Before You Enroll — Let's Keep It Real

If your plan is to keep hanging with your boys or your homegirls, doing the same things, making the same excuses, and expecting your life to somehow turn out different, you're not ready for this course.

You can love your people. But you cannot let their choices make yours. If the crowd gets more loyalty than your own future, something has to change—and that decision belongs to you.

If hanging out matters more than building your future, go put in an application at McDonald's—but understand that even there, you have to show up, do the work, and take responsibility.

There's dignity in earning a paycheck. The question is what you do with it. Are you spending every dollar trying to impress the same crowd, or using that income to build something you own?

Your future needs more than your potential. It needs your effort.

I Know Because I Lived It

I chose the life I lived. It took me until 42 to understand that doing whatever I wanted and building a future where I could retire were taking me in two completely different directions.

I watched older members of my own family still working like dogs, and I had to ask myself: Is that where I'm headed?

Being smart didn't save me from my own decisions. Talent didn't either. I needed discipline, a plan, and the willingness to follow through when something else sounded more fun.

I didn't have somebody putting these lessons in front of me like this. You do.

LEVERAGE247 takes work. You will have to read, calculate, question, practice, and own your mistakes. Nobody can want your future more than you do.

One Book Will Not Do It

If you want to say "I'm retired, and I'm living comfortably," you better take this information seriously.

Eat it. Sleep it. Drink it. Study until you can explain it in your own words—and then put it to work.

My number one rule? One book will not bring you financial freedom or happiness.

I am a firm believer in God. I also know the Bible isn't the only book we need to read. Read about money, business, history, people, and the world you're trying to build a life in.

See a book? Read a book. Take what you need from it, question what doesn't hold up, and move to the next one.

Take notes. Read passages out loud. Work through the examples. Close the book and see what you can explain without looking. Come back tomorrow and test yourself again.

Don't confuse remembering somebody's words with knowing how to use them. Understanding has to show up in your decisions.

I am standing here as a lesson from the past. You have a chance to learn from my mistakes before you pay for the same ones yourself. Don't waste that opportunity.

Know Your Numbers Like You Know Your Lyrics

And one more thing: If you know every word to your favorite singer's or rapper's songs, but don't know your financial fundamentals, go back in the house. Get back in bed. Take a nap and rethink your priorities. Then get up and try again.

You've already proved you can learn and remember. Now put that same effort into understanding interest, credit, cash flow, debt, and ownership.

Know the lyrics. Know your numbers, too. Your future deserves that much attention.

You Have Somebody in Your Corner

I'm guiding every one of you who chooses to do this work. I will challenge you, tell you the truth, and expect you to show up for yourself.

And if you need someone in your corner, reach out through our contact page. I mean that. If getting there takes a plane, my vehicle, or walking, I'm willing to find a way. We'll work out what help I can actually provide.

We are Americans. We stick together, regardless of what society wants you to believe. Your neighborhood, your background, and yesterday's mistakes do not erase your place here.

Being smart won't do the work for you. Neither will this course.

Read. Ask questions. Check the numbers. Follow through.

The future you keep talking about needs you to start acting like it matters.

What kind of future are your choices building?