A Biographical Sketch ....
Thank you for taking the time to visit
my site. I am glad that you're here.
Hopefully, as a result you will learn a
little more about me and what I do. I
have been in business for myself for
over 27 years.
In 1979, I started the Capitol
Planning Corporation. We were
pioneers in what has now become the "Financial Services Industry".
I had separate licenses in life
insurance, securities, mortgage
brokerage and real estate and was registered as an Investment
Advisor with the Securities and
Exchanges Commission. Back
then we specialized in annuities, mutual funds,
insurance, real estate, mortgages, oil
and gas tax
shelters, diamonds, rare coins and private placement
memorandums.
In 1983, I published the first
"how-to" money magazine in the country
targeted to a Black audience. The
publication, Financial Independence
Money Management Magazine. Our
aim was to break, usually
complicated financial jargon, down into
manageable concepts for
every day working people to understand.
We were a "Black" Money magazine. This
was before other Black magazines, like
Ebony, Jet, Black Enterprise or Essence, focused
any attention on personal finance or
investing.
We also wanted to disprove the
views of corporate America and the
advertising agency community at the time,
that Black folk 1. Didn't read. and
2. Were not interested in their
finances. Today, of course, this sounds
strange, but it was true then. Now
African Americans
are a major market for corporate
offerings in the financial services
category.
At our height, the publication was
distributed nationally on major
downtown office newsstands in 44 states and in 5 foreign
countries. We reached a total circulation
of 100,000 and were distributed by the Hearst Corporation.
In 1990, I started the D.E.A.L.
Organization, (Determination,
Effort, Attitude and Love) one of the first Black
network marketing companies. The goal
was to establish better distribution for
Black products, helping them more easily
reach their targeted consumer market. Our product
line consisted of items from Black
manufacturers, including: hair care,
skin care, specialty foods, toys, games,
ethnic items, clothing, household cleaning, auto care, health
products, etc.
Our catalog contained
over 200 items from 30 or more
Black manufacturers. We were way ahead of our
time and this was long before the advent of
affiliate marketing on the Internet. At our
height, we had over 35,000 distributors
who worked both full-time and part-time
offline
from home.
As Chairman of the
National
Black Business Trade Association
and one of the coordinators for Black
Expo USA events for ten years, I
have traveled quite a bit and have had
the opportunity to speak in front of
thousands of Black entrepreneurs around the
country.
I have given entrepreneurial seminars
in the top markets for African American
audiences, including New York, Los
Angeles, Washington DC, Memphis,
Detroit, Birmingham, Richmond,
Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Oakland,
Jacksonville, Miami, Houston, Dallas,
Charlotte, Baltimore, and New Orleans.
I have been interviewed by the
Washington Post, New York Daily News,
New York Times, Amsterdam News, Afro
American, Los Angeles Times, Wall
Street Journal, Houston Sun, Chicago Tribune and
Chicago Sun-Times.
My companies have
also been mentioned in both Black
Enterprise and Essence magazines. I have
been on several local, national
and international radio talk shows including
BBC, CNN and Cathy Hughes (Radio One) and
television shows including Tony Brown's
Journal and Bev Smith on BET. I have
also maintained an Internet website and
presence since 1994.
NBBTA is not my personal business. It
is
a trade association of thousands of
successful Black businesses. I now serve as
Chairman, but started as Executive
Director and devote most of my time in
mentoring entrepreneurs and promoting "Black
Business Awareness"..
In addition to my NBBTA
activities, I run two separate
companies, LG Management Group (LGMG)
and Venture Marketing Associates (VMA).
We provide marketing and management consulting and
services, small business coaching,
financial services and entrepreneurial
development to individuals and
companies big and small.
Internationally, I helped establish the
first International Black Business
Summit 2000 in Nova Scotia, Canada
with participants coming from Africa,
Europe, the US and Canada. For years, I
have conducted entrepreneurial workshops
to groups near and far, some sponsored by the
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation's
Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.
In addition to funding, they granted me a scholarship to the
Center for Leadership Development in San
Jose, CA for which I am very much
grateful.
As a result of these efforts, I have
learned quite a bit about myself, marketing,
startup companies, the internet,
publishing, financing, sponsorships,
public speaking, making money, making
mistakes, having faith, networking, and
people. I have had the opportunity and
good fortune to network with some of
America's and the world's leading
business owners, entrepreneurs and as
well as
scientific and social scientific minds
and "unsung heroes", like
Phillip Emeagwali, a father of the
Internet and
Dwight Mckee,
founding "Operation Breadbasket" board
member.
I am currently working to build an
organization of small office/home-office
(SOHO), small office/digital office (SODO)
and home-based entrepreneurs who will
take full advantage of building their
business ventures using the latest
technology and techniques available on the Internet. The Internet
has changed the business world forever. NBBTA is seeking to make Black
businesses "Internet-Ready".
I am just an ordinary man, seeking to
best utilize my time making a difference
in the world. I am and will always
be a Black business advocate.
My Social Networks:
BlackBusinessSpace.com
http://www.blackbusinessspace.com
MySpace
http://www.myspace.com/nbbta
Ryze
http://www.ryze.com/go/Videomaill
Wannanetwork
http://www.wannanetwork.com/u1st
ActiveRain
http://activerain.com/paid4
If any of this is of interest to you
let me know. I am willing to share what
I know to help you to reach your goals.
I invite you to join our team.
Become an
NBBTA member today!
Take part in a business offering or tool in the
left column that I strongly believe in
and work with me directly.
"Whatever you vividly
imagine, ardently desire, sincerely
believe, and enthusiastically act upon
will inevitably come to pass".
