the unit was not built out yet, so we were
able to work with my contractors and my landlord and
(55:29):
do everything one time. You know, a lot of times
you're working with a structure and you know your your
architect says, no, the sink should be up over here,
so now you got to dig up the cement, move
the pipes, you know. So we were able to save
a lot of money just by working together from the
very beginning and getting everything built out the way that
it was required. So I was I don't think that's
(55:53):
I know that's not going to be the case for
the second one. It's an existing structure for the space
that I would like to hopefully UM move into. It's
off of Morelin. It's a really crazy busy plaza. But
I think nothing bunch cakes can hold our own. And
now you delivered to my offer. I did. Now, how
are you gonna do that? Because you like that personal touch.
(56:14):
You'd like to be on the front line of meeting
your customers things like that, you know, and I still will.
I just won't be able to do all of them right,
you know, um you I absolutely need a full team
to help me be completely successful. I think I am
best at building relationships marketing. That's my new job. I'm
out the Decab Chambers of Commerce. I'm a member there.
(56:35):
I'm a member of my Tucker and Business Association. I'm
out planning the seeds, you know, so when they start
to grow, the business can grow. UM. And you just
gotta know what you're what you're good at, and when
you're not good at. I've met other business owners who
are not people people, right, you know, so they hire
other people to do that for them. It's a gift.
(56:59):
It's a gift, and I'm thankful for it, and I'm
thankful to be in the position to be able to
build those relationships because a lot of times businesses come
to communities and they take take take from the community,
and they don't give back to the community. So it's
very important to me to give back to the community
that I live in. I'm still a resident of Tucker.
But the beauty of our converence, first of all, finally
(57:20):
got you in here. You are amazing, not only amazing,
just your story is just special and it fits so
many things that I talk about every week, and the
fact that you're opening another location, and the fact that
you're not a train baker, the fact that you just
saw an opportunity, did your research and that's why. And
then overcame the fear of people going, you don't do that,
(57:41):
Why why are you doing something you don't do That's
what just show money making, money, money making, master money making, conversation,
master classes all about it. I want to thank you
for coming on the show, and thank you for the
together and putting on social media before we eat it.
We see you next week. Just Roy Sean McDonald. I'm
the host of Money Making Conversations master Class and thank
you Jay. You're welcome. Thank you You've been listening to
(58:03):
Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. He will be
back next Tuesday at six pm. Always remember to lead
with your gifts. Money Making Conversations Masterclass is a presentation
of thirty eight fifteen Media Incorporated. You are now tuned
into the Money Making Conversations Minute of Inspiration with Rushan McDonald.
(58:26):
Hi Roshan McDonald for Money Making Conversation Masterclass with your
daily Minute of Inspiration. I sat down with the one
and only legend, Miss Patty Patty LaBelle, singer, actress, cookbook
Arthur and Brand, who shared what drives her energy to
give do charity and what explains her joy. I guess
it's because of my mom and dad. They were both
loving people, outgoing by the neighborhood and just made people
(58:51):
feel like they wanted to smile instead of frowning. And
with me, I noticed, you know, since I've been performing
for fifty six years, HU so many people just when
I hug them, you know, or when I smile or
say something positive to them. Don't cause you nothing to
be a lifter of people, and it's natural for me.
(59:12):
It's natural. You can listen to this full interview with
Miss Patti LaBelle. It's available on Moneymaking Conversations dot com.
Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's to show that she
is the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and
Brandon expert Rashaan McDonald. I will know he's giving me
advice to many occasions in incason didn't notice, I'm not broke.
You know he'll be interviewing 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 from
(00:25):
my man, Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations. Here we go.
Welcome to Money Making Conversation master Class. I am your host,
Rashwan McDonald. I recognize that we all have different definitions
of success. For you, it may be the size of
your paycheck. Mine has inspired people to accomplish their goals
and live their very best life. The very best life
may be different for a lot of you guys out there.
(00:48):
It's time to start reading other people's success stories really
and start writing your own. People always talking about their
purpose or their gift or jumping out on faith without
a plan. Where if you have a gift, leave with
that gift and don't your friends, family, or co work
can stop you from planning or living your dream. My
guest is Judge Faith Jenkins. She's an attorney arbitrary arbitrary
(01:09):
arbitrator Arthur and Emmy nominating host of Divorce Court. That's
where you know her. That Faith looks familiar, that sounds
famili That is her. Had the good fortune of meeting
her several years ago with my good friend, attorney civil
rights attorney Benjamin Crump introduced to me and relationship for
him there and I've been watching her from afar, just
admiring her rise in this industry. She's on the longest
(01:31):
running TV court show. She's also has a new crime series,
Kill a Relationship with Faith Chinkins. I'll tell you I
love those type of shows. It airs on Oxygen. The
series takes deep dive at the heart stopping evil stories
of love going horribly bad, faith to brides, unparalleled insight
into every case where a breakup means one thing, someone's
going to die. We're going to talk about her career
(01:54):
and both those shows, but let me tell you why
she really owned money making Conversation Masterclass. I also want
to talk about how relationship book sys don't settle, how
to stay smart in Matters of the Heart is an
awesome of love, wisdom and advice for women on how
to play It's smart and the dating and relationship game.
Please work with the money Making Conversation masterclass. Judge Faith Jenkins,
(02:17):
How you doing, Judge? However, Sean, how are you? Thank
you so much for welcoming. That was an amazing introduction.
And I know that you know we started this business,
you know, just trying to get in and then this
too is kind of interesting. You fight to get in,
then you have to fight to stay, and then you
(02:38):
want to you want to stay with options. I see
you starting to diversify. Like I said, we mentioned Oxygen
that showed that you're doing to kill a relationship with
branding your name, attaching your name and not just kill
a relationship, is selling your name as well. And this
new book. But let's go back to the first really
big opportunity that came your way was divorce court. How
did that come about? And how did that change your
(03:00):
inspective on what you wanted to do with your career
because this is entertainment. Well, what happened is I was
in New York working as a prosecutor for about eight years,
I'd been working in New York. I started a big
law firm. Then I moved to work for the government.
And after I left the Prosecutor's office, I got a
(03:20):
call to be on television just to talk about a
high profile case and give my legal opinion on the case.
And then the George Zimmerman trial happened, right and I
was called to opine on the George Zimmerman trial every
day of the case, and I would be on Fox News, MSNBC,
and CNN all in the same day. That's how I
(03:41):
met your friend been crumped during that time period. So
after that, someone when Hank Cohen tells this story, he's
the executive producer of my very first court show, he
said he saw me on one night with Al Sharpton
and the next night I was on with Bill O'Reilly say,
if she can handle those two audiences, she has brought
(04:03):
up hell, she can probably be on TV to do anything.
And so that's when I got my first step branching
out doing court television. Well, it's interesting you say that
because some people say I would never do this type
of show because because they're extremes there, you know, you
have that conservative Fox audience and now that I know
liberal or left side of the wing of the of
the MSNBC audience, why did you choose not to take
(04:26):
a side? Well, my job was to provide legal analysis
and give my objective opinion on the case, and so
that opinion didn't change with the differences in the audiences
political opinions. Right, So I wasn't a political commentator. And
even at some point they asked me to start giving
political commentary and I decided not to because my job
(04:50):
was to illegal analysts. That it's my dog. So I
decided to There was my decision. I knew what my
area of expertise was and that was to give legal commentary,
and so I just decided to stay true to what
I was really there to do and be an expert
(05:11):
on there was stay in your lane and grow your brand.
So was it in the mindset because like I said,
you're a prosecutor. So did television dropped into your lap?
Was that? Was that a lane that you was thinking about,
Judge faith that you are getting into television? And then
so now you was getting these opportunities to hone your
skills and these little sharp bursts, you know, because I
(05:31):
know that you talk and then you leave you How
do you think I did. Did you think it reacted?
They call you back and go, Okay, they calling me back.
That's a good thing. So when did you feel that
you have value on these in the television games. Well,
I knew it was important to add my perspective to
the cases that were being discussed as a black woman,
(05:54):
as a former prosecutor, and I know a lot of times,
you know, prosecutors get a a bad rap and people
talk about not wanting to be in the field because
they could never put people in jail. I've heard all
those things. But at the same time, you can't just
want to be an activist. If you really want to
see and change, you have to be a part of it,
(06:16):
and you have to have a seat at the table.
Prosecutor job is a very powerful job. A lot of
times what would happen with someone's case would literally depend
on who got their case. So if I got a
case and I would look at that case and it
was a young person from Harlem, which is where I
was living at the time, I would have a different
perspective than a lot of my colleagues across the hall
(06:38):
from me, who would have handled that case differently. So
it was very important for me to add my perspective
and bring my experience and my background to that job.
And I had one job only and that was to
do justice in my cases, to do but what I
believe was right. So when it came time to calling
on me for television, they would looking for people like
(07:01):
me who could add a different perspective and opinion when
giving analysis on these cases. Okay, all the world of
the world of the media we live in is social media, okay,
and social media tends to have an opinion and troll
you good or bad. So when you're bouncing because you
starting to develop your career, you know your social media
(07:22):
is starting to grow and people starting that comments. Did
you have any negative feedback on playing these different sides
on your on your social media feeds? And how did
you handle that? Yes? And but I developed a thick
skin pretty early on. Rashaan. I started doing pageants down
in the South and right, I was twenty two years old, right,
(07:46):
so I was used to a certain level of just
criticism in general. And I think that anytime you're in
the public eye, no matter what you're doing, you are
going to get some type of criticism, right, So when
you have to learn really early on, and as I'm
sure you are aware as well being in front of
the camera, you just have to develop thick skin. You
(08:07):
believe in what you're doing and you believe in the message.
You know, they say new levels, new devils to hire
your visibility. The more you're going to have people who
criticize you, the more you're gonna have people who like you.
But you can never allow your self esteem and how
you feel about yourself to be built up on people's
compliments or being torn down by their criticism. You have
(08:28):
to know who you are, especially when when you're in
the business that we're in, and be confident and that
you're presenting your best self to the world no matter
what people are saying. Absolutely, here's something interesting. You know
we're going to get to the divorce court. I want
to slide over to the forensic world or killer relationships,
and I'm gonna tell you something. I get up in
four thirty. I go downstairs when I working out doing
(08:52):
my stretches, you know, forensic files. I am a junkie
for forensic file type shows, and so it comes on
to every half hour working out and lasting under the
last two minutes, they're gonna give a verdict and what
happened to that person? So what could I guess you're
talking to asking a question for a person like me,
It's kind of like addictive television. What attracted you to
(09:15):
the Project Killer? Relationships? And what do they say the
type of people who watch these type of shows true crime.
For some reason, I too, am really fascinated by the genre,
and I think there's something about the good versus evil, right,
And there's also something about getting to the bottom of
(09:36):
what happened and telling the story. And everyone wants to
know the answer to one question and that is why, right,
So we really get caught up in those stories because
they are real. I start, I branched out. I started
my own production company, and this is the first show
that I've created that I'm executive producing. I did it
(09:56):
because I believe that there should be a diversity of
voice in storytelling, and I wanted to add my name
and my perspective to this genre. So this is the
first show from my production company. I think that with
these types of shows, not only is it fascinating to
watch and learn, but it's also it could be a
(10:18):
learning tool because you're looking at all kinds of red flags.
For this show, in particular, I wanted to pull from
two worlds that I was in the world of relationships,
which I started very early on in my career appearing
in family court in New York, and the world of
the criminal investigations. I'm a trained investigator, that's what I
learned to do as a prosecutor, and have this show
(10:42):
because relationships is something that we can all relate to.
We all have them, whether it's a love relationship, of
family relationship, or friendship. And so I wanted to dig
into the world of relationships and how those relationships start out,
how they turn, and what makes someone commit such an
extreme act the end. But you now, it's because when
(11:03):
I know you're absolutely right, I always tell my my wife,
I go, you know, if something was to happened to you,
then they would just look at my record. There's the
way he watches forensic file. He this guy's a plotter.
I believe my DNA has set up that if something
bad happened to I'm going to jail. I'm because my
my track record is so bad. I'm looking at these
crazy cases all the time. So they would to say
(11:25):
he got the idea from watching First and Files and
some type of show like Killer Relationships with Faith Jenkins.
Do you like these type of shows? So you apply
to her murder, you apply to her demise, and I
do like them in the sense of, first of all,
they're startling to me, and it's like the word, how
could that happen? Why did they do that? And I
always get I always this was the thing that always
(11:46):
bothered me. You can get a di voice, you can
you can get at the point you can actually just
say hey, I'm out. It's that simple. But they go
to the darkest side of it all, and that's where
the greed part comes out of it. And that's what
the selling point of Killer Relationship is that they could
have just walked away, they could have went through the
(12:08):
proper channels and got a divorce. But they wanted it all.
They didn't want ninety seventy, definitely didn't want fifty fifty.
They wanted it all. That is that the single thing
that you saw as well, and these stories you're telling,
that is a big theme and the reason you'll find
that most of the individuals in these cases go to
(12:31):
the lens. They do. There's another theme throughout the season
you'll see, and that is everybody has a secret, right
the lens that these people are willing to go through
to keep their secrets from being revealed and exposed. Wow. Wow, Well,
let's let's slide over a little bit of relationships now
divorce core. Okay, sitting on that, but the people coming
(12:54):
in there with these with these emotional moments, and you
what now you learn the most about that experience and
what do you value? Its two questions, what do you
learn the most and what do you value the most
about that experience? Because to me, it leads into you
writing your book that we're about to talk in the
next subject matter here, Yes, and divorce Court has been
an amazing experience. I hosted the show for two seasons,
(13:17):
and this is actually my last year hosting it because
I am moving in a different direction with my production company.
But I learned a lot from hearing all of the
different issues and perspectives that people brought into the courtroom.
Number One, I learned that people don't most people don't
have relationship problems. They have problems they bring into their relationship. Right.
(13:41):
A lot of the issues I heard were issues that
were unresolved in people's lives and when you're bringing all
of that into a relationship. A healthy relationship is not
something you attracted, something you create, and you can't create
a healthy relationship if you have two unhealthy people coming together, right.
So that for me was just solidified what I knew
(14:04):
about that, and I did my absolute best to try
to enlighten a lot of the couples that came into
the courtroom so that when they left the courtroom they
feel like they're leaving with something greater than when they came,
even when they're going their separate ways. And I also
encouraged them to most of us have been through a
breakup at some point in our lives at one point
(14:24):
or another. I encouraged them to move forward in that
breakup with compassion and empathy and understanding. Of course, it's
a difficult time in your life, but it doesn't mean
you have to try to destroy the other person on
your way out the door. So that was a really
important principle for me to share as well. We'll be
(14:45):
right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald.
Now let's return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan
McDonald kill a relations ship with Faith Jenkins is on
the Oxygen Channel. Then we go to the book. Yes,
I pronoun as much as I could here, and I
(15:07):
highlighted as much as I could because I know I
don't have coffee. I wanted to see you a hard cover.
I'm good girl, I'm good. I got it on my app. Okay,
my net gallery app. I got it. I'm rocking and
rolling here. Now, sis don't sell. I have six sisters
and you know, married, divorce of some you know relationships.
(15:30):
I thought, why are you messing with this person you
as a as a female. And then then I'm also
looking at the Vorce Court. I'm putting that in my
mind when I'm reading it. I'm saying you, you're getting
to see this all the time. With Steve Harvey is
a Strawberry Letter. I felt the Vorce Court was your
Strawberry Letter, you know, for for this book. You know,
because you get to see it and you make these crafty,
(15:50):
smart decisions with these people and you get to see
how they interact. And when he did, Steve Harvey did
Strawberry letter for five days a week. He was responding
to emotional letters that allowed him to craft his mindset?
How did you craft your mindset? Was it divorce court?
Was it girlfriends? It was just past relationship? What started
this whole sisto selling? Need to put it on paper?
(16:15):
And the second part of that title really says at all,
how to stay smart in matters of the heart. That's
what I wanted to write about. It actually started prior
to me doing television, when I started working in family
court in New York. My first court appearances were in
family court in New York handling divorces, child custody, a child,
(16:38):
child support cases, and then from there I was also
living my old life as a single woman in New
York City, so I didn't get married until after I
turned forty years old. And what happened is I had
this career that everyone around me deemed was so successful,
(16:58):
but people started asking me why I wasn't married, why
I was still single when I was going to settle
down all of these questions, and I didn't think being
single was something I needed to explain or defend. That
was just my journey at the time. There are lessons
that I needed to learn. I needed to learn a
lot about relationships because I didn't have this huge standard
(17:21):
of what loved looked like in my life growing up,
people talk about relationships being a science and dating as
an art. I knew none of that. And we prepare
just like you prepare for your show. I prepare when
I was in law school for exams. We prepare for
everything in life that we want to be successful for,
but a lot of us don't prepare for relationships. Why
(17:42):
is that? So I started learning to prepare myself for
the relationship that I wanted and what that looked like
and what that meant for me. And I pulled from
all of the experiences that I had with women in
family court, with women in divorce court, my own personal
life and dating experience, and I combined those to put
them in the book. Because I got married after our
(18:05):
turn forty, I had a lot of a dating experiences.
I had a lot of lessons that I learned the
hard way. But the moral of the story is I
met my husband. He's an amazing man. I'm happily married now.
If I would have waited to live my best life
after because I was waiting on a partner, I would
have spent half of my adult life just existing and
(18:26):
not really living right. Well, you know it's interesting because yeah,
got own production company. I see a TV show at
this book now, you know about especially at postparty because
see you talk about Ali mcbell, you know, like they
made a big deal when she turns thirty. You know,
like what are you doing? They So so as soon
as you start talking about that, I went to that
section of the book, you know. And then because we
(18:47):
are hit with dead lives. You know, you supposed to
graduate from high school eighteen, at twenty two, ye supposed
to be out of college, you know, thirty, twenty nine, thirty,
where's your man? Where's your child? Where's your career? So
you're here with all these markers in life and basically
that's what you You're just taking those same markers and
applying it to emotion and not being swayed by what
other people say you should be doing I think you
(19:09):
should be doing. Is that correct? That is correct? These
are arbitrary timelines. Who decides we're not running a race
in life because we're not all running in the same direction,
So it can't be a race, right, there are almost
eight billion people on this planet. We can't all be
doing the same things at the same time. And so
(19:30):
a part of this book is encouraging people to embrace
their own personal journey and ignore the noise, because guess what,
the questions don't stop. As soon as you get married.
They started asking you or when you're gonna have kids.
You have one child, they started asking when you're going
to have another one. So that's why you have to
decide early on that you're going to live your best
(19:51):
life right where you are and embrace your journey. And
it is okay if your journey includes your personal choice
not to marry, not to have children, and no one else.
You can't let anybody else put that kind of pressure
on you to make a decision because they believe in
an arbitrary timeline that you don't right. It was, it was,
(20:11):
it was, you know, always such chapters stick out for me.
You know, I had to go to wait for sex.
But let me explain that chapter right there, because everybody
feels a pressure to to that's part of the relationship.
Why was that an important part? You know, I know why,
But I'd like for you to tell my listeners and
my viewers. When you say wait for sex, I know
(20:35):
it's referencing a woman, but also shouldn't that be said
to a guy to stop putting that unnecessary pressure on
a woman that's part of her role in the racial
relationship that she has to have sex with him. Well,
one thing about the book is, although it's called System Settle,
I really wanted and talked about universal tru sys standards
for love for anyone to read. And I've had several
(20:57):
guys come to me and say they've enjoyed a many
aspects of the book. That was an important chapter because
it really is about what are your goals for love
in your life? What is it that you really want
to accomplish. I say in the very beginning of my book,
this book is not for everyone. If you're looking to
just have a sex buddy that you can hook up
(21:19):
with from time to time and that's your goal, then
this is really probably not the book for you. If
you're trying to lock down Booker from the barbershop who
you see you once a month, this is probably not
the read for you. This book is really about people
who are on this journey to attract that authentic long
term love and partnership in marriage if that's what they want.
(21:42):
So that part when I got to that part about
waiting for intimacy in a relationship. It really is about
establishing a foundation with someone and establishing boundaries in your
relationship and getting to know a person and what they're
really looking for. And establishing boundaries should not scare off
(22:03):
a person who is ready, willing and able for authentic love.
You know. You know, I want to tell you, first
of all, enjoy the book. I enjoyed the book because
of the fact that that's why I brought that thing
about the guy. You know, like I said, because a
lot of people read a book and they see you
on it. Oh Jesus men bashing you know, not you know,
(22:25):
and that's not at all. I want to make sure
I said that. But that's what I was just saying,
is that when you said wait for sex, and that
should be both ways. Because men, I'm a man, we
feel it can put that undue pressure that Okay, this
is part of the you know, this part of the dinner,
this part of the day, this part of the its
a week. You know, we're supposed to be doing some
other than just talking, and that's the pressure instead of
(22:45):
getting to know the person. So it's also in your
book you kind of like set aside defining what that
relationship ship is so they can understand what you want
out of it, because a lot of women don't set
those I guess I wouldn't say rules, but this is
what I want. Are you willing to be? Is am
I correctings? Assuming that there is the correct approach correct.
(23:07):
A big part of it is communicating yes, and knowing
who you are and knowing where you are at this
point in your life and being honest about that. If
you're not looking, if someone tells you that they're just
looking for a casual relationship, they're not looking for marriage,
then we got to stop trying to convince people to
(23:27):
change their mind. That's not our job. Accept people when
they tell you what their goals are, when they tell
you where they are right now and their life path.
Accept it. So if that's not where you are, then
it's time for you to pivot and go in another direction.
So that's what I talk about in the book. When
you talk about opening, honest communication, when someone tells you,
(23:48):
believe them and then decide you can go in a
different direction. If you're not on the same life path
at that point, well you know I talk about it
in my opening. I always talk about don't let you
for in the co workers stop you from playing or
living your dreams. That's what your book is about. You know,
don't let people tell you that you're thirty, you're out
of the game, you farty, you're out of the game,
(24:10):
or that you know that you can't get to reclaimed.
But I think the book that I got the most
out of your book, you know, systn't sell How to
Stay how to Stay Smart than the Matters of the Heart,
was that the decisions you make should be the decisions
that justify your path. Like you said, you got married
in forty in the age of forty, and people will
people end and that you're attractive, you're successful. Then they
(24:33):
put that old thing, what's the problem, and then they
start making like you the problem. And so so this
book tells you stop all that madness. I am not
the problem. I have control of my life and I
will meet the right person that understands who I am
as a person that really was was singing out and
really was the champion. Message that I took away from
(24:55):
chapter after chapters that you know, women, especially this day
and age with social media, with you being able to
crack the glass ceiling, being able to women are the fastest,
especially Black women the fastest growing. And I'm gonna tell you,
by the way, this book is not women written for
Black women, white women. It's women for women. So this
is not a racial book. This is a book that
allows you to see that we all women have to
(25:17):
deal with the same issues. We all need to be
able to cultivate the same understanding that we can be successful.
And reading this book system settle how to stay smart
in the matters of the heart allows you that journey.
That is what my takeaway was. And and I wanted
to bring you on the show. I know we're we
talked about the dvorce cord and you know, kill a relationship,
but I just had that and I want to support
this book. I want to put put the you know
(25:39):
this part of the snippets of this interview on our
social media just to drive traffic and let people know
this is a book that that's a must read us.
It's a quality read and you will take away nuggets
that I think that will make you honestly feel not
so disappointed in your life or a loan in your experiences,
right right, And that's why I wrote it. Everything you
(26:02):
said is why I wrote it because this is something
that I would have wanted to read as a single person,
as a person who wanted to learn more about relationships.
Because we're always trying to educate ourselves. That's why we read,
That's why we listen to the podcast, That's why we
watch shows like yours, because we are trying to educate
ourselves so that when we move forward, we can make
(26:23):
better decisions. When you know better, you do better. And
so that's why I wrote about this book. I want
people to use it as a practical guide to attract
the kind of relationship they really want and deserve in
their life. She's an incredible legal mind, you know as
the host of Divorce Courts. She has her own production company,
so now she's producing television shows kill a relationship with
(26:45):
Facing Genkins. Now she's an incredible author. Her book, Relationship Book, says,
don't settle how to stay smart in the matters of
the heart. Guys, pick it up. It's a must read
for you too, because we all need to know how
they're thinking. Oh they're thinking too okay, and if you
understand how they think, you could probably get the right
mate in your life. Faith Jenkins, thank you for coming
excuse me, Judge Faith Jenkins, thanks for coming on my show. Okay,
(27:06):
thank you, Rashwan. It's great to see you again. And
I will support this. I'm telling you I will, all right.
Thank you, Thank you so much. If people wanted to
hear see any interviews of money on any money Interviews
on Money Making Conversations Masterclass, please go to Money Making
Conversation dot com. I'm with Sean McDonald. I am your host.
Thank you. We'll be right back with more Money Making
Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. You are now tuned into
(27:31):
the Money Making Conversations Minute of Inspiration with Rashaan McDonald. Hi,
I'm ra Shan McDonald for Money Making Conversations Masterclass with
your daily Manage of Inspiration. I sat down with the
founder of the Lift Bar, Melissa Butler. She shared the
importance of HBCUs and how I attending wanted to change
your life. Family changed my life. Before I got to
(27:51):
fam you, I didn't know how culturally diverse Black people are.
I didn't know what made us special. And you know,
when you grow up, you always hear that. You know,
we have to work twice as hard. And I think
at an institution like FAMU and like other HBCUs. You know,
you're surrounded by black excellence, so it doesn't become something
(28:13):
that you have to strive for. It becomes your default.
Fam you taught me how to make excellence my default,
and it taught me how to have just cry and
the diversity of black people. And you can listen to
this full interview with Melissa Buttberg. It's available on money
Making Conversations dot com. Now let's return to money Making
Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald. Please work with Money Making
(28:35):
Conversations master Class. The franchise owner of a Nothing Bumpcake location,
CHARLISHI Bands. How do you know, charl I'm wonderful. How
are you resigned? I'm happy to be here. Thank you
for having me. Well, first of all, let's talk about
the relationship. You know, in my business, somebody had delivery
gifted me your prominent and I was happy. Body know
(29:00):
what they followed it. The didn't know I love sweets,
and I immediately invited you because I asked you, I said,
because you know, I'm gonna be honest with I stereotyped it.
I thought she was just a delivery person. She said, No,
I am the owner of this location. I went wow,
and I said, can you come on my show? And
we've been going back and forth because your schedule has
been busy, and finally you're able to come my man
show in Black History. Mon. Yes, yes, it's proud and
(29:23):
talk about what you do it. Let's talk about before
you made this decision, Charlie to be a franchise. So
a little background. I'm a CPA. So I've been in
accounting my whole life. Always knew I wanted to be
an accountant from Philadelphia. I went to Temple University for
my undergrad and accounting had a taxation class, and like,
(29:43):
I want to do taxes, So I went and got
my Masters in taxation and m That's what I did.
So I was a tax accountant for most of my life,
and I thought I would do that for the rest
of my life. I'm gonna tell you something I am
afraid to do. Tame. I would degree in mathematics. Cannot
I'm even an easy for them. I get nervous that.
I swear to you, I will go to H and
(30:06):
R whatever whatever about that don't tax I would take
it easy for them. You look, you know, just just
do this on you. So for you, I am like
borrowing down to you to say, because you're confidently saying this, taxes,
that's what I do. I do taxes, taxes. When you
look at it, the guy and I'm the people tell me.
I'm pretty smart and my degree, you know, I may
be easily, but I swear to you I will not
(30:29):
do my taxes. I've never ever done my taxes because
they intimidate me, intimid the whole process of making a
mistake intimidated. Yeah, and so, but so that means that
you have to be a confident person then right, yeah,
you know, Um, the law changes often, so you're always
doing your continuing education credits and understanding the new laws
and you know once you and don't get me wrong.
(30:53):
I started out as a personal tax return preparer, and
when I moved to Atlanta, I decided I want to
be a business tax return prepare And I was totally
intimidated by that. Okay, um, but I googled a CPA.
I called her, I told her, listen, I want to
work for free. I don't know business taxes. Can I
please come to your office and you teach me. And
(31:14):
I learned for free, just free, free, free, free, free, free.
So she's said, uh, yeah, so because she asked for
your resume and she saw, I'm gonna get this person
this skills a temple graduate for free, knowing what your
ultimate goal was exactly. So she um, it's a huge
mentor for me. And so I learned business taxes and
(31:37):
I had a corporate job. That's how I moved to
Atlanta from Philly. UM large bank made me an offer
that I couldn't refuse. So packed up, you know, a
little jeep and I moved to Atlanta. UM found an
apartment three days later. And Tucker, So, Tucker has been
where I moved to first, at my first home, had
(31:59):
my first job, job, and now the Bakries and Tucker.
So I have a deep roots with Tucker Tucker Georgia
because it syndicated national. Yes, yes, Georgia, Yes it is.
Now let's let's talk about that. The differences, you know,
because we always talking about fear on this show. You know,
you you moved, you know, you are all female, you know,
transitioning from another major market to another major market. But
(32:22):
it is northeastern NATA South. Were there any what were
the fears and making that move that decision to come
to Atlanta because there were something there were a lot
of fears, UM, but I was done with Philly. You know,
I needed to change, So I kind of left it
open to where the job opportunity took me. So DC, California,
there were all options, sexes. So when the door opened
(32:46):
to Atlanta, I was like, well, that is where I
need to be. So I came confidently with fears of
what if I don't do well at this job? If
you know, what if? What if? What if? But I
was like, I could always go back to Philly. You
know all my fears in Philly. So do you know
that's um always was a fallback plan if it had
(33:06):
to be, but never looked back. I remember when I
left IBM to pursue a stand up career, and I
left on great terms. In fact, I tell people when
The Showman, I was in tears when I made that
decision a year in advance, because it was such an
emotional decision that even though that knew working for IBM
was not my future, it just didn't It didn't excite me.
I felt I saw myself being blocked in creatively, and
(33:29):
I went, Okay, this is not me and so because
they had a successful model and they wanted people to
grow in that model, and I wanted to do things
outside of that model, and I went, nah, this is
not me. But I know for a year, I kept
thinking I can always go back, you know. And then
finally I said stop, stop, stop that theory security blanket away,
(33:50):
and stop that theory that you can go back. And
because that's not why you left. You left to pursue
your dreams. And that's right, that's key right there. You
left Philadelphia to pursue your dreams, and in doing so,
you had to take away that thought process. When did
you take away that thought process that I had that
you could always go back. Well, to make it even more,
(34:12):
you know, I took a temp position at this bank.
I didn't even have a signed contract. I took a
temp job and took a leap on faith. So once
I proved myself because I was confident, I was like,
I can do the work right. I got a full
time contract, a fount my apartment, started building my network
or friends, and I was like, this is my home now,
(34:34):
you know. And so so you did free work. We're
gonna come back after this break because you got a
lot of talking. We didn't even talk about an Her
story is so interesting. But you're the perfect guest for
the show because I want people to hear how it
seems simple, it seems difficult, but fear drive so many
people from reaching their their ultimate dream. And it was
(34:54):
walking away. You know. I know that I've walked away
from a lot of levels. It's a lot of people,
and you always seen and people have called me a
renaissance man, and sometimes I don't know what that means,
but when they look at my resume, go, you did this,
you do this, you did this, and you've been good
at all these things. And I say, because everything I
do I have done in my life I wanted to
do it. How are you doing, Victoria? You're calling in
(35:16):
a money making conversation master class and you're speaking to
me and charlish your bass. What can I what are
you talking about? What question can we ask me? Up?
You with good evening? Good evening? How are you good? Good? Um? Okay?
So UM, I was just listening and I just want
to come in you um for taking the chance from
(35:39):
moving from the Northeast and then I coming to Atlanta
and all that. Um was there ever a time in
your life where you didn't have it all together like
me and like you, you couldn't hold on some money
and it would just liquid it. And Victoria, I'm a CPA, right,
I'm gonna count and I take care of everybody's money. However,
(36:02):
Georgia Power had me no lights one day when I
came home. Okay, so you know, Rashaw I was talking
about saving and how you wish you could, you know,
save and put things away. It was so easy for
me to tell my clients, Yeah, you need to save,
you need to put ten percent here, you need to
do you know, but just keeping it real. It's hard
(36:23):
to implement those things when you financially are and where
you want to be. So absolutely the struggle was absolutely real,
and I just think the key to it was just
stand in my lane. You know a lot of my
friends was like, Oh, we're going out, We're going out. Nope,
not me, not tonight. You know, you know, you have
(36:44):
to sacrifice a lot of things in order to get
to where you need to be. So, like Rashawn said,
if you don't have a plan, you can't you know.
I had a spreadsheet that I opened up every morning
when I was in Corporate America, and it was my debt.
I had all my credit cards on the spreadsheet. I
had a payment breakdown on how I was going to
(37:05):
get each balance to zero, and I was committed to
the two hundred dollars here to two fifty year, one
hundred and fifty year, the saying, oh I got a
zero balance on my Discover card, let me use that
ten thousand from there, pay down my master card and
then I got zero interests on the bald. You know,
it was just maneuvering and figuring out, but having the
(37:28):
plan and being committed to the plan, and that's how
I was able to get myself out of that credit card.
That that is inevitable when you don't come from money
and you have an undergrad degree, you have a master's degree.
You know, you move and you're by yourself. You don't
really have that family support system. So no, it was
(37:48):
absolutely real and I just had to sacrifice. Victoria did
she happy out with that answer? We would think and
I ask how how would I how would I be
able to um being part of the franchise of are
you just? Are you saying that nothing? Bunt Cakes is
(38:11):
offering franchise opportunities absolutely. Um. You know, I speak to
a lot of potential new franchisees and a lot of
them are very intentional. I want to open a nothing Buntcakes.
That was not my story of Victoria. Nothing bunt Cakes
was not necessarily the plan. The plan was to open
a bakery and Tucker in this new plaza that needed
(38:34):
a bakery. So I was like, Okay, I'm gonna bring
a bakery to Tucker. We don't have a bakery. I
had a client that had a different bakery franchise, so
it was initially going to be something else. And when
that didn't work, the landlord is looking at me. He's like, hey, Charlie,
where's that bakery you're bringing. I'm scrambling, you know, like,
oh jesus, I'm googling bakery franchise. You know, other things
(38:59):
popped up in it morphed into nothing bunch cakes. So
I would say the plan was to have a side business,
which sometimes you have to have to open it up
just a little bit and be receptive to the pivots
and the changes and say, okay, I thought it was
going to be this, but this is coming full circle
for me, so let me embrace this and make this work.
(39:23):
What's the definition of a franchise? I'm sorry, what's the
definition of Victoria? That's question number three, Victoria, that's your
last question. Victor R jacking my show. I was a
great movie. The final netflix is um the Founder. I
believe it's called with McDonald's. So it takes you through
(39:46):
the whole franchise like life. So basically, Victoria. Two women
came together twenty plus years ago. They had a great
bunch cake and great frosting. Right, they said, listen, let's
open up little bakery. Let's have a store. You have
a business. It does well. You create the cookie cut
(40:08):
type of thing. You know, you mastered the recipes, and
it's like, can I give somebody this and can they
do it without my expertise? And once you prove the concept,
and if you watch Shark Tank a couple of episodes,
you'll learn all this. Once you prove that the concept
can be done by anyone anywhere, that's the birth of franchising. Right.
(40:30):
So okay, so they said, look, we have the recipe,
we have everything. We you know, worked out the kinks.
We know how many people you should hire or we
know you know what locations are do well with this,
and they kind of mapped it out. They give you
the blueprint, so you take the blueprint. Will you buy
the blueprint? Let's be clear, you buy the blueprint? Victoria. Well,
(40:54):
let me tell you something. I've been baking since I
was ten years old. I make really good I'm sorry,
I'm serious, Victoria, I'm not. I'm not denying that victory.
First of all, that's what the show was designed. Money
making conversation Domestic class was to get the community excited
about speaking to people like Charlie because they do exist,
(41:14):
they do exist, and there they do have stories, and
her story has gravitated you and hopefully motivates you to
be a star, a star. And like she said, bakery,
you know, like I said, I'm an award winning baker
and I have no desire to open the bakery. But
you go to my timeline, you think I'm baked, and
people two four hundred pounds due every time I look,
(41:34):
you're eating something. And but but it's the passion. I
hear the passion in your voice. I think what she's
saying right now is that what is the plan? You know,
what is the plan? And she speaks to people all
the time, and so no, your question, I tease you
about asking questions. Your curiosity is incredible, but now it
has to be put on paper. And once you put
it on paper, then the emotional pushback happens. You know,
(41:56):
how do you make that dream happen? And that's really
where it all starts, you know, whether you want to
be a singer, whether you want to go to college,
they're always dreams, but they are when you start creating
application to that dream, that's when the struggle happens. And
when that struggle happens, how do you react to it?
What is your plan the pushback on that? Because we
(42:17):
all have rainy days, we have rainy days in relationships,
we have rainy dads on job. And that word rainy
days doesn't necessarily mean rain, it's just meaning difficulties. It
means when it's supposed to be sunshiny, it's gloomy, And well,
how do you act doing gloom? And so this show
Money Making Conversations Masterclass that you're listening to, and Charlie's
doing an amazing you know me, I should be worried
(42:37):
about her. You know, she's just brilliant sitting over here,
just responding. So confidently and casually to these questions, and
to have a guest like that, she's in studio. She
came in here, she brought in some of her samples.
It's to show confidence. And I just want to thank
you for calling in and leave your number and your
ZIP in your email address so we can reach out
to you, Okay, Victoria, because we really want to continue
(42:58):
that conversation. Plus I wanted to send you one of
my money Making Conversations guys to the success. All right,
thank you so much that I go to sleep with
with this station on, like it's always on in my
room and I really find refuge in it. So thank
you so much. Thank you, Victoria. Make sure leading information
from mess Charlie, get the little brain send up in here.
(43:21):
We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations master
Class with Rushan McDonald. Now, let's return to Money Making
Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald. We know the thing about
it now. You you said you were going in there,
but I know we're about to wrap this break up
in a few minutes here, but I want to ask
(43:41):
you a couple of questions for me. There. You were
going in there to open a bakery at the side
business as a side business, and you should say like that, okay, cool,
Then let me get your history here now temple okay,
accounting CPA. Where did the baking skills if there were none?
They were none? M okay, Yeah. I used to just
(44:02):
cut the cookie roll, you know, like spray the pan
and like just put the little block of chocolate chip
dough on it, stick it in the oven. Yeah. That
was the extent of my baking skills. You know. Also,
if someone set seven years ago you're going to own
a bakery, I would say, wow, interesting because I don't bank,
(44:24):
right right. So, so so you in Tucker, Georgia. You you,
but you're in a visionary because you feel that you
want to feel a need. Okay, So talker walkers through
that step of going to the landlord, ye telling them
what you're gonna do, because you have to have a
plan yea. And the first plan wasn't nothing, but can
talk about that, okay. So the plaza was coming, great location,
(44:46):
and Tucker, I need to be a part of it.
I'm dripping by every day going to my corporate job.
So one day I took a right and I found
you know, sign rolled down the number, called them, Hey,
I have an idea for a baker. Do you have
any space available? Absolutely? How much space do you need?
I'm just talking to him about, you know, kind of
faking it too. I made it, and so I was
(45:08):
kind of on the hook to bring a bakery. So
that is when the will started spinning and I was like, oh,
that fell through. What else can I do? Oh? I
was committed to bring in the bakery. Okay, okay, you
open in twenty seventeen. Yeah, when did you start this?
Late fifteen? Late fifteen. We started communicating with the landlord.
(45:32):
I'm at dinner one night and I had Nothing bunch
Cakes in California at a cousin's birthday dinner, and it
was the best cake I ever had, and I thought, Wow,
I gotta come back to LA to get this cake.
You know. Yeah, it's moist the cream, cheese, you know.
So I had it, tasted it. I just didn't know
(45:54):
it was a franchise. I didn't know there was one
here in Georgia. I didn't know any of that until
someone mentioned it again and I said, oh, let me
google google Nothing Bunchcake franchise. Boom came up. I'm almost
signing a deal with another bakery franchise. Okay, okay, so
the spirit said, don't just see what nothing bunch Cakes
(46:17):
has to say. I emailed them, she replied back. I
told her what was happening about me with this other franchise.
She said, wait, don't you do it? Charlie, hear me out,
and I heard her out and the rest is history.
You know, I canceled the deal with the other bakery
franchise and when with nothing Bunecake. So why as this
(46:38):
off air where a black women the fastest growing segment
in entrepreneurship, Why all black bomen from what I see
and all the amazing Black women that I know, I
think our mothers have a lot to do with that.
I know my mother, Um, you know, she pushed her
girls to be what she was not able to accomplish,
(46:58):
you know. So it was just having that fierce you
know that, you know, amazing black role model of a
mother to say you need to travel, you need to
go to college, you need to be better than me,
you need to do better than me. You know, the
school is your number one priority. That just pushed me
(47:20):
to continue to see myself out of North Philly. You know,
a lot of my friends didn't never been out of
North Philly, so they couldn't see themselves living outside of
North Philly, let alone, you know, having a business or
going to college. So I think our mothers are the
backbones of to while we're so successful and we're very
(47:42):
passionate women. I grew up with six of them, so
I know about the female passion. We come back, we're
gonna find out how big her bakery is, either pros
and cons of franchising, what to consider before franchises. She said,
you know, she was about to sign another local franchise
location bakery, and and she sat down with the nothing
but cake individuals, and they said, hey, we're the one,
(48:04):
and she's not looked back. If we're right back with more. Charlie,
Sha Bass, Charlie, you got another phone called? Is that
Tayron or Tayron Tarn? Is it tarn like the capital right? Okay?
I appreciate you, my friend, and I I apologize. And my
name is Roshaun. You think I would get everybody's name right?
(48:25):
And I apologize. I apologize. Yeah, yeah, I say the
same thing when I get someone else's name. Well, one
name I can't get wrong. It's Charlie. It's Charlie's. Charlie's
on the show with me and we're talking about franchising.
What's your question today that you might want to ask
me or her? Well, I just wanted to, uh, you know,
give give y'all props. Um. I listened to w c
(48:49):
OKA often and I just was listening in on the
conversation and I just wanted to say, you know, thank
you all for just support the black owned businesses as
well as you know, small businesses and on the whole,
but black owned. It's definitely what is your name? I'm sorry?
(49:19):
You know, I really appreciate the ron because of the
fact that you know, when you when you're trying to
talk to people, there's fear and that you know, especially
when you're offering advices like what's what's the scam? Because
black people have a natural you know, scam radar. You know,
there's another agenda here, and the agenda here is just
providing information. That's all and and basically what we're having
(49:40):
it's just a conversation and we as allowing you to
listen in on our conversation that we might have at
a restaurant that we might have You know, walking down
the street and these questions, Like Victoria was so excited
to hear you call in and say, I really appreciate
this conversation. It's what we want to hear. That's the
conversation you want to create. And the thing I love
the a boy Charlie's conversation was she was just a
(50:02):
business minded person that got into this and that what
stops so many people. You didn't have to be a baker.
You just had to have the passion and the ability
to work hard to achieve your successes a franchise e.
That's what excites me about the conversation. What are your thoughts? Absolutely, well,
you know the journey. The journey sometimes you know in
(50:24):
the beginning is the shaky road, you know, and it
takes you know, it takes that vision to be ignited.
And like you said, you know, fear is that thing
that stops most people's ideas and visions and goals because
they don't really know what they're stepping into. And as
(50:45):
I was hearing her story and stories before hers, um,
you know, I definitely related. And you know again, um,
I just you know, I just appreciated just hearing everyone's
journey to where they are now, and um, and I
know that you know in the future, I know, I'm quitty,
sure there is you know, there's a long term goals
(51:09):
you know, this is you know other goals that. Yeah,
but but as far as what I've heard, you know,
I definitely related to. So thank you. I appreciate because
she has a little announcement to tell us. Then thank
you for calling on the show here moneyment covers? Are
you telling me? Off air? He was talking about long
term goal, short term goal. Now, short term goal was
just to get all place open and bakery with a
(51:31):
name on it. There was Repstable. Yeah, now you told
me all fair of what else is about to happen
in your life as an entrepreneur as a franchise e.
Well you now are Sean. I let my CPA license
labs and so I said, you know what, accounty, that's
not my thing anymore. This is my thing now. So
now how can I transition to this to legacy to
(51:55):
open another one? Wow? Yeah? So, um, thank god I
just got my approval. A couple of weeks ago. I
was nervously just like, oh, I hope I could announce
on the show. But it was a true blessing and
a lot of hard work. You know, I definitely deserved it. Um,
Tucker is four and a half years old now, so
I kind of worked through the kinks of being a
(52:16):
small business entrepreneur to you know, now be confident to
open another one. Now, what's the timeline of being on
that opening? So the territory is central Atlanta? Hey, Atlanta
were coming? Um, you know, I was like, I mean,
where is it Atlanta? You know, so Tucker was the
closest location to the city of Atlanta, So our second
(52:38):
baby will be in the city. We're going to cover
everything from North Shrewood Hills to downtown. Okay, so we
got Atlanta covered. Yeah. Well you gotta know you got
your third phone call, Thomas. How are you doing? Thomas
H Thomas, Charlie's here long with Rashan McDonald. What's your question.
I just want to say good even to both through you.
(53:00):
I'm an avid listener. Want to commend Charlie and the
system before a CPR just for all that you're doing
me being a business owner myself, a new a fairly
new business owner. The want that you talked about, Charlie,
the pivoted you know, giving you have an accounting background,
(53:20):
doing something totally unrelated to what you were doing, and
the thing that I find to be true and you
sound of a similar nature. But God, I commend you.
Commend you, commend you. I love or son for this
platform giving others to come on here to learn, quire, share,
continue to build an uplift each other. And like Rashun
(53:43):
talking about earlier, that fear, I too know. I've wrestled
with it for years, but by the grace of God,
last year I pushed through myself. So I can go
on and on, but I won't. I just keep it short.
But I just want to commend you. I'm gonna make
I eat it nothing, nothing but cakes every now and again.
I was first introduced to it about three years ago
(54:05):
at a corporate function, and I do make it a
point to go there. Now that I know that you
have a location in Tucker, I'm gonna make it a
point specifically to come to see your location. Thank you, Thomas,
and congratulations to you as well. Thank you. I just
wish you well to much success on your current store
as well as your new endeavors you're about to embark upon.
(54:26):
Thank you. I appreciate you so much. Thank you so much. Well,
you know this is the Charlie's your bass show. She's
your co host of money making Conversation, Mouse to Class
and Charlie the second location. Yes, so we're just working
through the l OI. And you know, for those of
you who are thinking about owning a business having a
(54:48):
brick and mortar, an actual storefront, an LI is a
lease of intent. So before you have at lease for space,
you negotiate kind of the upfront. How much am I
going to pay per square foot? How much is this?
How much is that? How long will the least term be?
What do you cover? What do I cover? You know,
(55:09):
so exactly. So we got really lucky with Tucker because
it was a brand new construction, brand new facility, brand
new plaza, brand in space. The timing was right because
the unit was not built out yet, so we were
able to work with my contractors and my landlord and
(55:29):
do everything one time. You know, a lot of times
you're working with a structure and you know your your
architect says, no, the sink should be up over here,
so now you got to dig up the cement, move
the pipes, you know. So we were able to save
a lot of money just by working together from the
very beginning and getting everything built out the way that
it was required. So I was I don't think that's
(55:53):
I know that's not going to be the case for
the second one. It's an existing structure for the space
that I would like to hopefully UM move into. It's
off of Morelin. It's a really crazy busy plaza. But
I think nothing bunch cakes can hold our own. And
now you delivered to my offer. I did. Now, how
are you gonna do that? Because you like that personal touch.
(56:14):
You'd like to be on the front line of meeting
your customers things like that, you know, and I still will.
I just won't be able to do all of them right,
you know, um you I absolutely need a full team
to help me be completely successful. I think I am
best at building relationships marketing. That's my new job. I'm
out the Decab Chambers of Commerce. I'm a member there.
(56:35):
I'm a member of my Tucker and Business Association. I'm
out planning the seeds, you know, so when they start
to grow, the business can grow. UM. And you just
gotta know what you're what you're good at, and when
you're not good at. I've met other business owners who
are not people people, right, you know, so they hire
other people to do that for them. It's a gift.
(56:59):
It's a gift, and I'm thankful for it, and I'm
thankful to be in the position to be able to
build those relationships because a lot of times businesses come
to communities and they take take take from the community,
and they don't give back to the community. So it's
very important to me to give back to the community
that I live in. I'm still a resident of Tucker.
But the beauty of our converence, first of all, finally
(57:20):
got you in here. You are amazing, not only amazing,
just your story is just special and it fits so
many things that I talk about every week, and the
fact that you're opening another location, and the fact that
you're not a train baker, the fact that you just
saw an opportunity, did your research and that's why. And
then overcame the fear of people going, you don't do that,
(57:41):
Why why are you doing something you don't do That's
what just show money making, money, money making, master money making, conversation,
master classes all about it. I want to thank you
for coming on the show, and thank you for the
together and putting on social media before we eat it.
We see you next week. Just Roy Sean McDonald. I'm
the host of Money Making Conversations master Class and thank
you Jay. You're welcome. Thank you You've been listening to
(58:03):
Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. He will be
back next Tuesday at six pm. Always remember to lead
with your gifts. Money Making Conversations Masterclass is a presentation
of thirty eight fifteen Media Incorporated. You are now tuned
into the Money Making Conversations Minute of Inspiration with Rushan McDonald.
(58:26):
Hi Roshan McDonald for Money Making Conversation Masterclass with your
daily Minute of Inspiration. I sat down with the one
and only legend, Miss Patty Patty LaBelle, singer, actress, cookbook
Arthur and Brand, who shared what drives her energy to
give do charity and what explains her joy. I guess
it's because of my mom and dad. They were both
loving people, outgoing by the neighborhood and just made people
(58:51):
feel like they wanted to smile instead of frowning. And
with me, I noticed, you know, since I've been performing
for fifty six years, HU so many people just when
I hug them, you know, or when I smile or
say something positive to them. Don't cause you nothing to
be a lifter of people, and it's natural for me.
(59:12):
It's natural. You can listen to this full interview with
Miss Patti LaBelle. It's available on Moneymaking Conversations dot com.
Host
Rushion McDonald
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