More than anything else in today's society, you will become wealthy when others perceive you as a value creator. your wealth will be in direct proportion to the amount of value you create. I choose these words very carefully so that you understand the intricacies of the process. By understanding that statement you get a deeper clarity about how to create value. You get clear about whom you are creating value for and how that translates into wealth. This principle switches the conversation from being one that is simply focused only on getting money to that which lies behind why people give you money. In other words, if you started a business today [in the current economic climate] with a focus of making money, then you are probably doomed to failure. But if you really understood why people are spending money in the first place (even in a recession) you would have a much more realistic strategy for success.

The point is people do not buy your products or services alone. They buy the perceived value of those products and services. If you focused more on the value (what you are giving) versus the money (what you are receiving), you would be beginning to develop a strong orientation for winning in any economy. This is been one of the cornerstones of why so many people have failed and business. Because their focus has often been more about getting money than creating value. If you learned successfully how to be a value creator, you almost never will have to worry about the generation of money again because it would seem almost automatic.

Think about when you go to a store like Wal-Mart to spend your money. Even though it is a recession when you get in there, you find yourself almost always buying more than you originally anticipated. This is the great challenge of a conscious Black business community. We must become value creators who can take the knowledge, the information, and the understanding of the world, and actually make it valuable. This will insure that our consciousness serves us in terms of creating wealth for us, and it serves our community in terms of creating wealth for the community at large. This means simply that you are in a value game or a competition where you are competing to influence the values of your audience. So we are competing with others to influence the values of our people, and to transform those values. In many ways, this is where the great battle will be fought.

Most of the people we label poor should be rich. Most people, even people who we put in the poor category in this society have made enough money in their lifetime to become wealthy; but because they carry the poor man's mentality and the poor man's value system (of consuming over production and consuming more than they produce) ultimately this keeps them from becoming wealthy.

Most of the people we label poor should be rich. Most people, even people who we put in the poor category in this society have made enough money in their lifetime to become wealthy; but because they carry the poor man's mentality and the poor man's value system (of consuming over production and consuming more than they produce) ultimately this keeps them from becoming wealthy.

"Our way is reciprocity. The way is wholeness... Our way produces before it consumes. Our way produces far more than it consumes. Our way creates."

This quote should be the new economic imperative for all Black entrepreneurs who want to heal our community and increase the circulation of the Black dollar in our communities. We must journey to a new consciousness shaped in our own indigenous understanding of the world and the universe we live in.