The fear of spending money as a creator of color with That Chick Angel TV

Actress and content creator Angel Laketa Moore joins business manager Belva Anakwenze to talk about when and how to invest in your creative business, how best to find financial experts to help you in your entrepreneurial journey, and how to “find your white boy confidence.”

This video is intended as knowledge-sharing, not tax, financial, or legal advice. Always consult with tax/financial/legal professionals to determine what's best for your business.

Transcript:

Angel Laketa Moore:
Black women are like —

Belva Anakwenze:
Black women are the fastest-growing businesses in the country.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Why do you think that is?

Belva Anakwenze:
Hi, and welcome to The Earn Up. I'm Belva Anakwenze and I know you're used to seeing me talk about financial tips and tricks. But today, I have a very special guest. I have a comedian extraordinaire with us, Angel Laketa Moore. She is a content creator, a mother, a wife, a business owner, an entrepreneur, and more. Angel, thank you so much for being with me today.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Thank you for having me, Belva.

Belva Anakwenze:
So tell me more about all of your creative endeavors and how this has become a full-time business for you.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Oh, there is a lot that I'm doing. You are correct. I started off as an actress. I got my training, I got my MFA from UC Irvine. I moved up to Los Angeles. I started working and then I became pregnant with my first son. And I was like, "No one's gonna hire me while I'm pregnant." So that's when I went into becoming a standup comedian as well as a content creator because I needed someplace to put all of this creative energy. And at the time, I didn't see it as a lucrative thing, just more of a creative thing.

I really started taking content creation seriously. I noticed that my voice was needed to show mothers the raw and authentic point of view of motherhood but through a comedic lens. Because it's not always tears and I don't get to sleep, sometimes it's funny.

As I began doing more content creating, podcasting became something that I began to get into. And then I was like, "You know what? I wanna get into merchandising." So I created my own self-care box specifically for Black mothers called Mama Likes. So there's been a lot of little pots that I've been putting myself into. But I also feel like, why not?

I have a saying, it's called white boy confidence is what I call it. I have seen several white men just have an idea and execute it. That might not have had the experience to do it, but they've had the confidence that it could work out. And so that has been my mantra for the past 10 years is just, you know what? Where's the little white boy confidence in you?

Belva Anakwenze:
It's interesting you say that. 'Cause I have a client that wrote a book and in her thank yous at the end of the book, she wrote, I wanna thank Belva so much for always making sure I get paid like the white person in the room.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Yes.

Belva Anakwenze:
And so I understand the ideology of wanting to be treated or have the same energy as the white boys in the room.

Angel Laketa Moore:
When you see that their effort is being rewarded with a certain amount of salary, I can see how their response to that will make them feel way more confident to take risks versus when you feel like you're working harder than everyone, you're coming up with ideas that are being dismissed, but then recognized when it's coming outta someone else's mouth, it kind of makes that confidence dissipate very quickly.

But I'm trying to work past that because I know it's just not my generation. I can only imagine how bad it was in my mother's generation or the generation before that.

Belva Anakwenze:
Well, as a whole, marginalized communities aren't often invested in emotionally. There's no one telling us, "Baby, it's okay. It's okay that you are viewed differently than the masses." And that's a beautiful thing. Use that to your power. And then society has showed us that not until recently, that being a person of color or being non-binary or being gay; no one was telling us that this was okay in the media space.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Yeah.

Belva Anakwenze:
So we weren't believing it ourselves. And so now that we have this influx of content and people who are making a great living, giving us self-awareness of being okay being who you are. You are perfect the way you are. So part of it is also just stepping out of our comfort zone and having the bravery if we don't have someone pushing us and undergirding us. It comes from within.

Angel Laketa Moore:
I know that there's a stat that in the realm of entrepreneurs and business owners, that Black women are like —

Belva Anakwenze:
Black women are the fastest-growing businesses in the country.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Why do you think that is?

Belva Anakwenze:
I think we are realizing our worth. Now we see so many women doing it.
We see so many comedians, so many actresses, so many musicians that are actually out here living their dreams. "Oh my God, that can be me." I mean, we are running multibillion-dollar companies.

Angel Laketa Moore:
I mean —

Belva Anakwenze:
That we've created.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Yeah.

Belva Anakwenze:
And that didn't exist 10 years ago.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Me having ownership has changed my financial trajectory in ways that I couldn't imagine. Before being a creator, I was at the mercy of nameless people half the time, people who didn't know me, people who just would be like, "You know what? We want somebody a little shorter. We want somebody a little rough around the edges." And I'm thinking to myself, "Oh, I'm now worried about feeding my kids 'cause you need somebody rough around the edges."

When we have been in a life where there has been scarcity around money, we watched our parents be paycheck to paycheck, we've been paycheck to paycheck, and then we feel a little bit of abundance come in, it's kind of hard to not be afraid of going back to that other life. So we begin to manage our finances that way.

What have you noticed to be the best technique to kind of push past that place of being able to know, yes, money could run out, but there are things you can do that'll allow you to enjoy the hard work and the revenue you're bringing in while also providing stability and security for the future.

Belva Anakwenze:
So much of what we do is because of the lens we now look through life. And we look through life now based on our lens of our life experience.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Yes.

Belva Anakwenze:
And if you come from a marginalized community, your experience could be a mindset of scarcity, of trauma, abuse. And I don't even mean like physical, it could be financial trauma, financial abuse, right?

Angel Laketa Moore:
Yeah.

Belva Anakwenze:
And so oftentimes, it's about changing our mindset so that our lens no longer sees scarcity, but our lens sees the possibility of abundance.

Angel Laketa Moore:
How do you advise your clients on what is like, "Yes, bet on yourself," and what is, "Yeah, you do this, you might end up back in scarcity again"? Those are the things that pull me all the time of, "Oh, if this lands, you're about to reach a place that you probably never thought was possible. If this doesn't land, you're gonna be a lot closer to step one than you think."

Belva Anakwenze:
You have to, as a business owner, as the brand of Angel, you have to make calculated risks.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Mm-hmm.

Belva Anakwenze:
When you look at all the big brands that are out there. There's always a calculated risk. Walt Disney had this crazy idea to build a theme park in the middle of Florida. This actually makes no sense. And why would you do this? Who was gonna come? I just got back not too long ago. I think you just got back.

Angel Laketa Moore:
I surely did.

Belva Anakwenze:
Not too long ago, right?

Angel Laketa Moore:
Yes, I did.

Belva Anakwenze:
And so you have to make the calculated risks. And every risk is not a good one, right?

Angel Laketa Moore:
Right.

Belva Anakwenze:
But you have to start weighing the options. Maybe I can't do these five things, but this one really makes the most sense.

Angel Laketa Moore:
So, especially with my Mama Likes box, my subscription box, I have been so fearful of putting more money into it, even though I know the audience exists and I know the audience needs something like this. But I feel like I've missed opportunities because of my fear regarding investing money back into my own business.

Belva Anakwenze:
The fear is valid, it's real. Again, you're coming through your own lens. Your lens of experience. And if you're scared to go all in, that's okay. Why don't you try doing minimal incremental changes to see if the return on investment's worth it? You may miss the big piece.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Yeah.

Belva Anakwenze:
But you can gradually get to that same reward just over time.

Angel Laketa Moore:
What I feel like I'm getting from you overall that I think is beneficial for any creator is having a professional look at their finances.

Belva Anakwenze:
And I know that's hard. But somebody making 40 or $50,000 still needs someone to help advise them. 'Cause actually, you are creative. This is not what you do. It's what I do.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Yeah.

Belva Anakwenze:
And so whether you're making $40,000 a year, $4 million a year, you should still be talking to somebody on an ongoing basis to understand where you are with things you should be doing, how you should be doing things differently. But that leads me to one other thing that I wanna talk about that I think is a big issue in marginalized communities. And that's kind of knowing who to trust.

Oftentimes, people are asking the right questions, but sometimes they're asking those questions from the wrong people.

Angel Laketa Moore:
So how do you find the right people though, Belva?

Belva Anakwenze:
I know!

Angel Laketa Moore:
Not everybody can get to you!

Belva Anakwenze:
You are correct. But I think it all starts with, one, looking in your peer group. Your friend is doing what you're doing, who are they using? And make sure you're asking the right questions of the right people. And I think that is the first stepping stone. And then just don't be scared to ask the questions. I also think it's very important to seek advisors that understand your industry. The entertainment industry, the creators' industry is very niche, very unique. And there's rules that apply to this industry that don't apply to people making widgets. The next thing would be oversight. You've all heard the horror stories.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Girl, yes!

Belva Anakwenze:
And they're real!

Angel Laketa Moore:
Yes!

Belva Anakwenze:
But it comes from not providing the right oversight. Ask the questions. And if someone's irritated with your questions, they're not the right person.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Mm.

Belva Anakwenze:
You should be able to have authentic, open conversations, the same way you would with your doctor, and really be vulnerable so that the person understands your needs, your desires. 'Cause again, this is very emotional and so if you can't have a real conversation, that person's not a good fit.

Angel Laketa Moore:
I do think it's sometimes easier said than done. If you are a creator of color, you're one of the first people to do it in your circle of friends to branch out into this industry in this way, you don't have a lot of peers to be able to check in with to say, "Hey, how has it been with this person for the past 10 years? Have you ever had the IRS knocking at your door telling you they're seizing your home or whatever?"

We've seen people in the news. Think of Steve Harvey having to pay back all that money that somebody was stealing from him. You know what I'm saying? And you're thinking, "If this man, if it could happen to him, it could sure enough happen to me."

Belva Anakwenze:
Of course. And then that's why I said you have to trust your instincts. And if you cannot have real authentic conversations, if someone is skirting you, someone's not being very candid or clear about what happened, owning their mistakes. I'm a human.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Mm-hmm.

Belva Anakwenze:
I make mistakes for sure, but when I make them, you know that I've made them. I correct it. And I make sure you're whole. If any of my clients came to me and said, "Hey, I wanna have another set of eyes look at this." Cool.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Mm, that's good.

Belva Anakwenze:
No worries.

Angel Laketa Moore:
That's good.

Belva Anakwenze:
They can look at it. We'll pay for an audit if you want to every couple of years. Not a big deal to me. You have to do your due diligence, but always, always, always trust your gut and make sure there's no red flags. I mean, from the clients I have from these marginalized communities, I see some common trends. One is putting trust in the wrong people, so misplaced trust. Not gaining access to information. 'Cause sometimes, it's hear no evil, see no evil, say no evil.

Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to your money. You should actually be informed. And I think the other piece is, it's really time to own our content, own our future. Stop depending on everyone else to make a way for us.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Yes.

Belva Anakwenze:
And make your own way.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Yeah.

Belva Anakwenze:
And I think those are the things that are most important in propelling the next generation of marginalized communities in this creator community. Angel, thank you so much for joining me today. I so appreciate your vulnerability and honesty.

Angel Laketa Moore:
Thank you.

Belva Anakwenze:
And thank you so much for joining us today. As always, be sure to consult with legal and financial professionals to make sure you understand what is best for you and your business. As always, go be creative with your business.