Richelle’s Story

Thanks so much for stopping by to learn a little more about me and my business. Maybe you met me at one of my speaking events, were referred by one of my friends or you may have google’d me. Instead of the normal bio page, I want to be a little more personal with YOU.

So, how does a little African American girl from Riverside, California become the only female African American Public Utility owner in the United States as well as the leading authority for marketing to the credit challenged?

And I have been recognized for being the authority to building extraordinary businesses for Women of Color.

 

You can read the whole story in my book, How to Build A Million Dollar Business in Las Vegas Without the Casinos, but here’s the abbreviated version.

At one point in my youth, I was dating three men in three different states and I had a HUGE telephone bill. At the same time, I was selling advertising for a “Welcome Neighbor Program”. At the local networking event, the then VP of the telephone company offered me a job. I was promoted five times in six years. Then bought the company from my boss.

Before you ask, I received no outside money, the SBA turned me down, not because I did not meet their criteria, credit, experience requirements, but because the SBA did not like my telephone – public utility business. I had NO partners and NO outside money. Even so, everything was going extremely well when the incredible tragedy of the World trade Center changed my life (as well as thousands of other people).

FROM Bankruptcy to Millionaire

Well, I will not give the SBA any credit for what happened to my business. I LOST everything because I was not serious about the business. I did not save any of the profits, I did not expect for the planes to hit the World Trade Center, either.

As the story continues, I sold off several of the non-profitable divisions of the business and still was left with over $2 million worth of business. After 9-11 happened, there was no mail for almost 3 weeks, and the meter was running on my telephone company. Before I knew it, I was in DEBT over $3million. So, I was forced to file bankruptcy.

Silver Lining

The silver lining to this whole story is that I found an incredible mentor that changed my life and changed the way the I approached my business. I was able to implement the strategies and effectively MARKET and SELL my way out of the bankruptcy.

Not to add insult to injury but NOW, I really had no cash and no credit.

BUT within 4 months, I had rebuilt my business and by the end of the year, I had my multi million dollar business again!

All using strategies that I learned. I basically got a PHD in down and dirty, focused, marketing and I am here to show YOU how!