Aba Fam, it's one of the best days of the week. It is time for another Holiback Monday. This week we're looking back at our episode with wealth strategist and author doctor Pamela Jolly. Doctor Jolly. First of all, who doesn't love someone called doctor Jolly amazing, So tune in if you want advice on everything from how to hire right for your family business to how to prepare your business for the future, go ahead and give it a listen.
Hey, hey, hey, we're back. We're super Black today. As per usual, we're Brown Ambition. Hey Mandra and special guests.
Hey, hey to hello to our special guest today, doctor Pamela Jolly. I cannot wait to introduce you to y'all, To you guys, to our ba Fam. I was actually on a panel with doctor Jolly a few weeks ago and afterward just wanted to know more. You know how on a panel everyone gets like seven and a half minutes to speak, but doctor Jolly seven and a half minutes. I was like, I need more. Let me let me make her talk to me some more. So invited her to the show today and I cannot aways tell you
about her. So let me just give you a little bit of a rundown, Doctor Jolly'll let you say hello, but let's put some respect on your name and your experience. Doctor Pamela Jolly y'all is a wealth strategist, a renowned speaker and author committed to guiding men, women, business owners, faith leaders, and young professionals toward building legacy their way. She is a I mean, how many degrees I can't
even keep track. She's a graduate of Hampton University, the Wharton School of Business, Boston University School of Theology, and Graduate Theological Foundation. After building a successful career in finance working for companies like Nations, Bake Accenture, and a private
equity firm she helped build called The Boy Partners. In two thousand and four, Doctor Jolly launched Torch Enterprises, which is her strategic investment firm that focuses on women and minority owned businesses, and in twenty fifteen she launched The Narrow Road, which is a methodology focused on educating anyone wanting to build wealth via ownership and equity. Doctor Pamela Jolly, Welcome to Brown Ambition. So tell us about Torch at
its Heart. What is Torch Enterprises and what do you do as a wealth strategist.
Yeah, so great question. So torch stands for passing the torch from one generation to the next to build legacy wealth via ownership and increased equity. And so I started Torch Hard to Believe twenty years ago based on something that really frustrated me that relative to the contributions that African Americans have made to America, we just didn't known enough.
We just didn't have enough wealth. And because I have worked my entire career in financial services, I wanted more of us to understand that we're not starting from nothing, that our legacy is very valuable, and so how do we really blend our belief that we will do well with finance, business and strategy. So I raised capital and awareness for African Americans and their African American businesses and their communities. I work with large philanthropic organizations, national banks,
large organizations, as well as small businesses and communities. I love what I do. It's been an amazing journey that really started to shape itself post Katrina in New Orleans. So I'm indebted to the city of New Orleans. Love love New Orleans. But I've worked in over ninety three cities across the country. So I love our community and I see it as a business and I look forward to elevating that standard with as many black people as possible.
She said, I love us for real. Okay, shout out to money for real. For real. Well, I'm excited that you're here because I know we're really going to like leaning heavily on talking about business and what it looks like to be a successful black business kind of what are the mistakes that we're making that you see across the board, and what we can do to minimize those mistakes, get access to capital, and do what businesses are meant
to do, which is grow and pass along. Well super jazz, because you know, Mandy and I are both business owners. So I'm just excited you're here.
Awesome, grateful to be here both of you. And I'm curious, like as one of the things you encounter. I mean, obviously you work on the ground with black and brown owned businesses quite often, and for me, as a newbie business owner, I think sometimes I wonder if I'm not thinking big enough with my business. You know, I just want to make it through the first year. Make through the first year, yah, And of course having listened to Tiffany and had sort of a back back back seat
to watching her build multiple businesses over the past. I don't know, in your decade we've known each other. It's been a privilege. But sometimes I'm like, am I allowed to think that big yet? And what do I have to lose by not thinking big early?
Yeah?
What I mean?
Yeah? Definitely. Well, first of all, it is big for you to have sustained a business for a year. You know, the reality of small businesses and the tenure of them.
I did do that having commanded I didn't want to put interrupt I was.
Like, I need you to take ownership of that, right because the first year, you know, it's what I call the idea phase. You know, you got an idea, But business is a series of consistently increasing levels of opportunity, right, So it's increasing relationships, it's increased knowledge gain, it's increasing steps that have to be streamlined and organized. And so that first year is really you teaching you. Like, am
I a business owner? I believe the call to entrepreneurship is a call from God because it's a faith walk in many ways, and then that first year it definitely is. So I think that you know, when we think about businesses one to three, you're really figuring it out. And I think importance of seeing things big. Think about Stephen Covey where he says, you know, begin with the end of mind. You know, you got to focus on your exit as soon as you start, Like, how do you
want to exit this business? Do you want it to die with you? Eighty five percent of businesses or lifestyle businesses or do you want to pass the torch to the next generation? What is this really? You know, some lifestyle businesses are for a specific phase and in that specific phase of time, you know, then you learn and I want to do something different. That's the other thing that I would encourage emergent business owners as I call them. Don't feel so locked in that you don't feel like
you can do anything else. There's a tremendous amount of opportunities, but you've got to steward and manage your capacity.
No, that's really powerful because I so when I first started my business and where I'm at year fourteen, I believe, I know, and so it's from fourteen years I've made probably just over thirty million dollars. And this gross obviously because you know, I got thirty million. That's my bank account. But you know, but I feel like with each iteration I have gotten clear on the end in mind. At the beginning, the budget Ee was like, can we pay
these bills? That was the point. And so I made a business where I was the Sun, Moon and Stars like many of us do, which is nothing wrong with it. But I realized that, like, what if I don't want to do Budgetista forever? And ever, how do I cuse what I've created here to build an additional business where I'm not the Sun winning Stars? And so I created my online school literature Academy where I'm one of many
financial educators there, which is great. So it's not heavily tied to the Budgetista and all the Budgetista is a die with me business, you know, like I just did my will and in it it says something happens to me. My sisters are instructed to just sell it and take the proceeds and split it four ways, because what you're going to do, you're gonna be Budgetesta sys, you know. And so but then my second business, I have a
business partner, but I'm a majority owner. And what that looks like is that it can continue without me for the most part, where I have almost pulled myself almost out of it. I'm probably like eighty percent gone, like whereas if they have a CEO there, that's not me anymore. My face is largely missing, although we still use budgetesta to do some promos stuff, but even that, we are slowly short and chipping away. And I would say, by the end of next year, you won't see me at all.
And that's a business where something happens to me. You know, my shares go to my sisters as well. They're not voting shares.
You know.
My business partner also has the ability to buy them out should he decide to do so, or if he doesn't buy them out, they just continue to you know, get their peace, you know. But now this third bus, now I've started other smaller businesses in between then, but this third business that I'm doing now, I'm very clear, like for the first time, I'm really clear at the end in mind is I'm building it to sell within
five years, like, and I'm really clear on that. And so can you share with us kind of like how can especially when you're first starting out, how can you get clear with the end in mind when you're like I'm just trying to pay bills.
Yeah, well get clear about how you're going to pay the bills, right, So, marry yourself to your market, marry yourself to your target market. Make sure you're building something that you love. Make sure you recognize what you do best and what you don't do best. Start to elevate your trust levels so that you can hire appropriately, you know, really getting very focused. Seventy one percent of hiring decisions in small businesses, our mistakes, those are very call not
just them zero. So yes, so it's.
Not that because we usually go to our family and friends first, because.
First of all, we're about ninety percent over here.
Well, here's what I believe based from my experience. I think it has largely about the blind spots that we have about what we really need. Yeah, you know, so I really think that people should take some time to write out, you know, what is that job description and how does it really impact the business. The other thing is you know, looking at you know, employment of other people. Both, yes, it is an expense, but it's also an investment. It's
leadership and so it's building relationships. So is this just a transactional job where they if they show up, praise God. If they do what they tell you, praise God? Or is it really you want someone to think with you, you know, build with you, with you. So it's really getting very clear about that. But I think in the beginning, you know, when you don't have enough money, when we said we hire our friends and family because it's cheap.
I think getting very clear about what you can do by yourself and the capacity in which you can do it. Some folks get so married to such a large vision at the end that they kind of discount what they're able to do in the beginning. You know, what can you actually do with the time that you have? So I think it's really important to be very focused and very clear. In my work with the Narrow Road, I
created a predictive modeling component. One of my last jobs in corporate America was a market research strategist, so learn how to create different algorithms and typing tools and the importance of segmenting the market. And what I created was
a predictive modeling component. So I type people and once you understand your wealth identity, we're able to get really clear about how do you articulate what you do and what you need in order to successfully build the relationships required for your business to be successful.
Somebody to get a hold of that, ask it for a friend.
So my first book was written eight years ago, right after my dad passed away, and a larger publisher, so I publish it with my own publishing company and then a larger publisher, Worthy Publishing that's run by Marva Allen, who owns Human Bookstore. She approached from the pandemic. I love her too. She's amazing and she actually was one of my first clients when I launched Torch in New York, and so was so excited. Well, she took the book and we reorganized it and it's coming out September twelfth.
Oh oh, concolation, thank you. And so this is the second edition of The Narrow Road, and inside of it is the Wealth Identity Typing Tool. And then I have a wealth Finishing school that's launching in November where I really help people own their identity and really build wealth their way so they can build the right relationships with the financial professionals. Because that's what I wanted to say to one, I'm so proud of your trajectory and what
you're doing. But even hearing you. You can tell you've spoken to professionals that you trust and you understand they've given you advice, you've applied that advice, you've gotten their results, and you're moving forward. So that's how you do it. You basically start with the solid foundation and you build, grow and expand from there.
Okaba fan, we will be right back with more of our conversation on legacy building as black business owners with doctor Pamela Jolly.
And we're a back more with doctor Jolly.
I'm curious at what point because I know Tiffany and I talked about you know, the budget needs to for example, and you haven't taken any funding Tiffany throughout your ever your business is right, of course, I haven't taken any funding. You have the occasional friend who's like, I want to invest, and I'm like, in what I want to buy me a better webcam? I don't know. But taking on investments and when do you do you work at all with that?
You know that piece of it? When do I identifying when you need outside capital and when it can be beneficial versus actually becoming something that can be cumbersome or like be an issue down the road.
Yeah, So in my book, what I talk about is there's four capital relationships. The least intimate relationship with capital is transaction, right, So literally it's all a lot of hard work. It does have equity in it, but it's sweat equity and you work extremely hard. That next one is a joint venture, and that's when you bring on that friends and family who can support you where you're
a week now, whether they do it financially. My two investors and first two investors in my company were my grandmothers. And when black women that you don't expect to be able to write checks write you checks, you get cash flow positive and profitable a lot faster than others might try. So I'm so grateful that it was my grandmothers who believed in me that invested That next level of capital
is where growth capital. Now, growth capital can be either debt or equity, and I want people to understand the difference. You know, debt has rules and regulation. So the financial services industry is the highest regulated industry in the country, So they can't give you money because they like you. They have to give you money because you fit a certain criteria. That's a good risk for them to take to deploy capital for you. Now there's different types of
debt capital that you can get. And during the pandemic, and so many things happened in the pandemic as it relates to minority owned businesses, people started to realize that many minority own businesses did not have a relationship with a financial institution that they trusted or understood. A tremendous amount of capital was deployed to CDFIs who across the country are cash flow lenders. But that means that you've
got to have positive cash flow. That means that you have to understand what your operating budget is, and what is the deficit in your operating budget, and what would it take for you to build up the working capital level. And so then the next level is equity. From my perspective, now, equity is the most intimate relationship you can have in terms of capital. Equity means that you no longer can do everything you want to do. You've got to align
your vision with those who are investing in you. The outcome that they see might be different than the outcome that you see. It also might be further down the road that you can afford to look and may or may not include you right. Equity requires an exit, a defined exit in a specific period of time, with a specific return on investment, and so oftentimes some of us like to jump in skip steps straight to equity.
You know.
One of the things that I want people to think about is if you have pre revenue, right, you are a pre revenue company and you're looking for equity. There are some industries where you do need to raise that type of money, But Tiffany and Mandy, you are the earn your way right. There's there's earners and there's owners. But these earners who they earn their way. Some people
call it bootstrap. I call it reality. You know, I've never raised capital outside of my grand My grandparents and my best friend's parents invested in me in the beginning. After that, I was able to continue to self invest in my enter price to be able to build, grow and expand it amazing. But ownership was important to me, and passing the torch was important to me. And so once again, you've got to get clear about your end. What's really important to you is equity capital back not
at all. Equity capital is amazing, but it's a different type of relationship that you have with others around the vision for your enterprise.
So you see them as sorts of like stepping stones, you know, starting smaller and then maybe like you want to maybe start with like self funding a little bit and then seek out like a friends and family around of fundraising. I remember when we.
Yeah, So here's what I'll tell you because it dilutes you.
Right.
So if you in the beginning memory we talked about the idea stage of business. When you're in the beginning stages of trying to figure it out and you raise equity, they're not investing in the idea. They're investing in that idea maturing to exit. And so you might say, well, I want to pivot. Well, if the business is doing well, they're going to say why unless you can prove the
business case all over again. And so it's important for you to have the cadence of your capital with the cadence of your business.
It's one of the reasons why not that I was ever offered because you know, a black woman, But it's one of the reasons why I was like, I don't want to take any outside financial I mean aside from like if family and friends wanted to invest, but a friend of mine just sold his blog for you know, eight figures and I suspect close to maybe like forty or fifty million dollars. And he was like, I know
they're beating down your door, Tiffany. I'm like, now, despite all the success, despite that, we you know, we've only had profitable years, some years more certain than others. I mean, now the Budgetista is like rocking and rolling. Like I
was talked to my CFO the other day. She was like, Tiffany, because I have not focused on budget Most of my focus has been the Literature Academy for the last six or seven years when I opened it because it needed just a lot, and so the budget NISTA was like kind of on the back barner and it just made because it was a solid business that made money connect
what I call kind of like accidentally. But now that I'm no longer the CFO of CEO of that business, I focused on the budget NISA, and we have been slaying our profit margin to the point where she's like, we need to spend more. I'm like, oh, what seventy nine percent? Like we knew that just we have doubled. I mean I told her in the beginning of the year, I said Okay, this is what I want to make by the end of the year, and we're already there plus some and I was like, all right, some new goals.
And so I guess my question is it's like, because now I'm in this place in space where I want to do less, so I really want and I'm not gonna lie. When I heard that he had sold his business, I got a little salty because I was just like, well, why not me? Why not me? With all that I've built and grown? Why not me? And I said, well, Tiffany, have you intended it to your point doctor Jolly? And I had not. I don't want to sell Budgetista because
I'm not going to lie, he asked me. He's like, if you want, I can get budgets are ready to sell in sixteen months. And I was like, no, because it's still something that I really enjoyed doing. So instead, I'm building something else that probably take about five years, I'm estimating. But because I just it feels very disheartening that I hear people who are not doing nearly as much as what you know black and brown women are
doing that don't get those same opportunities. It's just really frustrating.
Well, I hear you, Tiffany, and if you would allow me to kind of go deeper into that for a second. I mean again, I said that equity is the most intimate relationship that you can have. But also as black and brown individuals, particularly African Americans. You know my research, what I found is that we're the only people in America who were first capital before we ever made capital, and so we can't help but look at business as personal. And so I hear you, and I've read your books
and I've also listened to you from the beginning. Budgeinista is a heartbrand. From my perspective, you care about your people, you care about what you offered. It's hard to sell that. And the other thing is that when people don't understand our hearts. You know, black women are so powerful in their own right, but oftentimes we don't toot our own homewns because we're too busy doing what needs to be done to be able to move things that we care
about forward. And so as a result, it's about relationship. I'm not saying that there isn't any bias in the marketplace, but I am saying that as it relates to investing in black women, own brands if you will. It's still uncharted territory. We're still very much at the emergent stages of building business relationships to be able to do so. And you said it yourself, if you really wanted to do it, you could, right. But the beautiful thing about it is you have a choice. Wealth is a choice.
You're able to choose how you build wealth with the assets that you have been able to build and grow and expand. So the other thing about with a Budganista brand, I mean, if someone bought it, they might have a different vision, and all of a sudden, you see yourself all over the place, not portraying the true authentic.
Selling cult for you.
Five Yes, I was thinking like a prepaid debit card.
Oh girl. I told him no to Budgetista. Although he was like, I think you can get this amount of money, I was like, yeah no, but so I do have like this other I bought a company a couple of years ago and I've been sitting on it and I've just been trying to figure out what to do with it, and I thought, you know what, this would actually be
really great. So I'm working on now, like and to your point, building relationship, I just had a really great chat with a vice president of a huge financial organization that I've known for a number of years, just to ask what would you need this to be in order for this type of company to be interested. And so I'm starting to have those conversations and realizing, oh, I need those type of relationships to ask because I'm not
going to build willy nilly. If I'm going to build this new company like and sell it, then I need to know who would buy and why and what does that look like. So I'm very clear about what I'm building because I was just like, Okay, I do want that. I want to have an exit, not even for the money,
but for the Can you do it, Tiffany? Because everything I've set my mind to has happened, and this would be the biggest external expression of doing something, and so I'm just really curious as to can I do it? And if I can, then I can bring that information back to women who look like me who don't typically have access to that type of information.
I love it, and you can do it, and you will do it. And I think what's really powerful about what you're saying is that you have the end already in mind. So you're building the vision not solely to yourself, right, You're allowing people to weigh in and influence that vision so that it is palatable to the marketplace.
I feel like I'm still in that. I'm glad you gave me three years, said one to three years, or in that id phase, I'm like, I don't know what the end looks like. I'm feeling good, but I'm of course I'm so much earlier in the process that for me, it's harder to come to that end. And maybe I'll come to a place where it's like, well, this is the life. And I hadn't heard that term before. Lifestyle business, you know, made money is made money. It's like budgeties
and no one else can just be that. But I think that's the thing I had to I just haven't given myself the time to think beyond this at this point. It's just some so all in with this, and I feel like I just want to focus on this for now, but always still be open to like this can't last forever, right, Like I can't. It's not sustainable forever, so what will
come next? And I think to your point about relationship building is surrounding my I feel like it's important to surround myself with other people doing similar like that entrepreneurial spirit and having businesses of their own, so I can learn and just always be in the mix with that to see what they're doing and to learn from their insights. Which has been a big part of what I focus on this year is building those relationships.
I think that's awesome. So the first principle in the narrow Road is that seeing is believing, right, so really imagining, but also seeing other models of businesses that started and you have got this wonderful one right in front of you of tifany, but like saying you know what is possible and then being able to really measure what you want.
But also one of the things I love about business ownership, you really got to get clear about what you want, yeah, because if not, you'll have a lot of people encouraging you to do things that you may not want and you might own a successful business, but it's not bringing you Because we're talking about wealth. We talk about money a lot. Anybody can get rich, but to build wealth,
that's a fulfilled life. So Mandy, start thinking about what you want the work that you're doing to be able to allow you to do to fulfill your life, and if we can put a definitive timeline around it, you know, the window for wealth building. You know, we have forty years of increasing levels of income to finance eighty plus years of living. So think about what does that look like, and then run some projections that make some sense for you.
And there may be some areas of your business that it can partner with other people, it can do other things and open up avenues for you to be able to move forward. But cast that vision in that forty year window so that at the end of that you can afford retirement and beyond, because it's really really important that you are able to sustain a lifestyle beyond the workface.
I want more black women now than anything before to get excited about retirement because there are so many opportunities for black and brown women in particular to really make an impact. But I want you to be able to afford to show up and show out, and we've got to plan today in our window of opportunity to be able to do that.
I'm trying to.
Do that because honestly, one of the biggest mistakes that I made is Budganista was going for going sake. So with the Budgenesa had just beyond. I just was following the lead of like the business in the business was telling me what to do versus me telling the business what to do. And I struggle with that for a really long time, and especially as it became more successful, because I was just like, well, isn't this what I
worked towards? So you know what I mean, it was I really had a hard time with it because I'm like, you know, the external feedback was go keep going, go keep going, but then internally I was like, I kind of am don't want to go keep going, or maybe I want to go in a different direction. And so honestly, it took for like, you know, quite honestly, my husband passing away last year for me to.
Be like, so sorry, Tiffany, thank you sorry, for.
Me to get super clear or I'm not doing this anymore. I'm not, you know, And it made me really clear
that I had too many people on the team. You know, most of them were really wonderful, but I was just like, you know, you actually don't need to make as much Tiffany, like you know, like I said, now, I mean, at one point, you know, I was spending like I don't even know it was three times or our operating expenses for a budget, these who were three times what they are now we actually make more and then keep more.
So I'm like, and I do way less work. And it took like this, like abrupt shift to say, Tiffany, what do you actually want to do? Because it's not this. You're always working and it's great that everybody wants you to be on every podcast and every show and every this and every opportunity and every speaking engagement, but at
what cost to you personally? And are you even really growing? Well, that's the part that's the part that's crazy, is that as much as I was making as a business, I wasn't personally growing as much wealth as you would think because I was giving it all away all exactly. I don't even know how I meant to become a millionaire, quite honestly. Like my financial advice was like God looking after you, Tiffany, because you really shouldn't be as much
as you were paying people. Everybody was getting six figure so I wasn't even making six figures, like you know, I was paying everybody's six figures salaries for the most part, everybody's getting paid well, everybody had insurance. Everybody had and so now that's not so, you know, I'm down to like three people, well two people, my three myself included. I do wigh less. I work, you know, I work only really the things I really enjoy or that pays super duper well. And so I'm just conscious of not
letting kind of like that creep in. And so for those who are listening, you know, it's not I tell this to all my mentees all the time, that it's not just success for success sake, but how will it meet you? Will you be healthy, happy and whole? You know, because you can have all of the things and yet none of the things. And I was there. I wasn't unhappy, but certainly I was overwhelmed. You know that you can What is it that there's a quote that says that
anything in its excess becomes its opposite. You know, like you can actually drink so much water you're drawing yourself. A friend of mine almost poisoned herself because she ate too many carrots. Yes, so like you know it's healthy because she was in middle school, so you know, it's so extra in those I was like your orange is that normal? She's like, I don't know, but I love carrots, And sure enough she fell out in class and it turns out that she had like damaged her liver because
she needs to carrots. So I just share that to say that, like, you know, especially like you know, Mandy, folks are in your position that are kind of starting out that you know, not letting it get ahead of you and beyond you. So that way you're actually one growing wealth, which is the purpose, and two that it's meeting you healthy, happy and whole.
So you know the pathway that you were on. You know, the wealth is generational, right, and I talk about legacy wealth, which is cross generational. It takes three generations to build legacy wealth, only one generation to lose it. But when four generations connect, the wealth will begins to turn. So every generation is an opportunity to advance the collective forward. But the first generation creates a standard and it works
extremely hard. And Tiffany, what you just described were the components of a first generation business, right, that second generation builds on that with structures and systems and relationships, and that's what you describe that you have. Now you know that third generation acquires you've done that too, acquires additional opportunity through work that they have not done themselves, so
they partner with others. And then the fourth generation basically expands it as a model, a whole model where yes, you work hard, yes you have systems, Yes you partner with other experts in areas that you don't have. But here's the model, and it's culturally relevant. And so that's what I encourage many of our businesses spend some time to build the internal culture. The internal culture is why your people will work and you don't have to pay
them six figures at the door. They can work their way up because they understand what the blueprint requires, because you've written the blueprint. And so my prayer is that more of our companies will really work to establish a working culture where people want to live out their career there or or bring their best and then move on to another level, but leave it better than they found it, because that's where we are right now and elevating our
standard of business. So many of our businesses don't employ anyone or employ so many people that they impinge upon their profitability. The last thing I'll say is that parody is a reality that should we get to that in our community would change the game for everyone. You know, data shows that African American and Brown owned businesses they hire their own, So our growth really provides opportunities to
build wealth for more than just ourselves. And so really thinking about the bigger picture and moving forward in a way that fulfills your life with a wealth outcome that you believe it is critical. And those two things are as important as the other pieces in terms of the money and the financials. I'm a warton grad. I love
the financials. But here's the thing. I want you to live and enjoy your life, but I also want you to under and why you're doing it so that the next generation is following you wants to pick up where you left off because you've finished off a platform that makes sense.
So basically, Tiffany's done like four generations of work.
So I feel like I've been working on the trust. Now that's like the last little piece, like I call my thing financial wholeness, which is like these ten components of your financial life, and the tenth component is estate planning. And of course it just has to look different when you have a business. And so one of the things I you know, I have to really get clear on is what happens to my businesses when I'm no longer here, and what if, like you know, like my sisters are
no longer here, what about their children? So really creating to your point, doctor Jolly, like a model that the wealth can be extended, even if it's not specifically through businesses. Maybe it's like, okay, then here how here's how the funds are continue to be invested, so that way beyond you, you know that you know that the wealth continues there.
I saw this little old lady on I was watching some of YouTube documentary about this woman from the Appalachia, and I just remember being so impressed with her because her family had two hundred acres in Appalachia, and you know, on the surface, you would think like, okay, you know, she like stopped going to school on fourth grade. You know, she herself said that she wasn't very educated, but she had sent all her kids for good schooling. As she said, and she said, you know, one of my sons is
a lawyer, one of my daughters is a teacher. You know, they don't want to live here in the backwoods of Appalachia, but I sent them off and one thing I did was she said, is I put my two hundred acres into a trust because won't be no weak links here. And I thought that was genius. She said, because this land does not belong to any individual person. It belongs to our family line. And so she put it in
a trust. That like, so they all get to benefit financially, but not just you, your kids, kids, kids kids, And if Walmart comes knocking and says, we'd love to buy, you know, one hundred acres, the trust says now, because it's not up to that person because she's no longer here. And I just thought, wow, that how smart and genius this was that she was looking after great great great grand babies that she would never meet, but she would have a positive effect on.
And that's what's so beautiful. She's incorporated the family business, so it's no longer a lifestyle business. It's a legacy business. And so that's really where the opportunity is. And she sounds like of the generation the wealthiest generation in our community is our grandparents' generation. You know, they have the ability to be able to afford to look beyond themselves and want better. And so my prayer is that when
we get to that age. We can do the same, but we've set it up a lot earlier, and it's compounding and growing at a faster rate because what they're doing is setting that strong foundation so that your nephew who's a genius has a balance sheet with some equity on it when he shows up at the equity table. And so oftentimes, you know, we show up with an idea, but I want us to show up with an idea
equity and ask somebody to match that. And so that's really where the generational transfer of wealth, not just financial wealth, but intellectual, social capital and spiritual really matters.
Well, Doctor Pamela Jolly, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for joining Ground Ambition. Please tell BA fam where they can find out more about you and get a copy of that book that's coming out September twelfth, Is that right?
Yes, so September twelfth in a book in a black bookstore near you, as well as Amazonandwordy dot com. And also I'm at doctor Pamela Jolly on Instagram and then Torch Enterprises dot com is the website where you can pre order. I really really appreciate this opportunity to be on this amazing podcast, Tiffany and Mandy. I've listened to
other episodes. I love what you're doing in terms of raising awareness and encouraging people to think about the things that we need to think about so that wealth can become a standard in our community. So thanks so much for having me.
Thank you awesome, thank you, jolly excellent, thank you all right, Ba Fam, thanks for taking a little walk down memory laying with us and what an awesome throwback episode that was. Make sure to check out Brown Ambition podcast. We air every Monday, Wednesday and Friday wherever you get your podcasts. Bye Ba Fam.