How do you go from sleeping in your car and selling cologne on the streets of Miami to owning a million-dollar business?
You do it by learning from your mistakes, getting great at social media, being disciplined, and refusing to fail despite setbacks.
That’s why on this week's podcast, new Millionaires Club members Odean Lawrence & Okief Robb stop by to share their inspiring stories and explain how they built a thriving Credit Repair business…all while Okief was serving in the Navy!
Odean’s journey to the Millionaires Club began when his car broke down…
He had no money for repairs, so he tried to get a new car on credit. But he didn’t know anything about credit.
That’s when he learned a harsh lesson. They told him he didn’t qualify for ANYTHING. He asked for the cheapest, most basic vehicle possible, and the salesman said, “based on your credit, I’m going to need 5 to 10 thousand dollars down”…for a $14,000 car.
Humiliated by how much bad credit impacted his life, he promised himself, “I’m never going to be in this position again, where I need something for my family, and I can’t get it.”
Okief’s journey to the Millionaires Club also began with lousy credit, but it started when he was much younger…
Growing up, he admits, “not only did I not know anything about credit, I didn’t know much about anything. I didn’t have a sense of responsibility.” He said, “If I had a bill, I wouldn’t pay it. I would spend the money on something else.”
His mother warned him he would get bad credit, but he didn’t understand what that meant. So he didn’t change. Eventually, Okief was turned down for cars, jobs, and even cell phones, all because of his credit. Looking back now he wonders, “When you can’t get a cell phone, a car, or a job, how are you supposed to fix your credit?”
Odean and Okief met in 2016. Their mentality and resilience connected them. They lived through the realities of bad credit and decided it was time to fight back and help people. They officially started their business in 2020 and haven't slowed down since.
On top of starting their company during the pandemic, they were overcharged by mentors who taught them nothing, and they were scammed by contractors who promised work but never delivered. They’ve had to deal with every problem a small business owner can imagine. But they refused to give up. And that’s why they’re here, joining the Millionaires Club.
On this week's podcast, Odean & Okief share their inspiring stories, the personal philosophies that pushed them to overcome obstacles, and the unique skills each brings to their business to ensure their company is always thriving!
Okief also explains how they did all this WHILE HE WAS SERVING IN THE NAVY!
It’s a great discussion. You don’t want to miss a single minute.
So head over to Youtube to watch the Full Interview now!
Here are a few of the highlights…
Okief, you mentioned being self-taught in business. How did you learn all the parts about putting together a business…how to create processes and systems?
We scoured the internet. There's a lot of data, a lot of information on the internet on how to, for instance, register your business, how to get your Dunns number, how to get your EIN, how to set up your tax structure. Whatever it is…Information is at your fingertips. So that's how we get our information, and we went through trial and error. Cause again, it wasn't smooth all the way. It's never smooth all the way...It's not possible to smooth your way to success…You have to fall down and get up, brush off. You might get a little, you know, little cuts here and there. Right? So that's pretty much how we did it. Trial and error and just studying and researching.
Odean, what's your process for recruiting and partnering with influencers?
I actually target influencers…Now on Instagram, what I would do is I'll type in “comedy,” in the search bar and a bunch of comedy lists will come up and it will show you that this influencer has a 100,000 followers. And we go and I'll check their engagements on their posts, cuz I don't care about the 100,000. You can buy those…I wanna see the engagements and I'll go through and I'll look at what type of engagements are these posts having. So I'll click a couple of random posts and if there's a variation of engagements, then I'll reach out to that influencer.
I'll say something like, “Hey Danny, you know, congratulations on all your success. Just curious, how much do you charge for your promotions?” That's it. And I'll just, I'll link up a hundred people on Instagram and I'll wait for anyone to respond back to me.
And what might that cost to hire somebody like that?
It depends on…if they're too high, if their price point is outta my budget and I'm not willing to spend, then I'm not gonna work with them. But on average $50 for a story, $100 for a post…Generally we test it out with stories because it gives you more engagement. And then maybe they'll charge $150 to $300 for the actual posts.
Some of them will leave it on forever. Some of them will take it down after 24 hours. So I'll just gauge, okay, am I gonna pay $150 for 24 hours? Let me really dissect this person and see what they're really bringing to the table. If it makes sense, then I'll go ahead and I'll test them out. I mean, you won't know until you try. So I would pay the $150 and then for that 24 hours, I'm completely engaged with the post that they're putting up and making sure that everything funnels directly to our site.
Okief, what did you learn from the military that's helped you with your business?
That's an excellent question. I think if I didn't join the military and get that experience, I wouldn't have what it takes to run this business. When you join the military, it instills a sense of leadership in you as you go from the lowest rank to a higher rank…Now you’re in charge of people, you actually get the ability, the ability to lead, to be a leader…
And honestly, I watch everything. I look at it this way…I tell my team the same thing…The US Navy is one of the…is THE world's greatest Navy…Plenty of minds went into building the US Navy. Plenty, a lot of minds, smart minds…went into building the Navy. And if it still stands today, as the world's greatest Navy, since inception, then they must be doing something good. So what I do is I watch everything they do. I learn everything they do.
I see how they do the awards. I see how they give recognition. I see how they train. I learned all of that. And then I instilled it in my business…Most of my team right now, I get on the phone with them, they're gonna be like, “Copy, sir. Copy, Copy. Roger that.” So that's because I'm a man of structure. I learned that structure from the military, and I took that, and I instilled it into Real Credit Deal.
And this is just scratching the surface.
Odeon and Okief were fantastic guests and you have to listen to their personal stories!
I’ll end by saying…
If you don’t already have a Credit Repair Cloud account, check it out. It’s the software that most Credit Repair businesses in America run on. Just sign up for a 30-Day Free Trial at CreditRepairCloud.com/freetrial
And If you’d like me to hold you by the hand as you launch your own credit repair business, check out our Credit Hero Challenge!
It’s an amazing program where you’ll learn the processes that have made millionaires, and it costs less than you'll spend taking your family to McDonald’s for dinner.
We’ve got another challenge starting in a few days, so grab your spot right now at CreditHeroChallenge.com!
Until then, remember, keep the facts on your side…
And keep changing lives!