March 19, 2025 • 23 mins
In 2017, two-time Emmy and three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald launched his podcast, Money Making Conversations Master Class.
In the fourth episode of the Keep Winning Information series. Rushion delivers his brutally honest take on what it takes to start a successful business. He emphasizes the importance of having a solid business plan and making time to build your venture. Budgeting wisely and staying on top of taxes are key points he covers to ensure financial stability. Additionally, he shares valuable resources from agencies and institutions that can assist entrepreneurs in getting started.
The popular podcast shares career tips, marketing tips, and the “secrets to success” with its listening audience through interviews with successful celebrities, financial experts, entrepreneurs, and influencers. Each episode pierces through the noise of the digital era to offer clear and actionable insights. This is not about celebrating celebrities, entrepreneurs, and nonprofits but about distilling the essence of success into tangible, achievable steps for the listener. The Money Making Conversations Master Class podcast builds on these connections. You’re not just following an individual, you’re becoming part of a community that celebrates success, embraces learning, and inspires action. It’s a community where the stories shared, the successes celebrated, and the knowledge imparted are designed to motivate you to lead with your gift, to navigate the path to your dreams, and to create your own success story, one inspired step at a time. Finally in 2024, STEM Atlanta Women honored Rushion McDonald by presenting him with their 2024 “Man of the Year” Award for his outstanding contributions to the advancement of women in STEM.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I am Rashan McDonald, a host of weekly Money Making
Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show
provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and start living your own. If you
want to be a guest on my show, please visit
our website, Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
To be a guest.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Button press submit and information will come directly to me.
Now let's get this show started. Has anybody ever thought
about you can raise your hand. You can raise your
hand and your car driving, you know, just raise your eyebrow?
Thought about starting a business? Why didn't you do it?
Have you ever thought about hiring people for your business
and you've hired the wrong people? Have you ever thought
(00:41):
about hiring relatives and guess what, you hired those relatives.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Have you ever hired.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
People that you were getting a good deal on them?
Oh they got oh they cheap. Oh that salary fits
right into my budget, but they don't have the experience.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Am I?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Am I tapping into the right lanes with some of
y'all out there? Or how about starting your business and
you don't even have a budget. It's just a good
idea Am I tapping into anybody out there yet?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Okay, how about this? How about this? You start a
business with somebody you don't know. How about that? How
about how about this? You start a business. You know,
I'm from Texas.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
So they say you can start a business with a handshake,
that's what will be contractual.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
I've done that before. Yeah, you don't make it.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
How to be a successful business owners, that's a bold
statement for me to say marketing and branding. Have a
company called thirty eight fifteen Media, Inc. Based in Atlanta, Georgia.
I started it as an idea and I just started
hiring people. Were they the best qualified people? No? In hindsight, No,
(01:57):
But I knew them. I knew them, they knew me,
We had long term relationships. They could do certain things,
and I hired them. That's the number one problem with
most people who fail in this business is they hire
people just because they're close to them. They hire people
(02:18):
because they make them feel comfortable. You hire people because
they're just right there and they're available to be hired.
That's the number one mistake and the number two mistake.
Do you have time for your business?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
You know I would tell people this. I get up
at four thirty money to do fraud. That's what time
four thirty am I get up and people always go.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Whoa, whoa four thirty when you're doing it front thirty.
I was fortunate to give a speech. Uh. I was
at the Look.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
It was an area in Atlanta called lot Thornia is
right outside of Atlanta, Georgia Chamber of Commerce, and I
was speaking to him. That's one of the reasons they
brought me over. It was to speak about how to
be a successful business owner. And when you're speaking to
typic of people about being a successful business owner, one
thing you have to admit that is that you made mistakes.
(03:18):
I opened a comedy club in Houston, Texas called Hip
Hop Comedy Style. I got in business with a person
I didn't even know. Well, guess what. He was a
stand up comic too, so he liked telling jokes. I
liked telling jokes. Yeah, I guess he make a good business.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Pardon. So that's how we got in.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
That's like you, that's like you like to eat chicken,
and you know somebody who makes good chickens, So y'all
just gonna go into chicken business. Same same thing, same thing.
I didn't know his likes, his dislikes. I didn't know
his work happens. I didn't know if he like getting
up early or do you like staying late? Did he
even have an idea how to run a business. That's
(04:01):
how I got in business. But the other side of
that is that it became a very popular comedy club.
Lines out the door. I used to do a show
on Thursday. Tickets are gonna sell on Monday. They were
sold out in the hour. That's how popular was the room.
Seats like three hundred and fifty people line out the
(04:22):
door on Thursday show. Showtime. I hit the stage at
eight nine o'clock. People wouldn't go in the room until
it was nine. Eight thirty was an empty room. They
didn't want to see the other comics. I walk in
nine o'clock, room packed. Eight thirty to eight fifty five,
room was empty, nine o'clock packed. We were making money.
(04:42):
But what guess what what happens when you start making money?
I forgot You pay taxes. You pay taxes on tickets,
you pay taxis on liquor, so so.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Those little things.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
So all that money that you're making somebody else I
want a piece of it. So you can't look at
ten dollars as a real ten dollars.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
But because I.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Didn't have a budget, because I didn't take time to
understand how to run a business, I was just doing
all the wrong things. So I'm sure a lot of
you guys out there, ladies, I think, because women are
the fastest growing entrepreneurial part in this company, especially black women,
(05:27):
y'all just running things now in a good way, opening
up business. I'm sure you opening up business a lot
more than me, better than me. So I was making
money but couldn't understand how selling out. But I can't
pay myself, so I was just working for free because
(05:50):
I didn't have Because what you can't do, I'll tell
you something about this, the biggest mistake in a business.
You can't open a business and then try to sell
the budget because now you're playing catch up because you
can't justify because you didn't have a budget at the beginning.
You to have known why you have all these people
hanging around you getting checks for you or wanting to
(06:13):
get checked for you, then you understand why you fail.
So when you're making money as a business owner, you
can't be successful because of the reason that if you
try to be successful because you never had a plan.
That's the number one reason we fail. And the other
number one reason we fail is do you have time
for your business. I can't tell you how many people
(06:33):
get mad because the store. After a while, they open
their business. It opens a ten but they're getting there
at the same time the customers get there. They getting
mad because the customers got their own time, not knowing
they got a restaurant here, they got to pre set
up everything. The customers get y'all ever be in a restaurant.
You've been in a restaurants where.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Oh, we don't have that on the menu. Don't that
make you mad? Oh we ran out? How you gonna
run out of something that's on your menu?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Then you plan to make this, Then you plan this,
make this a part of your regular I've been I've
been in restaurants where they have actually used a.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Marker to strike through things that they don't do their
menu no more.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Now I'm supposed to come back for that. Here is
a little note now about business. It's called consistency. I
always tell people that a little I'm just using Target
as an example. If Target, if you drove by Target
at night and they sign wasn't on, you think they'd
be closed. So if like on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday,
(07:39):
Target sign was on, but Thursday, Friday and Saturday was off,
you think they'd be out of business, or you stop
trusting them so you won't go there or put them
on the list, and you actually started spreading rumors, negative
rumors about Target or business like Target. And that's what
happens if we're inconsistent. So if you if you opening
(08:02):
the business and you saying you doing things, you gotta
be there to do it, and everybody sees the profit line,
you know, they buy franchise. You know they want to
buy franchise like Chick fil A or Jagging Box or
McDonald's or they heard or or Bojangles. That's that's a
real hot franchise right now that people are buying. It
still requires work, and so what these franchises try to
(08:25):
do they try to train you so you're gonna pay
a fee, but they just don't let you just.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Run out there.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
They're gonna find out if you have time to to
run that franchise because they're applying the same business principles
that I am doing in this conversation, I'm having with
you right now, the conversation of being able to sit
down and apply to you a makeshift plan, a make
sense plan of how.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
You can be successful. So when you buy a franchise,
what they do is they bring you in, they.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Sit you down, and they have you work with somebody
who has your best interests. Listen to me, now, your
best interest because what they don't want to do is
put a franchise out there and it clothes because it
makes them look bad. So now if you don't have time,
but you heard, did these franchises make a lot of money?
Then they gonna have a problem with you. Then you're
(09:18):
gonna get mad at them because they telling you why
you're not there to open up their business on time.
It guess what they're gonna do after a while, they'll
come take their license. Then what you're trying to do now,
you're trying to suit you. Now you huddle up with
your friends and family, all you in the corners, just
cussing and fussing like they've done you wrong. But you're
(09:40):
the one didn't live up to the standards. They have
copyright there they have. You just can't let anybody in
the kitchen if you making donuts.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
You just can't let it. You just can't shoot a.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Video back there for TikTok making donuts back there, making
cakes back there.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
You mad because that's they recipes. Everybody can't see this.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Because you don't know the rules. You want to try
to make your own rules. That's why you want to
be successful. I'm tell you why I was not successful
at my comedy club. Even though lines at the door.
You can look at up Hip Hop Comedy Stop nineteen
ninety two to nineteen ninety four, Houston, Texas one of
the most popular comedy clubs in the country. Everybody came
(10:25):
through the Joe tur Cedric did a tainer some more.
All the big stars came through there, Steve Harvey, everybody
came to that club.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Made no money, made no money, broke even because I
didn't have a budget, because I didn't know what I
was doing. I was in business with a person I
didn't know, and he had a full time job.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
So guess what he kept saying, Hey, man, you got it,
you got it, you got it. Well guess what I
got tired of being the person who got it. Then
I have family whoa When we come back, we're gonna
talk about hiring family.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Who hire family?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
That's big a mistake you can make hiring family now,
especially when the mama, when the mama told you to
hire him. This is Shan McDonald Market and Brandy expert
telling you how to be a successful business owner. We've
already covered have time for your business. Now we're gonna
do you hire relatives because you loved it. We'll be
(11:45):
right back for boy Money Making Conversation master Class. Don't
go nowhere, y'all, I just got started.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
Who please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with
more money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money
Making Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations
Masterclass continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money
(12:13):
Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
This is my opinion. It's not the opinion the station
you're listening to. This.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Rashan McDonald just pouring his soul out on the show
today a little bit. I'm gonna start doing this more off.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
I like this.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
I know I'm to have great guests, but I think
you guys need to hear how did I become the
person I had, I became, I become and I will
continue to become. How to be a successful own business
owner is the topic, Maris, How you doing? My friend
Morris is underline talk to me, Marris is Rushan McDonald speaking.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
How you doing?
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Hey, I'm doing well? How are you?
Speaker 1 (12:47):
What you want to talk about, Marris?
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Good?
Speaker 3 (12:49):
So I wanted to find out if you have any
recommended sources where we could learn how to properly budget
for a business. I know, of course you can google
and things like that, but are there any resources that
you specifically recommend to help us properly establish a budget
for our business?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Absolutely? Call it small Business Administration. They're in every major
city and please go to them, because when I opened
my comedy club, I went there, and when I went there,
and I'm just using a club for an example. If
they tell you, if you can tell them your club
is three thousand square feet, they'll tell you how many
table chairs you need, They'll tell you how many classes
(13:29):
you need, They'll tell you everything because they have books
and then they have another part called Score, and Score
is made up of retired executives, people who are entrepreneurs,
people who have been in the business successful, and they
can mentor you. They can mentor you so you can
ask these honest questions. It's called SCORE and it's called
small Business Administration. And believe me, I tell people about
(13:51):
this all the time. Do not step out there dreaming
without a plan, because if you dream about the planet,
they're gonna come and slap you in the face and
wake you up and it will be a nightmare when
you wake up.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
I walk up into a nightmare. I kid you not, Morris.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I was making money and I never saw none of
it because I didn't have a budget. I didn't understand
who I was in business with. And guess what. In
the end, I hired my relatives and guess what, they
had full time jobs, so they will not committed to my.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Dream because they had to get back to work the
next day.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
So small Business Administration SBA and it's called SCORE. Like
you score a touchdown those two organizations. You can get
it through small Businessmen SBA right here in Georgia. Is
also in Texas, is also in New York. It's also
any major state, any major city has it. I would
advise you to call them and guess what.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
It's free.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Oh excellent, Well, good luck my friend.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Thank you for calling the money make comings in master clouse.
Hope you got something out of the call. Thank you,
my friend, Angela.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
How you doing.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
I'm good taking my call.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
What question can I answer for you, Angela?
Speaker 3 (15:00):
The calls I would love.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
I appreciate you sharing your your failures because I think
that helped sets the stage for me going into acquiring
a business.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Ma'am.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
So yeah, please just continue to share some of the
lessons learned because I'm learning a lot. Don't hire your family,
plan your work and working.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Well'm I tell you them, I'll tell you them.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
It's higher I hire your family, though, because I don't
want to get all family members of bad reputation. Now,
do not hire your families. If your mama told you to.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Hire okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Don't hire them that way. Don't hire your family out
of love. Okay, those two things. Now, if your families qualified,
they've done the work, they will put in the work
they're hired. You treat them like. Here's the thing I
would tell people. You know, if you hire a family member,
they should have the same qualifications and put out the
same effort of somebody you would not know that you
(15:56):
wanted to.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Hire for the same position.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
But if you're bringing them in and your lord qualifications,
you will law in the work ethic, you will law
in the responsibility for that same job.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
So now you've lowered the standard for that job three times.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
So why do you expect that person to be effective
when you need them to work forty hours a week?
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Here's here's is it?
Speaker 2 (16:17):
I'm gonna roll here. I gotta tell you something else.
If you hire somebody, then they start changing the rules
on how they work.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah, see, I'm very clear and when I hire people,
and you should be very clear because you you send
you send a letter to them outlining the.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Job description, you both agreed on the salary.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
After a couple of weeks they started they start coming
in and making an excuse you like, well, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I got to pick up the kids. Okay, you tell
me about that when I hired you. Okay, you tell
me about that. Or I gotta leave work early because
of traffic.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
You tell me about that when I hired you do
So what happens is you have to be able to
see a certain question. You can't ask when you hire people.
But if somebody ubers to the interview, I wouldn't hire.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
Okay, you lay the foundation straight from the beginning.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
But of course, you know there's certain questions you cannot
ask when you ask, but you have to have common
sense and whole approach. If you should ask somebody where
they live. You know, my company up in the Alpharetta.
Now anybody down there by the airport, I have to
question whether or not they can come to my job
(17:44):
on the regular basis. I just have to question that
because I know there's heavy traffic in the morning and
the afternoon, and my job's eight to five.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
So I don't care how much they say they want
the job.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
I have to do common sense realize I may be
compromising my business because guess what happens. They're gonna come
in and start changing the rules with traffic, uh, family issues, uh,
you know, and then then they're gonna say something to you.
They're really gonna make you mad. You know, your job
kind of far.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
But you know all that.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
But you knew all that when you hire that person,
because guess what they told you where they lived, but
you ignored it.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
So Angela, thank you for calling.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
These are some of the little things, and I'm not finished,
so keep your keep your radio on, because I got
more to talk about.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Keep your podcast on all.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
That, guess I will.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Now here's the problem that a lot of people have
when they open the business. This I'm talking to business
owner's talking to entrepreneurs. Listen to me, parking. I don't
know why people think they can just open up, open
up a business, and not worry about parking. I had
(19:01):
a comedy club, y'all. See I see see that comedy
club taught me a lot, y'all. I had no parking.
All my parking was on the streets. Out there on
the streets, three hundred people cars parked out down the street,
up and down the streets all up. Boy, I was popular, though,
But guess what happens when you just parking any kind
(19:24):
of way, any kind of way, any kind of place.
Bad things start happening. Bad people start showing up, start
busting in car windows, So people would leave my comedy shows,
come back in over shun my car being broken into
(19:48):
so what So then my insurance got to cover that.
So suddenly my insurance starts going up because I got
a business, beautiful building, fantastic, no parking though, but I
ignored the no parking issue because guess what, I fell
(20:09):
in love with the building. So I had to hire
people to walk up and down the streets to stop
people from busting into cars.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Now you see why I wasn't making no money When.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
You make all these ignorant decisions no budget in business.
Somebody didn't know by the leasing the building for two
years with no parking.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Rue.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I'm gonna close this out about this person. You should
never ever hire. Do not hire inexperienced employees because they
are cheaper.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
I'm I'm let you just let that so in a minute.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Do not hire inexperience employees because they are cheaper. One
they have no leadership abilities. Two they need constant supervision.
Three they do not understand the position and the company
(21:23):
and will not help you win WI in capital letters
long term. And I'm gonna put a little quote around here.
I said something by relatives. Do not hire friends. I've
(21:44):
done that. It has burnt me. When it came time
to make a decision. They reminded me that I did
them wrong. They reminded me that they were the victim.
They reminded me that I didn't know what I was doing.
(22:05):
And you're exactly right, because I was running a business
based on friendship, no budget, family and a partner. I
didn't know. You cannot win like that. Ladies and gentlemen,
as you listen to me talk about marketing and branding
(22:25):
and how to be a successful business owner. The bottom line,
it's on you look in the mirror and make a
decision that benefits you, your family and your future. This
is another episode of Money Making Conversation Masterclass. I want
to thank always, thank y'all every week for listening, and
I just want to share this moments with you today.
I'm gonna do this once a month, share some of
(22:47):
my personal stories, my personal background as to why I
can talk like this because I've made mistakes and you've
heard the people who called in. I answered their question
because I know where to go now and I will
be able to help you as long as you listen
to me every time I open my mouth and bring
the guests on this show because it's for your personal
benefit and it's free.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
I'm Rashan McDonald. We talked to him.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
posted by me, Rashawn McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you our listening to
Autist now if you want to listen to any episode
I want to be a guest on the show, Visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with
(23:31):
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Keep winning.
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I am Rashan McDonald, a host of weekly Money Making
Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show
provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and start living your own. If you
want to be a guest on my show, please visit
our website, Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
To be a guest.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Button press submit and information will come directly to me.
Now let's get this show started. Has anybody ever thought
about you can raise your hand. You can raise your
hand and your car driving, you know, just raise your eyebrow?
Thought about starting a business? Why didn't you do it?
Have you ever thought about hiring people for your business
and you've hired the wrong people? Have you ever thought
(00:41):
about hiring relatives and guess what, you hired those relatives.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Have you ever hired.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
People that you were getting a good deal on them?
Oh they got oh they cheap. Oh that salary fits
right into my budget, but they don't have the experience.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Am I?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Am I tapping into the right lanes with some of
y'all out there? Or how about starting your business and
you don't even have a budget. It's just a good
idea Am I tapping into anybody out there yet?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Okay, how about this? How about this? You start a
business with somebody you don't know. How about that? How
about how about this? You start a business. You know,
I'm from Texas.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
So they say you can start a business with a handshake,
that's what will be contractual.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
I've done that before. Yeah, you don't make it.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
How to be a successful business owners, that's a bold
statement for me to say marketing and branding. Have a
company called thirty eight fifteen Media, Inc. Based in Atlanta, Georgia.
I started it as an idea and I just started
hiring people. Were they the best qualified people? No? In hindsight, No,
(01:57):
But I knew them. I knew them, they knew me,
We had long term relationships. They could do certain things,
and I hired them. That's the number one problem with
most people who fail in this business is they hire
people just because they're close to them. They hire people
(02:18):
because they make them feel comfortable. You hire people because
they're just right there and they're available to be hired.
That's the number one mistake and the number two mistake.
Do you have time for your business?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
You know I would tell people this. I get up
at four thirty money to do fraud. That's what time
four thirty am I get up and people always go.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Whoa, whoa four thirty when you're doing it front thirty.
I was fortunate to give a speech. Uh. I was
at the Look.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
It was an area in Atlanta called lot Thornia is
right outside of Atlanta, Georgia Chamber of Commerce, and I
was speaking to him. That's one of the reasons they
brought me over. It was to speak about how to
be a successful business owner. And when you're speaking to
typic of people about being a successful business owner, one
thing you have to admit that is that you made mistakes.
(03:18):
I opened a comedy club in Houston, Texas called Hip
Hop Comedy Style. I got in business with a person
I didn't even know. Well, guess what. He was a
stand up comic too, so he liked telling jokes. I
liked telling jokes. Yeah, I guess he make a good business.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Pardon. So that's how we got in.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
That's like you, that's like you like to eat chicken,
and you know somebody who makes good chickens, So y'all
just gonna go into chicken business. Same same thing, same thing.
I didn't know his likes, his dislikes. I didn't know
his work happens. I didn't know if he like getting
up early or do you like staying late? Did he
even have an idea how to run a business. That's
(04:01):
how I got in business. But the other side of
that is that it became a very popular comedy club.
Lines out the door. I used to do a show
on Thursday. Tickets are gonna sell on Monday. They were
sold out in the hour. That's how popular was the room.
Seats like three hundred and fifty people line out the
(04:22):
door on Thursday show. Showtime. I hit the stage at
eight nine o'clock. People wouldn't go in the room until
it was nine. Eight thirty was an empty room. They
didn't want to see the other comics. I walk in
nine o'clock, room packed. Eight thirty to eight fifty five,
room was empty, nine o'clock packed. We were making money.
(04:42):
But what guess what what happens when you start making money?
I forgot You pay taxes. You pay taxes on tickets,
you pay taxis on liquor, so so.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Those little things.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
So all that money that you're making somebody else I
want a piece of it. So you can't look at
ten dollars as a real ten dollars.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
But because I.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Didn't have a budget, because I didn't take time to
understand how to run a business, I was just doing
all the wrong things. So I'm sure a lot of
you guys out there, ladies, I think, because women are
the fastest growing entrepreneurial part in this company, especially black women,
(05:27):
y'all just running things now in a good way, opening
up business. I'm sure you opening up business a lot
more than me, better than me. So I was making
money but couldn't understand how selling out. But I can't
pay myself, so I was just working for free because
(05:50):
I didn't have Because what you can't do, I'll tell
you something about this, the biggest mistake in a business.
You can't open a business and then try to sell
the budget because now you're playing catch up because you
can't justify because you didn't have a budget at the beginning.
You to have known why you have all these people
hanging around you getting checks for you or wanting to
(06:13):
get checked for you, then you understand why you fail.
So when you're making money as a business owner, you
can't be successful because of the reason that if you
try to be successful because you never had a plan.
That's the number one reason we fail. And the other
number one reason we fail is do you have time
for your business. I can't tell you how many people
(06:33):
get mad because the store. After a while, they open
their business. It opens a ten but they're getting there
at the same time the customers get there. They getting
mad because the customers got their own time, not knowing
they got a restaurant here, they got to pre set
up everything. The customers get y'all ever be in a restaurant.
You've been in a restaurants where.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Oh, we don't have that on the menu. Don't that
make you mad? Oh we ran out? How you gonna
run out of something that's on your menu?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Then you plan to make this, Then you plan this,
make this a part of your regular I've been I've
been in restaurants where they have actually used a.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Marker to strike through things that they don't do their
menu no more.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Now I'm supposed to come back for that. Here is
a little note now about business. It's called consistency. I
always tell people that a little I'm just using Target
as an example. If Target, if you drove by Target
at night and they sign wasn't on, you think they'd
be closed. So if like on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday,
(07:39):
Target sign was on, but Thursday, Friday and Saturday was off,
you think they'd be out of business, or you stop
trusting them so you won't go there or put them
on the list, and you actually started spreading rumors, negative
rumors about Target or business like Target. And that's what
happens if we're inconsistent. So if you if you opening
(08:02):
the business and you saying you doing things, you gotta
be there to do it, and everybody sees the profit line,
you know, they buy franchise. You know they want to
buy franchise like Chick fil A or Jagging Box or
McDonald's or they heard or or Bojangles. That's that's a
real hot franchise right now that people are buying. It
still requires work, and so what these franchises try to
(08:25):
do they try to train you so you're gonna pay
a fee, but they just don't let you just.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Run out there.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
They're gonna find out if you have time to to
run that franchise because they're applying the same business principles
that I am doing in this conversation, I'm having with
you right now, the conversation of being able to sit
down and apply to you a makeshift plan, a make
sense plan of how.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
You can be successful. So when you buy a franchise,
what they do is they bring you in, they.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Sit you down, and they have you work with somebody
who has your best interests. Listen to me, now, your
best interest because what they don't want to do is
put a franchise out there and it clothes because it
makes them look bad. So now if you don't have time,
but you heard, did these franchises make a lot of money?
Then they gonna have a problem with you. Then you're
(09:18):
gonna get mad at them because they telling you why
you're not there to open up their business on time.
It guess what they're gonna do after a while, they'll
come take their license. Then what you're trying to do now,
you're trying to suit you. Now you huddle up with
your friends and family, all you in the corners, just
cussing and fussing like they've done you wrong. But you're
(09:40):
the one didn't live up to the standards. They have
copyright there they have. You just can't let anybody in
the kitchen if you making donuts.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
You just can't let it. You just can't shoot a.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Video back there for TikTok making donuts back there, making
cakes back there.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
You mad because that's they recipes. Everybody can't see this.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Because you don't know the rules. You want to try
to make your own rules. That's why you want to
be successful. I'm tell you why I was not successful
at my comedy club. Even though lines at the door.
You can look at up Hip Hop Comedy Stop nineteen
ninety two to nineteen ninety four, Houston, Texas one of
the most popular comedy clubs in the country. Everybody came
(10:25):
through the Joe tur Cedric did a tainer some more.
All the big stars came through there, Steve Harvey, everybody
came to that club.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Made no money, made no money, broke even because I
didn't have a budget, because I didn't know what I
was doing. I was in business with a person I
didn't know, and he had a full time job.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
So guess what he kept saying, Hey, man, you got it,
you got it, you got it. Well guess what I
got tired of being the person who got it. Then
I have family whoa When we come back, we're gonna
talk about hiring family.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Who hire family?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
That's big a mistake you can make hiring family now,
especially when the mama, when the mama told you to
hire him. This is Shan McDonald Market and Brandy expert
telling you how to be a successful business owner. We've
already covered have time for your business. Now we're gonna
do you hire relatives because you loved it. We'll be
(11:45):
right back for boy Money Making Conversation master Class. Don't
go nowhere, y'all, I just got started.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
Who please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with
more money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money
Making Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations
Masterclass continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money
(12:13):
Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
This is my opinion. It's not the opinion the station
you're listening to. This.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Rashan McDonald just pouring his soul out on the show
today a little bit. I'm gonna start doing this more off.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
I like this.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
I know I'm to have great guests, but I think
you guys need to hear how did I become the
person I had, I became, I become and I will
continue to become. How to be a successful own business
owner is the topic, Maris, How you doing? My friend
Morris is underline talk to me, Marris is Rushan McDonald speaking.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
How you doing?
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Hey, I'm doing well? How are you?
Speaker 1 (12:47):
What you want to talk about, Marris?
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Good?
Speaker 3 (12:49):
So I wanted to find out if you have any
recommended sources where we could learn how to properly budget
for a business. I know, of course you can google
and things like that, but are there any resources that
you specifically recommend to help us properly establish a budget
for our business?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Absolutely? Call it small Business Administration. They're in every major
city and please go to them, because when I opened
my comedy club, I went there, and when I went there,
and I'm just using a club for an example. If
they tell you, if you can tell them your club
is three thousand square feet, they'll tell you how many
table chairs you need, They'll tell you how many classes
(13:29):
you need, They'll tell you everything because they have books
and then they have another part called Score, and Score
is made up of retired executives, people who are entrepreneurs,
people who have been in the business successful, and they
can mentor you. They can mentor you so you can
ask these honest questions. It's called SCORE and it's called
small Business Administration. And believe me, I tell people about
(13:51):
this all the time. Do not step out there dreaming
without a plan, because if you dream about the planet,
they're gonna come and slap you in the face and
wake you up and it will be a nightmare when
you wake up.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
I walk up into a nightmare. I kid you not, Morris.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I was making money and I never saw none of
it because I didn't have a budget. I didn't understand
who I was in business with. And guess what. In
the end, I hired my relatives and guess what, they
had full time jobs, so they will not committed to my.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Dream because they had to get back to work the
next day.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
So small Business Administration SBA and it's called SCORE. Like
you score a touchdown those two organizations. You can get
it through small Businessmen SBA right here in Georgia. Is
also in Texas, is also in New York. It's also
any major state, any major city has it. I would
advise you to call them and guess what.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
It's free.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Oh excellent, Well, good luck my friend.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Thank you for calling the money make comings in master clouse.
Hope you got something out of the call. Thank you,
my friend, Angela.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
How you doing.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
I'm good taking my call.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
What question can I answer for you, Angela?
Speaker 3 (15:00):
The calls I would love.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
I appreciate you sharing your your failures because I think
that helped sets the stage for me going into acquiring
a business.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Ma'am.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
So yeah, please just continue to share some of the
lessons learned because I'm learning a lot. Don't hire your family,
plan your work and working.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Well'm I tell you them, I'll tell you them.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
It's higher I hire your family, though, because I don't
want to get all family members of bad reputation. Now,
do not hire your families. If your mama told you to.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Hire okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Don't hire them that way. Don't hire your family out
of love. Okay, those two things. Now, if your families qualified,
they've done the work, they will put in the work
they're hired. You treat them like. Here's the thing I
would tell people. You know, if you hire a family member,
they should have the same qualifications and put out the
same effort of somebody you would not know that you
(15:56):
wanted to.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Hire for the same position.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
But if you're bringing them in and your lord qualifications,
you will law in the work ethic, you will law
in the responsibility for that same job.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
So now you've lowered the standard for that job three times.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
So why do you expect that person to be effective
when you need them to work forty hours a week?
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Here's here's is it?
Speaker 2 (16:17):
I'm gonna roll here. I gotta tell you something else.
If you hire somebody, then they start changing the rules
on how they work.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah, see, I'm very clear and when I hire people,
and you should be very clear because you you send
you send a letter to them outlining the.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Job description, you both agreed on the salary.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
After a couple of weeks they started they start coming
in and making an excuse you like, well, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I got to pick up the kids. Okay, you tell
me about that when I hired you. Okay, you tell
me about that. Or I gotta leave work early because
of traffic.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
You tell me about that when I hired you do
So what happens is you have to be able to
see a certain question. You can't ask when you hire people.
But if somebody ubers to the interview, I wouldn't hire.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
Okay, you lay the foundation straight from the beginning.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
But of course, you know there's certain questions you cannot
ask when you ask, but you have to have common
sense and whole approach. If you should ask somebody where
they live. You know, my company up in the Alpharetta.
Now anybody down there by the airport, I have to
question whether or not they can come to my job
(17:44):
on the regular basis. I just have to question that
because I know there's heavy traffic in the morning and
the afternoon, and my job's eight to five.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
So I don't care how much they say they want
the job.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
I have to do common sense realize I may be
compromising my business because guess what happens. They're gonna come
in and start changing the rules with traffic, uh, family issues, uh,
you know, and then then they're gonna say something to you.
They're really gonna make you mad. You know, your job
kind of far.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
But you know all that.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
But you knew all that when you hire that person,
because guess what they told you where they lived, but
you ignored it.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
So Angela, thank you for calling.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
These are some of the little things, and I'm not finished,
so keep your keep your radio on, because I got
more to talk about.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Keep your podcast on all.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
That, guess I will.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Now here's the problem that a lot of people have
when they open the business. This I'm talking to business
owner's talking to entrepreneurs. Listen to me, parking. I don't
know why people think they can just open up, open
up a business, and not worry about parking. I had
(19:01):
a comedy club, y'all. See I see see that comedy
club taught me a lot, y'all. I had no parking.
All my parking was on the streets. Out there on
the streets, three hundred people cars parked out down the street,
up and down the streets all up. Boy, I was popular, though,
But guess what happens when you just parking any kind
(19:24):
of way, any kind of way, any kind of place.
Bad things start happening. Bad people start showing up, start
busting in car windows, So people would leave my comedy shows,
come back in over shun my car being broken into
(19:48):
so what So then my insurance got to cover that.
So suddenly my insurance starts going up because I got
a business, beautiful building, fantastic, no parking though, but I
ignored the no parking issue because guess what, I fell
(20:09):
in love with the building. So I had to hire
people to walk up and down the streets to stop
people from busting into cars.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Now you see why I wasn't making no money When.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
You make all these ignorant decisions no budget in business.
Somebody didn't know by the leasing the building for two
years with no parking.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Rue.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I'm gonna close this out about this person. You should
never ever hire. Do not hire inexperienced employees because they
are cheaper.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
I'm I'm let you just let that so in a minute.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Do not hire inexperience employees because they are cheaper. One
they have no leadership abilities. Two they need constant supervision.
Three they do not understand the position and the company
(21:23):
and will not help you win WI in capital letters
long term. And I'm gonna put a little quote around here.
I said something by relatives. Do not hire friends. I've
(21:44):
done that. It has burnt me. When it came time
to make a decision. They reminded me that I did
them wrong. They reminded me that they were the victim.
They reminded me that I didn't know what I was doing.
(22:05):
And you're exactly right, because I was running a business
based on friendship, no budget, family and a partner. I
didn't know. You cannot win like that. Ladies and gentlemen,
as you listen to me talk about marketing and branding
(22:25):
and how to be a successful business owner. The bottom line,
it's on you look in the mirror and make a
decision that benefits you, your family and your future. This
is another episode of Money Making Conversation Masterclass. I want
to thank always, thank y'all every week for listening, and
I just want to share this moments with you today.
I'm gonna do this once a month, share some of
(22:47):
my personal stories, my personal background as to why I
can talk like this because I've made mistakes and you've
heard the people who called in. I answered their question
because I know where to go now and I will
be able to help you as long as you listen
to me every time I open my mouth and bring
the guests on this show because it's for your personal
benefit and it's free.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
I'm Rashan McDonald. We talked to him.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
posted by me, Rashawn McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you our listening to
Autist now if you want to listen to any episode
I want to be a guest on the show, Visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with
(23:31):
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Keep winning.
Host
Rushion McDonald
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