INVESTFEST 8.7.22 QUIANA WATSON, MILANO, ANGELA YEE, AND KIM PAIGE

QUIANA WATSON:

 2% of women owned businesses make 1 million or more.

FIRESIDE CHAT:

QUIANA WATSON, MILANO, ANGELA YEE AND KIM PAIGE.

MILANO OWNER OF MILANO DE ROUGHE

ANGELA YEE OF BREAKFAST CLUB

KIM PAIGE

QUIANA: HOW DID YOU OVERCOME ADVERSITY TO BUILD MILANO?

MILANO: i come from the bottom. father in jail. single parent home. 10.5 came home, went back to jail. watched her become a nurse. I can do it too, follow her dreams. adversity and obstacles were meant to overcame. I was making money but wasn't seeing it.

I saw dad, he said what's your process. when you seel out, how long to replenish your inventory? 2 weeks.

he said that's your issue in those 2 weeks you have no money coming in. 

my goal was to never sell out.

you love us so much, thank you so much.

another adversity. i want to scale my business. started with business wanted to go to sweatsuits. if you get me these 12k. mom didnt have it. 5 minutes later she put a check on my lap. i told her i paid her back. i paid her back times 300. 

she is milano de roughe coo. challenges and obstacles are to be overcome. ask God what is this meant to teach me? and let it help you grow.

QUIANA: ANGELA YEE, YOU HAVE A HAIR LINE, 

WHAT ADVICE YOU SAY IF THEY ARE READY TO LAUNCH ANOTHER BUSINESS?

ANGELA: DO YOUR research. look at if its brick and mortar, is this the best location? #1 reason they don't work out is because of location. how can i fund this business? invest in yourself. It's hard to ask people to invest in you if you haven't invested in yourself. 

I started really small. grand ideas, and we want everything happen at once. 

she started i

I started with a juice bar. i partnered with (?). I looked at locations. it was near a school, near a train, did a lot of research. I looked at the overhead. talk to somebody that can mentor you, that can save you a lot of mistakes and mistakes can be costly. we can get discouraged if things don't work out. those lessons can be super valuable too. a life lesson, this is what i need to do moving forward.

we get stuck on how we wanted things to be. fresh juice I thought it was gonna be online. cost of shipping was high, refrigerated. if they weren't home the juice would go bad if they didn't pick it up in time. I shifted things around and made it work. some ppl in your life you have to cut off because they don't have your best interest. 

for me and my mental health and stop saying yes to everybody and say yes to me and what I have to do.

QUIANA: i like what you said release yourself of people that no longer serve you. 

you raised 25 million i funding. talk about, give business owners on how to get funding to grow their business.

25 mil in the bank is a lot of money. 4 mil in debt. I seen so much money because restaurant industry is hardest industry I've ever been in. who got service based, consumer facing business? in order to get investors to be interested. you gotta build something so irresistible. people love you, the story, the idea of what you are selling. organic about who you are, what your brand story is. 

I never had to knock on someone's door. head in the book. from the marketing, the story, to keeping the customers happy. i got the option I'm gonna work with you, I'm not gonna work with you. 

a lot of people throw money at me. I had to be intentional about how to grow my business. 

I am gonna build a billion dollar brand. my after did 22 years in prison. idk what it feels to be in a 2 parent household. Jamaican parents to see me make it and not have to struggle.

idea of getting money from someone else was scary. this is my business. You gotta give up a piece of your business for someone else's dollar. I got into a depression. I worked so hard 16 hours a day, losing weight, having people wanting to sue me. now I'm giving you a piece? you go further together. 

0% of 0 is 0. I gotta get with the money team, get with people that have already won. so I can sit butt-naked with a  cocktail on the beach. 

We are all creatives. I know my ministry. I'm a creative genius. but money and structure that's boring to me. but you hire people that are smarter than you to do those things. instead focus on the things you love to do. I promoted my CRO to President, he's my money man. he shows me the numbers and charts and I say yes no. 

QUIANA: stick to whatever your genius is and hire people for the other things. that's what I got from it.

I love me some real estate.

Milan, purchased 2.1 mil commercial property. gifted her son a property. share what you did to prepare, some tips to give. small retail space and you already to buy your own commercial building.

2021 I had my son. already a millionaire, dream car, I had my store. I didn't have ownership. I was like what can I leave my baby? inspire me to think differently. I bought my first property. the new store. 

2nd property for mom and sister. I want them to win as well. son's first birthday i gifted him a property and put it in his trust. 

I looked for space for warehouse i looked in Dallas, Philadelphia. I've been looking since January. I met Quiana because she was my realtor. I've been preparing for this. time to close, bank wasn't ready. but god prepared me all along. i closed 2.1 million in cash. 

I started Milano with 2 sweatshirts with 2. I wore one, I sold the other one. then bought 5. aint nothing stopping ya'll but ya'll. now we are focused on refinancing. I can decide who I want to go with. 

KIM: and you don't gotta pay the interest now that you paid in cash. 

QUIANA: you basically own all of Brooklyn. purchased a property and you house hack. and someone else paid your mortgage while

brownstone in Bed Stuy. those are expensive. 2 family brownstone because this will help me pay my mortage. paid it early. 985k was first house about 8 years ago, but worth double that now.

Rent was paid by tenant. paid that off early. also during that time, bought 3 different properties in Detroit. sometimes we feel like Brooklyn is expensive. sometimes those deals are not gonna be in your backyard. Detroit start at a 1,000. houses need works. find contractors that can do that. flip that and buy something else.

condo in waterfront in Williamsburg. don't buy thing that has HOA fee. this was great purchase. as is, never paid any money to fix it up. Tenant email the association and they fix it. rents for 4k a month and never been vacant. so that's gonna up in value. bought it 2.5 went up 215k and i paid it off already. so every month is money in my pocket. 

bought another 2 family house, doing a full gut renovation. I had a place to live. so I didn't have to move into that right away. return that you get in Brooklyn is greater than in other places.

Catskills, Airbnb got it. and be able to use it whenever I want to.

next week, closing on 30 unit building. and that one, I'm in contract for that. all female, 2 of my friends, all female team to work on this. I'm really excited about that. 

10 years ago I was always broke. its just sitting there, my money has to work and make me more money. Don't hoard it. 

QUIANA: Happy  4 Anniversary Kim Paige. You own a condo, townhome, commercial building, Tell us about your Real Estate!

KIM: GOT A LOT OF REAL ESATE. I'M IN REAL ESATE SCHOOL RIGHT NOW! HALF OF IT I DONT UNDERSTAND. I OWN, 2 PART OF IT. 

SLUTTY VEGAN, HEADQUARTERS FOR 1.4  MILLION. EDGEWOOD AREA THAT 1.4 IS GONNA TRIPPLE IN THE NEXT 3 YEARS. AND THEY GOT PROPERTIES FOR SALE. 

70% I PURCHASE. TO 30% PERCENT I LEASE. I PUT MY MONEY IN THE GROUND. IF AT ANY POINT, PEOPLE WANT TO STOP, I OWN THE LAND, I OWN THE HOUSE AND I'M ALWAYS GONNA BE GOOD. I' NOT BANKING ON SLUTTY VEGAN BUILDING A PORFOLIO. 

IF I SEEL MY COMPAY, YOU GOTTA BUY THE BRAND AND YOU GOTTA BUY THE REAL ESATE. I get to go into food insecurity areas, even if its vegan comfort food. 

I own a building in Alabama. bought a block of houses and repairing them right now.

I'm not an expert. every time I get money, I buy a house. I do speaking engagements. every dollar goes to a deposit on a house. find you a lender, great realtor, go on Zillow, real estate,com. Make your money work for you. 

In 10 years I'm gonna be good. whether real estate, slutty vegan, I'll be good 

QUIANA: ONLY 88% make 100lk a year. (not sure if this is right)

MILAN: Don't get comfortable. she doesn't know everything about RE. she's in RE SCHOOL. always know that there is a next level. once you dream, make one dream a reality. I didn't have a mentor. i had to figure this out on my own. I'm still figuring it out. I write down my to do list. I go to sleep with a goal and wake up with a purpose. everyday idk how I'm gonna get it done but I'm gonna get it done. 

Women are club, I created that for that. any moms I here? your life isn't over, it just begun. make your dreams a reality. you got someone looking up to you. everything i truly love into Mila. fashion show every year. Nov 11th in Atlanta. so make sure you get a ticket. 

QUIANA; You employ a lot of women. get past those 6 figures. how do we get there?

Intentional with who you surround yourself with. when i was younger, it was about having a  good time. What are my investment? Let's prepare for the future? people that are doing things with their life. make sure we do all those things. make a phone call, but not annoying. bring something to the table.

Come to me with a real plan (not just give me money for this).

I meet people that have different skill sets. i just formed LLC with 2 friends. documentarian, producer, director. other had 2 non profits. we talk about ideas, we are not gossiping. 

QUIANA: SHE PAID FOR LLC FOR A GRADUATING CLASS AND MAKE THEM START IT IN 30 DAYS. 

KIM: you can led someone to water but you can't lead them to drink. good to be youngest speaker. 13 years later. I don't remember my commencement. so I wanted to make it memorable. I'm nowhere near where I want to be. They are not ready when I'm ready to give them opportunities. 

I gave these students 30 days to get the LLC. if you can on 31st day you not gonna get it. 714 students out of 820 students really came and got the LLC. which is a big deal. (Quiana said 140)

You can be hussle man. 9 to 5 and still be an entrepreneur at the same time. still use LLC to put your cell phone in your business, cable, assets that you have. it made me feel good. out of 700 plus there will be at least 100 that build a billion dollar business. So I'm happy to be a part of that. 

KIM: I JUST HAD A BABY 3 WEEKS AGO. Mom of 2. Fiancé . friend. sister. daughter. PROVIDER. A LOVER, BEING A RESOURCE. NOT HAVING TO COMPROMISE ANY OF THOSE. GIVE SOME TO EACH OF THOSE THINGS.  You can be a good mom and a good entrepreneur. 

QUIANA: ANY ADVICE?

KIM: OWN THE ROOM! NO ONE KNOWS HOW MUCH IS IN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, THEY DONT KNOW YOUR PROBLEMS. OWN EACH ROOM YOU ARE IN AND PEOPLE WILL BE DRAWN TO YOUR CONFIDENCE.

LUNCH, BACK AT 2:45PM