A Creative Entrepreneur's Ode to Black Business Month

NOTE: I meant to do this at the beginning of black business month. But I've been too busy working. I guess that's where the term minding my black a** business comes from!

Entrepreneurship is in my DNA.

• My great Grandpa on my daddy's side, Sput Martin, set up an "independent distillery" on his farm during the depression to help feed his wife and 12 children.
• My maternal grandfather, Big John, parlayed his contractor earnings (combined with his gambling winnings) into two cab companies and a gas station in Chicago (along with a few side hustles).
• My father's mother, Ruth, opened the first black-owned record shop in Joliet, Illinois and then launched her own radio show on WJOL, "The Blue Rendezvous". She had to broadcast from her store because negroes were not allowed to work as disc jockeys in the WJOL studios.
• My mother signed her first contract at the age of eleven.
• My father self-published his first books as a college student before founding Westside Story Newspaper (which has served the SoCal Inland Empire Community for almost 50 years). 

Betting on myself is built into my bloodline.

As a creative entrepreneur, I wake up every day full of music, stories, ideas, prayers, and dreams that find their way into the world.

These socks, songs, articles, shirts, and bags are not just business to me. They are pieces of my heart and mind; manifestations of moments in time where I got to flow in my purpose. God created me to create through me. I believe that God instilled a unique creative assignment within each of us that has a divine purpose for our world. Ultimately,  we are the ones we've been praying for.

A lot of time, energy, and money goes into Eight76 records, Jamsox, and One Life Live Lit and, ideally, I would love the financial benefit to match the spiritual benefit that I get from it all. But, the truth of the matter is that my business is rooted in my desire and determination to be about My Father's business. So, even when the money doesn't match the likes, I will continue to write it, sing it, draw it, make it, and give God room to move. Any less would not be who I am.

And to every one of you who has taken time read, listen, shop, watch, share, or in any way experience something I've created over the years, I appreciate you!