Rahkim and I recorded this interview in May 2021. Despite my best intentions the continued impact of the restrictions due to the COVID pandemic and the attempted coup still was impacting my ability to focus. During the show I wondered if Rahkim was considering leaving his job because it was clear that there was an increasing tension between his personal aspirations and the aspirations that his organization felt he was allowed to have. My instincts were right and he would end up leaving his old role and penned a viral post called “Bye Corporate America: How Firing My Boss Saved My Black Life” What I love about this post is that it’s the first one that I’ve seen written by a Black man talking about the impact of corporate life on health and wellness. In this episode we talk about being in the personal finance space, the unexpected tension when work and your personal passions collide. Rahkim’s personal story also highlights why representation matters and the impact of financial modeling in how we envision our lives and aspirations. I hope you enjoy the show.
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Want to lead a more socially equitable financial life but aren’t sure where to start? Grab my “Good Money” tool kit. A resource sharing the ins and outs of leading a socially equitable lifestyle without going broke. Grab the resource in today’s show notes or using the following link: https://michelleismoneyhungry.com/good-money
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Show Notes:
- Rahkim Sabree introduces himself. He’s a financial coach who approaches financial conversations from different standpoints depending on how he connects with people.
- More of a money mindset conversation connected to attracting wealth
- He worked in banking. Started in banking as a part-time teller at the age of 21 years old and was exposed to many financial products due to financial products.
- Rahkim encountered the Rich Dad, Poor Dad book (that I later disclose I hate) but it created a financial conversation for him.
- He started to have these conversations with family and friends and wanted to educate others around him about money.
- I ask “What about Rich Dad, Poor Dad” resonated so much for him? And admit that I didn’t understand “The Four Hour Work Week” when I was gifted that book by one of my student assistants.
- He no longer actively promotes the book anymore after Kiyosaki’s comments about the BLM protests and he wrote a Grio Post about it.
- But for him at the time, it was a different way of thinking about money.
- Rahkim took Kyosaki’s seminar/training seminar (I had no idea this existed) around $12k
- His parents were teen parents from the mid-west and move to NYC
- Separated at around the age of 12 and Rahkim became very aware that they had food stamps and used Section 8
- What he aspired to was the same. And then the book changed what Rahkim viewed his financial aspirations and the ceiling for financial growth.
- It’s clear that Kiyosaki’s audience is and is NOT Rahkim. 3 day seminar participants were mostly AA and Latino. But, Kiyosaki clearly doesn’t care for those communities.
- In retrospect, the program is very predatory
- I was totally surprised by this revelation and I share why I can’t stand Kiyosaki
- Why did Rahkim decide to create his own platform? And how did he figure out his messaging?
- Work brought in a DEI speaker-Caribbean woman and it resonated with him. He reached out to her and asked how she got into this line of work…even as an introvert.
- He was working on his first book (self-published) about mentorship. And it was a catalyst for a pivot.
- Hired a consultant to help him work on his second book. The consultant asked him “What is it you would talk about ?” Rahkim felt like the personal finance space was oversaturated and finally ended up with “Financially Irresponsible”
- At the same time Rahkim had applied for a TedX talk that aired the day after his book was published.
- Tensions around sharing his story from his viewpoint.
- Second book was delayed strategically because he knew that he would be doing the TedX talk. I point out the amount of action Rahkim takes.
- End of 2019 that book was released and 4 months later-we had a pandemic and that book helped people.
- I ask a nosey question “How do you make money with your online brand? And how you building it out so that it’s sustainable overtime?”
- He uses a tiered monetization approach
- Rahkim is “Googleable” and sharing his thought leadership on the personal finance
- Course: Improve Your Money Mindset
- Paid speaking, corporate consulting (financial literacy) books, courses, coaching, freelance (tries to align with what’s trending in the news)
- I point out that I appreciate it when content creators are intentional about being 100% in alignment and authentic about their belief systems and who they support.
- I share my love of DJ Khalid-Collaboration makes him money
- We discuss tensions around collaboration and the tensions around it
- African-Americans are a collaborative people by nature but media negatively impacts that collaborative focus
- I bring up the point that entrepreneurs need to work through their numbers-there are enough resources to go around. Rahkim focuses most of his time around financial beliefs, combating scarcity and creating abundance.
- Rahkim shares what he thinks about “Brand Building for Online Businesses”
- He checks Google daily about his brand identity
- I ask about his employer’s reaction to the work that he’s doing outside of his day job.
- All of his social media platforms are public, but he has a strict policy about accepting colleagues to personal feeds
- Only LinkedIn connections. For a long time he excluded his colleagues from his feeds and then there was a point where his work made its way in front of his colleagues.
- “How do you define: A conflict of interest? Or, interfering with his role”
- Rahkim was working on building his brand after his regular work day
- Employees growing beyond the workplace
- He’s definitely had challenges with corporate America.
- We talk performance reviews. Ask for more work, to get paid the same…
- I share my tipping point at my old job. “What’s my why and why am I motivated to be here?”
- COVID has shifted our understanding of the role that work plays in our life
- Entrepreneurship vs. 9-5 is ridiculous
- Rahkim shares his advice for folks looking to do what he did.
- Collaborate-One person cannot be the best at everything, it’s not possible.
- Look outside of your immediate community.
- He shares his trip to Iceland and how he felt conscious about being Black in Iceland and even though he didn’t enjoy it.
- Is the market saturated for personal finance content?
Resources
- Make Money with Ebooks: A Self-Publishing Course (Michelle)
- Improve Your Money Mindset Course (Rahkim)
- The Four Hour Work Week
- Open Letter to Robert Kyosaki
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