Black In Business

My friends and family have contributed greatly to my personal business success. My wife and children sacrificed plenty while I worked in the corporate world. We have benefited and also suffered due to my career demands.

My friends that are also black and in business, became a part of a group to lean on and be leaned on and grow together as we chased our dreams.

In college we dreamed about being able to afford nice cars and clothes. Sometimes we would talk for hours about our hopes.

Most of us came from blue collar working class families and in many cases were the first in our families to finish college.

As young black professionals we dreamed bigger and better. Often times life for blacks in the corporate world can be lonely. I have been lucky to have many black friends that were pursuing a similar lifestyle. Men like C.G Bendler, Richard Burns, Phil Turner, Rod Bennett and Tom Jackson have all played a role for me and me for them, In a way that my white friends could not.

I lost a member of my inner circle recently to a battle of cancer. Tom Jackson was a very successful business man and his story is motivation for blacks in business.

I met T.J in Baltimore, Maryland at a place where for happy hour they had food and 3 for 1 drinks. We saw each other several times before we talked. We were both young salesmen. I was in the medical field and T.J sold chemicals. We both bragged about our jobs. T.J always finding opportunities, joined my company as a sales person.

T.J and I would talk every night and he would relive his day call by call. T.J was obsessed with winning and he did just that. In his 2nd year with Abbott he was the AE of the year. He was incredibly focus on making money and being the best. T.J also had tremendous focus on taking care of his customers.

T.J talked business, but he also was tremendously proud of his family. He always would tell me how everyone was doing. He would beam with pride over his family.

T.J became active in real estate. He was a landlord and brought quite a few properties and flip them. I remember him showing me a large apartment building in Philadelphia that he owned and I was amazed by his confidence. He was doing the same thing as the white business community, investing in real estate.

T.J’s business acumen, allowed him when faced with what appeared to be bias in management, the ability to walk away from the prevalent “good job” to open Mid Atlantic restorations in Atlantic City, N.J. T.J’s company cleaned windows for the casinos in town. Tom hired many employees that were black and sharing his good fortune was his vision. His company was named, New Jersey Small Business of the Year, after only one year.

Lessons from T.J’s life for black in business are as follows…

-Dream Big

-Work hard

-Save money

-Invest in real estate

-Strive for Greatness

-Help others

-Care for family

T.J thank you for the influence you provided me. You will be missed.