What are you worth? Do you know your personal worth, your business value? First of all, let's deal with self-esteem, which is what most people have issues with. Kanye West, in his song, "It All Falls Down," addresses this topic very well in dealing with the issue of how we as African-Americans base our self-worth on material things such as cars, clothes and jewelry - things that don't determine the value of a person.

Oh, no! Did I say that in the "bling-bling" era of hip-hop? Well, according to top nuclear physicists, the human anatomy (mind & body) has enough thermal nuclear energy to operate a nuclear power plant for about a week. This would make us worth 85 million dollars. So without having a dime to your name you are already the equivalent of a Fortune 1000 company based on potential alone.

It is a travesty that the mass populace is not aware of this, thereby living their lives trying to fit in by overextending themselves and living beyond their means, especially here in the ATL. Atlanta ranks number one in the country in bankruptcies and foreclosures. We could turn this around if we would take the time to build a sure foundation and take proper inventory of our lives.

Now let's examine the worth of our community versus that of other communities. To those of you who say you don't care about what anyone else is doing, I remind you that one of the principle ways to obtain power is to gauge your progress not by your peers but by those who have power. This is not the white man's world. Asians do not have a monopoly on intellect and people of Arab descent are not the most cunning in business.

We as a people, though, have isolated ourselves to religion, sports and entertainment, despite the founders of civilization. We knew that the earth was round before Columbus, that the sun was the center of the universe before Galileo, and about the laws of relativity before Einstein.

More interesting to note is that the Dogon tribe in central Africa told European scientists about the Sirius star constellation in 1947 long before they "discovered" it in 1970. In essence, we cannot continue to start our history as slaves brought here in 1619 but as the original kings, queens, priests and inventors from Africa.

Today, as a people we generate over 700 billion dollars annually, yet we control no markets in any industry. We forever remain consumers in a capitalistic system, which must change if we are to show the world who we really are. As DMX raps about on his album, "They don't know who we be."

Other communities bond together to achieve a common objective, which is economic freedom. We have forgotten the tie that binds all of us together, which is that the majority of us came here in slave ships and were robbed of our language, our culture, and our God. We fought to overcome slavery and its effects. We fought to overcome Jim Crow. Now, instead of confronting problems in our community head on, we find some sort of escapism – be it religion, entertainment or the pursuit of things to take our mind off our condition.

Today we suffer from poor self-esteem, which leads to bad spending habits, wrong choices in relationships, lack of faith in ourselves and the lack of courage to go into business. We have not learned that success is not so much in succeeding but also in not giving up when we face opposition.

First, after you choose a career path you must begin to develop a pattern of planned spending and saving. Most of us buy on impulse, which leads us to having more month than money. Other ethnic groups save about 27% of their yearly income compared to 4% for African-Americans.

When building your portfolio you should include stocks, bonds, mutual funds, insurance, saving and checking accounts. You should have long- and short-term financial and educational goals while not judging your progress by those around you. You are a corporation unto yourself. Every corporation has a president (you), a mission statement (your goals & objectives), and a vision (where you want to go in life). You should, like a corporation, take quarterly inventory of your life to see if you are on track and, if something is wrong, correct it.

Also, properly research and develop your time, talents and resources. Develop proper time management skills when it comes to balancing work, rest and entertainment. In this age of mergers and acquisitions, we must become diversified and build multiple streams of income. We must learn the credit game and profit from it. We should master at least three languages, something that has become a necessity in order to do business in today's world. Doing so helps you create value for yourself and your community.

In the ever-increasing global economy and the Internet, the world is becoming smaller and smaller between first world nations. At the same time, vast opportunities await in underdeveloped nations that make up 80% of the world's population but only have access to 15% of the phone lines in the world.

We have the opportunity to bridge the gap in technology by becoming involved in import/export with Africa, the Caribbean and South America. Again, these are the things that will create value for us as individuals and as a community. We have not time to waste as we bridge the digital divide to bring about true equality within our diversity.

Whether you are an artist, publisher, entrepreneur, activist, author or athlete, you need to have your personal and business life planned and organized to be effective in building value for yourself and your community. We have to network more effectively with one another in order to create a greater net worth amongst ourselves. As the proverb says, you become like the five people you surround yourself with. The question is, are you surrounded by winners or losers - people with a vision or people who are just dreaming?

Dreams are for people that sleep. We must practice the art of sleep deprivation. Your most valuable asset is your time, so don't allow anyone to waste it. What you do with your time determines who and what you become because in life, you don't get what you want - you get what you become.

Here in the ATL awaits endless opportunities for us if we desire them bad enough. This can become the new Manhattan or Beverly Hills. In order for this happen, we must be willing to step up to the plate in every area of our existence by becoming the best we can be and not settling for less.

Don't let other people keep you in a box. You have unlimited potential and a great purpose in life. The question is will you do whatever it takes to reach your goal and not make excuses? We all have horror stories from the past that we can let hinder us. The solution is not to let past failures dictate future possibilities. A lot of us stop loving because we have been hurt or stop believing in ourselves because we had a set back.

You can overcome all that comes your way by planning your work and working your plan. This will help to counter the effects of Murphy's Law. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. In these times of fear and uncertainty that have been brought on because of 9-11, 7-7, catastrophic hurricanes and a sluggish economy, we must not become passive but aggressive. Those who are aggressive in hard times prosper in good times. Let's become an example to future generations by showing our resolve and will to win despite the odds. We will then show our real value and prove to the world "who we be."

bbeajc@yahoo.com

© October 2005 By Afromerica