Celebs

By Farrah Gray A question I am often asked by my friends and associates generally concerns whether they or a friend should consider striking out on their own in business. I do not believe that there is one person who can honestly say that they have not thought about what it would be like to be in business for themselves. Many people dream about being masters of their own destinies and captains of their own ship. However, far fewer of us take this Sunday afternoon wishful thinking beyond just that; wishful thinking. This is probably a good thing given the […]

By Farrah Gray On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King was a Baptist minister, Nobel Peace Prize winner and pivotal civil rights hero, husband, father and friend who was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Reflecting on the 40th anniversary of the tragic assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the question to ask is whether or not his legacy is still alive and in living color with a person who has a permanent suntan being the Democratic front-runner for the Presidency of the United States of America. As we reminiscence about the martyred Dr. King’s historic […]

By Farrah Gray An entrepreneurial mindset is re-emerging in Black America.  New-breed entrepreneurs are no longer obsessed with lack of opportunities, but with creatively creating their future out of nothing into something. Necessity is the mother of invention! Becoming self-made gives you a fighting chance. If it is your dream to become successful, achieve financial independence, earn a lot of money and become a millionaire in five years. My advice? Become an entrepreneur. History is full of entrepreneurs who saw a need, met it and made a fortune in the process. More than half of the world’s self-made millionaires are […]

By Farrah Gray Whatever your profession – you will never be able to stand idle or underutilized. Dynamism is the new catchword and anyone who deals with the problem of constant upward mobility needs requires being ‘fit’ to keep up. It isn’t enough to be merely `good’ at one’s work, field, or trade; one requires excelling to make the difference. To do so, one has to be totally up to date with the latest that is happening in one’s chosen field. The biggest issue facing the people today – it is immaterial what your discipline happens to be or how […]

By Farrah Gray You read in the newspapers, you see on the news broadcast, you hear on the radio that Congress was considering amnesty for millions of illegal foreign workers. I began to wonder how many of us can read the faces, see on the news or hear on talk radio shows Black Americans that have lost their jobs or could not get jobs due conditions created by those being considered for amnesty. In the context of tremendous change in the economy and labor market, many people are deciding that self-employment is the right choice for them. People work for […]

By Farrah Gray The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was 36 years old when he preached “The American Dream” sermon as Co-Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church on Sunday, July 4, 1965. “You can get so busy in life that you forget holidays and other days, and it had slipped my mind altogether that today was the Fourth of July. And I said to him, “It is coincidental and quite significant, and I think when I get to Atlanta and go to my pulpit, I will try to preach a sermon in the spirit of the founding fathers of our […]

By Farrah Gray Are you a butcher, baker or a candle stick maker?  Your ideas at first may not appear to you as “big” ideas that can go to market. A young man living and working near a college campus could see the opportunity wanting to open a small chicken wing restaurant. What is great about his idea? He was selling “the sizzle” and not “the steak” with 18 different hot sauces flavors to choose from kept the college students coming back for more. When I arrived in Jackson, Mississippi for our meeting and taste test I was convinced along […]

By Farrah Gray I was recently introduced to the a singer named Eugene McDaniel’s, who once sang a song later to be made famous by Less McCann and Eddie Harris which was entitled “Trying To Make It Real, Compared To What?” Many may have seen the breaking headlines about how rap mogul, 50 Cent became the “Four Hundred Million Dollar Man!” While many may not agree with what “50” (as many call him) often represents in his music and his videos, we can all appreciate on some level the struggle he had in front of him as a young man. […]

By Farrah Gray Recently, I was invited to become the commencement speaker at Greenville Technical College by Dr. Thomas E. Barton, Jr., the longest-serving president of a two-year college in the nation. After a year-long relationship was established in discussion with the president, faculty and staff at the technical college, my foundation developed an experiential, entrepreneurship curriculum to offer to local, community-based organizations off-campus. I was honored to address the thousands of accomplished graduates and their family, friends and stakeholders that played an important part of the graduates’ achievements. At Greenville Tech, my message to all in attendance included advice […]

By Farrah Gray Former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan’s testimony before a Senate Banking Committee in February 2000, stated, “…it is certainly true that we have a new economy. It is different.” Media headline captions have characterized “New Economy” entrepreneurial business success stories as “From the “Basement to Billions,” “Garage Million Dollar Startups,” “Mommy Millionaire Inventors,” “SOHO (Small Office Home Office) Successes,” “From the Hood to Wall Street” and “From Welfare to Millionaire.” For all intents and purposes, the door is opened wide for exploration by the “newly self-employed.” The term “self-employed” and “entrepreneurship” are used interchangeably.  You are both […]