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The Calum Johnson Show

Four WOMEN Explain How They Went From Nothing To Wealthy | The Calum Johnson Show

Watch more black entrepreneurs describe their journeys from $0 to multimillion dollar businesses.

Christianna HurtguestCalum JohnsonhostArlan HamiltonguestTahira WhiteguestTricia Leeguest

Apr 22, 202429mWatch on YouTube

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CHAPTERS

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Chapter summaries

Turning anger and a toxic relationship into fuel
Christianna Hurt describes being at her lowest, living with an abusive partner, and becoming obsessed with making money and surpassing him. She made her first six figures in September but was not evicted until February, and she says she was in tunnel vision to get out and never look back.
- •She was angry and obsessed with making money while living with someone who beat her down
- •She made six figures in September but was evicted in February, which she calls hell
- •She was driven to surpass the numbers and goals of the person who hurt her
- •After surpassing him she was left asking "Okay, now what?"
How a miscarriage brought her back down to earth
Christianna explains that her miscarriage grounded her and that she believes she would otherwise have crashed out emotionally. She says it put her old situation in perspective and she tells people that it gets better.
- •The miscarriage kept her from what she thinks would have been an emotional crash
- •Her revenge obsession gave way to feeling love from family, friends and her baby
- •She frames the end of that relationship as the end of that world, not of the world
- •Calum notes certain experiences make other things seem insignificant by comparison
- •She stresses to others that it gets better
Dream bigger than yourself: Arlan Hamilton's vision
Arlan Hamilton says becoming a millionaire alone could not be enough and that her vision had to be bigger than herself. She describes learning a venture-funding statistic that reframed her goal, and how that bigger picture got her through sleeping on the floor.
- •If you feel stuck, it may be because you made it about yourself or your circumstances
- •Her North Star was how many people she could positively affect
- •She cites that less than 10% of venture funding goes to women, people of color and LGBTQ founders
- •She started by wanting to raise $1 million for her company, then saw it should be for others
- •The bigger picture sustained her while sleeping on an airport floor
Growing up in a matriarchal family and finding event production
Tricia Lee describes how the successful women in her family instilled work ethic, confidence and openness to other views. She explains how her passion for creating experiences led from throwing parties to a Fashion Week internship and eventually a business.
- •Her mother, grandmother and aunts were successful, hardworking household figureheads
- •She learned both to speak her mind and to listen to others
- •One Fashion Week internship made her fall in love with production
- •She took the bus from school in Virginia whenever they called her for work
- •The business grew organically from this work
Small business, big brand attention, and planning for the worst case
Tahira White recalls major brands reaching out to her small Brooklyn business, which she now sees as having a lock on the borough. She and Tricia Lee discuss planning for worst-case scenarios and the fear that no one else will care about something you care about deeply.
- •Large brands approached her despite her being one small business
- •She now understands the cachet she gave established brands
- •Lisa Price's remark that she had Brooklyn on lock is mentioned
- •Both describe the fear that nobody will care about what they love
- •Tahira planned for ten customers a day
When success arrives too fast: overbooked and unprepared
Tahira White explains that her business was booked for two weeks on opening day and stayed overbooked. The hard part was managing demand, disappointed customers and criticism without enough support, which she called both a gift and a curse.
- •The business was booked for two weeks on opening day, July 22nd
- •Six months in she had to open a second location without knowing where or how
- •She had few relationships in Brooklyn at the time
- •The tough parts were managing disappointment and criticism over appointments
- •She ultimately felt it was a failure because she lost passion for it and felt burdened
Lessons from success and failure carried into real estate
Tahira reflects on what she learned about herself and how she plans differently now, including in her third career in real estate. She says earlier experiences of winning and losing prepared her for bigger opportunities that scare her less.
- •She learned about her capability and that she has good ideas that stand out
- •She infuses creativity into her work and does things her own way
- •She saw where she is now in real estate from day one
- •Past experiences make bigger opportunities less overwhelming
The miscarriage as a turning point and perspective
Christianna Hurt says the light at the end of the tunnel can be a situation or a friend, and for her it was April 13th, 2018. She explains how her child loss removed the hate, brought gratitude for life and taught her not to get hung up on small things.
- •It is hard to see light when all you can see is darkness
- •Her turning point was the miscarriage on April 13th, 2018
- •The hate left her body after the first ultrasound
- •She became grateful for life because she almost died
- •She urges digging deep and pulling it out of you to feel lighter
Money as control and leaving school for a job
Tricia Lee says money gives control, tools and options, and that chasing opportunity is more fulfilling than chasing infinite numbers. Responding to Calum's question about leaving school, she says it wasn't difficult because she had examples, a supportive mother and a job offer.
- •Money gives control, tools and opportunity, which feels limitless
- •Chasing opportunity is more fulfilling than chasing numbers
- •Her mom supported her as long as she was not doing anything crazy
- •She left school because she had a job offer in a startup
- •Examples of successful people without degrees and her boss's stories removed her guilt
Arlan's guide to turning obsession into a business
Arlan Hamilton says you do not have to go all in at once and can build up while driving or working a 9-to-5. She lists criteria for an idea: fulfilling, obsessive, ethical, profitable, valuable enough that people pay real money, and ideally with a higher price point. She also stresses studying competitors.
- •It is fine to do other work while building toward something else
- •You must be obsessed with it if you want to make a million sustainably
- •It should be ethical, help someone, and not be sold only to broke people
- •Making it too cheap can make the model unsustainable
- •She points to the Tesla and Apple models and asks Calum about studying other channels, noting most people can't name their competition
Betting on yourself: Tahira quits to open her business
Tahira White explains how her confidence from MAC Cosmetics led her to believe she could build her own business. She planned financially, gave notice, and a chance conversation on her first day of freedom led to a lease within 60 days.
- •She set records and helped open stores and train managers at MAC
- •She reasoned that if she could do it for them, she could do it for herself
- •She wrote her concept in a notebook for three years
- •A chance cafe conversation led to a lease, keys and a space in under 60 days
- •Her naivety about opening a business in New York worked in her favor, and she ran it for 10 years

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