Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Entrepreneur: Afro Unicorn was discovered on social media and has generated over 20 million in total sales in 5 yrs.

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Entrepreneur: Afro Unicorn was discovered on social media and has generated over 20 million in total sales in 5 yrs. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. I am Rashwan McDonald, the host
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: of Money Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: stop reading other people's success stories and start planning their own.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: their companies, and speak with dog profits who are making
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: a difference in their local communities. Now, sit back and
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: listen as we unlock the secrets to their success on
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Hi, I'm Rashan McDonald, our host
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: is weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: information that this show provides are for everyone. It's time
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: to stop reading other people's success stories and start living
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: your own. My next guest is the founder afro Unicon,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: the first black woman owned, fully licensed character brand in
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  Speaker 1: major retail with sales over twenty million. How groundmaking brand
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: celebrate diversity and empowers women and children of color, inspiring
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: countless individuals to embrace their uniqueness and potential. Please work
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: with the Money Making Conversations Master Class. April Showers, April,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: thank you for coming on Money Making Conversations Master Colss.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: How are you doing.
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  Speaker 2: I am living the dream. How about you.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: You know, when I was reading this intro when he
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: says inspires countless individuals to embrace their uniqueness and potential,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: extrapolat or expound on that for me, please, Well.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: After unicorn was created because of who I am, I'm
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: a serial entrepreneur, and I don't know, we'll probably get
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: into the story later about how it's actually a creator.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: I can say it now because it all ties in when.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: You talk now the flow of the conversation.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, So I am a licensed insurance agent. I was
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: a licensed real estate broker. Single mama to amazing young
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: black boys, one who I just dropped off to LSU
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: a few weeks ago and the other one's in high
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: school now. But back in twenty nineteen, a friend kept
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: telling me I was a unicorn over and over again,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: and so finally I asked them, why do you keep
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: calling me that? He said, Well, because you're running the businesses,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: you're raising the boys, you're a unicorn. And I said, Cortias,
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: I am a woman. That is what we do. He's like, no, April,
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  Speaker 2: you do it at an extraordinary level. Trust me. I
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: date these women in LA and you are a unicorn,
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  Speaker 2: like you do it at an extraordinary level. So I
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: didn't know much about unicorns. I kind of was tom
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: boyish and I was a boy mom. So I had
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: to go look them up and I saw that they
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: were unique, they were mystical, and I said, I'm definitely unique.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: I'm all things black girl magic. And so I started
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: to use the emoji of the unicorn and my phone
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: over and over again, not with text or have any copy.
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  Speaker 2: And then one day I looked at it and I said,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: doesn't it represent who I am? Like, I don't see
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: myself in this unicorn. So then I went to find
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: one that looked like me, and I couldn't. So at
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: that point I was like, I'm going to create an
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: avatar for me. In creating it, I saw the potential
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: of wow, wait a minute, it's probably a lot of
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: women out there that felt what I was feeling, that
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: was probably dealing with some type of imposterum syndrome or something,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: didn't know that they were unique or didn't know that
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: they had these qualities to be a unicorn. So I
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: then wanted to create a movement to find other women
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: entrepreneurs or those that wanted to join me on this
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: entrepreneurship journey and give them an avatar to represent who
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: they were. So when we launched after Unicorn on the
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: platform on social media, I really was targeting business owners
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: and I would specify on my page out they will
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: wear my shirt, and I would say, meet Latricia Leatricia
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  Speaker 2: owns this business. She works nine to five two, she
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  Speaker 2: does this, this, this is what makes her unique, divine
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  Speaker 2: in magical. Be sure to follow her business and patriotize
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  Speaker 2: her business. And then the movement started.
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  Speaker 1: We've already told you got two boys. One you just
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: dropped off l s U. How are you balancing all this?
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  Speaker 2: I am managing it.
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  Speaker 1: The word balance and manages, not that you manage.
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  Speaker 2: Because this is the thing. I don't believe that men
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  Speaker 2: get asked that question. No one asked jay Z how
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: does he balance being a father and work?
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  Speaker 1: Okay, hmm. I have not insulted you with the word balance.
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  Speaker 2: No, no, no, But because to me, balance is even Wait, right,
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  Speaker 2: I gotta get fifty here and fifty here to equal
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  Speaker 2: one hundred. I gotta be a mom one er of
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  Speaker 2: the time. I got to be a business owner one
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  Speaker 2: hundred percent of the time. So I can't balance either
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  Speaker 2: I have to manage those, so I give whatever I'm
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  Speaker 2: in it. I'm given. All my kids are in school
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: right now, so I know I'm full CEO Mold right now.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Once I go get my babies out of school. My
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: sister knows all my calls stop at two thirty, so
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: when I can get them home. They're a little older now,
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: so I get them situation, make sure they've eaten, and
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: if I want to put on that sea hat, or
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: if I want to go out on a date, or
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: do whatever I can.
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  Speaker 1: So you're out there dancing, you out there dating. You
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: just lid that little bad boy up in there, and
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: now you know the dating scene. You're business woman, you know,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: you're motivator, you are a licensed you know I will
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: say what you can't do, and I'll be insulting right there,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: because what you have not done is limit who you
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: could be and what you can achieve.
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  Speaker 3: Now.
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  Speaker 1: So in twenty and eighteen, friend of yours started calling
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: your unicorn. Okay, twenty twenty, we all know that's an
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: ad little period when you start talking into COVID and
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: it starts changing our whole outlooking perspective. And then after
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: that it's when you started kind of like a galvanizing
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: people in the Unicorn movement.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, the movement started all day one. May twenty nineteen
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  Speaker 2: is when the brand launched. Right May seventeenth, my son
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: went into the hospital May twentieth. Sorry, my son in
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: the hospital May tenth. I was reluctant to launch the
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: brand while my son was in the hospital, not knowing
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  Speaker 2: he will be there for twenty days. With all the
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: encouragement from the people around me, I launched the brand
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: while he was in the hospital. When he got out
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  Speaker 2: twenty days, my uncle died of a massive heart attack.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: I got the call. Seventeen hours later. His eldest brother,
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: my second uncle, died of a of pneumonia. We got
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: a double funeral the following week. Then after that, six
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: months later, broke my grandmother's heart. She got spiraled down,
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  Speaker 2: she died, and then a month later we were in
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: a global pandemic. But back all that up, I have
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: this mindset of all gas, no breaks. The marathon continues.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: I'm from Los Angeles. Nipsey Hustle had just passed away
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: back in March. I had a pre launch a birth
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: birthday of after Unicorn with these women On April twenty eighth,
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  Speaker 2: and I told them, look, I'm building something where we're
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: going to support each other and the marathon's going to continue.
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  Speaker 2: That was before all this tragedy was getting ready to
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: happen in my life. But I had already poured in
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: these women to say, this is what we're building. We're
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: building this movement. So what they did is that they
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: pushed this movement with me, and so I the movement.
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  Speaker 2: I just want to be very clear. The movement started
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: when we launched after Unicorn tifty had us jumped on
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  Speaker 2: board in July, Alicia Keys jumped on board, Cherry Shepper
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: on it. And when I say jumped on board, I
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: would go on their comments and I would comment and say,
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'll go on a post and I would
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: comment and say, hey, have you ever seen after Unicorn?
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  Speaker 2: Before I created a brand of women of color who
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: hustled follow the movement, and so they would click over
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: on my page. They would see what we were doing,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: how I was highlighting other women, and they were like, oh,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: this is something I could rock with. And it's been
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: organic like that from the beginning. We came out the
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: gates with the flags going. It literally was a marathon.
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  Speaker 2: It was a whole race happening.
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: I love it. I love the fact that you know
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: is unique. But it was it galvanized people and that
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: galvil because people always ask me about marketing and they
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: always ask them about angle and branding. That you were
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: able to captivate people based on an idea of motivation, uplift.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: We could do this together, you know, want all be
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: all dad thought process. Where did they come from?
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: I would say it was definitely instilled from me, from
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: my parents, my mom and my dad and my uncles.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: So it was very heartbreaking when those two uncles passed away.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: My grandmother, my family, my family. My name is April Showers,
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: so I was purposely named April Showers and I wasn't
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: as a real singer. I mean, I think I'm a
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: great dancer, but it's like this girl was destined to
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: be something that.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: I think, why you think you're a great dancer. You
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: don't throw that out on my show and say you
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: think you a great because you put the word thank
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: you a great dancer and you put the word great
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: and think together, okay and stop.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: I'm a great dancer and everybody know it except except
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: my kids.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: There you go. I was wonder who was judging? You
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: think it's the kids. That's right. I've been there. I've
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: been there. Because that will throw doubt in you. Your
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: kids will you are great. You're a great motivator, You're
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: a great entrepreneur. Now when it comes to your dancing,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: that's when your kids put that little doubt in your mind. Yeah,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: which is always good. You need to be humbled by somebody.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they definitely humble me.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Now the whole concept of because this is a video
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: interview but it's gonna be in for audio. I'm seeing
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: all these great different unicorns in the background. You have
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: a unicorn T shirt that you're wearing. Talk about the
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: development of the of these concepts.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: So one of the first things you said on the
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: intro is I'm the first black woman to have a
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: fully licensed character. Brandon Major retail. It is a mouthful,
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: and most people, ninety nine point nine percent of the
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: world will be like, what the heck does that mean?
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: So I'm basically missus Walt Disney. I am the creator
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: of a character brand like Mickey Mouse, like the Star
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Wars characters, Elmo, Sesame Street. I am the creator. The
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: products of Afri Unicorn sit on the shelves next to
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: those legacy iconic brands. So the way that I got
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: into is a lot of people think I'm sitting here
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: manufacturing all these products that have this huge warehouse as
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: a licensee. I do not have license or I do
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: not have any inventory. What I have as partners that
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: helped me manufacture these products. So in twenty twenty twenty
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  Speaker 2: one August, because of the movement, there was a video
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: that went viral of a little girl wearing an afric
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  Speaker 2: Unicorn shirt. Somebody who walked by her and said, I
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: love your hair. With all the confidence in the world,
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: she said, thanks, thank you, It's an afro. Everyone shared
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: it on all platforms, from Tina Knowles, Beyonce's mom, and
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: then Oprah Daily shared it, and then Oprah Daily shared it.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: The comments were flooded with that's afric Unicorn's baby, that's
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Africanuncorn's shirt. And then a buyer at Walmart saw it.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: A buyer Walmart saw the comments, looked up after Unicorn
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: and said, I think this is something we want to
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: bring into our stores as a licensed character. So she
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: reached out to me, sent an email and said, Afri
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Unicorn ex Walmart collaboration, would you consider bringing in Afro
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: Unicorn into party supplies?
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Okay, okay, okay, where were you at emotionally now, because
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: I'm assuming that you had trademarked afro Unicorn, right, Okay,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: so you knew to do dilages on that end and
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: then but when you were putting this on social media,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: was the marketing or the product aspect of taking this
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: to store branding anywhere in your mind prior to Walmart
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: contacting you?
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: So the thought process in my mind, I talk a
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: lot about visualization and seeing things before they happen, but
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: not always trying to figure out all the details of it.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: The thought process I had met in April of twenty
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: nineteen was the African and Korna is going to be
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: a household name in the worldwide brand. I used to
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: say it all the time, so I knew that eventually
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: it was going to get out to the world. But
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: like the rest of the world ninety eight ninety nine
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: percent of the world, I didn't know about licensing. I
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: thought that I have to sell Afro Unicorn to like
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: a Hasburrow, or at one point I thought I had
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: to sell it to Diddy. I'm not I mean seriously,
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: I just thought I was going to have to sell
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: it to somebody who knew how to get it into
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: mass retail. I didn't think because I didn't know. You
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: only know what you know, So I didn't know that
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: the little girl from south central Los Angeles could be
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: the person to still sit in the C suite and
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: get it out to be a household name and a
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: worldwide brand. But I always knew it would be I
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: just didn't know how well.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: This is impressive because of the fact that you know,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: there's so many clients and so many people in this
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: business want to get in worldmart, and the big fear
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: is being able to handle the requests. Now you're the
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: licensing business. You clearly explained to as Rashall, I'm not
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: making anything. I don't have a warehouse storing product. I
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: licensed my brand through other people walk us through that step.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: When the buyer at Walmart reached out to me and
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: we set up the first call, she told me that
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: she wanted me to meet with two other licensees. At
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: the time, I just didn't say that that language. She
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: just told me the name of the two companies that
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: I can potentially interview to see if I wanted them
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: to create the party supply line. Because at this point
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: I think now, I think she already knew I'm bringing
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: this in to Walmart, and we just got to figure
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: out who was going to help us bring it in.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: And the how.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: The way that it works is that, like number one,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: you have to trademark. So because I knew, oh yes,
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: the first thing that I did before I started out
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: for Unicorn was to get it registered, or at least
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: apply to get the trademark registered. Because I knew, based
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: off of previous businesses that I run, that I wanted
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: to build this one to sell. Read a lot of
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: books about it, and I knew that I wanted to
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: build it to sell. So the first thing I did
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: was make sure I got to registered. Second thing I
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: did was make sure I had an accountant. I had
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: no money but I wanted her to count all the
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: pennies and make sure they was all there because I
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: have a fear of going to prison and I didn't
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: want to do that. So I knew. I knew that
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: it was going to be big, and so before it
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: got too big, I need to make sure all the
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: ducks were in order. So I trademarked, I made sure
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: that I had the right accountant, and then I got
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: an attorney on board. But I do have a little
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: tip we could insert right here. I went through legal
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: Zoom originally to get my trademark. The problem is legal
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Zoom cannot respond. Only an attorney can respond if they
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: come back with some questions. So you should just always
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: start with the attorney. To start with the trademark attorney
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: because they are required to respond to whatever they submitted.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: So that's what the that I learned through this journey
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: because I had to get a lot of classes, a
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: lot of trademarks along the way.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: But again, you're doing it the right way because again,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: you know, you put together a business model, a business plan.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: You shut I needed legal Bam check that out, re shot,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: I needed a bookkeeper, slash a county check that out
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: because when it starts happening. You don't want to be scrambling,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: and so many people start scrambling. But you sit down
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: and and it's so so much of a vision of
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: Walmart just called me, I need to get my act together. No,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: it was before Walmart.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: No, because that's where people mess up. Because I have
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: a saying, if you stay ready, you ain't got to
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: get ready. I took it from sugar Free. No, if
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Walmart would have called me, I would have missed the opportunity.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: If I didn't already have my stuff trademark, if I
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: didn't already have an accounting in place, if I didn't
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: already have an attorney that I knew, I would have
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: missed opportunity. I would have been trying to scramble and
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: grab and do all of this, and I would have
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: missed opportunity. So no, day one, you brought up something
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: that triggered me, and I forgot before even all of this.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: While I was waiting for the trademark, I went out
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: on upwork and found someone to help me write a
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: business plan. I gave her the idea of what I had,
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: and then she did all the research to tell me
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: who were my competitors what were my strengths, what was
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: my weaknesses, what were the threats, what were the opportunities?
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Like laid it all out for me, so I had
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: a clear direction going in mind. You no money made,
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: nothing happening, but I knew in order to build a
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: successful business, I needed all of this on the foundation.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: I love the fact that when I sit down and
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: talk about it, because I just had a big beating
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: conversation with a bankrupt and you used tod reshine it.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: If you're come into my office and you don't have
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: a business plan, that's going to be a real short
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: conversation because that means that you have not sat down
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: and got a clear grasp of understanding of what you're
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: trying to do. You just out there operating. No hope this,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: I hope this happened. I hope when the open these
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: doors is going to happen. A business plan, he says,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: is the driver's license to start in your business. And
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: that's why I hop it in front of people all
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: the time, because, like you said, it triggered you in
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: your conversation. But that was the number one thing that
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: really gave you the confidence to be able to get
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: the accountant, the confidence to be able to get the
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: attorney because you knew exactly where you were going.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Correct, correct, absolutely.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Now let's look at that. Now, got the Walmart mentor
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: two potential license sees your license, so you're license licenre
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: and there's a license see right? Yes, okay, cool? They
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: had two of them for you. How did you make
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: it a on which one you wanted to go with?
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: I would win both they both sold.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, how did they work?
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: Well, one handle just like the paper goods, so plates napkins,
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: and then the other one could do plates and napkins
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: as well. But then they also did all the accessories.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: And when we dropped party, this buyer, I love her
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: to death. Her name I can't. I'm not gonna say
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: her name, but I love her. I'm gonna call her BC.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: She she basically brought me into all these categories. So
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: I was going into party, but I had a bouncy ball,
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: I had plush and party. I had a hair bowing party.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: I have fake nails and party. I have rings and party.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: So you're thinking toys cosmetics, these are all different category
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: hair accessories that she put in the party section. So
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: once you see it, then you know the opportunity that
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: can grow further. So I brought them both on because
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: one had, you know, could do the paper that I wanted.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: This other company because they could do those other accessories.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: But then it led to so many categories and the
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: first nine and twelve months I had over forty five licensees.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Well, okay, not to do you know you've been calling,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: you know, go on. You jumped on that. Your brand
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: became Afro Unicorn. Social media influences, celebrity influences took note
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: of what you were trying to do. Now it's time
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: that you're hide in an accountant, you hide their lawyer.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: The lawyer's handling all your contracts with the licensees. Nine,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: the money starts to come in. How do you track
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: the money?
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: How do I attrack the money?
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Well, track the money with your account and how does
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: that work?
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: She does every month she closes out the book, she
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: reconciles everything. She does a profit and law and every
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: single month I get a we do a review. I
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: ended up hiring an agency to collect the royalty payments. Yeah,
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: so they collected and which was good because I get
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: a percentage of the royalty means a percentage of sales, right,
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: but then I also pay the agency, but I get
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: to less in my liability because the agency's collecting the money,
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: so they're getting their money off the top, so then
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: I get like less of that. Whatever that percentage is,
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: whether it's ten to twenty percent, I'm getting less of that.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: So now I'm not that the tax liability is not
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: as great as it would have been at one hundred
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: and then me paying them so. And it also just
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: helps to keep track of everything that is happening. And
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: they keep an accounting record too of each licensee, how
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: much the pos were, what's my percentage? And how much
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: is due to me?
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Wow, let's talk about you as an individual. You know,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: I will tell you I'm impressed. I'm impressed with your story.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: It's not a lucky story. It's a planning store. And
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: that's why I like about it, because you know, you
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: you sit around somebody to tell you an idea and
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: then you go along the way. But everything was a
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: business plan out there was a thought procesland out. Now
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: in your bio, they said age of nineteen you knew
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: you wanted to be an entrepreneur.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, age of nineteen is when I actually went into
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: gear with it. But I knew I was going to
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: be a business owner at fourteen years old, the age.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: Of how how just how how just asking? You know,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: I thought I was gonna be a basketball player. I
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: thought I was gonna be a football player. You know,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: an entrepreneur, young African American girl. Where they were your
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: parents entrepreneurs, where you where you had mentors, you saw
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: they were entrepreneurs. What sparked that trigger point in your
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: head to say entrepreneurship, business owner, small business owner at
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: fourteen and you eventually purshoot it at ninety.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: It was subconsciously. Both of my parents worked for the state.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: They had they government jobs. I just discovered this in
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: the last year that my father, though used to hustle
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: aze a mechanic on the side. So every Saturday morning
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: cars were filled up down our long driveway.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Yoh, he was shade treated mechanic.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: Yes, I didn't realize that. So doing multiple interviews, I
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: was like, no, my parents weren't entrepreneurs, this and that.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: But I thought about it, I'm like, no, Daddy used
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: to have those cars lined up every single Saturday. So
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: the entrepreneurial spirit was there. I guess it's also because
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: my dad was also that guy throughout my life, like
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: you sure you don't want to get a government job.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: You gotta got your pinshit, you gotta have this. So
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: I kind of didn't even look at him as being
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: that guy because he was always trying to make sure
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: I had some type of security. But when I think
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: about it, I think it was there. The also one
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: thing my mother did, and hopefully my foundation will mirror this,
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: my mother made sure that I experienced life out of
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: south central Los Angeles. Lifestyle matters for you to be
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: able to visualize and to see there's other opportunities out there.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: So I don't care if we were going out to eat,
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: going to the movies, we were being Beverly Hills, Palisades,
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: Rolling Hills. My mom kept me in Culver City. She
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: always kept me out of the inter city. So at
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: a young age, I realized that the way to make
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: that kind of money, to afford that type of house,
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: or to live in that type of neighborhood was to
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: be your own boss.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Wow April shouts Wow fro Unicorn April beautiful name by
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: the way, as over twenty five product categories, including books, bedding, haircare,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: poise supplies, and forty five five licensed partners world wide.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: Does that scare you?
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: It motivates me.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Now because all you want to do was just get domestic.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: No, I say, if you're grumba, be a household named
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: the worldwide brand from day one.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: You just too much for me, April. You know, you know,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: let me ask you this now, because you're a special.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: Now I could see why your friend called you a unicorn.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: You know, because people like you that come into my
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: life and I and some people might say, well, show
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: you're a visionary. But I don't see that because I'm
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: just grinding you know what I'm saying. But you're unique
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: because you've done things because I've had businesses. I didn't
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: have to lawyer up front, I didn't have to account upfront.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: I was just happy to be in business. So I
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: made the mistakes that you sought not to make the mistakes.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: I understand trademarking the fact that worldwide that you can
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: go to London, England, or go to Canada, or you
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: can go to Australia, or you can go to Brazil,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: you go to Mexico and you could probably see your products.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: Correct, it's coming. We have the capabilities to get it there.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: But it's coming. So we're in Canada right now, but
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: we were working to get I want to get into
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: the continent of Africa first.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Wow, and that's impressive. So what's next for Afro Unicorn April.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Next is content. So we just dropped the Miss April
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: l We dropped the trailer for the Miss April's Crown
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: and Bookstore.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: We are that, as you said, Miss April Crown.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: Crown okay and bookstore.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Okay, explain that to me.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: So it's the show is based off of the character
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: of Miss April, who has this Crown shop and affirmation
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: shop with a magical mirror, an affirming mirror and her
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: best the Magical who is a Unicorn puppet and Magical
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: has a glow where Magical can see into the future
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: of how your story ends. In this community, I have
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: four young entrepreneurs, young little girls between the ages of
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: seven and ten who own their own businesses. One has
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: a bakery, there's a beauty salon, a furniture shop, and
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: a fashion store. Problems come up in business, so when
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: they're dealing with their customers and things come up, they
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: come to Miss April to get affirmed. Well. First to
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: tell Miss April the problem. Then Miss April tells them,
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: we have to get into the right mindset. Let's go
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: to the affirmation era. The affirmation mirror then affirms to
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: them what they need to know for the day. They're like, okay,
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: I get the affirmation, but I don't see how this
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: is gonna work out because I got this, this, this, this, this.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: The Magical comes with her globe and Magical's like, well,
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: I see it working out perfectly for you. Clearly you
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: see this working out. And they're like, what, that's me
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: and that's how it's gonna work out. And they're like, okay, well,
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: let me go back to my shop and let me
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: just keep on my journey knowing that I know the
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: end is going to work out. So in the end
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: it works out. They come back to the shop, they
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: tell me a Magical, Magical, Miss April, it worked out.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: We know it would, and we crown them.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: That's beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Now that's in the works now,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: production work.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: It's in pre production. Now. We just dropped the trailer,
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: but it's in pre production.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: We'll production that we see that show. Where will we
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: see that show?
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: So right now is going to be available on YouTube,
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: but so funny. We dropped the trailer and people are
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: already messaging me saying, why are you taking this to YouTube?
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: Why is there anyone buying it? I'm like, well, let's talk,
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: let's have a conversation.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Right right. Well, you know, oblation because of independent programming,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: YouTube streaming and all that, you can't you don't have
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: to wait on anybody. And you've already shown what your
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: brand that you just put it out there. You have
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: control of it. You put it out there and let
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: the general public set the markers of excitement. That's what happened.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: You put it out there. You just be in April,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: which I love about you just be in April. Now
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: that that is a motivating quality that I think that
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: naturally comes across with your personality. Natural comes across when
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: the ideas come to you, when people come to you
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: for advice, What are some of the things or is
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: it a couple of things or is the motivating tools
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: you immediately give them? April.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: I subscribe to a book called The Secret, The Game
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: of Life and How to Play It? The Who not How?
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: I believe in asking for what you want and then
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: believing that you're going to receive it. But have a
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: clear focus on what the end result looks like, and
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: then you don't worry about how it's going to happen.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: You just laser being on how the end is going
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: to be. I was just made aware, which I gotta
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: read this story of mister Walt Disney, since I brought
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: him up before. He his company was going down several times,
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: but he already knew how big it was going to be.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: So the other part was just semantics. It's like, Okay,
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: we's got it. I mean, it's gonna connect the dots
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: and it's gonna figure it out. But I already know
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: that Walt Disney is gonna be the largest brand in
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: the world. He never once doubted to say. I don't
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: think this is gonna work out. I'm back in the red.
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: I just need to pull out real entrepreneurs like me,
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: real moguls like me, people who are going to change
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: the game, change the universe, leave a legacy. They don't quit.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: So I tell my fellow entrepreneurs, you gotta show up
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: every day. You gotta be consistent, and you have to
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: be willing not to quit, because I'm afraid of quitting before.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: It terrifies me to know that I was just about
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: to turn the corner before Walmart called me to know
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: I was just about to turn the corner before I
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: got this call. I just got to keep turning these
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: corners to see what's behind them.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: I love it. I love it Afro you the Corner
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: brand designed to represent the uniqueness of women and children
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: of color that's truly diverse and inclusive fashion April Showers.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: You know, I always do these shows, and the blessing
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: is I always learn something from them. I've learned motivation
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: from you. I've learned keep the faith. I've learned that
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: don't be intimidated when you look around that corner, because
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: all you see is opportunity, April, That's all you see,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: and you want to look around that corner. A lot
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: of people fear. You've also told me that when tragedy
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: or dark moments happened, don't stop understand and the importance
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: of respecting that moment, dealing with that moment, but don't
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: let that sidetrack you from the mission. And that's why
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: we're on this call today, is that you have exemplified
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: every quality that I like to talk about on Money
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Making Conversation Masterclass. And I always tell people to leave
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: with your gifts. You're not only leaving with your gifts,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: you promote them, and you're not only promoting them, but
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: you're sharing them and you are managing your life. You're
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: a great dancer. You're out there on a social scene.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: You drop your ball off at LSU Go Tigers and
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: guess what I got one mode You're gonna get right
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: And my friend afro Unicorn. Now when I walk in
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: this door, I know you are the first black licenseee
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: in a major retail market. Congratulations.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. Can I tell them where
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: to find me?
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: Just ma'am?
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: Do you think you can find me at got April
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: Showers on social media? I am April Showers is my
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: website at Afrinicorn Undersquare Official and afrinacorn dot com. Thank
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: you so much for having me.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: This has been another edition of Moneymaking Conversation Masterclass hosted
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: by me Rushaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests on
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: the show today and thank you our listening to the
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: I want to be a guest on the show, visit
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is Moneymaking conversation.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: Join us next week and remember to always leave with
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: your gifts. Keep winning,