Interview with Cedric Muhammad, former General Manager of Wu-Tang Clan, Discusses His New Books & More!

Cedric Muhammad was named a Member of the African Union’s First Congress of African Economists in November of 2008. He is a political strategist, monetary economist and business consultant who has advised members of Congress, multi-national corporations, music moguls, and foreign governments on strategy and economic policy. He has been published in the Wall Street Journal, and featured in American Banker. Before establishing his entrepreneurial development firm CM Cap, Cedric served as the General Manager of Wu-Tang Clan Management for the multi-platinum Hip- Hop music group. Muhammad attended Rutgers University majoring in Finance. THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SECRET: Starting a Business Without A Bank Loan, Collateral or Revenue is his first book. INTRODUCE US TO YOUR BOOK: THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SECRET is for anyone who has a small business or is thinking of starting one and looking for a broad overview of the process. I wrote it with the recently laid off professional, previously incarcerated individual, and single Mother in mind, as well as the Hip-Hop generation. In the book I talk about the journey and adventure of entrepreneurship in spiritual, technical and practical terms. There are three Volumes. Volume I: The Political Economy deals with cultural, economic, and political factors that affect the bottom line of every business. It also explains how the financial crisis has impacted the ability of entrepreneurs to access capital and what they can do to finance their dreams, outside of the commercial banking system. Volume II: The Business Principles lays out my own experience, study and tips like the importance of building your personal power, mastering etiquette and networking, negotiating deals and writing business plans. Volume III: The Personal Struggle revolves around the uphill road that success in entrepreneurship requires and the toll it can take on relationships. It is a poignant volume showing how some of the best qualities of the entrepreneurial personality can create imbalance in your personal and domestic life as well. Volume III also points to how to embrace suffering and strengthen your willpower on a spiritual and scientific level. WHERE ARE YOU FROM? HOW DID YOU START YOUR WRITING JOURNEY? AND WHERE DID YOUR PASSION FOR WRITING COME FROM? I lived all over the world as a young boy. By the time I was 8 I had already lived on 3 continents. But my middle and high school years were spent in a unique Black suburb of Philadelphia, the town of Willingboro, New Jersey. It is an interesting place – somewhere that residents of Philadelphia, Camden, Trenton, and Newark New Jersey, even New York City supposedly come to ‘escape’ harsh city life. It makes the town a great microcosm of America. I was raised under the golden rule and nominally as a Christian. I accepted Islam while in college, and continue to love the church and am grateful for what it instilled in me in terms of respect for the scriptures and the importance of an inner spiritual life. Since a Muslim is a lover of peace and Islam can be summed in one word ‘righteousness,’ I just see a Muslims and good Christians as people who are trying to do good or trying to do right. I see no conflict between it and the teachings of Jesus, which can be summed up as Freedom, Justice and Equality and basically his Sermon on the Mount. My passion for writing was instilled in me by my beautiful Mother – born in Panama and raised in Jamaica – who placed a premium on education and reading. Growing up as an ‘Army Brat’ – as my father (born in Harlem and raised in Brooklyn) was in the military for nearly 30 years, I kept a journal of my travels and memories as young boy and wrote letters to my childhood friends, staying in touch as we moved all around the world. To this day I have friendships with those that I kept in touch with through letter writing as a little boy. But I never realized I had a talent for it until 11th grade in high school and my sophomore year in College when on two separate occasions, instructors expressed how disappointed they were in how casually I treated my work. Their constructive criticism and confidence in me made me believe that I had something of value that deserved discipline and hard work. I’ve never been trained technically as a writer but I have received tips from great journalists and authors over the years and developed my own style. My writings on economics and business have been published in a diverse array of publications like The Wall Street Journal, Newsday, and The Final Call. WHY WAS THIS BOOK SO IMPORTANT TO CREATE? Because there is no single book or book series that I know of that properly and simultaneously connects how the political economy, personal struggle and business principles impact entrepreneurship. The public school system does not teach economics hardly at all. I only received 4 weeks of it in my senior year of high school. The media can’t explain it to the public in clear words and newspapers seem to only care about personal finance – 401 Ks, investing in the stock market and buying real estate – which is not entrepreneurship. The greatest source of wealth in this country has not come from investing in paper assets. It has come from building businesses. And lastly, the book publishing industry divides the subject of business into too many sub categories. All of this has contributed to ignorance and confusion. My clients and readers would always ask me for one book to recommend on the subject that would be comprehensive and I couldn’t do it. So, I guess in THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SECRET I have attempted to write the book that they and I wanted to read. HOW WILL YOUR BOOK IMPACT RELATIONSHIPS? I believe that a single chapter in Volume III: The Personal Struggle entitled, “The Secret Of Personal Relationships – The Entrepreneur and Those Around Them” may be the most important in the entire series because I deal with a subject that many don’t want to face which is that entrepreneurship is a deeply personal and spiritual decision and process. And the decision to start a business is made usually after we have entered into committed relationships. This creates a natural tension. We often are husbands, wives, daughters, sons, parents, boyfriends, girlfriends and best friends before we decide to pursue our dream. And this creates a conflict because building a business requires attention to detail, spontaneity, constant change, long hours, endurance and a high level of risk, while being in relationships can be about stability, fulfilling duties and circumstances and regularity. If you and your loved ones and inner circle are not on the same page you will experience gaps in the relationship that could require separation or reconciliation. I hope this book will make people on both sides of the relationship – the entrepreneur and the loved one – more sober about what is involved and at stake. I also hope the book will help strengthen relationships that have been strained by the pursuit of a business dream or renew those which have lost spirit from the daily trials and tribulations involved with an entrepreneurial undertaking. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY HAS BEEN YOUR MOST SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENT WITH THIS BOOK? Judging from the reaction to the book I have succeeded in sharing and presenting my personal testimony, experience and years of study in ways that are relevant and helpful to others. I have a very unique background and it was important for me to weave in lessons from my life managing music groups, running political campaigns, and advising first-time entrepreneurs and world leaders who have to make bottom line decisions, in a way that was honest and true to my personal path. I also am proud of the fact that I wrote the book in a way that distinguishes me from so-called ‘gurus.’ I did not fall out of heaven with all the right answers, and neither did they although some allow people to think that of them. I actually have come up from the dirt. I know what it is like to lose confidence in yourself, be poor, without a place to live, to lose status and wealth suddenly. And I have made numerous mistakes and errors which have hurt myself and others. Yet, with the help of God, true friends, and the lessons of others who came before me I have always been able to ‘make something out of nothing.’ And that is the key to success for today’s entrepreneurs and those who have been laid off, terminated, or just come home from prison. If the bank won’t give you a loan, the government won’t give you a grant or contract, and no one will hire you, can you make something happen? Can you do for self or will you always be dependent upon others to create a job for you? My goal is not to look smart, holy or pure so that people will follow me. I want people to see some dirt, mud, imperfections, shortcomings and grime so they will know I know what I’m talking about! My goal is to serve people in their greatest hour of need and show them that all they have to do is look within themselves and in their immediate environment to become a creator and build a business organization according to spiritual, technical and practical principles. If I do my job right I will be rewarded and share in the consequences of any good work I perform on behalf of others. SHARE WITH US YOUR LATEST NEWS OR AWARDS: In March of 2009 I went to Nairobi, Kenya to participate in the African Union’s First Congress of African Economists of which I was named a Member. We are working on how Africa can unite its 53 countries into one common economic market. I was named and honored for my one-of-a kind proposal to unite the continent under a single currency backed by goal. A key to bringing Africa out of poverty will not be charity, government aid, or helping Africa borrow money on capital markets like many suggest. It will be determined by how successful we are in developing entrepreneurs and small businesses. It is the same with our inner cities and rural areas in the United States of America. Neither the U.S. government nor corporate America will ever be able to create enough jobs for us. I want to place entrepreneurship at the forefront of economic development all over the world. The Entrepreneurial Secret to Starting a Business without a Bank Loan, Collateral or Revenue CM Cap Publishers Publication date October, 2009 0-312-57766-4 Business/Economics/Self help Target audience: Faith-based, journalists, inspirational Subject matter: Overcoming illiteracy, stuttering through faith and hard work WEBSITES: www.blackelectorate.com www.blackcoffeechannel.com www.cedricmuhammad.com www.theesecret.com http://foreverdc.com/2009/12/17/cedric-muhammad/ Posted by InTheMixWithTre’