I’m old enough to remember when employees had job security, but those golden days are long gone. Like many American workers, I found myself swimming against the tidal wave of corporate greed. Corporate America had chosen profits over people and I got kicked to the curb when they found a cheaper worker overseas.
Still I was fortunate. I had seen the dark clouds on the horizon and had prepared myself to freelance. I wasn’t going to waste time complaining and blaming. When one starts a business, one must push ahead or fall behind. Standing in place was not an option.
So on a Saturday morning in September I rushed towards the Alhambra Ballroom in Harlem. I was going to the “Women Doing it Big” conference. Someone had given me a flyer about the program, and I bought a ticket thinking it might be a good event to network. Inside the ballroom were hundreds of beautifully dressed Black women.
After an opening prayer by a female minister, there were a few presentations. Then Tiana Von Johnson was introduced as the first African-American woman to own a brokerage firm on Wall Street.
Ms.Von Johnson talked about real estate investing and the Strongbrook business model. She said real estate was not her passion. But the income from it allowed her to do the things she wanted. I frowned. Was this event an infomercial? I came to network with the sisters. I had had enough experiences with shady real estate scams. I tuned Ms.Von Johnson out. I handed out my business cards and left early.
I wasn’t interested in returning for the second half of the program on Sunday. Yet I found myself walking down 125th street thinking about the $115.00 I had spent to attend the conference. Kris Krohn, founder of Strongbrook, addressed the audience. Mr. Korhn talked about the state of our economy and retirements plans. Only 34, Kris talked about how he was a broke college kid when he accidentally started a business that would eventually do over $125 million in real estate transactions…
Yes, I thought, the rags-to-riches story. “Owning rental properties for the long term was a smart way to earn a monthly income,” he said. Yet as Mr. Krohn’s spoke, I thought about my financial situation. I was an office temp, and although my greeting cards sold well, I’m not making enough to expand my business. And in today’s economy, one needed multiple sources of income.
Still skeptical, however, I went to Ms. Von Johnson’s Wall Street office for a follow-up meeting. I was impressed with how much this 34-year-old single mother of two and Bronx native had accomplished. Although she was a broker to celebrities, she wasn’t some mean-spirited social Darwinist who after climbing the ladder of success, pulled it up and said, “Screw you. I got mine.” She patiently answered all my questions.
And the more I learned about Strongbrook, the more I understood its vision to create a “secure and sustainable pathway to financial freedom for everyone who seeks it…” So I decided to join the Strongbrook family as an Independent Business Developer (IBD).
At first, I thought I couldn’t do this. Yet I choose to feed my faith instead of my fears. I would divide my time between my graphic design work and Strongbrook. It certainly was worth a try. What about you? Would you like to discover how the Strongbrook business model might work for you? Check out this link. http://jeanetmarie.strongbrook.com/realest...
