Blacks and the Business of Traveling to Africa

Ancestor Nana Stan Simmons RIP

I still see people who complain that Blacks don't support other Blacks in business.  This isn't true in my experience.  Blacks will support other blacks in business and even spend lots of money going to Africa and other things.

Let me tell you about an old friend of mine Stan Simmons. He had a lot of Afrocentric Conscious viable people support his businesses.

He built a multimillion dollar business taking vacation/touring groups to Africa, Bahia (Black parts of Brazil), and parts of Asia with large Black populations.

On the trip to West Africa I went on he had 100 people paying $2000 each in just one trip. He was traveling to Africa since 16. He'd come back from Africa with lots of art and purchased 2 brownstones in Brooklyn for $40,000 and $80,000 respectively.

Those Brownstones have to be worth at least 3 million dollars now. He passed away before 60 though.  But he became so popular in Ghana from his trips and museums that they gave him land and enstooled him as a king.

What was amazing about Ancestor Simmon's success is that it was mostly through word of month.  He has hesitant to use mass media.  He preferred to let word of month fill up his travel excursions and felt it was more like traveling with family that way.  And it worked.  Stan Simmons is a true African cultural business legend.

Stan Simmons proves that Blacks will support other Blacks in business with the right product or service and marketing.  Look at your marketing if you're not having success getting other blacks to support you in business.  Don't assume Blacks are psychologically deficient in some way to supporting you.  Examine your marketing approach.

RIP the great Stan Simmons.  Blessings on your spirit and memory.

About the Publisher of Kamau's Qu!ps

 

Kamau's Qu!ps is Published by Kamau Austin. Kamau is a popular Blogger, Writer, and Internet Marketing Professional helping small businesses grow more profitable businesses online. If you need web design, blogging, search engine or social media promotion contact him at Search Engine Plan

 

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Today I ran in the rain. I remember I've always thought of people who ran in the rain as extremist or weirdos.

I'll run but I'm not running in the rain - was my perspective. Anyway who wants to get both sweaty and soaked at the same time I thought to myself?

Well today I ran in the rain with my cap and hoodie on. Today I became that weirdo I thought I'd never be - alone running in the rain.

Then I reflected on the fact many people weren't as fortunate as me to be running in the rain today. And so I began to more profoundly appreciate being soaked with God's blessings.

Is Bernie Sanders a Communist?

Is Bernie a Communist? I've studied various forms of more current Marxism. Just like you have various capitalist viewpoints (like some people feel the markets will bring about corrections others feel business industries need regulation) there are different forms of Marxism as well.
In Communism the Communist Party controls all the politics and economy so it is fundamentally anti-democratic.

In what Bernie calls himself "a democratic socialist" one party doesn't control everything or the economy. The economy can be mixed.

Bernie from what I read likes certain businesses and entrepreneurial endeavors. Also he is working within the dem party so he can't be a communist.

Communists would not usually join the democratic party. BTW Europe and countries all over the world have mixed economies. Even in the US we have ACA and social security which traditional capitalist would consider socialist programs.

So in a way you can say the US has been influenced by Marxism too and all of Europe. The post office is government owned and would be considered a socialist enterprise to most capitalists.

Many educated people know this and so Bernie calling himself a democratic socialist isn't as damaging to his political aspirations today as would be the case 30 or 40 years ago.  Bernie Sander's is not a communist and characterizing him in such a way is more about red baiting than being accurate.

About the Publisher of Kamau's Qu!ps

 

Kamau's Qu!ps is Published by Kamau Austin. Kamau is a popular Blogger, Writer, and Internet Marketing Professional helping small businesses grow more profitable businesses online. If you need web design, blogging, search engine or social media promotion contact him at Search Engine Plan

 

Kamau's Qu!ps reaches over 30,000 web users a month through it's Blog and Social Media Promotions. For Advertising Opportunities visit our Advertising Page

Why could Bernie Sanders be staying in the Democratic Primary Elections?

Is winning the election the only goal?


Many people are asking why is Bernie Sanders staying in the Democratic Party's primary races if Hillary looks to be the eventual nominee.  Hillary's supporters are getting anxious, impatient, and downright livid that Sanders is still in the race.

Bernie is being called a narcissist, ego driven maniac, and socialist subverter of the Democratic Party.  He is being characterized as a self centered personality who wants to bring the Democratic Party down and even a misogynist.

A good deal of the campaign by Bernie has been challenging the Democratic Party's Modus Operandi. Stopping dems from taking Super Pac money, the scaling down of the prison industrial complex, addressing police brutality, police de-militarization, etc. These are all things the dems were weak on.

Bernie's been swimming against the tide since day one against the dem establishment. I'm not even talking so much about the dems Super Delegate structure which BTW was absolutely started to marginalize grassroots movements. Even the Super Tuesdays primaries favor people who have a lot of money to campaign over broad areas and make it hard for grassroots candidates to compete. This wasn't done by happenstance.

I don't know Bernie and his advisor's total plan.  But it could be more than winning the nomination. For instance if he has a high total of delegates he can use his leverage to influence the party's platform. Ultimately this race is more than about who wins the nomination, Delegates, and Super Delegates it is about the issues the ticket will champion in the election.

I think the strategy for progressives should be to stop Trump and continue to build a progressive movement and perhaps 3rd party. We know that Bernie ran as independently as possible within the Democratic Party system using the Internet to get a large aggregate of small donations.

So with the Internet we have the virtual infrastructure to challenge the two party paradigm both inside and out. If we want to change things it begins with us.

Obviously having a political system where raising a billion dollars or a being a billionaire is the only way to be elected is a prescription for the corporate buyout of our government. Oligarchy is not an option in a purportedly democratic leaning republic.

I feel that Sanders is doing a service to the country bringing his issues front and center in American politics.  Although Hillary Clinton leads in the purported pledged delegate count of almost 300 and the popular vote by 3 million Sanders still has significant leverage and impact.

It has been reported that in the last election 60 million people voted.  Bernie has almost 10 million votes so far.  The Democratic Party cannot win without his supporters.  They should keep that in mind and act accordingly.

About the Publisher of Kamau's Qu!ps

Kamau's Qu!ps is Published by Kamau Austin. Kamau is a popular Blogger, Writer, and Internet Marketing Professional helping small businesses grow more profitable businesses online. If you need web design, blogging, search engine or social media promotion contact him at Search Engine Plan

Kamau's Qu!ps reaches over 30,000 web users a month through it's Blog and Social Media Promotions. For Advertising Opportunities visit our Advertising Page

Why I won't be voting for Hillary

A lot of middle class Blacks are going with Hillary Clinton for the democratic President hopeful.  If we want increasing erosion of the middle class go with Hillary. When will people realize when you let corporations buy the political process working class and middle class people will lose leverage, opportunities, and income?

Moderate politics is pulling the US into a black hole abyss of economic decline. Both parties are becoming obsolete with very little difference between them. If Hillary wins so be it.

I don't wanna hear any complaining about her marginal politics and flip flopping. We'll deserve what we get.

And I'm going for me and mines. And I've made up my mind too. My name is Kamau Austin and I approve this message.

President Obama and Hillary said very little about the killing of Blacks by police. They've done very little to stop Black gangs too like in Chicago Obama's home town.

Lose me - I want off of the moderate 2 party hamster wheel plantation where corporations own both parties playing us like suckas. But you go ahead and keep spinning on the wheel with the dems telling you that you gotta vote for them because the GOP boggie man is gonna get you. Both parties are selling us out. I don't give a crap about any party that doesn't give a crap about me or mine.

Blacks and working class people are losing economic footing with both parties. It's time to move one into being a truly progressive party or start one. I'm tired of the played out theatrics between the two parties. They both are failing people in this country and selling us out.

Obama got a lot of younger, progressive, and people of color to vote for him under the slogan "Change you can believe in."

But we didn't get change. We got moderate politics from Obama and the top 1 percent got richer. That wasn't what people voted for.

Obamacare is better than no care at all. He helped Americans rebound from financial collapse. I give him that but America is still losing jobs to cheap labor markets overseas and young and Black people are having to take 2 or 3 jobs to make a living income. It ain't right. The dems are selling us out to corporate America with a little more compassion than the GOP but they are selling us out.

In my mind Obama got us in the door but it will be someone like Sanders that helps to clean house with our sold out democracy. I'm sorry Hillary is like a Obama with even less resolve.

How has Voting Helped Me?

Frequently I see people who ask what good is voting?  And many Black people ask me what has voting for Obama done for me?

Obama extended health coverage with Cobra Laws during the last recession after they expired. I was able to have my health coverage extended when I was fighting cancer. So probably I might dead if the Cobra health coverage wasn't extended by Obama.

Also the Obama admin orchestrated mortgage payment restructuring to be lower and more spread out. Without the lower payments my daughter and I might be homeless.

I know a lot of Black people personally who still have their homes because of mortgage restructuring. Also Barack Obama's administration extended unemployment insurance much longer than previous admins so me and a lot of Blacks were able to pay their bills during the last recession.

Obama admins supported net neutrality which stopped major corps from creating a multi-tiered speed Internet which would have made it impossible for small and Black entrepreneurs to compete on the Internet.

Also via the government I get medical and other forms of help for my daughter who has autism.You asked for 1 I gave you a few.

Instant Gratification and How Long it Takes to Build a Business

I have built a business from free library computers at least 2 times in my life with little money that made me more money than my ole corporate job. So I think I get where you are coming from.

I wanted to share these thoughts after reading this meme.  It takes a lot more money to start a business than go to a music concert. The person who wrote this is probably not in business.

A concert may cost you a couple hundred dollars. Most businesses require tens of thousands of dollars to be viable initially.

However, it still didn't materialize in a day. It took weeks and months to build up the momentum for it to be viable. And I only could do it quickly because I had businesses in the past, a sales background, had education and could write proposals and sales letters, and a teckie background.

Most businesses take tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to launch successfully. I consult with people with viable businesses and it took them tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of thousands of dollars to launch successfully. Many are also family businesses built over generations to be successful.

The idea of equating a day of going to see a Beyonce concert or event with the process of doing your due diligence to build a business which could take months to do research, branding, develop sales materials, do sales and marketing, finding financial sources to help you grow and expand is like apples and oranges. OK if a person is just partying all the time not focusing on their vision is one thing.

However, it does take a lot of time to build a viable business. It won't happen in a day. It will take months if not years of development and execution of your ideas to make it happen.

This is why the government gives you 5 years of write offs for new businesses because on average they take a long time to develop. I think many Blacks run one person operations so they may miss some of the complexity of starting a business. It does take time but I think your point is you have to be diligent in starting and not delaying your efforts with instant gratification like with entertainment with the wrong priorities. But I don't want to mislead people. Building a successful business takes time, money, and expertise.