Venus Opal Reese Teaches Black Women Entrepreneurs How to Break Million-Dollar Mark

When did you know you could make millions from sharing your story?

When I did a free talk and realized I had a Million-Dollar Moneymaker. In truth, everyone does. It’s not located in your brain. It’s located in your pain, where life broke your heart. I was doing a free talk for a group of White male CEOs with companies that brought in $50 million in annual revenue.

As I listened to them, I could hear they were lying. I went around the roundtable and articulated what each was not saying–with precision and compassion. When I finished, the entire group hired me. The amount they paid me for doing what I had learned on the streets to survive was ten times what I was making as a tenured professor. That’s when I realized I could make millions.

You’re very candid in your discussions about wealth and “success being harder than the streets, etc. What are three lessons you have learned in business?

1. Take a stand. Be honest about who you are and what you believe. People will either roll with you–or they won’t. I would rather have 10 people who believe what I believe than 1,000 people who think it’s a good idea. Stand for what you believe and don’t back down.

2. Trade on value instead of volume. When I started out in Internet marketing, I didn’t have a “big” list or a lot of affiliate partners. I still don’t in many ways. I decided that instead of trying to compete based on the numbers; I would love my clients to pieces. And that’s what I do. I build my business based on high touch. My VIP clients have my cellphone number. I over-deliver. I listen to them and I do what I can to have them win. So my retention is 95%.

3. Let yourself be supported. Because of the extremity of my background, I have gaps. The minute I started to make money, guilt showed up. I started to drink to “relax” and I started to self-sabotage. I had to let my family know that I wasn’t winning, and I hired a counselor to talk with in a safe space. I needed support. So I swallowed my pride and attended AA meetings as well. I come from a lineage of addicts, so I didn’t want to chance it. I have been dry for three years–the same span of time in which I broke the million-dollar mark.

When it comes to building and maintaining personal and business relationships, what’s the best piece of advice you have for women?

Keep your promises. I take my wife, Lisa, on vacation once a quarter so she doesn’t have to share. That is a promise, and I keep my promises. When I am with her, I am present. The same goes for business relationships. I keep my promises to people, and the moment I can see I will not, I get in loving communication and make a new promise or revoke the promise. It keeps the relationship clean.

When it comes to creating wealth, what’s the best piece of advice you have for women?

Be willing to heal for real. You will never out-earn your self-image. The places where life broke your heart actually creates behaviors that undermine your money and impact your performance. Money is energy. It needs a conduit through which to flow. That conduit is your heart space. Until you take on healing at a core historical and personal level, you will not give yourself the internal permission to prosper.

Tell us about the Black Women Millionaires Live Session in Atlanta on May 3.

The three-hour live session includes tidbits from my Proven Black Women Millionaires blueprint that fast-tracked me to the million-dollar mark in three years and has made $7 million for my clients in five years. Participants will also discover the three inner secrets that every Black Woman Millionaire I know used to fast-track it to the seven-figure mark. Visit Black Women Millionaires Blueprint to learn more.