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Episode 24: Having Each Other’s Backs in Entrepreneurship – with Rashard and Adaeze Duncan
210 Plays7 years ago
What happens when the person you are married to has entrepreneurial dreams, hates that cubicle life and has plans and ideas that go WAY beyond the 9-5 grind? It can be tough, to say the least. Without respect and understanding of each other’s perspective, things can go sideways in a relationship very quickly.
But it does not have to be that way. In our most recent episode, we explore the wild and wildly fruitful entrepreneurial path of Rashard and Adaeze Duncan. They have their hands in real estate, network marketing, an educational platform, and other projects. We call them a power couple, and that’s pretty accurate.
You can guess – it wasn’t always smooth sailing. Rashard took one look at the cubicle life after college and ran the other way. Adaeze was happy and comfortable in her job teaching. Until she wasn’t.
They have so much to teach about risk taking and having each other’s backs as a couple.
What You’ll Learn in this Episode:
- How to maintain a positive relationship when one is a risk-taker and one is risk-averse
- Building a career around your strengths, rather than jumping at the first and/or safest opportunity
- What to look for and pitfalls to avoid in network marketing
- How to thrive in a two entrepreneur family
- Managing multiple income projects and income streams
- Modeling entrepreneurship to your kids
- Understanding your “number” – what you need to earn in a month to leave your 9-5
- Finding mentors who demonstrate the results you are looking for
- The opportunities open to you when you realize you are allergic to cubicles
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Uncommon Living
00:00:02
Speaker
Everyone dreams about living an uncommon life, but how we define that dream is very different for each of us. And for most, it's a lifelong pursuit. Welcome to the Uncommon Life Project podcast. We're going to introduce you to people who are living that life or enjoying the journey to get there. We're going to also give you some tools, tricks, and tips for starting or accelerating your own efforts to live an uncommon life.
00:00:27
Speaker
a life worth celebrating and savoring. Please welcome your hosts, Brian Dewhurst and Philip Ramsey.
00:00:34
Speaker
Welcome. I'm super excited about
Meet Rashard and Adeze Duncan
00:00:36
Speaker
the show today. We've got a power couple. I think they're a power couple on the podcast today. Rashard and Adaze Duncan. What would describe them as a power couple? What defines a power couple? I think they have a healthy marriage. They work together in their business. They treat people. I've just been so impressed with the way they treat people and interact with others.
00:00:58
Speaker
Um, yeah, they're just dynamic. Okay. So if somebody doesn't work together with your, with your spouse, you can't be a power couple.
00:01:07
Speaker
Not true. Welcome to the show, Richard and Adeze. We are really excited you guys are with us. You guys got so much story to unpack.
Adeze's Early Life and Challenges
00:01:18
Speaker
You are listening to the Uncommon Life Project, and you two have an Uncommon Life, hence the reason why you have a microphone in front of you. Welcome to the show. Wow, thank you so much for having us. We're glad to be here. Yes, really exciting.
00:01:33
Speaker
All right. I just want to jump right into it. Tell us in your life when it was common or you would say it was common or define common. Maybe Rashard, you don't have that story. Uh, maybe Adeza you do or vice versa. Let's start right in there. Yeah, that was about a year ago. Um, it was definitely common for me. I, I just, I lived the normal life that I was trained to live. Um, I went to school, got a good job.
00:02:00
Speaker
You know, I got married, had lots of kids, and then I just pretty much was in the rat race. I would just go to work. I was actually a high school teacher here in Des Moines. And were you married to Rashard? I was married. I love that. I mean, I was very traditional all the way. In fact, even our meeting, well, our meeting was probably uncommon, but I met him.
00:02:27
Speaker
And then, you know, we have kids, so. Nice. Okay. So, Rashard, I know you haven't been, you've kind of been different from a lot of the people in your family. You've told me that. Walk us through kind of where you were at in your life, the way you were looking at the world, and when you met Adaze, you know, and how she was looking at the world.
Rashard's Background and Career Choices
00:02:48
Speaker
Well, you know, I was kind of, you know, I was, I was raised where
00:02:53
Speaker
I watched my mother, she defined entrepreneur. I never seen my mother actually work a job. She always, she was a wedding planner, event planner. People would fly her to different states to decorate. Hair stylist. And hair stylist. And so I never seen her work. When I watched my dad, he worked the same job.
00:03:14
Speaker
30 years for the state, you know, and he was a big advocate on go to college, you know, go to school, go to college. And so I did that. That's what they told me to do. I went to UNI, you know, graduated North High School, went to UNI, University of Tennessee, you know, broke for four years in college. At college, Brian and Philip, that's like the only time
00:03:38
Speaker
you can be broke and it's okay. Like if you're broke and you're not in college, it's going to be a problem. It's been broke for four years. So of course, the moment you graduate, any little bone the world gives you, you're going to take it. So I got this job at this insurance company and it was going to pay me about $38,000 a year and that was in 2003. And this is when it hit me. This is when I began to just rebel against the system because
00:04:03
Speaker
I racked up all this debt and this is my own personal perception and opinion and feeling but I racked up all this debt Went to three interviews at this company And you know because college prepared me how to sell myself, you know what to wear, you know, we're navy blue Because when you interviewed ever blue you're going to be user-friendly. So there you are I wore the navy blue all that stuff man, and they went to three interviews. They gave me the job and
00:04:30
Speaker
And after they gave me the job, they showed me my cubicle. The cubicle of doom we've had a call before. Yeah. Yes. They showed me that cubicle. And literally I said, wait a minute. I just racked up tens of thousands of dollars, four years of my life. And you're about to stick me in a box for eight hours a day.
00:04:53
Speaker
And that is when the shift happened and I just immediately became allergic to boxes. This is not for me. I respectfully declined that job. And as of that moment, I was on my quest to working for myself and being the entrepreneur that I am today. Oh, that's awesome. So you walk out of doors, you walk out of doors and not know anything, but you know that isn't what you want to go to. I knew I did not want that. So then where do you go? Where do you go to that point, right?
00:05:23
Speaker
So what I did was I made a couple phone calls and I've always had a desire to want to serve it and work with youth.
Entrepreneurial Freedom and Mentorship
00:05:31
Speaker
And so I actually ended up becoming an independent
00:05:34
Speaker
I'm an independent contractor and I worked for a counseling agency and I counseled at-risk youth and families. And I did that professionally for about eight years. But I was independent, set my own hours, no nine to five, 1099. I controlled what I wanted to do. And that's where I started. And it was in that process, I began to add two other companies to my portfolio that I started from there.
00:06:00
Speaker
And where's the daisy in all this in the timeline? When do you guys meet? I'll tell you where daisy is. Yeah, tell us. Come on. So the whole QB thing was before me. Like, even when I met Richard, he didn't have a job, like a real job.
00:06:18
Speaker
as I called it. Like when I met him, he actually was working for a moving company. He also had a shoe company that he was running out of his house, you know, and I thought all that was good, but I felt I can't marry you until you have a real job. I'm sure it's a benefit.
00:06:37
Speaker
You know, so when when he finds, I mean, you laugh about that, but that is a real hang up that a lot of people have. So yeah, I need you to have insurance because I was still in college. I was going to school getting my, getting myself together here to come out here and be somebody in this world. And, you know, we're a little bit, he's a little older than me.
00:06:58
Speaker
And he made very good money, but he just didn't have a real job in my mind. You didn't value that in your eyes. Like you thought like that's risky.
00:07:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's unsustainable. I get that. Exactly. It's not, it's unpredictable. You got people, you know, he ran a very successful shoe company out of his house. Um, even he moved over to eBay and actually started selling like these crazy spider jackets on eBay. You know, I'm hustling, hustling over there with, but I didn't realize that that was, I didn't know that was an entrepreneur. I just thought that was,
00:07:33
Speaker
Okay, that's cute. When are you gonna get a real job? When are you gonna get a job where, you know, you clock in and clock out? That's what I was raised seeing, and so that's what I was missing. So I usually get the clock in, clock out, and let's get some benefits, and then you can go ahead and ask me to be your wife. In fact, I knew when I met her that she was the one. Like, I knew that. And after we recorded, when I asked her parents to give her away,
00:08:03
Speaker
They made me swear that I would encourage her and have her to finish college. And that was difficult for me because my perception is different now. Because I feel like college is an employee manufacturing plant. Oh, pre-chipped.
00:08:21
Speaker
Yeah. No, but like, here's the deal. Like what a cool thing at that point that you didn't probably have that hard of a steadfast rule on college, but you were like, okay, if that's what I need to do, come on, let's go. I'll get her to college. I'll do what I gotta do.
00:08:37
Speaker
And I went. I finished. I graduated at Drake. I got my job as a teacher. And this box that he declined, I was so excited. Look at me. I have a real girl now. You got the introduction. Yeah. That's how I felt. You know, I loved my box. I knew that, OK, I go to work at this time. You know, I get off of that time. I work this much. I get paid this much. It was I get benefits. Life is good. You know, that was that was like
00:09:05
Speaker
I've made it. You succeeded. There's so much there because I think that her parents probably wanted to say to you, Richard, make sure she graduate college and goes and just punches the clock. What really they said is just make sure that she graduates college so as soon as Richard realizes this is unsustainable, she'll have something to fall back on. You know what I'm saying? When the reality hits him,
00:09:32
Speaker
then they'll be able to have this degree to fall back on. It's interesting. I like that. That's good. So keep going. So you start teaching Adeze and then Rashard's kind of doing the, you got married and he didn't have a job like the... No, no, no. I could not marry him until he had a job. That was, that was a requirement. A real job. That you said, not your parents. Yeah, this was my requirement. Well, I know
00:09:57
Speaker
I, you know, again, we were traditional in that, like, I know that, you know, I know people these days, they don't really believe in asking parents who are not, but I respect my parents and I'm not saying other people don't, but I respect my parents in this way that I knew that this would be something they would want from him. You know, they're going to pass me on over there and he has to have something to show that he's worthy.
00:10:22
Speaker
These are my words, by the way. Anyhow, so he gets a job. I was so excited. I'm like, finally, now I'm ready to accept his request for my hand. And so when he did, because that was, you know, I'm trying to work on my own parents. I actually, we got married young. I was, I had just turned 21 when I said I do at the altar.
00:10:44
Speaker
So I knew that I had to really kind of work on my parents to let them know, hey, he has a job. Look, we have benefits. Hey, everything is good to go. You can go ahead and cut the rope here for me. He got a job as a counselor and I felt like, okay, now he has a nine to five. He's got mounds of paperwork that he
00:11:02
Speaker
loath, and it's doing all kinds of things to get out of. But nonetheless, it looked like a real job. You know, we now assimilate into the normal family that I expected us to be, where he would work at this time and he'd come home at this time. Same with me.
00:11:20
Speaker
And what she don't realize was all that was just a setup because it was never a nine to five. Like it was, it wasn't, she thought it was, but I had to do that just to get her to relax and breathe. But the reality was I was 1099. It wasn't an actual nine to five job. And so she was happy. I was happy, cool. And here's an interesting story. Like when we first actually met,
00:11:47
Speaker
There was a store called Circuit City that was going out of business. And I share this story because the store is going out of business. I'm a Bluestar power seller on eBay. So I'm thinking, I'm going to go into this store. I'm going to find some things for dirt cheap. I'm going to make some crazy profits. So I put all this stuff in my cart.
00:12:06
Speaker
And I'm literally looking online, seeing how much this stuff costs. And I had about $1,000 worth of stuff in my cart. She's seen $1,000, but I see $4,500. Money signs. Yeah. Exactly. And so I remember us having that moment in the store. I'm like, why are you buying that? We had this dialogue. What is that thing? Why are you buying that thing?
00:12:27
Speaker
She had no clue on the way my mind operated. And that was the moment where I was able to really show her and teach her what this game was. And I share that story because, of course, all that stuff, I could flip all that stuff and literally made about two, three thousand dollars. What did you end up doing, Penny? What did you end up doing?
00:12:47
Speaker
Listen, just to keep peace at that time, I left everything in the store. Oh, wow. Because she didn't understand it. I left everything there. Use that as a teachable moment, though, so that she understood what I was trying to do. Yeah.
00:13:08
Speaker
that's hilarious i think it goes back to your point at first of why they're on the show right the power couple is like that's the unified marriage sometimes when you sacrifice for the other person even when they're not where they're where you're at but like okay i'm gonna meet you where you're at and we're gonna keep moving on together so i think that's really cool story i'm glad you shared that thank you
00:13:27
Speaker
So Rashard, you're doing these things and you're working and you're trying to make your own path, but also have that level of consistency, stability for a day's A.
Building Wealth through Investments
00:13:38
Speaker
Walk our listeners through where you first got introduced to what you're doing now or the profession of what you're doing now. Sure. I was always that type of person where I was very prayerful with looking for mentors, right?
00:13:57
Speaker
I'm a firm believer that, and I don't just call anyone a mentor, you have to have results that I want. You have results that I want, I will listen to what you have to say. You don't have the results that I want, I'm not gonna listen to what you have to say. And so there was a few people that did that, and they began, and one person gave me, they was heavy in real estate. And I remember there was a book that Tony Robbins wrote, and he had interviewed 50 millionaires. See, in college and school, we're taught that if you copy
00:14:26
Speaker
You're in trouble. But in life, success leaves clues. Copy what successful people do. So in this book, Tony Roberts interviewed 50 millionaires and they made their millions in three categories. So it was those three categories right there. Long as I copy and diversify myself in those three areas, game over. First area was real estate. And so, um,
00:14:50
Speaker
eight years now we've had our own real estate company dunking properties llc where we do commercial residential um now we're doing tax property sales etc and then from real estate the second category was precious metals
00:15:06
Speaker
so dealing with the actual metal not paper derivatives the actual metal sold for five six years now i've been actually acquiring physical gold bullion currency grade gold in fact the same gold that government shoes settle debt with other countries and so we have golden insta ball turkey germany and now in the u.s.
00:15:27
Speaker
And the third category, which it took me up until about two years ago to get into that bracket, was the financial markets, BS, stock market, foreign exchange market, cryptocurrency, things of those nature. I found those mentors that gave me that advice, and then they showed me the way to develop my company's
00:15:48
Speaker
Gotcha. Tell me about, cause you talk about mentorship, I guess so cool. And you talk about, you're only going to get a mentor that, that have the results that you want. What were the results that you were looking for that you wanted out of these people? For example, one lady, um, she was a multimillionaire. You walk past her, you would have never known it. It's like the millionaire next door that book, you know? Um, and,
00:16:13
Speaker
She had the she was come time is the greatest currency that we had She had all the time in the world to do whatever first she wanted to do I literally would watch her drive all around the greater Des Moines area collecting rent from people
00:16:28
Speaker
I watched her facilitate transactions. She's the first one that said, hey, get your first duplex. You live in one side, rent out the other. And she was the first person that kind of showed me those roads. But I've seen the lifestyle that she had, completely debt free, no credit debt, no card debt, no mortgage. And so those were the people that poured in to me.
00:16:50
Speaker
at an early age that really gave me that I felt it was a I felt very privileged and honored to have witnessed and have those people posit those seeds into me and that's what kicked me off.
00:17:02
Speaker
So would you say, I'm just going to keep following in that because I go through rabbit trail. So hang on. So would you say the humility that you were seeking or do you think the money or maybe both? It was both. Okay. Both. Yeah, it was both. Um, of course, you know, it's, it's one of those deals where, um, you know, we don't,
00:17:24
Speaker
I don't love or worship money, but it's definitely something that I can do more kingdom work by having those resources. But definitely, man, I just have my mindset on I was not going to work. The traditional system says my wife and I would retire at the age of 65.
00:17:44
Speaker
Okay. And the life expectancy of a human being is 78. So that basically means a traditional way that we would work 50 years to be free for 13 of them. I had an issue with that. And typically, most of the time, people that are working jobs
00:18:03
Speaker
Because of the environment and the politics and all the different things that they're experiencing there are a lot of stress so those last twelve thirteen years you're basically fighting for your health and so i said absolutely not for me and my family we will retire the early age by god's grace.
00:18:21
Speaker
My wife was able to retire 33 and i was able to retire at 37 and we have all the time in the world to do the things that we love to do all by God's grace. So for our listeners because i know your story a little bit so this woman mentor of yours she introduced you to the professional network marketing is that correct. No that was someone different.
00:18:43
Speaker
who introduced me originally into the industry of network marketing. She was someone that I did work with. I had another mentor that taught me the ropes in the network marketing game.
00:18:56
Speaker
So your professional network marketers, I say that with respect because there's a lot of people in our business that I wouldn't send family and friends to. And it's just like that with any business, right? Some people can make a good cheeseburger, some people can't. And network marketing is no different.
00:19:16
Speaker
walk us through. So you kind of start professionally heading down the network marketing path industry and Adeza is in school and you're trying to get her out of school. Walk our listeners through kind of that dichotomy of you're out of the box. She's in the box and now you're both out of the box. Walk our listeners through that kind of path. You've changed your wife to the dark side. Not yet. Okay. So talk to about that. Um,
00:19:44
Speaker
So I graduated, and I'm teaching, and I'm living the life I thought I wanted. Meanwhile, he's doing his counseling. That little battle that we had in that Circuit City over that $1,000 of merchandise escalated when he decided to take $1,000, and now we're battling over $25,000.
00:20:10
Speaker
you know, 100,000. Like, what are you doing buying these houses? What in the world? I did not understand real estate like that. I did not know, this is not what they said to do. Go to school, get a job, you know, go to school, go to college, get a job. You didn't say nothing about dropping all this money on these properties. And Rashard always had a way to kind of like, you know,
00:20:34
Speaker
He had a way to ease his way in. So we had an opportunity to get a property. And then that property, he used that money to get more properties. And then somehow we ended up just the whole fixing it up process. He never told me the whole picture. He only gave me a little bit by little bit. I think that's why he was so successful.
00:21:01
Speaker
Because if anyone just said, babe, I need $100,000, I'd be like, oh my god, no! When he put, you know, bad age. I was thinking, you better know your wives. Exactly. I think you're battling about five for this project. It's just going to take about five. Babe, I just need another five. Babe, I just need, you know, just a little 10. You know, once, here's the key thing that started to get me to be quiet, you know. One, Michard had to earn my trust in that area.
00:21:30
Speaker
You can't just go this route and get all this money and then just lose it, and then expect your spouse to be okay with you taking on another
Trust and Financial Stability
00:21:40
Speaker
project. You have to earn that trust and that respect, and he did. As I started to see him buy properties, fix them up, get tenants in them, and now we got cash flow.
00:21:51
Speaker
You know, once I started to realize, wow, it's like having a whole other person in our family working for us. And we don't. Once I started to see those things, I started to ease up. And before we know it, I'm like, so bad when we get their next property. And so then he got me and he got my respect over there.
00:22:14
Speaker
once he wanted to join one of these, one of these things, you know, exactly. So I was okay with it. They got me with all the bells and whistles and the living the life I want, the pictures and stuff. And then when we started working, and I remember, you know, watching him, we do presentation that presentations and
00:22:36
Speaker
And then I remember we made, you know, in a whole year, I think we made like a thousand dollars. Like after that, I did not want to have anything to do with those things. Are you talking about network marketing when you say those things? Okay. I want to clarify. Our listeners can't see the air quotes that are going up.
00:22:53
Speaker
They can't see the air quotes. You know what, I feel like I probably can identify with the listeners because I know when I try to approach people, they quickly will turn you away because they don't want to be a part of one of those things. A lot of people have been approached in that regard.
00:23:11
Speaker
And I felt like, OK, Michelle, how are you falling for one of these things? But again, it's about the right mentorship, the right leadership, and then the right results. I didn't want to have anything to do with it, so I fell back in more of a supportive role for my husband. So he's doing it, and I'm supporting him by holding down the fort.
00:23:35
Speaker
and making sure I tell myself the operations manager of the house, making sure all operations are running smoothly. And that's kind of how we got into network marketing.
00:23:47
Speaker
We ended up getting thrown into network marketing when the company that Richard worked for ended up going out of business. And we didn't have any other options. We had our real estate, which was doing very well. And then he pretty much had this. And this was his main option, the only option he had. And he definitely earns some more respect in that area.
00:24:11
Speaker
When you said that this company went out of business, are you talking about the counseling business? No. I'm on the same page. So the thing is this, when I first got into real estate, I had a lot of resistance from my wife. Again, I'm pretty sure
00:24:32
Speaker
There's people that might be listening to this podcast and I want you guys to hear this very closely because there's a lot of houses that are divided because you have the major risk taker and you have the person that doesn't even want to know where their parachute is, let alone pull the string. Okay. And so that's the type of household that we had. So I got resistance from selling things on eBay, which led to,
00:24:59
Speaker
real estate, which led to, in between all of that, when I got involved in network marketing, I had the wife that said, babe, those things never work. What are you doing? You're crazy. What in the world is going on? You need to do this. And so, but you know, when you just know things in your spirit that you have to do,
00:25:19
Speaker
And I knew that me going and working a job in that traditional setting, that is absolute worst case scenario. But like my wife said, I had to earn her trust. So she had to just keep watching because she didn't think that any of that stuff was stable, not knowing that. That's the craziest part.
00:25:38
Speaker
Major companies lay off thousands of people at one time no indicate like there's no stability So I believe in that independent wealth So that's why I never wanted to be in a position where we're just disposable like that's what jobs make you feel So while I was on that journey, I got a lot of resistance from my wife But this is one of the things that I would do while she would be working
00:26:02
Speaker
I would call her FaceTime her with the fireplace on, chilling. Where you at, babe? Where you at? And I know she's in the heat of the nine to five in the classroom. What do you think I'm doing? And I say, look, babe, look at the fireplace. He showed me the dog laying down. The dog laying, I got the smoothie up. It's quiet in here. I can hear the home. Those were little things that I had to do to...
00:26:32
Speaker
And to show her, you're choosing because of your mindset, you're choosing to keep that lifestyle. You want to get up and leave this house every day at 6am to come back at 5? That's on you. I didn't think it was a choice though.
00:26:46
Speaker
Yeah, totally. I don't think a lot of people do. No. You don't think about it. To Richard's point, results breeds confidence, right? Yes. And over the last, I don't know how many years, Adeze has seen results. And you have put in the hard work and discipline, which you're really not talking about, but I know there had to have been hard work and discipline to get you in front of that fireplace with that smoothie with the dog in the background. Menpin. Yeah.
00:27:15
Speaker
And so I think results breeds confidence. And she's seen this over and over, so much so that she's ready to go to the dark side, right? And she's starting at least at this point in your story, realized like, I don't wanna be here, but I don't know any other way, right? Now that's where I was. I hadn't like, he hadn't fully, I wanted to go to the dark side, I just didn't know how to get over it. And it's a scary jump, let's be honest.
00:27:45
Speaker
She did watch some failures though guys like like literally the very first network marketing company that I did like I put in 16 months and I think and that's the one where I only made like 10 grand for the year and I work my rear and all now luckily I still had my other strings with my real estate and stuff, but I
00:28:10
Speaker
That was difficult.
Overcoming Failures and Achieving Success
00:28:12
Speaker
And then the corruption at the top, you know, the company dissolved. There's investment on things that we did that also did not work out.
00:28:22
Speaker
Um, but I would say he definitely recovered from those. So it kept me, it kept me saying, see, that's why we need to do what's the safer route. Like just get a nine to five and join me over here. The waters come to the light. I'm back over here now. I don't know what you're doing. Not being irresponsible.
00:28:42
Speaker
you know and because I had the job this is this was my biggest biggest hang up at this time now we have about what four two three four kids doesn't matter we have kids and because Rashard is over here being an entrepreneur you know being irresponsible
00:29:00
Speaker
you know in my mind totally we get you were there i'm the responsible i have the good benefits if i quit my job we don't have any benefits. You know i thought i like my job in fact i love what i did i'm a tea i was a teacher i'm still a teacher now.
00:29:20
Speaker
And that was my passion. But, you know, there's a lot of things, like you said, the politics that got in the way. And I hated that I couldn't do what I really wanted to do. I was so restricted. And it got to a place where I started to, like, be ungrateful. I felt like, okay, well, I'm supposed to be grateful because at least I have a job. You know, I'm grateful that I have a job. But how do I be grateful for something that I don't like? Like, I don't want this job. I don't want to do this anymore. But if I don't, we don't have benefits.
00:29:48
Speaker
So, I got to the place where I know many people are. I called myself a benefit slate because I'm only here for the benefits. That's it. You know, my childcare was more than my check, my take-home check, my monthly check. Wow. We hear it all the time. You know, if I quit, what am I going to do for benefits? How am I going to get health insurance? Exactly.
00:30:10
Speaker
I'm gonna go back to something that you said because I love the fact that you saw Richard fail and you say like yeah, that was just another confirmation that I should stay in my foot, you know my cush job my whatever safe job, but I almost think it's the opposite because for me I think that demonstrated okay, I've seen him fail and
00:30:32
Speaker
And I've seen him get up out of that fail. Does that make sense? It doesn't just, and I don't think maybe the light stayed on. Yeah. Like big deal. And so when you have a confidence in your husband and be like, yeah, I've seen you fail and I've seen you get up and I've seen you actually learn from your mistakes. I almost think that would almost at one point be like, no, I've seen the bad, right? And I've seen him get up out of that, but I get the benefits. That was over time. So like a lot of his elves really came
00:31:03
Speaker
earlier on when I was very strong with my nine to five, you know, and, and they were kind of in, in between, like now we took a L and we took like the L's that the L we took this time was nothing in comparison to what we experienced in the beginning.
00:31:24
Speaker
It was like the way I approached and we took the L with me not having a job anymore. But now it's like, it was nothing because I'm like, I've seen you, I've seen how you, like you've mentioned, I've seen you fail before and I've seen you come back. So this is nothing. And when you say L, you mean a loss, right? Thank you. Yes. You're saying L, I just want to clarify that means loss, meaning that things didn't work out that you wanted to.
00:31:50
Speaker
Things did not work out like we wanted, exactly. Yeah. Good. Okay. So walk our listeners through, Rashard, you're with a new network marketing company. I'm kind of paraphrasing, I think your story a little bit. So correct me if I'm wrong, but you are with a different network marketing company, having a ton of success.
00:32:09
Speaker
and things kind of go south and you're kind of like, man, I'm kind of done with network marketing. Wait, no, no, I didn't listen to this. I didn't hear anything that like where I think we are in the story. Let me just back up. That is part of the story, but go ahead, Philip. You worked your tail off and you only got $10,000 that year in that network marketing, correct? Yes. Okay.
00:32:33
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Okay, so there you go. Now that's where we're at. Don't you speed up the story. So the thing is, I'll be honest, it was very embarrassing because anyone that's ever thought about getting involved in network marketing or had a desire, there's a lot of pictures that are painted about, you know,
00:33:01
Speaker
The reasons why you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of foggy mirrors see when I was a baby in the game That's the stuff that got me and so, you know when I just made that 10,000 for that year and then I seen corruption leadership at the top and companies off It hurt me because there was a lot of people watching right? They want to see is he gonna really make it so when that company didn't make it people were
00:33:29
Speaker
hey buddy so how's that uh how's the travel business still going yeah really i'm like ah okay you know i was done with it then my wife was done with it and i ain't gonna lie it hurt me and that's what actually made me dig deeper into the real estate i'm like because here's the deal
00:33:49
Speaker
I don't like I'm a winner. That's all I know. Like, so if I'm not going to make that money in that network marketing company, there's other ways I'm going to get it because that's just the way my mind is set. Like, I don't know how to lose. And so it's OK. But the personal development that I got from that network marketing that she did not get. That was the shift because I'm going to tell you something. You won't physically go. You can't go anywhere that your mind has not been.
00:34:17
Speaker
And so the personal development that I got in that journey, that's how I had to look at it. My mind was different. The company was bad. Cool. I lost faith in the industry. So I took a break for about five years, hit the real estate real hard, caught multiple six figures with that. Another way to let my wife know, babe, I told you I got you.
00:34:36
Speaker
You married a thoroughbred. Now, if you want to stay, teach the kids. Cute little teacher in your box. Go right on ahead. That lifestyle ain't for me. Not knocking it. See, here's the deal, guys. Anyone listening, understand our hearts.
00:34:53
Speaker
I'm not saying that employment is bad. Please hear me. It's the employee mindset. Oh, I was all in that. That's the dangerous part because my wife has dreams and purposes on the inside of her. Whoever's listening to this podcast, you have dreams and purposes on the inside of you. But what happens is you start to work that nine to five and you and your creativity begins. Go ahead. I want to say something. I did. Yeah, you could have came to the stand. But I'm going to come in on that.
00:35:20
Speaker
He says everybody has dreams and everybody has a purpose, but not everybody has dreams. Like people's dreams, they die. They go dormant. My dreams were dead. I didn't even, I thought I was broke.
00:35:35
Speaker
because of that place of employment. It wasn't even the place of employment. It was the mindset. It was not, I'm not even going to say it was my place of employment. It was 100% the mindset because I did not get that personal development that Richard got because I didn't take part of it. I was supporting him. You go and do that thing over there and then, you know, I'm going to be the responsible one to get this money in my nine to five. Um,
00:36:01
Speaker
And so I didn't know how to dream. I really didn't. It wasn't until Richard forced me to go to one of these events, you know, and I had a network marketing event and I had to like take off work and I had to sneak, sneak around, you know, cause I couldn't have, you know, I had to act like I was sick, you know, I go to this event and I'm around all of this energy.
00:36:26
Speaker
All of this all these like-minded individuals the stuff that they're saying for like that split second I felt like I could do anything because of what they were saying like oh my god was the energy that
00:36:41
Speaker
I didn't even know what that stuff was. And then something else that happened, Rashard would always play this little motivational, whatever, personal development right before he would go on Zoom and do a presentation. And I would be listening, like, look at this stuff. It's got me feeling like I can jump and fly.
00:37:01
Speaker
And it was at that moment that I started to feel like I could dream and then I go to my job and then I'm around those people who are dead. Let me comment on something. That's why I'm saying it was the place of employment because
00:37:17
Speaker
I'm a firm believer that if you're not in the know, you can't be on the flow. If you're not informed, you will be deformed. And if you're not inspired, you will expire. And the problem is most people in their place of employment
00:37:33
Speaker
They're expired. There's no inspiration around them. She's sitting in a break room, you know, microwaving each other's... Look, let me tell you. Look, microwaves each other's vegetable dishes. There's no inspiration whatsoever. The best conversation that we had was the year that they gave us an extra 15 minutes for our lunch break. Yeah. And we were like, oh my God, we have so much extra time.
00:38:02
Speaker
imagine what 15 minutes this was like the top of the town for oh I bet I bet morale morale was high
00:38:15
Speaker
So let's get our listeners up to speed a little bit. So how do you two now work together within the same company? You know, it's Friday at one o'clock and you're both home. So you're now crossover. So walk our listener through how you guys have made this kind of transition and how you got out of the teaching role at high school, but you're still now a teacher now, bigger than you ever probably thought you'd be.
00:38:40
Speaker
I never thought it would be this way because like I said, I didn't dream. I did not dream. I thought I couldn't dream. Rashard dreamed all the time. I would see other people dreaming and I keep saying this because it's very important. I want your listeners to understand that you do actually have dreams. Everyone has a purpose and you have an ability to dream even if you're not dreaming right now.
00:39:01
Speaker
When I started to pour into myself, I didn't even realize I was starving. I didn't know I was missing that. We had professional development every Thursday at our job. We never had personal development.
00:39:15
Speaker
And I believe, like I said, there's nothing wrong with the business and what I was doing. I do believe that if people got personal development, a lot of them would leave what they're doing and go off to do what they're supposed to be doing. And I do believe that the right people that are supposed to be at those jobs as teachers would be there. Because there's a lot of people that are just benefit slaves, collecting the check and just trying to barely make it survive. And they're passing that on to our kids.
00:39:45
Speaker
So once I started to do that, I realized, oh my God, I don't really want to do this anymore. I don't want to be here anymore. Richard had always said to me, babe, this is going to be here. I'm going to get you out of that job. I'm going to get you free.
00:40:01
Speaker
And I'm like, okay, whatever, yeah, okay, whatever. It was because I didn't want it. I didn't want it. I didn't think it was possible. I wanted to stay responsible. And once I started to say, I don't want to do this anymore. I felt it inside of me. I don't want to do this anymore. I decided it's time to look at what is keeping me here.
00:40:21
Speaker
Is these benefits alright let's look at the monster in a bit let's look at numbers what am I actually making well I have to make to leave this job and when I looked at those numbers and I save money
00:40:35
Speaker
Yeah. I saved money in a lot of ways. I saved health bills for the future, for sure. Because of stress. But no, when I looked at those numbers and I saw what I need to make in order to leave, it wasn't so bad. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I got to put a face on my monster and I realized it wasn't that scary. And once I realized that, I was done. I was out. I quit. I mentally quit in my mind.
00:41:01
Speaker
And I went to my, I actually set a date, you know, and I said that this is it, I'm done. The moment I said, I'm done, that's when I started to dream because I got scared. I got uncomfortable. Wow, I'm actually about to leave my job. Like, this is not me. I did the traditional way. This is like, what, like, this is not me. Once I quit and I got uncomfortable, once I cut the parachute, it was done.
00:41:29
Speaker
And we hear it all the time, you know, people are like, I want to retire. I can't do this much longer. And it's like, how much do you need a month to to quit? And they're like, well, I don't know. I've never thought about it. And it's like, OK, well, that's kind of the primary. That's the number we need to know to plan your entire retirement. And it's just people wait till their fifties and sixties to figure that number out. And it's
00:41:52
Speaker
You figured that out at such a young age. I think it's great to define the unknown. It did help though because like I said, when I took that break from that first company that hurt and understand your feelings, guys will cost you finances. I got in my feelings and so I took a break in the industry, hit more real estate, but I ended up
00:42:20
Speaker
I'm a networker at heart, so I got involved in another company. And with that company, we literally just made more money than we could have ever imagined. And so my wife is seeing, she is still having fruit. She's seeing fruit.
00:42:39
Speaker
that's helping her to believe. Now, everyone doesn't get to see that. There might be some people listening to this call that they don't actually know. See, that's the thing about network marketing. Most people don't know people personally that are winning in it. And that's what makes it difficult for them to want to believe. So my wife seeing what I was doing and she's seen that fruit and that helped her.
00:43:00
Speaker
And then while I was in that company, I added another one to my portfolio and it was that third one, which was really, it was an emphasis on skill set, education, software service, software provider, very reputable company. So we got involved in that, which is about teaching people a skill set.
00:43:21
Speaker
that will pay them for the rest of their lives and this teaches different wealth building strategies. So that third company was the one that my wife was able to now find her way because the Bible does say that your gift will make room for you.
00:43:37
Speaker
was in that scripture and her wanting to be a teacher, but working in a system that didn't allow her to really open up for a week, she's seen too many politics, and now this network marketing company, she said, wait a minute, the CEO of this company actually saw. Okay, keep going, it's good, keep going. No, I want to say, because he's saying there's a lot of people that haven't seen what I saw.
00:44:04
Speaker
And I think it's a shame that I saw what he did, but I still was too scared to do it for myself.
00:44:14
Speaker
You know, and there's a lot of people out there that are too scared to do it for themselves And it's because they would much rather be in their comfort zone I was in my comfort zone. It was comfortable to know that I work this much I get paid this much and I know this you know, I I get benefits I like these are things that I know it didn't matter to me what shard was doing because a lot of times
00:44:43
Speaker
Every time he'd come to me with a new project, it would cause me anxiety. Like, Rashard, here you go again, messing up my nice little comfort zone. What you talking about? You try to go to Africa. What are you talking about? You want us to make this big investment move. So for me, my comfort zone was like my safety net.
00:45:06
Speaker
And to a lot of people, it's the safety net. But you don't realize it's about perspective. That same safety net is really a spider web for you. It's for you to suck. And you have to learn to cut that net. Because as long as you have that net, you're not going to go anywhere. You're not going to go far. But once you don't have it, you have no other option. You have no other option but to get moving. And so that was what it was. When I quit,
00:45:35
Speaker
I quit with no certainty of what was next. I just know that I really enjoyed learning the skill. I had no desire to teach anybody. I just wanted to, you know, I like getting that with this company, you know, he's a networker. That was not me. But for me, I can actually learn the skill and not have to talk to people and still make money. Sign me up.
00:45:58
Speaker
And I think that's what's cool about your guys story. You know, we talk a lot about every, we all have a passion. We all have a purpose, but people aren't taught. I think, you know, Rashard the other day, you called it passion paychecks. And we have this gift inside of us, but there's not a lot of people or, you know, the college system. It's not designed to show you different ways to monetize your gift or to share it with the world. And I think,
00:46:25
Speaker
For you guys, this is why I really wanted you on the show is this point, because you had an amazing gift, the days that you could teach and educate. And now you're on a platform where you taught yourself this skill, but share with our listeners how now you're educating more people than you ever thought possible. It's amazing how it happened. Like I was saying, when I quit, I just was trying to go off into the shadows and learn this skill by myself.
Leveraging Teaching Skills in Business
00:46:54
Speaker
Um, but you know for our team they were doing trainings for our team and this is the truth This is where that whole your gift makes room for you part comes in
00:47:05
Speaker
because I always had a passion to teach. But there is this trainer, and he just really sucked. In my eyes, okay, in my opinion, I just felt like, okay, he sucks. But I wasn't really trying to do anything about it. It was because my husband was like, hey, babe, he's not feeling good. Do you think he could do the training this time? I did not want to do it. He signed me up for it anyway. I get on there and I start,
00:47:31
Speaker
Training like I do things that organize it and then I start training and our calls go from 20 people To a hundred people, you know people are asking who is that? Can she do it again? And then you know our sponsors came to me and they said hey, you know Do you think that maybe you could train like once a week and I said, you know I know what y'all are trying to do I know how once a week is gonna become like an everyday thing so I said
00:48:02
Speaker
Look, I'm gonna put a limit on it. I'll do three weeks and that's it. And three weeks turned into a year of me training. And because I was doing it, the CEO actually heard what I was doing because my sponsors bragged to them about how good of a job I did and the numbers and how they changed.
00:48:21
Speaker
And he was creating a platform where educators could get on there and teach this company. And at that time, it wasn't that many members. I think it was about, what, 10,000 members at the time? And so I get on that platform, and I actually become the first female on the platform. And that's when I started training.
00:48:43
Speaker
Then I noticed that the educational academy that this company had was, again, it was lacking. And I actually, because I had a relationship with the CEO, I went to him and I said, that academy is not an academy. It kind of sucks and it needs a woman's touch.
00:49:02
Speaker
Again, I couldn't help myself. This is just, if you have a passion for something and you have a gift for something, you have an eye for something, you know when something's not done as good as it should be. And it was because of that,
00:49:17
Speaker
He said, go for it, do this Academy over, go ahead and do it. Just do six videos. I did over 24. And now this company has gone from about 10,000 members to what, about 100,000 members. I have been flown in just one year of quitting my job. I've been flown to over 10 countries. I've educated, I educate like over 80,000 people every week.
00:49:41
Speaker
all over the world, all because I couldn't help that something looked out of place. And it was within my line of passion. And this is not what I expected to do. When I quit, I did not know this is what would be happening. I did not know. Now I'm actually the head of this academy.
00:50:03
Speaker
How do you feel? Like, you know, the first year, I'll do it three times a week. Like, is that stressful for you? Have you hit your stride? Like, is this life giving to you? Tell me, walk through that. Like you said, three times a week?
00:50:16
Speaker
I remember you're like, I'll do it three times, but that are three weeks. That's all I'm going to do that. I remember that. Yeah. But are you okay now? Like, is this exciting to you? This is everything I wanted and more because when you, like as a teacher in my small mind, I can remember like, man, I would tell my husband like, Hey, what can I do if I can't teach? You know, what else is there to do? I would look through career builders and you know, maybe I could be a,
00:50:44
Speaker
I don't know like nothing against that but that was not for me like I love teaching I used to train my brother you know I was the one that played school like I love to teach I even thought babe we should move to Finland like they really respect the teachers over there
00:51:04
Speaker
I think it's funny, I'm gonna say something that I think is really important here and listen to this and I don't do this a lot in the show.
Supporting Spousal Dreams
00:51:14
Speaker
Husbands, know your wife. There's something in that that Richard understood what his wife's gifting was.
00:51:23
Speaker
and knew that he had to pave a path in order for her to let her wings flap, right? And like that to me is probably the biggest thing that I've heard. It's not easy and it's going to take time, it's going to take effort, it's going to take intention, but husbands know your wives, know what they're good at, know what their passions are because I'm telling you right now it's so easy to get caught up in an
00:51:47
Speaker
Employment and a job in parenting I mean this goes for everybody husbands and wives and that you kind of lose this drive this goals the dreams you just kind of start getting numb and it's to fall down to that and I think it's easy for one person to be in the flow and the know and the other one not and then not letting Yes, not pursuing the other person out of love and
00:52:14
Speaker
and just a passion, but just, okay, then if that's where you want to be, you know, and I think Rashard, in this whole time, you've done an amazing job of loving your wife through it, but also taking a shot of the fireplace and the dog in this. Oh, my God. You got to take the picture. He painted the picture. Rashard, actually, I have to say this. Everything I've done has been very... Listen, my wife and I have been together for 14 years, married 11. And how many kids do you have? Four. Wow. Yeah. Everything that I have done,
00:52:44
Speaker
First of all, I give God all the glory. So anyone listening to this, please don't understand that we're not boasting. We're nothing if it wasn't for the love of Christ, the love of God, and what He has done.
00:52:58
Speaker
all the credit and glory for everything. So I want to make sure that is very, very clear. Amen to that. His wisdom is God's wisdom because I knew that that woman, see, here's the deal. I knew that she was for me. And since she was for me, I knew that God would give me the provision to help her to be
00:53:17
Speaker
the woman that God has called her needed a lot of help so he had gifts he had stuff in me for her and so that's why that's why I say husbands know your wives study them I knew that there are sometimes physical and mental limitations with God there's none but sometimes in our flesh there is and so I couldn't push her
00:53:37
Speaker
too hard or I would kill it, right? So I didn't do just enough. Well, I mean, sometimes you had to come into her camp like, okay, I'll go get your job. I'll go get the job, right? He came into my camp only to, you know, leave me out. Yes. Which is a good, loving person, right? Like that's what we're sacrificed to go get. But when I sit back and look like the woman that I see now, this is the woman that I saw
00:54:04
Speaker
Like when I met her, I knew that she was going to, I always would tell her this. Like I said, I knew like to see her now in this gift to go from teaching 180 students at East High School in her box with those would just, that was it to now having over 80,000 students around the world.
00:54:28
Speaker
that want to learn what I would have to teach, which makes it different. When I said I needed three weeks, I was coming from the small-minded, ah man, I want to deal with people that don't want to hear this, but now I got people that hang on my every word. I'm full of my gifts. I think too, that's where God wants us, is to be relying on Him, and He's going to make a bigger room than you ever thought you'd be Him.
00:54:57
Speaker
We've seen a lot, you know, and he does make room and and and the other side of that and what he desires for us is bigger than we could ever see for ourselves But kudos to both of you for getting out of your box, right? Yeah, like I think you know It's always said men marry women so they'll never change women marry men because they see potential Yeah, and it's like almost the exact opposite for you two and that's uncommon
00:55:24
Speaker
So what are you guys most excited about?
Future Plans and Values
00:55:27
Speaker
We have a few minutes left. What are you guys most excited about? 2018 is winding down. We've got 2019, one year left in the decade. Walk our listeners through kind of where the Dunkins are going.
00:55:40
Speaker
Well, I'm excited because I've actually been in 2019 since September one. So, um, so there's people that are going to count down and in January and I'm already going to be in May. So my mind, that's how I think. And so there's some big things coming. We got some, we got some big real estate projects coming, some big developments that are going to be coming, which we're grateful for. Um, even within this network marketing company that we're in, um, my wife is in the process now, uh,
00:56:09
Speaker
doing a complete facelift on all of the education on the entire academy that the company has. And so they have put her over that entire project. So she now gets to have 100% reign on what to do with that. In addition to providing more courses specific to help all of our customers that are wanting to learn this skill,
00:56:35
Speaker
she's gonna be providing more courses, which ultimately is positioning us by God's grace in an equity position in an upcoming billion dollar company. And so we're excited about the real estate, we're excited about the networking, we're excited about the mindset of our kids, our family, because our kids be humble, like our kids see, my kids have never seen me work a job. Like my son said, dad, I'm supposed to go shadow you for today.
00:57:04
Speaker
I remember he came to me a while later, he said, that must have shined you for a day, but what are we going to do? I said, we're going to stay home. We're going to go get a smoothie, and we're going to go see our place. We're going to turn the fireplace on, and we're going to get the man fam. We're going to call mom, first of all, so we can see what we're doing. And that's what we're going to do. But that's what's coming down. That's why we're excited about 19th. But we've got some major real estate developments, some major, major multi-family, and some brand new construction coming at the same time.
00:57:33
Speaker
The equity stakes in this company is going to be going higher because of the skill set that my wife has. And we're just grateful to God, man. There's more ministry opportunities because as we're going to be traveling together, doing motivational speaking, teaching independent wealth, also teaching and sharing a love of Christ to people, to the nations. My wife was in 10 countries within the last 10 years.
00:57:57
Speaker
nine, eight months, myself as well. And so we're going to be doing more traveling of the world together. And we're just beyond grateful. How do our listeners get in touch with you if they want to reach out? So if they want to reach out, definitely Instagram at Richard Duncan. My wife is
00:58:16
Speaker
Do you want to spell that? A, D, A, E, Z, E. Okay, you got to do it the way it was. A as in apple, D as in dog, A as in apple, you know, E as in elephant, Z as in zebra, E as in elephant, Duncan, D, U, N, C, A, N.
00:58:37
Speaker
And then also, if someone wants to actually, I don't mind them actually reaching out and calling if need be. They can actually call my phone. If someone is listening to this call and they say, you know what? Because Ali said it best. He said, he who is not courageous enough to take risks will never maximize life. So maybe someone is listening to this podcast and I say, you know what? I'm at a point where closing out 18, I want to take risks. I don't kind of nervous.
00:59:06
Speaker
want to process and talk, you know, maybe, you know, join what we're doing. You can call my phone directly. That number is 515-778-2644. Yeah. So they can call and reach out to me directly. And I have no problem with listening and possibly even showing you
00:59:32
Speaker
some of the wealth building strategies that we're helping people with across the world. Sure. Well, that's super generous, man. I can't thank you too enough. Thank you for being uncommon. Thank you for sharing your story. Uh, yeah, what else you got, buddy? Nothing. Thank you for sharing it. It's always, it's just a pleasure and so many things in there. You said, I was just like, Oh man, I needed to hear that. So it's always just a learning experience for me too. And, uh, thank you. Thank you too, man. You guys are running a phenomenal podcast. I love the uncommon.
01:00:02
Speaker
And I love that there's no limitations. I love what you guys are doing. I believe in your hearts. I believe in your visions. And thank you too for being obedient to the call of God and bringing people that hopefully your listeners can identify with and get them to now begin to take the steps to live the uncommon life. Oh, I love that. Exactly. Thank you so much. Thanks, Richard. Thanks, Adeze. We appreciate it. All right, guys. Take care. Bye.
01:00:30
Speaker
That's all for this episode of the Uncommon Life Project, brought to you by Uncommon Wealth Partners. Be sure to visit uncommonwealth.com to learn more about our services. Don't miss an episode as we introduce you to inspiring people who are actively pursuing an uncommon life.