I Didn’t Start a Business for a Plaque
I started because radio kept firing me and it never really interested me from a behind-the-mic stance. I did it because I could do it, never because I wanted to. New city. New station. New smile. Same ending. Suitcase by the door like a dog waiting for its owner. If you’ve lived that, you (hopefully) stop asking for a seat at the table and build your own restaurant.
The Letter That Accidentally Became a Business
I moved to Los Angeles, the city I’d wanted since I was a kid. Thought radio was the plan. Turns out radio was the lesson. After one last round of mistreatment, I wrote a vent letter — “Radio Fax.” Sent it to friends. They sent it to their friends. People felt it. A magazine was born. 30 years later, Radio Facts is still here because it tells the truth in an industry that hates mirrors.
One Business Begets Another
Here’s the part nobody tells you: businesses give birth to other businesses. Build one, it exposes holes, those holes become opportunities, and those become new lanes. That’s how Black Top 10s showed up. You don’t need permission. You need proof. Proof comes from shipping.
Freedom Beats Applause
Entrepreneurs aren’t allergic to politics; we’re busy. When you own your day, awards are cute but freedom is louder. No event badge beats knowing nobody can end your income with a meeting invite. Once you know, you know.
The Year-Seven Drag Is Real
You will get tired of your business around year seven. Normal. Pivot, don’t quit. Start a second thing while the first is stable. Build systems so you can step away without the house burning down.
“I Can” vs. “I Want To”
Don’t confuse ability with desire. I could do radio. I didn’t want to. Most folks live in that gap for decades and call it a career.
Are You an Entrepreneur? Start With What You Do for Free
What do you obsess over when nobody’s paying you? That’s your signal.
Example: The Blues Fan
If you live for classic Blues — that’s not a hobby, that’s a niche. Start the podcast. Write the blog. Curate playlists. Interview historians. There are Blues fans in Chicago and teenagers in Seoul waiting on someone consistent and real.
Example: The Caregiver With a Business Hiding in Plain Sight
If you help elders — rides, groceries, tech help, conversation — that’s a service business. Give it a name, a booking link, and a simple package: weekly 2-hour check-ins for $X/month. You’re reducing family stress. Price like it.
Money Isn’t Fuel — Passion Is
If your motive is only money, you’ll flame out. Money burns hot and fast. Passion is diesel — slow, steady, gets you through the dead weeks when nobody’s clapping. And yes, the money comes. More of it. Because you’re not waiting for permission or splitting credit.
The Circle You Keep
My closest friends were other entrepreneurs, now they are AI enthusiasts — not by design, by gravity because that is who I am now. We push each other, roast each other, trade playbooks. We also respect the quiet tax this life charges. Freedom isn’t free; it’s just worth it. Then life happens, like my mother passing this summer. It was not expected, she was not sick, but it opened my eyes to the kind of world we live in what it truly means to be Black in America and it made me change my entire perception for helping others to putting them on the back burner and helping myself FIRST. As long as you give ANYTHING away for free people will NEVER see the value of what you do or who you are. No hookups, family rates or discounts, eliminate those people who try to downgrade your value with a quickness, it’s contagious and it’s disrespectful.
A One-Week Playbook
Pick one problem that annoys you every week. Write a one-paragraph solution someone would pay for. Sell it to one person in the next seven days. Deliver it. Get feedback. Raise the price. Repeat. That cycle will teach you more than a hundred “How to Start a Business” posts.
The Only Question That Matters
If nobody could fire you tomorrow, what would you build today? Answer that honestly. You’ll either launch something or admit you prefer the paycheck to the work. Either way, you’ll be living in the truth.
Closing the Loop
I started out angry. I stayed because ownership beats apologies. That little “Radio Fax” letter became Radio Facts. That became more businesses, more freedom, more responsibility. That’s my story. What’s yours? I would love to know how your story turns out. Live is short, either you are alive… or you are a-LIVING, your choice.
