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00:00so much in common we argue all the time you always say i'm wrong i'm pretty sure i'm right
00:12what's fun about commitment when we have all life to live yeah we're just young dumb and blue
00:23but we still got love to give while we're young dumb young young dumb and bro
00:30young dumb young young dumb and bro young dumb young young dumb and bro
00:37young dumb broke high school kid
00:40young dumb dumb dumb young young dumb dumb young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young young
01:10At the moment, I'm so caught up in this
01:16Yeah, we're just young, dumb, and broke
01:19But we still got love to
01:21Hey, y'all. It's me again.
01:39I cannot see up here.
01:40How's everybody doing?
01:42All right, I need a little bit more enthusiasm there.
01:46Y'all just finished seeing Method Man.
01:48We're high energy.
01:50All right, so for this next conversation,
01:52I will be sitting down with the dynamic duo
01:55behind Earn Your Leisure.
01:56Are you all familiar with Earn Your Leisure?
01:59We've got Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings
02:02will be sharing their journey and insights
02:04on financial literacy, entrepreneurship,
02:07and wealth building in the black community.
02:10And during this conversation,
02:12we'll explore practical strategies
02:14for achieving financial independence,
02:16the importance of investing,
02:18and how to create and sustain generational wealth.
02:21So, welcome to the stage,
02:23Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings.
02:29Oh, what's going on?
02:30Hey, Kimberly.
02:31Hey, y'all.
02:32Hey.
02:33Bright light.
02:34Yes.
02:35I wish I could say I see you all, but I don't.
02:36You cannot see up here at all.
02:37Awesome.
02:38So, thank you all for joining us for Essence Festival.
02:40Um, so, we'll jump right in.
02:41So, let's talk a little bit about the origin
02:43of Earn Your Leisure.
02:45I know some of us know,
02:46um, but all of us don't.
02:47I know you all started as best friends,
02:49but what really inspired the podcast?
02:50Yeah.
02:51We're not sure you can get to this.
02:52It's the music.
02:53It's the music.
02:54It's the music.
02:55It's the music.
02:56It's the music.
02:57It's the music.
02:58It's the music.
02:59It's the music.
03:00It's the music.
03:01It's the music.
03:02It's the music.
03:03It's the music.
03:04inspired the podcast? Yeah, you know, it started out as trying to educate young adults about the
03:11importance of finance. I was a teacher for 14 years, and obviously everybody as a student knows
03:17that finance is something that's not in school, so we had the opportunity in the summer to educate
03:21young adults. At the time, he was just starting his financial advising career, and it was like,
03:26great, this is perfect. Kids can learn. What we come to find out is that not only kids need the
03:30information, but their parents need the information. My colleagues as teachers need the information,
03:35and so I was trying to figure out how we scale it, and he had the brilliant idea that, like, we should
03:39record this, and so he started recording the classroom, putting on social media, and people
03:43just started gravitating toward, like, where's that information? Where's that information? At the same
03:47time, he was trying to become a celebrity financial advisor on Instagram, so it kind of worked in line,
03:52and people were like, where can I find that show? At the time, we didn't have a show, so we're like,
03:56all right, well, we should create a show, and hence, earn your leisure, and the rest has kind
04:00of been written for us. Awesome. So there is just so much that is not taught about financial literacy
04:09in school, even I feel as a 30-something-year-old adult that I'm still learning things every day,
04:17but talk about the importance of financial literacy and the work that you all are doing,
04:21especially to educate at a younger age. Yeah, I mean, it's very important if you think about it,
04:27you know, like, let's take buying a home is probably the most important and biggest purchase
04:32that anybody's ever going to make in their life, and there's very little to no education on how to
04:38actually buy a home, right? So most of the time, you just go into the bank, and you hope that you're
04:45not getting taken advantage of, but you don't know what an adjustable rate mortgage is,
04:49and 203k loan, and if you're getting the best interest rate, and all of these different things,
04:55you just got to kind of learn on the fly. So for us, you know, being able to teach people about
05:00finances is actually the most important thing in our society, because it's the one thing that
05:05everybody has in common. Everybody's not going to use advanced algebra. Everybody's not going to use,
05:11you know, earth science or chemistry, but no matter what you do for a living, whether you're the
05:16president, whether you're a sanitation worker, everybody has to pay taxes, everybody has to
05:22live somewhere, everybody at some point in time, going to retire, or at least slow down. So these
05:28are all finance based topics. So every single person in society really has to learn about finances,
05:34or you become a victim. Now, over the years, you all have interviewed, by this point, hundreds of
05:41guests, right? What has been one central theme that you all have seen, especially as you're talking
05:48to millionaires and billionaires, just in gaining financial independence?
05:52I mean, the billionaires really just think outside the norm. And I feel like even coming to an event
05:59like this, like for us, it's research and development. 99% of the people is just, they're here for a good
06:07time. But for us, it's like, we have an event ourselves. So we're looking at how this event is
06:12being run, everything from how this audio sounds, to the vendor marketplace, to the ticketing,
06:18to all of these things. These are things that we're seeing in our mind that we can actually
06:22implement in real time. And when we had Robert Smith, who's the wealthiest black person in American
06:26history at our event last year, he was walking up in the marketplace, and he was looking at it,
06:31asking us questions. And I could tell that he was thinking about ways to scale it.
06:35So all of the billionaires, they always think the same. They think very different from the vast
06:40majority of people. They're not just looking at things on the surface level. They're looking at
06:44it like, what's the business behind it? What's the finances behind it? How can this grow? How can
06:48I learn from this? What relationship can I make? And that's something that we picked up early. So
06:52everywhere we go, we always look at it like that. We never just look at something like,
06:56this is an opportunity for us to come. Like, this is an opportunity for us to learn more so than
07:01the opportunity for us to just come and speak. Yeah, I think something in addition is that
07:05they're so willing to give information, right? They've extended to a certain level. But what
07:10comes with that is experience. What comes with that is knowledge. And sometimes they're not able
07:13to share it until there's a platform to do it. So we've gained that. And the other thing is that
07:17they always think big, right? Like, we had a conversation with Tyler Perry. He looked at the
07:21event. He said, yeah, 14,000 people, this is good. But what's the real goal? And we're like,
07:27yo, we got 14,000 people, right? But next year, let's do 20,000. He's like, yeah, but you got to
07:32think bigger than that. Like, where do you see this thing going? Is it global? Can we move this thing
07:36around? What's the logistics? How much finance? So they're always thinking large scale. And so
07:42as starting as local entrepreneurs, as we did, it was like, all right, if they have that vision,
07:46and if that's the goal, not to just get there for wealth, but to create opportunity for people,
07:50we need to think big. So even when we talk to Rich about Essence Fest and its origins,
07:55it's like, we're getting the knowledge from it. He's thinking scale, scale, scale, scale. So
07:59we've added that to our mindset as well. Let's talk a little bit about Invest Fest,
08:05because you just mentioned that. So it is an annual conference that you all do in Atlanta. But talk
08:11about the process between taking that kind of online experience and bringing it in person,
08:17and how it has even transcended today. I know I was telling you backstage,
08:22it is one of the biggest kind of financial, not even financial festivals or conferences,
08:27but one of the biggest festivals in the United States period, all coming together for financial
08:34literacy. But talk about the origins of that and what inspired you all to create it.
08:39It was just looking at the landscape, you know, there's a lot of business conferences,
08:42there's a lot of symposiums, but I had never heard of the word festival and business combined. So
08:49we was like, how can we do something different than just a business conference? So that's why
08:54the word festival comes into play. And that's why we have a vendor marketplace, food trucks,
08:59performance. We wanted to make it something where it was an experience. And then we have education
09:04at the cornerstone, but it wasn't just a boring thing where you just fall asleep midway through.
09:10So once again, research and development, like, you know, we go to musical concerts and musical
09:15festivals, and we saw what was happening at music festivals. And we saw the energy that was
09:22happening at music festivals. So it's like, all right, they have a proven model, a proven blueprint here.
09:27So if we can export our area of expertise, which is business and finance, and add that same excitement
09:34that is there at a music festival, then we can have something special. And that's InvestFest. So
09:41we started it four years ago. And every year, you know, it's grown every year. We've had,
09:46you know, Tyler Perry, Rich Paul. This year, we have Diddy. Pardon me. That was last year. Sorry,
09:54strike that from the record. We have 50 cent this year as the headliner. We have 50 cent this year
10:01as the headliner. So it's always people that's like really high and really relevant in culture,
10:06but also really respected in business as well. Yeah, I mean, and that's been the goal.
10:12We've been entertained for so long, right? And our platform has always been education.
10:17And so one of the things that we were taught earlier was like, make this look good. Make it feel
10:21fun, make learning sexy. And they were like, yeah, let's do that. Let's make it look sexy.
10:25So we dress the way we are. And we find people who make it engaging as well. Like we come, like I
10:30said, we come from education. We don't want it to be boring. So we're going to have a mix of
10:33entertainment. But you might find your next business partner, your next girlfriend, or, you know,
10:38the next person that's going to be invested in your business. And so we wanted to incorporate all
10:43that. We like to say it's where commerce and culture meet together to have a unique experience.
10:47And that's what it is. And like I said, research and development is important. So when we saw
10:50vendor marketplaces here, it was like, oh, this is something we can add. When we looked
10:53at the logistics, we got picked up in carts last year. I'm like, we need to add that to
10:57ours. And so we take little pieces from everywhere we go. That's why we show up in a lot of places.
11:02People are like, you're always everywhere. Yeah. It's because we want to learn from the people
11:05that are doing it at a high level and we want to incorporate it.
11:08Now, you know, with that conference specifically, I think oftentimes a barrier for people is the
11:14financial element. So how do you make that, how do you make InvestFest financially or
11:20accessible to everybody so that everybody could kind of attend and gain knowledge and
11:24the tools that they need? Yeah. I mean, I think we, the picket prices are very reasonable. It's $250
11:30for three days. So for general admission. So we wanted to do, I mean, the thing about running
11:35a festival is that it costs millions of dollars to produce. So unfortunately for us, we don't have
11:41millions of dollars in corporate sponsors. So all of the money, like 90% of the financing comes out of
11:46our own pocket. So it costs probably $2.5, $3 million to put InvestFest on. So we have to
11:52charge or we wouldn't be able to do it, but we wanted to do something that we thought was
11:56reasonable. So it's $250 for three days. And then we do like college giveaways and Morehouse
12:02Spelman. We bring a bunch of kids every year and we'll do like raffles and stuff like that. So
12:07we ended up giving away thousands of tickets as well. But, you know, for us, it's a matter of
12:12investing in your education, investing in this important, you know, people have no problem
12:17paying for, you know, an NBA game or NFL game or concert or anything else. So if you're going
12:23to pay for entertainment, I don't see why you wouldn't want to pay for education. And like
12:27I said, it's a very reasonable price. So these are the things that's actually could potentially
12:32change your life as opposed to just entertain you for the moment.
12:35Yeah. And this year for sure was one of the things that we looked at the landscape and
12:39like, how can we do more for the people that are coming? And so we call this year the year
12:43impact. And so we have a hundred thousand dollar Nipsey Hussle award that we're going to grant
12:48to an entrepreneur. We have some more initiatives. We just had a raffle for people who bought tickets
12:54early in this week. So we want to make sure that as many people that want to come have accessibility
13:00to come to it. I know Friday is a big day for us. It's the first day event. Our marketplace
13:04is open so people can come and see and they can patron at some of the people that have
13:09their booths. So we want to make it inclusive to the city of Atlanta and everybody in the
13:14area that wants to be a part of it to come see it. It's something you've got to see and
13:17experience and feel to really understand what's happening. Because once you see it, it's like,
13:21wait, everybody came here and they came here to learn? Like they came with notepads and they
13:25came with pens and pencils and everybody left with knowledge and they left in a peaceful
13:30manner. So it's a very unique experience. I encourage everybody to come see it.
13:33So you all have created one of the top podcasts in the podcast landscape. What advice would
13:40you give for folks wanting to start out with not even just their podcast journey but their
13:45entrepreneurial career? Look what everybody else in the field is doing and kind of do the
13:51exact opposite. We've been contrarians since the beginning. When it comes to finance, we've
13:57disrupted finance from the way that we dress, the way that we talk, the way that we curate
14:01the content is very different from CNBC or Bloomberg or Wall Street Journal and that was done
14:06intentional. And that's something that we, to this day, we always, you know, do the exact
14:11opposite of what the vast majority of people are doing in the field and the consistency.
14:16Any business, that's the most underrated attribute of success is consistency. It's very difficult
14:23to be extremely consistent for long periods of time. That's why most people would not reach
14:28that level of success. But if you look at anybody that has accomplished things, like if you look at
14:33somebody like Kobe, right, like the Mamba mentality, if you're a fan, you understand, like, there's
14:38somebody that was shooting free throws with a broken hand. Like his level of discipline, his level of
14:43consistency for over 20 years is what made him who he is. LeBron James, the same thing. So any level of
14:49success is going to require extreme discipline and extreme consistency that if you just do that, you'll be
14:56ahead of the game because the vast majority of the people, even if they're talented, they're not
15:00going to be consistent and they're not going to be disciplined. So those are a few things that I
15:05think we've been able to, you know, maintain throughout the course of our journey.
15:09Yeah, I would encourage people to, number one, keep your overhead low, right? Most people think,
15:15I'm going to start a podcast, I'm going to make millions of dollars, and then they get into the
15:18space and they're thinking, I paid $6,000 to rent the studio, but I haven't made a dollar from my
15:23actual show. And so we, I mean, we've actually documented this journey. We started out with
15:28iPhones, right? That was very intentional. Like, we didn't have cameras. We didn't even know what it
15:33was to even produce a podcast when we started. We just kind of figured this thing out. So I would
15:37say keep your overhead low. We didn't have a studio. We were doing it in my house, but also take imperfect
15:42actions. I think that's like one of the most important things. Rather than saying, I need the $2,000
15:46camera, what do you have in your pocket right now? You got a phone? All right, cool. You already got
15:51what you can record on. What are you going to use to take the audio? Well, you got a laptop? Well,
15:57that's going to be where you're going to record your audio. What kind of mics? Well, I got these $19
16:02mics. And so most people will wait until they have the money to afford the Shor mic that costs $500
16:08or buy an interface that costs $600. All that time that you wait, somebody's perfecting their craft
16:14because you're not competing against your neighborhood. You're competing against the world in this space.
16:19And that's something we learned very early. He used to call me all the time, yo, the audio sounds
16:24terrible. It sounds terrible. And I'm sitting there trying to figure out how to learn audio
16:29interface. But after a while, I'm like, okay, I hear what he's hearing now. Let's make sure because
16:34again, we're not competing against our neighborhood. We want to make sure that we sound like the top
16:37level podcast or shows that are out there so that they let them know that this is something that
16:42we're taking serious. And then the last piece is figure out the value add, right? If you add value to
16:47somebody's life consistently, now it becomes part of their ritual. It's the same way that when people
16:52wake up, they check their phones, they go to Instagram. It's part of their daily routine.
16:57People have become accustomed to us doing that every Monday when they watch Market Mondays.
17:02Anybody watch Market Mondays out here? Good. I'm going to talk to you about the money you owe us,
17:07reparations. Nah. So it's become a part of their daily routine. Imagine if a Monday came and they didn't
17:12hear it, right? So there's a value add. People have executed on that value and they've come back
17:17and told people about it. So make sure that that's a key component when you start.
17:21I think you both come in with a little bit of advantage because you both knew each other
17:26before going into business and creating this platform. But there are disadvantages to that as
17:32well. But can you talk about the dynamic and just, you know, working together and kind of going into
17:37business with one of your best friends? Yeah, for sure. I feel like, you know, it's something that
17:43you have an advantage from the standpoint that you know a person. And sometimes it could be a
17:49disadvantage because sometimes you could be too comfortable with a person as well. So it kind of
17:53blurs the line of professionalism. But for us, I feel like, you know, we always have a good respect,
17:59a good relationship. So going into business wasn't too much anything different. And I always tell people
18:05like, you know, we was talking all the time about sports and rap and a bunch of other stuff that
18:10in the grand scheme of things didn't make us any money wasn't helpful. So if we're going to talk
18:14all the time anyway, we might as well talk all the time about something productive. At least we can
18:18get some money out of it. So that's how we looked at it early was like, you know, instead of just
18:22spending our time just hanging out, we're going to hang out organically anyway. Let's hang out and be
18:27business partners. And, you know, he brings a skill set that I don't have. I bring a skill set that he
18:32might not have and our other partner brings another skill set. So we all just come together. So I feel
18:37like, you know, if you can empower people and work with people that you know, that's always better than
18:42working with strangers. So that's been our model from day one. Everybody that we employ for the most
18:46part is from our neighborhood or family members of ours or we grew up with. So we feel comfortable
18:53because these are the people that we knew pretty much our entire lives. Not always easy, but it's not always
18:58easy anyway. So if we don't go through problems, I'd rather go through problems with family than go through
19:03problems with strangers.
19:03Yeah, like I said, before there was an earn your leisure, there was a brotherhood, right? So I've known
19:08him since he's probably 11, 12 years old. And so like, there's a rapport that's there. But most
19:14importantly, there's a trust that's there. And so I know that he has my best interests in mind and vice
19:19versa. And so that kinship allows us to be more efficient in business. Like you said, I know his
19:24strong points. You don't have to tell me them. I know him. Likewise with me, like he knows the strong
19:28points. And so I never have to lean on. There's no defined role. Like I just know, all right, he knows I'm a
19:33man. He's going to be great at that. He's going to be great at this. And when we come together, the people
19:37get to do something that's great. And that's what we've been able to create with the brand, Earn Your Leisure.
19:41I'm sure people come up to you every day asking for financial advice.
19:44Every day.
19:46So if somebody came to you and said, I have a bit of money and I want to invest, what is kind of the first
19:53steps that you tell them that they need to do?
19:55I mean, definitely you should educate yourself before anything. So whether it's watching Market Mondays or
20:01Earn Your Leisure or reading books or other programs, don't do anything before you're fully
20:07educated and empowered. And as far as taking your first steps, it's easy to start investing in the
20:12stock market. If you watch Market Mondays, you know, Ian always says, too tech, too index. So that's an
20:17easy strategy where you can invest in index funds. You can invest in top technology companies like
20:22Microsoft, like Apple. Everybody's talking about NVIDIA right now. So, you know, you get your feet
20:28where you don't have to invest $100,000 with dollar cost average, which means you put small
20:34amounts of money in on a consistent basis. So a couple hundred dollars a month, right? Similar to
20:39your 401k. Before you know it, you have tens of thousands of dollars saved up because you just get
20:44used to that disciplined habit of putting money into the market every single month. So there's other
20:49ways to go about it, but that's an easy way to start investing. And, you know, as you become more
20:55confident, you can put more money in. You can get more sophisticated with the strategies if you want
21:01to start trading and stuff like that. But at the bear level, I feel like everybody should have money
21:06working for them because if not, then you'll always be working for money.
21:11Yeah, I mean, you nailed it. I mean, we always talk about do your research. So the first thing is
21:16educate yourself. But I also think, you know, surrounding your people with whoever like mine,
21:21that always makes it easier, right? If I'm watching this show that's talking about investing
21:24and you want to know, like, what Sexy Red's next video is going to be, right? That might not be
21:30like the conversation we're going to have to make some money. So surround yourself with people that
21:34are like-minded, but then try to seek out for mentorship. I always talk about mentorship being
21:38that gap that can avoid years of negligence or mistakes, right? So if I learn something about
21:45investing, now I can teach you, right? So you don't have to make the same mistakes. And for so long,
21:49we've seen our community hoard information and watch. We sit back and watch people make mistakes.
21:54I'm like, you're going to have to learn on your own. Well, that era's over. I'm going to make a
21:59mistake. I'm going to tell you about it. Hopefully you don't. If you make a mistake, you do the same
22:02and turn it to the next person. But that's how we get further ahead with information. And we'll start
22:06seeing us thrive even more so when it comes to investing in the world of finance.
22:10Okay. So you said Tyler Perry asked you, what's next? What's next beyond this? So how did you answer
22:18that question? And if you didn't respond to him, you've had some time. So tell us what's next.
22:22So what's next is we always talk about global domination in terms of our greatest resource. And
22:29so for so long, our greatest resource has been our culture. If you look throughout the world,
22:33especially hip-hop culture, it's been exported. But we want to make sure that financial education
22:38is the next greatest export because that's something that can change systemically throughout
22:42the world. And so we've been able to go across, you know, the waters and do shows in London and be
22:49on the continent and spread the word. And so that's encouraging because we want to be known for other
22:53things other than being the greatest entertainers or being the greatest athletes. We want to be more
22:58in the realm of being the greatest businessmen, the greatest investors that this world has ever seen.
23:02And we have the talent to do it.
23:06Oh, yeah, for sure. Shout out to Tyler. He didn't really ask. It was funny how he phrased that question.
23:14He asked us what we had in plan and we told him and then he responded back and he said, that's it.
23:23So it was an open-ended question, but it kind of forced us to think bigger, right? And he didn't even have to
23:31really say anything after that. Just him asking us, it's like a rhetorical question, like just him asking
23:38that let us know that we wasn't dreaming big enough. And to see somebody like that who's done it at the
23:44highest level possible, ask, tell us that's it. That lets us know that he has more confidence in us to do bigger
23:51things than even what we had planned originally. So that was something that was definitely very
23:56interesting moment and something that I think we took that and learned a lesson, for sure.
24:04Awesome. Well, thanks, y'all.
24:07All right, give it up for Troy and Rashad.
24:10Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.
24:21All right. Thank you. Once again, listen, five-sided chat on your leisure. We want to thank
24:25Rashad. Thank you, Troy. Listen, y'all, we have something great coming up right here.
24:31350.
24:34My mind is on my mental. Make sure you stick around for that.
24:37There's going to be a few of your favorite leading men from today's top shows.
24:40They're going to share what they've been able to do to heal their own personal traumas through craft and creatives.
24:45Stick around for that. Once again, sway men's experience right here.
24:48We'll be here all weekend. Happy Saturday, everybody.
24:53I knew you could not sleep without me.
24:56While I, I, I love you.
25:03You were my girl.
25:05You see, I, I, I, I'm not the holds of you.
25:12But you're so steady, baby.
25:14Once again, stick around, stick around right here.
25:39Make sure you check out the Who That Barbershop, check them out, check them out, listen.
25:51We got a lot going on.
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