204: Beyond Venture Capital: Alternative Funding Paths for Black-Owned Businesses w/ Rodney Williams

Monique:
Rodney, welcome to the Black to Business podcast. Such a treat to have you here. Welcome to the show.

Rodney:
Thank you for having me.

Monique:
Of course. So we are talking all about, beyond venture capital, some alternative funding paths for black owned businesses today. And I want to start by talking about your journey, because you’ve had a very successful journey. So if you could just share a little bit about your background and what led you to co found solo funds.

Rodney:
Great. Number one, it’s a pleasure to be here. Rodney Williams, co founder of solo Funds, current president, and prior to solo, I co founded a startup that’s still active called Listener. I co founded a beauty company that I ultimately sold called my Johnson and company. And I’m all around entrepreneur in terms of my career. Actually started at Procter and gamble. It’s a large CPG company. I really wanted to go out on my own and make a difference, which really just allowed me to start.

Rodney:
Listener. I think, all in all, I probably raised somewhere north of $80 million for the companies that I have founded, mostly in tech. I would tell you that started at this point in time, I guess 15 years ago, is when I actually entered into tech and have been embarking on that journey. I will tell you, tough journey, long journey, but I think I’m in it for life here to answer all the questions.

Monique:
Yeah, well, that is a great story. Yes. Thank you for sharing that. And as you mentioned, like you said, you’ve raised over $80 million. But I want to talk about your journey in securing funding for your ventures, and particularly with your past experience and also solo funds, because one of the things we noticed and we wanted to talk about today is the alternative funding paths. But your journey has been quite unique. So can you share a little bit about your journey in secure and funding?

Rodney:
Yeah, you know, there’s a lot of ways to secure funding. You know. You know, the way I approach funding is, you know, some of the traditional ways. Maybe it’s like a bank or a bank loan, or maybe it’s your own savings. You know, a lot of that capital is present. There are a lot of grants that are also present. There are also a lot of, like, small business incubators and accelerators around the country. You know, I like to think of the capital that’s required to get your idea going is different, and it’s different than the capital that once you’re trying to grow your business.

Rodney:
With. That said, I think there are more resources for that beginning capital than ever before. There’s a ton of grants and partnerships and pitch competitions, and whether you’re a beauty company or a tech company, or women led or black led or minority led. I think there’s just a lot of opportunity currently more so than there ever was before. My journey was a little bit like that. I definitely depleted my savings, use my credit cards, but I was also. I joined a number of accelerators around the country that would help me with resources as well as funding those accelerators. I would not have started if it wasn’t for those accelerators.

Monique:
Yeah, I love that you mentioned that. And one of the things I love that you say and then your team also said is that you’ve reached this success because you haven’t relied solely on vc funding. And can you share some insights into why that was your strategy and important for you?

Rodney:
Well, you know, I think as a founder, the number one strategy is to create a sustainable business, and that means that the dependency on raising significant mounds of capital is lowered because you’re actually making money. Right. So for us, especially as solo funds, number one, you decide to go into tech and you can pick industries that are being well funded industries, or you can pick industries that are going to make the best, biggest impact to the community that you’re a part of. And for me, and for us, that was financial inclusion, that was access to capital and that was providing a yield. So there wasn’t a lot of venture capital funding for our industry. I always say, newsflash, venture capitalists aren’t in the business of social impact, they’re in the business of making a return.

Monique:
Right.

Rodney:
So unfortunately, you know, we didn’t have access to a lot of capital, venture capital funding and we had to rely on creating a good business and also attract smaller investors that really, really believed in what we were building. And those are the two ways in which we did it. And alongside, I mean, solo funds have probably participated in about ten different accelerators. I would say if you ever saw us in a pitch competition, I hope you weren’t in it because we most likely won.

Monique:
I know that’s right.

Rodney:
And I’m looking at some pitch competitions right now. I think we need to go back to the board a couple times. But, yeah, I mean, we’re going to go out and figure this thing out no matter what.

Monique:
Love that. And so speaking of that, people are like, okay, you got eight over, you’ve gotten over $80 million or you raised. I need to listen to him. So for you, what do you think made you all stand out in terms of being able to win those competitions?

Rodney:
Well, I think, yeah, I think you have to, number one, know your stuff, right? And that’s just the confidence in your business model, who you serve, why you serve them, and the impact you’re going to go out and make. And I think you got to be the world’s greatest expert at that, and you got to be able to convey that confidence. I think that’s super important. And whether my goal is not my goal, whether I or we gain the investment, is to win the investor. Like, you don’t have to like us. You don’t even got to believe in the business, but you’re going to walk away thinking that this founder and this company may work. And if it does, you know, oh, like, this is going to be a big deal. Like, so my goal is to, you know, my goal is to win them as an advocate, as a friend, as someone that’s going to go out and spread good news about the things that they heard.

Rodney:
I think that’s important. I think structurally, though, like, if you’re a founder, you got a company. Like, the things I need you to take away is that you have to know your business. It has to be a big enough opportunity. Meaning, like, if you think you’re swinging too small, I guarantee you you are. Nobody wants to invest in a little opportunity. We want a big opportunity. Like, we want things that are gonna have the potential to make a return, a substantial return.

Rodney:
So I think those are big things. And I also say, like, every investor is an equal. You need to talk to the right investors. And then my final thing is, investors are not your friends. They can grow to be your partners, they can grow to be your advocates, but they’re not your friends. I hear so much feedback from, you know, entrepreneurs that, you know, I don’t trust that investor where, you know, and I’m always like, well, why? Why do you want to trust them? I don’t think they’re even in the trustworthy category. They have a motive and their intentions are clear. Their intentions are to make money from you, you know, and just in that inherent thinking, you should put them in that category and you should never let them leave that category.

Rodney:
It’s really important. They are a stakeholder, they are a shareholder that’s in it for the returns.

Monique:
And that is free game. That’s good stuff. And so I love that you’ve mentioned all the ways that, some of the ways that people can fund their businesses. And because I think that many entrepreneurs view VC funding as this ultimate goal. So there seems to be this misconception around this. So could you kind of elaborate on why VC funding isn’t always the best solution. And who should consider alternative funding paths?

Rodney:
Yeah, I mean, I think as a founder, you should be considering alternative paths all the time. You know, as. I think as a founder, your job is to keep it alive, keep it going, and that means wherever funding comes, the way you are analyzing whether that funding is a good option for you is the cost of it, which includes the true cost. Meaning, is it equity? Is it an interest rate? Because it’s a loan, is it a grant? Is it a. Whatever the case may be, and then you should have as many options as you possibly can drum up. You know, I don’t think. I think if I look at the state of black business, black venture business, you know, we should be now pushing to get the exits. Like a few of my friends.

Rodney:
The goal shouldn’t be the fundraising announcement. The goal should to do with, you know, Miele and Monique and Melvin did, or, you know, Beatrice Dixon with Honey pot, or even Richard Lou Dennis with Sundial. The goal should be to exit and create value for our communities. These fundraising announcements are great, but that’s not the goal, I think, anymore. We need to move the goalposts. The goalposts should be more aligned to our counterparts, because our counterparts, their goal is not to fundraise. Their goal is to exit. Let’s.

Rodney:
So let’s try to get the same goal. I think we’re deserving of that.

Monique:
So, you know, this is the Black Civic podcast, and we like to break it down. So, you know, people are like, okay, well, some people had some thoughts around that as far as, well, what about holding on generational wealth if it’s, like, selling out? Like, what are your thoughts on that?

Rodney:
Generational wealth is created with capital. You have to have substantial capital. Right. That’s what creates generational wealth. Generational wealth isn’t created from. Or the generational wealth can be created from a company. It can be, but you have to, at some point in time, accumulate a substantial amount of cash to sustain generational wealth. You have to not just leave, leaving a business.

Rodney:
I give you an example, okay? I can create a business that does $20 million a year, and then I can get old, and then I can leave it to my son, who doesn’t want to do anything with finance, but is the world’s greatest artist, and he may squander the company.

Monique:
Mm hmm.

Rodney:
Where is the generational wealth?

Monique:
Yes.

Rodney:
All right. What’s a better option? Which I think is a better option because of this is like, I’m all about data.

Monique:
Yeah.

Rodney:
We. Our generation of wealth as black people is worse than it’s ever been in the history of the. Of measuring it. And it’s because even though there’s more black ownership, there’s no exits, there’s no cash, and our counterparts are exiting their companies, and they’re exiting it multiple times in their lifetime. So what I’m ultimately trying to communicate is the alternative would be that same $20 million of business a year.

Monique:
I could.

Rodney:
You know what? If that exited for $100 million of cash? I then create trust funds and foundations for my family, where for the rest of my existence, my last name’s existence, it’s going to distribute the descendants of my family a $200,000 a year salary forever.

Monique:
Mm hmm.

Rodney:
Meaning, and then all of the assets that I have accumulated are also owned by the trust. That means the homes, the cars. My family will always have a base that’s generational wealth. So it doesn’t matter if I may have an offspring that may want to do something different. I just think it’s almost inconsiderate to think that my descendants would want to do what I do.

Monique:
Yeah.

Rodney:
But you know what I do want? I want the money to be there. So if that person wants to be an artist or that person wants to create a new car or invent a new project, that my family can be their number one investor, like our counterparts are. You know, when our counterparts wants to start a business, they bring their aunts and uncles around in the living room, and they say, I wanna start a business. And their initial capital is raised by their immediate family. That’s because their family has generated wealth.

Monique:
Yeah.

Rodney:
So, yeah, I just think us. We don’t know what that means yet. We’re in an infancy of understanding what generational wealth really means. And there’s a lot of misconceptions going around about what it means. But what I do know is the impact that those three families that I just mentioned to you are going to make on black America, and just America in general, is going to be significantly greater than any other own business that’s owned by a black person right now. I mean, their impact is going to be huge.

Monique:
Definitely. And I totally agree with everything you said. I have to play the devil’s advocate, and I know you meant it, because I heard you beating on the desk. I’m like, rodney means what he’s saying right now.

Rodney:
Oh, boy. I guess so.

Monique:
Yes. So that is so key, but I love that. And now I want to dive into some of those, just explore alternative funding paths for black owned businesses a little bit more. So, if you had to say outside of VC, what are the alternative funding paths that you will list?

Rodney:
Yeah, I think the. I do. I will always say friends and family. I do think you should at least pitch to your tribe early. And I understand that your tribe may not have capital to invest in your project, but it’s important that your tribe figures out how to support you, and it’s being very clear that you need their support. I don’t care if it’s a tweet. I don’t care if it’s an Ig post. I don’t care what it is like.

Rodney:
I’m part of this tribe, and I think what’s important to support each other. I think the second piece are the grants and the accelerators around the country. There is an accelerator for you. I promise it. And there are foundations now that are giving capital, like the new Voices Family foundation from Richard Lou Dennis. I mean, they are granny. I think they host a number of pitch competitions. There’s accelerators.

Rodney:
Everything from the target accelerator to the sephora accelerator to just local city accelerators. There’s a lot of resources around. In the beginning, I think those are the second piece. I think the third is like, if you’re really serious about it, you need to sacrifice something. And what I mean is, like, if you’re so serious about your idea, then you need to figure out how your savings can make an impact. Or maybe you cut down your cost of living and move back home with mom while you figure out your project. I’m not saying go out and make an uneducated choice. I’m just saying if it’s that big of a dream, you should go for it.

Rodney:
And those are the three things that I would suggest in the beginning for capitalization and becoming a sustainable business. I know there are some incredible entrepreneurs out, and I don’t want to. Maybe. Maybe I should. I don’t know if you guys know the founder of Undefined Beauty.

Monique:
Have to have her on the podcast.

Rodney:
Yes. And I can make that introduction. But let me tell you, it’s a great beauty company. It’s a nash. They’re national retail. And she is almost like a one man show.

Monique:
Wow.

Rodney:
She has created a sustainable business. Her business can. It’s, like, profitable. And she didn’t do it with a lot of venture capital funding. She did it with some, you know, being very, very methodical with her choices and creating a business. So there’s a lot of value in creating a business that can sustain itself. You know what I mean? And I think that’s my push. I think that’s the push.

Rodney:
I guarantee you, just like her, there’s a ton of venture capitalists that want to give her funding now. She doesn’t need them. It’s. Everybody wants to fund a business who doesn’t need capital.

Monique:
That is so true. I just heard. Somebody else just told me that last week, too.

Rodney:
Yeah, that bothers me, like, because I’m a founder and I want to fight back to the system.

Monique:
You understand it. And I love. One of the things you said is sacrifice. And, of course, this is entrepreneurs that are living, listening. And for you, what does sacrifice look like?

Rodney:
Yeah, sometimes I probably sacrifice too much because I’m always almost willing to sacrifice it all.

Monique:
That’s deep.

Rodney:
I don’t think there’s any. I don’t think there’s even. Even a wall. For me, it’s because I saw my family, and I actually still continue to see my family work really, really hard. My mom and dad were immigrants growing up with multiple jobs, trying to make ends meet. They’re not doctors or lawyers. They didn’t go to college. We have never been to Martha’s vineyard.

Rodney:
And I don’t think they gave me the luxury to quit or to not sacrifice it all. They had to sacrifice it all to just put food on the table. I’m just trying to sacrifice it all so I can turn $100 million business into $100 billion business. And for that, I’m willing to risk more than they ever thought. You know? And again, I’m going to keep my integrity, I’m going to keep my morals, but I have sacrificed friendships, relationships, time, family, a lot of things that were an active choice because of how much I do want to create a value for my generations. I’m very clear on the opportunity cost of those decisions.

Monique:
That is powerful. That is truly powerful, and I’m pretty sure a lot of people can resonate with that. So, yes, thank you for sharing that. And, Rodney, what are some of those common misconceptions about funding for black owned businesses, you think?

Rodney:
Common misconceptions? I don’t know. I think everyone got the real. It’s hard. It’s difficult. You most likely are not going to get it. This world is not stacked up for you. But what misconceptions? I can tell you. I can tell you the misconception that your business isn’t great, the misconception that you’re not good enough, the misconception that you’re doing something wrong, those are all misconceptions.

Rodney:
The misconception of our leaders who have exited. That they’re selling out. No, they’re selling up like they’re the first to do it. You know, there’s a. Let’s all go down and visit a graveyard that I think about sometimes. In the seventies in Chicago, there were a ton of black beauty companies. I don’t know if you guys are, like, soft sheen or Douglas.

Monique:
Yes.

Rodney:
And like, media companies like Jet and all those, but let’s go visit the graveyard of them all. Where are they now? It’s funny how, you know, instead of them working together, instead of them figuring out how to sell up, they were like. They were segmented in their approach, and eventually they couldn’t fight against the opposite opposing companies, and eventually they were squashed. Let’s not do that again. History has told us that I don’t think that works well. So let’s collaborate. There’s no competition. If we’re a black business, it doesn’t exist.

Rodney:
We’re too tiny. We have a competitor that’s much bigger, much more capitalized, much more influential. It doesn’t matter if me and you both have the same lotion. I guarantee you there’s a bigger lotion out there. We’re not fighting for the same shelf space. We together need to think about that. And I think collaboration, understanding that we need to sell up, understanding that we only improve our situation together. These are the things that I think are misconceptions or things we need to start teaching each other.

Monique:
Definitely agree. And so now that we’ve discussed some of those alternative funding paths, I want to talk about where we are currently as black owned businesses when it comes to funding. So can you share some of the insights on the current state of funding for black owned businesses and some of those challenges with traditional funding?

Rodney:
Yeah, well, I definitely know. According to the latest reports, venture capital, venture capital funding for black businesses is at an all time low. You know, I hope you got all your money that came out of George Floyd and some of the things that happened during COVID But that’s all gone. And we’re kind of back to the reality that venture capitalists aren’t social investors. That’s just not what they do. So that’s been today. It’s really bad. So today, you’re going to have to do a lot more with a lot less.

Rodney:
You’re going to have to be scrappy. You’re going to have to leverage alternative resources, go to them banks, go to them grants, and do what you can. You’re going to have to think about it very, very differently. And you should only do businesses that have the potential to sustain themselves in a very manageable period of time. If it’s going to take too long, that’s not probably a good business in this current market.

Monique:
And speaking of that, like, it’s not like it was. Can you talk about how this lack of access to funding is actually impacting the growth of sustainability for these. For black owned businesses?

Rodney:
Yeah, I mean. I mean, businesses are dying left and right, and they’re challenged and they’re figuring it out. But for the most part, the good ones are having trouble growing. So, like, they’re sustaining themselves, but they can’t grow because they can’t. They don’t have money to invest in the future. So the growth of some of these businesses are limited right now. And then the ones that are in the idea stage or concept stage, it’s probably more competitive than ever before because there are a lot of, quote, unquote, black led startups or black led new ideas, and everyone’s kind of fighting from the same limited dollars. So it’s more competition today than ever before, which the flip side of that is that we should get a lot more credible businesses in that mindset.

Rodney:
But the state is technically more dire than ever before. But let’s talk about it. It’s nothing that we haven’t experienced ever before. To me, it was black to business. It’s back to business.

Monique:
That’s a bar.

Rodney:
It’s just like, what we talking about. Like, what happened in 2020, 2021, and 2022 was not the norm. We’re back to the normal process of this to do what we do. We’re marginalized. We’re segmented. It’s difficult. We are expected to do more, and we always have. So let’s just do what we have always done.

Rodney:
And that, to me, that is outperform.

Monique:
I love that. I love that. So good. And so now that we know, we just made it plain where we’re at currently, let’s talk about how we can fix it. So I love the work that you’re doing at solo funds, and it’s all about community. So can you explain this concept of community finance platforms and how they benefit us?

Rodney:
Yeah. Community finance is a concept that is actually widespread in minority communities. And my mom growing up, Caribbean, it was called partner. They were like savings clubs where she would drop off $100 every week and, like, they would hold it, and there was like, a pool, and then if you need it, you would get it more. There’s churches that do this, and around the world, in Africa, the Caribbean, South America, Mexico, Southeast Asia. Community finance is actually a huge part of the local economy, where they tap into community when they need a loan, and they tap into each other. Now, community finance, as an industry, there’s an alternative name called microfinance. An industry has not been embraced by the United States.

Rodney:
It has not been embraced, meaning that the United States hasn’t created regulatory frameworks or even an understanding of community finance or microfinance. It’s almost a bad word for an American to need $100. Oh, my God. No, that can’t be. You know, that’s the lies that I think I have a problem with. So, for us, with solo, we’re trying to bring to the world, honestly, community finance, backed by technology and backed by the world’s best technology, so that we can start to power access to capital by the community, and the community can then reap the benefits of the returns of that capital and get the institution out the way. That’s our goal with community finance right today, our approach. And we’re fighting a battle with a loan that’s a few hundred dollars.

Rodney:
In the future, it will be a few thousand dollars. And if it’s up to myself and my co founder, we’re gonna keep pushing that, where community finance can power auto loans and home mortgages. I think community finance is the future, and that’s our goal, and it’s gonna be a tough goal, I promise. We’re facing a lot of opposition, but for every institution who has failed you, I have a bet that a person would make a better choice as it relates to backing you, a person. And I think also you would be more compelled to make that person whole, and that’s the general concept of community finance.

Monique:
I see why you win these pitch conversations, Rodney, you just made that, like. Yes, it’s like a commercial. I love it. And so if you could talk a little bit about how solo funds work.

Rodney:
Yes. So the way solo funds works today is there’s no approval or denial process. There are no mandatory fees. You download the app, you connect your bank account. You can request how much you want up to the max, what’s the reason you need it for, and what you’re willing to pay. What you’re willing to pay is voluntary, meaning you self select the donation. We call it a donation. Cause you don’t have to do it.

Rodney:
It’s for the company. And then the tip, which. The tip goes to the community member, it doesn’t go to the company, and then you post this request. So what it would look like if you were to open the app. Today, it would say, tommy from Florida, it needs dollar 200 for a car tire, a car repair, and he’s willing to donate the solo $5, and he’s willing to tip $7, and he’s going to pay it back two weeks. That’s it. As a. As a lending member, a community member, you can decide to fund that loan.

Rodney:
And what we have done as a platform, number one, we’ve done this more than a million times. We have nearly distributed nearly a billion, $500,000 back into communities. But most importantly, the lenders on our platform, which 82% of them also live in underserved zip codes, that group has reaped returns that are better than any other industry since 2020. So they have had returns from lending on solo, over 20%. Now, let’s put that in perspective. On one side, you have a person who is working, just needs a couple hundred dollars. Cause he got a flat tire, and he can’t go to his bank of America and say, can I need dollar 200? He don’t want to go to his mom because that’s awkward. He doesn’t even want to tell anybody.

Rodney:
He just needs a quick help. And for him, he gets capital when he needs it. And now for the lending member, the auto mechanic manager, who only has $2,000 of savings, but he’s been lending to his community, and at the end of the year, that $2,000 is now $2,400, and that mechanic can now take that dollar 400 and pay for Christmas. More importantly, his wealth is growing by 20% that year. All the wealth he knows.

Monique:
Right.

Rodney:
So that’s the impact that we’re making. That’s a bit dangerous. Now, let’s think about that. Traditionally. Traditionally, you go get this loan from a credit card or a payday loan or some thing, and you are paying interest, and that interest is leaving your community. It’s not growing the wealth of anybody you know.

Monique:
Mm hmm.

Rodney:
That’s the problem with our wealth gap. Our wealth gap continues to get wider because. For many reasons. But one of the reasons it does is because us, as black people, all of the fees that we pay is income in returns for the wealthy. Those income and returns don’t ever get back to us in no capacity. So that’s the community finance. Not just comes from the community. The community has to reap the benefits of it, and that’s what makes it community finance.

Monique:
Love that. And, Rodney, do you have any, like, success? Because this is so wonderful for entrepreneurs, like how this has worked for those who are entrepreneurs who have successfully utilized the platform or community funding.

Rodney:
Oh, man. I always tell this story. You can look her up. She’s a great founder. Her name is Brittany. She started a company called Shop Latina X, or she raised a couple million dollars. She’s a successful entrepreneur. But she would tell you about a story of when she was starting out that company and she was in accelerators, she drove Ubers, and she used solo over a period of six to eight months every couple weeks for a couple hundred dollars to make ends meet.

Rodney:
There was no other platform that would give her a loan when she didn’t really have a job, and all she was doing was driving an Uber. She’s now a very, very, very successful entrepreneur.

Monique:
That’s a beautiful story. Love that. And would you say, what would you say are some of the advantages? Well, we’ve kind of spoken about the advantages and disadvantages of outside of community finance and platforms compared to maybe traditional sources.

Rodney:
Yeah, I mean, I’m a very, like, harsh critic. So, you know, community finance kind of sits outside of the traditional system. So I think one of the disadvantages is that today it doesn’t, like, build your credit, but it also doesn’t hurt your credit.

Monique:
Right.

Rodney:
So I think they cancel each other out, but I think that’s a disadvantage as a whole, because I do think we want to figure out how community finance can improve your traditional credit scoring. I think that cost is an advantage. From a total cost perspective, this is a significantly cheaper product, and it’s very simple. Most loan products, the longer you have a balance, the more interest you pay. Like a $100 loan. If you take five years to pay it, it end up being like $500 solo, whatever you self select. Remember, I gave that little equation on $5 and $7. So a total of $12.

Rodney:
Whether you pay it a month from now or you pay it two years from now, it’s still just dollar twelve.

Monique:
Mm hmm.

Rodney:
So it does, it disproportionately hurt your. Your position later on. So from a cost perspective, we have an advantage. And I think the advantage, the other advantage is that the group that’s making money is also your neighbor. I think that’s an advantage. Some other disadvantages, though, is that, you know, we’re the only company in the United States that’s ever reached this scale heaven. We’re the first to ever do it at this size. And unfortunately, we only have a limited loan product, which is this product, for a few hundred dollars.

Rodney:
I think that our goal is to do a lot more, and. But right now, we haven’t had the opportunity to release those products, but that is a disadvantage for the group that we serve.

Monique:
Of that. And I want to talk about the financial autonomy of all of this. And one of the things you kind of mentioned earlier is this sense of community and support. So how, in what ways can we, as black entrepreneurs, collaborate and support each other while we’re navigating this financial landscape?

Rodney:
Yeah, I think. Yeah, I think, you know, I think. I think that’s one of the aspect that I do think is powerful in terms of supporting black business and buying black products and supporting entrepreneurs. I just want to say that support goes a lot of ways. Support is liking Instagram posts and following a person. Support is giving words of encouragement. Support is not looking at a competitor as a competitor. Support is also not being jealous when we see others like us do well.

Rodney:
And I think support can look like many ways. I think also, like, I do think we should start encouraging investing from each other. Like, this concept of, like, oh, I’m going to do it by myself, I think is weird. You know, it’s weird. We don’t love by ourselves. We don’t make families by ourselves. We can’t be an employee by ourselves. We can’t do anything but be born and die by ourselves.

Rodney:
And both of those things feel weird.

Monique:
Absolutely.

Rodney:
So, like, why would I. Why would I want to have a successful business by myself? I don’t think it, actually. So I think we should do more with each other. So invest in each other. Figure out a way to invest in each other. You know, if. If you have an extra $5,000, instead of going on that family vacation, how about find a friend and say, I’ll give you guys. I’ll give it.

Rodney:
I help start your business this year. Like, how about you do that? You know? You know, I used to, in my early days, I used to get really frustrated talking to certain wealthy entertainers about investing in my projects because, you know, they could go out that weekend and spend $25,000 on bottle service, and I was only asking for, like, $10,000, right. This message is for you, too. Like, maybe you don’t have to go get bottle service this weekend, bro.

Monique:
Yeah.

Rodney:
And just pick somebody and bless them. And I’m not. It’s not. It’s not philanthropy. Be a real investor. Sign the paperwork, do this stuff, and, like, let’s see what happens.

Monique:
And, Rodney, we have a lot of. Lots of early stage entrepreneurs that listen to the podcast. So for somebody who is starting out on their journey, what advice would you give them in terms of where to start when seeking funding for their businesses.

Rodney:
Yeah, I think. I think you got to start with yourself. I think you got to be honest with what it’s going to take. I think you got to become the smartest in the room. You don’t have to know everything, but you have to be very, very aware of what you don’t know. And I think the second piece is you got to attract a team or attract some type of support. I think it’s just like a personal. It’s just really good for you to realize that you have turned someone into an advocate or you turned someone into someone who wants to be helpful.

Rodney:
And then I think it’s like, the third is, like, getting into the mindset of, like, learning and that you can always be wrong and you always will be. Like, I think if you ever think that you know it all eventually, like, I don’t think you’ll be put in the position to learn what you need to learn to get out of it. If that was the case, everybody would have businesses that would be successful, everybody would be wealthy, and everybody would have their on the answers, and that’s clearly not true. So let’s learn. Those are the three things that I would tell people in the beginning.

Monique:
Yeah, that’s good advice. And so this has been amazing. I want to end off by talking about the work that you’re doing and continue to support. So we talked about solo funds. So how can listeners connect with solo funds and explore the opportunities? Is it they just go to the website and get started? Like, how does it work?

Rodney:
Yeah, go to solofunds.com, you know, check us out. You know, become a lender. Become a borrower if you need be. You know, go follow us on Instagram if you’re not ready. Go like a picture. Please support. This is the largest community finance platform in the United States, and this is definitely one of the largest in the world. And it’s started by a group that looks just like you.

Rodney:
So at minimum, that’s the only requirement for support. I think that we have a lot of challenges ahead of us, regulatory wise, against an industry that does not want us to exist. So that’s why support and us means many, many, many things, and we welcome it.

Monique:
Yes. And, Rodney, any tools or resources that have really helped you on your entrepreneurial journey that you can share with the audience?

Rodney:
Yeah, I mean, well, I think it’s important to follow entrepreneurs that you respect and you admire, you know, and learn from them. I think that I learned a lot, to be honest, researching. Jeff, Bezos Richard Ludennis, Beatrice Dixon, you know, Monique and Melvin to others. I’ve learned a lot, you know? And I think, you know, you need to do that. You need to be a student of people. Like, just, you know, like, I get. We admire, like, our entertainers, but, like, we should admire our business people, and there should be business owners at every level that you admire. Like, there’s a woman that owns a nail salon that I admire.

Rodney:
There’s a friend that owns a consultant firm that I’m. Because there’s things that they have that I don’t have, and I want to learn it.

Monique:
And so work life imbalance is the theme of our black men who lead initiative this year. So how are these elements represented in your entrepreneurial journey?

Rodney:
Work life balance. That’s tough. I don’t know if it can exist as an entrepreneur, but I can try. I think it does, but I think it’s different. I think it’s more so about mental health. Up until this period of time, I think our society has disregarded the mental health, especially of black men. You know, we have been taught to be providers, protectors. We have been taught to not necessarily honor our emotions or honor our insecurities, only been taught to honor our ambitions.

Rodney:
And that has taken a toll. And as an entrepreneur, it takes a heavy toll because you may not make all of the decisions, the best decisions generationally, if you are expected to show up today a certain way. So I think more so than ever before, work life balance is about, like, honoring those things that society has told us we weren’t worthy of being able to honor, like, our insecurities, our emotions, what we’re bad at and where we need help and being in that, you know, there’s confidence in knowing, um, what you’re bad at because there’s a. There’s a. I can’t describe it. It’s a very. It’s probably the most powerful confidence that you can have to know that you wear everything you’re bad at on your sleeve, and I’m still going to show up and I’m most likely going to beat you. That’s right.

Monique:
Yes.

Rodney:
There’s something dangerous about that.

Monique:
And I like, yes, yes, we love it. And my final question is, what does it mean to you to be black in business?

Rodney:
Yeah, I think. I think what it means to be black in business is it’s. I think the biggest thing that it means is that it means that I owe a level of transparency and collaboration with businesses that are like me. I owe it. It doesn’t mean I serve black consumers. It doesn’t mean that, like, I am not a venture company. It doesn’t mean that I’m not a technologist. It doesn’t mean that I’m not.

Rodney:
I’m a sellout. It means. But it does mean that I owe businesses that are like me. Transparency and collaboration. We owe it to each other to collaborate. I do believe that. And that’s what it means to be a black business. It means that we are in this together.

Rodney:
It’s weird to me, and I’m just gonna. I always talk about things that are weird to me. It’s weird to me when black businesses talk negatively about other back businesses, talk about that.

Monique:
That is true.

Rodney:
It’s just. I don’t understand it. I don’t care if it’s a black media company. I don’t care. I don’t understand why you would report negatively about another black business when you haven’t realized that talking negatively every time there’s a black person that goes to jail or a black hero that is taken off of their pedestal, it makes us look bad as black people together. We look like, then the negative perception that they want us to look like, and then they kind of like, that’s the perception of every. All of them, quote, unquote. So that’s a problem for me.

Rodney:
And that’s weird to me. It’s almost like you self hate yourself or you self hate what you represent. And that’s why it’s something that you owe. You owe that collaboration and that transparency. I didn’t say you gotta walk around and advocate, but you owe black businesses a level of collaboration which doesn’t hurt them.

Monique:
Mm hmm. Yes.

Rodney:
We should never hurt. I just said we should just never hurt anything that looks like us.

Monique:
That’s a word. That is a word. I totally agree. Totally agree. Rodney, this has been amazing. We’ve gotten all the things and you just poured into us. So I want to thank you so much for the work that you are doing, the sacrifices that you make and continue to make, and the representation that you are serving as, and a true leader and legacy builder. So thank you so much for being on the Black Citizens podcast.

Rodney:
Amen. Thank you for having me, and it’s been a pleasure, and I hope everyone has a great summer.

Monique:
Yes. Good summer. And for everyone listening.