[0:00]How does someone even begin to evaluate, like, what's a good business to buy? The boring ones are the best ones. So, the first thing is you want to ideate upon what industry do you wanna go into? And that's something people don't pay attention to do their due diligence. You need a cash flow business or you need to use this money to acquire assets. Some people feel like holding a brick and mortar business is too risky for them. So, either you're going to do a fix And I wanna buy a business, what would you direct me to first? So, if you're ready to buy a business, the first thing we wanna do, first identify the industry. It could be car wash, you want to buy, I have different clients with different needs.
[0:39]Okay. They want to buy a gas station, they want to buy a car wash, they want to buy a home health business, they want to buy a laundromat or a restaurant. So, whatever it is that they identify, whatever industry, now we need to find the source. So, you can go to Bizbuysell.com. You can go to Loopnet.com, Dealstream.com, Digest.com, you can go to off deal markets, they have like communities. Some people like, oh, I can just YouTube, or I can just Google. What do you say to that? Now, how you gonna help me get these funds so I can have this fun? We start off with the What's going on, YouTube? It's your boy Darius back with another episode of Influence the Impact Podcast, where we have very influential conversations with impactful people. And today I got someone very impactful. She is out here literally changing the world. Superwoman, Miss Benedicta. How are you doing today? I'm great. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for being here. I'm I'm super excited for this one. Um, you're doing a lot, changing a lot of lives. I want to say shout out to you for doing that. Um, a lot of people ask us about business acquisition, a lot of people ask you about capital credit. And I know you someone who's kind of doing it all, touching a lot of lives, so I'm excited about this episode. Before we get into it today, though, um, let the people know who you are and what you do. Thank you so much. I go by Benny. Okay. And I help women. I help professionals, working professionals. I also help people position themselves for their credits. Okay. You know, building their credit up, their credit behavior. Okay. And also position them for business funding. I love it. And transitioning them to own businesses with the funding that we get them. Wow. Yes. That's what I've doing. So you don't help the fellas, you just help the woman? No, no, it's everybody, huh? You said woman first and then y'all later. No, I love it. I love it. And I, and I, I was just joking because the great thing about that is, and this is a coaching point for y'all. Someone who speaks to everybody, speaks to no one. So what she did is she did a great job calling out her audience because now woman feel like she's for me, right? So you went over everybody's. That's a good lesson for everybody in business. Speak to one person and it doesn't mean you won't get the other people because like the fellas, you'll still going to hit her up, or the professionals still going to hit her up, but when she says the woman, now they're like, oh, what y'all be saying? The girlies, right? The girlies, so now they on, they on their side. I love that. Um, super excited. What I like to always do is, I love people to kind of know like your background story, like how you got to this position where now you're changing these lives, acquiring businesses, helping people acquire business. What was life like before you were this Benedicta? Awesome. So, I I wasn't born an entrepreneur. Okay. And I for my accent you can tell I'm an immigrant. And just like every immigrant, I came in here with a traditional path. You know, coming here not knowing anything about the culture, about the system, about money, credits, nothing at all, you know, and although I I had a college background for my home country. But coming into the States, I started from the bottom. I I was a bartender. I worked as housekeeping in the hotel. Okay. I did, um, you know, all the manual jobs, you know, and those are, you know, hard work. Yeah. That do put food on the table, not to take away from me, but I knew there was more. For you. It was more for me and, um, you know, coming back home so late waiting tables for people. And I knew that something needed to shift for me. And I quickly realized hard work doesn't decide wealth. Facts, that's good. You know, so I needed to change my mindset. I needed that transformation to begin. So, and for some people, they might say, oh, you got a good head start because you have a college degree, but it wasn't that because when you come back here and you become humbled, you start losing yourself. Yeah. So, but I needed to find who I was on the inside. So, for anybody that is out there that you feel like, I don't have a college degree, but there's something that God called you to be. And it's understanding that you're him, you're her. That's where the transformation begins. And I started investing in my education. I love it. I went back to school to become an IT engineer. Okay. Yes. So, I started leading digital transformation in 14,500 companies and soon after, you know, I was, um, leading large teams. Yeah. And making multiple six figures. Wow. Shout out to you. Yeah. Where you from? You didn't tell us. Originally from Nigeria. You got to rap. Shout out to Nigeria. Yeah, Nigeria they care last. That's a fact. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, so, um, now getting into the IT space, making multiple six figure. I became very comfortable. Yes. And that's a choker. That's good. That is. So, when you become so comfortable, comfort zone begins to kill the purpose that God created for you. Facts. So, I there were so many things as a working professional 9 to 5 that I did not know. I didn't know anything about credit. I didn't know anything about the financial system. There are so many things I didn't I just felt have a good credit, be able to buy a car, be able to purchase a home and I did that. You know, work hard, get educated, find stability. Yeah. And that's where I stopped. And I ran into one of one podcast and Darius Benders was on that podcast. And I was like, hm, what was he talking about credit and all of this stuff? And then I got into one of the challenges and I couldn't sleep for two weeks. It was like fire caught in my bones. Once you see it, you can't see it. Whatever you see, you can't unsee. And I became so restless. Even when I was comfortable, making multiple six figures. You know, making over almost $400,000 in a year. Yeah. But I still felt financially stuck. I didn't understand the freedom that these people were talking about. I was hearing something like 100k days. I'm like, what are they talking about? You know, so because I started realizing very quickly with your 9 to 5, you can only you can't scale so much. Yeah. And you may not even have the time freedom. And with that, job security because I'm in the IT space, AI started disrupted. And, you know, losing jobs, one gig starting going after the other. And when I started learning about, you know, credit, business funding, it was like the light bulb just open. Yeah. At the time I didn't really feel the need for the change, but something kept pushing me into this path like, learn this thing and understand this. And I said, understanding that at some point, we all need to develop a plan B. Yes. Plan A can be taken away from you. You can lose your job. It's not yours to begin with. And I started understanding leverage. I was like, oh, no, my culture where we come from, we believe in cash. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, everyone's taught that. Everybody's taught cash and debt is bad for you. You don't owe anybody. You know, but I understood I was living in a different system. And if I don't leverage the system, I can't maximize the potential of what the system can produce for me. That's so good. That's so good. What thing you said earlier, it was so good. It was you said, you said, uh, you said, I realized at that point, the hard work didn't equate to wealth. And some people never learn that their whole lives. Yes. What was that thing that made you realize, I have to work smart instead of just working hard? You can only work so hard your life. You have to find ways to be strategic. You have to find ways to leverage and position yourself so you, how long can you do this? Facts. You can't keep exchanging time for money. That was something like, if I'm not at work, I can't earn anything. That's it. So, it's like being on a hamster wheel if you just continues to doing the same thing over and over again until you get burned out. That's it. So, hard work, you know, even being a bartending and work working those four or five jobs, that's hard work. It is, yeah, yeah. So, learning, upskilling made me do another hard work. Right. Yeah. So, but there's a better way. Absolutely. And with working 9 to 5, you can never build ownership, you can't build legacy. Can't pass it down. You can't pass it down. Yeah. So, learning that I I realized there's so many working professionals, my professionals as well, that don't understand these things. We just straight time for money and leave paycheck to paycheck. Facts. And we we still feel financially stuck. Stuck. So, it it is that great area for me like, why are we still we don't there's so much we can do and we can't do. Facts. That's good. That's good. All right, you talking good. I love it. So, for you now, being this person who you're doing these amazing things, of course, you watch the podcast, you saw me, you came to the challenge, and then you had that burning desire. At that point, did you then make a decision that I'm going to now start helping people, or am I going to help myself first? Like, which which one did you do first? So, I helped myself first. Okay. And because you can't save anybody until you save yourself. That's it. So, I needed to put on the life jacket first, and I wanted to be the proof of concept. Oh, that's good. So, I went on to try to get myself funded. I I started understanding what credit really meant. Yeah. I didn't understand there was something called revolving credit, revolving, you know, installment. So, I started understanding, oh, there's a there's something about your credit mix, there's something about paying on time, there's something about utilization. It's not about the score. I was at a 700, but I couldn't get funded for some certain limits. I was like, what, you know, So, I started understanding that there are data points that the lenders are looking at. I love it. And that opened me to a new, whoa. Yeah, I start to see it. This is a whole different ball game. Yeah. So, I started positioning myself and learning, you know, going through those lessons and I got myself funded. How much? Almost a half a million dollars. That's so crazy. What? Yes. And what I realize is that, and this is where most people get it wrong because they feel debt is bad. Yeah. But credit is actually a tool that makes you control opportunities. 100%. That's so good. I love the way you broke it down. So, I decided if I'm going to take this money, it has to be called capital. Yes. And that's where other people make, you know, get it wrong. They use credit, get this funding and turn it to lifestyle spend. Terrible, right? Yes, that's when it's dangerous. Yes. You want to take the money and turn it into a cash flowing business. 100%. Something that gives you return on the investment and that investment pays back the debt. Yes. And that's what I did. I love it. So, I went ahead to acquire, um, a laundromat. I love it. Partner to get a dry cleaning service as well. Wow. I also had, um, opened up, um, luxury car rental services. So, we have some fleets of, um, Are you in Atlanta? Is it in Atlanta? Yes, sir. Okay. So, you live in Atlanta? Yeah, I do live in Atlanta. That's fire. Yes. So, when evaluating, so, so more risky, they're both if you shop, right? Of course not risky, but if you say, someone comes to you in a real risky versus you will revert them to real estate over buying a business. No, there's preference. Okay. Just preference. Just preference. Got it. Some people want daily income. So, that's where the cash flowing business would just, yes. So, like a laundromat, whether I'm there or not, I'm making money. That's fire. So, you want to leverage people, you want to leverage systems and processes. Do they already come with the people and process and systems in it? That's why business acquisition is better. So, when you go acquire a business, you're not starting from scratch. You're you're you're buying cash flow and systems. So, you can see numbers from past years and all that. Everything. I love it. Let's get into it.
[15:52]All right. So, if I want to come to you because this I really might be coming to you, and I got all this credit. I got money, whatever, and I want to buy a business. What, so, what you do is the first thing I would do, I would come to you and what would you direct me to first? So, if you're ready to buy a business, the first thing we want to do, first identify the industry. It could be car wash, you want to buy, I have different clients with different needs. Okay. They want to buy a gas station, they want to buy a car wash, they want to buy a home health business, they want to buy a laundromat or a restaurant. So, whatever it is that they identify, whatever industry, now we need to find the source. So, you can go to Bizbuysell.com. You can go to Loopnet.com, Dealstream.com, Digest.com, you can go to off deal markets, they have like communities. Some people like, oh, I can just YouTube, or I can just Google. What do you say to that? Now, how you gonna help me get these funds so I can have this fun? We start off with the What's going on, YouTube? It's your boy Darius back with another episode of Influence the Impact Podcast, where we have very influential conversations with impactful people. And today I got someone very impactful. She is out here literally changing the world. Superwoman, Miss Benedicta. How are you doing today? I'm great. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for being here. I'm I'm super excited for this one. Um, you're doing a lot, changing a lot of lives. I want to say shout out to you for doing that. Um, a lot of people ask us about business acquisition, a lot of people ask you about capital credit. And I know you someone who's kind of doing it all, touching a lot of lives, so I'm excited about this episode. Before we get into it today, though, um, let the people know who you are and what you do. Thank you so much. I go by Benny. Okay. And I help women. I help professionals, working professionals. I also help people position themselves for their credits. Okay. You know, building their credit up, their credit behavior. Okay. And also position them for business funding. I love it. And transitioning them to own businesses with the funding that we get them. Wow. Yes. That's what I've doing. So you don't help the fellas, you just help the woman? No, no, it's everybody, huh? You said woman first and then y'all later. No, I love it. I love it. And I, and I, I was just joking because the great thing about that is, and this is a coaching point for y'all. Someone who speaks to everybody, speaks to no one. So what she did is she did a great job calling out her audience because now woman feel like she's for me, right? So you went over everybody's. That's a good lesson for everybody in business. Speak to one person and it doesn't mean you won't get the other people because like the fellas, you'll still going to hit her up, or the professionals still going to hit her up, but when she says the woman, now they're like, oh, what y'all be saying? The girlies, right? The girlies, so now they on, they on their side. I love that. Um, super excited. What I like to always do is, I love people to kind of know like your background story, like how you got to this position where now you're changing these lives, acquiring businesses, helping people acquire business. What was life like before you were this Benedicta? Awesome. So, I I wasn't born an entrepreneur. Okay. And I for my accent you can tell I'm an immigrant. And just like every immigrant, I came in here with a traditional path. You know, coming here not knowing anything about the culture, about the system, about money, credits, nothing at all, you know, and although I I had a college background for my home country. But coming into the States, I started from the bottom. I I was a bartender. I worked as housekeeping in the hotel. Okay. I did, um, you know, all the manual jobs, you know, and those are, you know, hard work. Yeah. That do put food on the table, not to take away from me, but I knew there was more. For you. It was more for me and, um, you know, coming back home so late waiting tables for people. And I knew that something needed to shift for me. And I quickly realized hard work doesn't decide wealth. Facts, that's good. You know, so I needed to change my mindset. I needed that transformation to begin. So, and for some people, they might say, oh, you got a good head start because you have a college degree, but it wasn't that because when you come back here and you become humbled, you start losing yourself. Yeah. So, but I needed to find who I was on the inside. So, for anybody that is out there that you feel like, I don't have a college degree, but there's something that God called you to be. And it's understanding that you're him, you're her. That's where the transformation begins. And I started investing in my education. I love it. I went back to school to become an IT engineer. Okay. Yes. So, I started leading digital transformation in 14,500 companies and soon after, you know, I was, um, leading large teams. Yeah. And making multiple six figures. Wow. Shout out to you. Yeah. Where you from? You didn't tell us. Originally from Nigeria. You got to rap. Shout out to Nigeria. Yeah, Nigeria they care last. That's a fact. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, so, um, now getting into the IT space, making multiple six figure. I became very comfortable. Yes. And that's a choker. That's good. That is. So, when you become so comfortable, comfort zone begins to kill the purpose that God created for you. Facts. So, I there were so many things as a working professional 9 to 5 that I did not know. I didn't know anything about credit. I didn't know anything about the financial system. There are so many things I didn't I just felt have a good credit, be able to buy a car, be able to purchase a home and I did that. You know, work hard, get educated, find stability. Yeah. And that's where I stopped. And I ran into one of one podcast and Darius Benders was on that podcast. And I was like, hm, what was he talking about credit and all of this stuff?
[23:36]And then I got into one of the challenges and I couldn't sleep for two weeks. It was like fire caught in my bones. Once you see it, you can't see it. Whatever you see, you can't unsee. And I became so restless. Even when I was comfortable, making multiple six figures. You know, making over almost $400,000 in a year. Yeah. But I still felt financially stuck. I didn't understand the freedom that these people were talking about. I was hearing something like 100k days. I'm like, what are they talking about? You know, so because I started realizing very quickly with your 9 to 5, you can only you can't scale so much. Yeah. And you may not even have the time freedom. And with that, job security because I'm in the IT space, AI started disrupted. And, you know, losing jobs, one gig started going after the other. And when I started learning about, you know, credit, business funding, it was like the light bulb just open. Yeah. At the time I didn't really feel the need for the change, but something kept pushing me into this path like, learn this thing and understand this. And I said, understanding that at some point, we all need to develop a plan B. Yes. Plan A can be taken away from you. You can lose your job. It's not yours to begin with. And I started understanding leverage. I was like, oh, no, my culture where we come from, we believe in cash. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, everyone's taught that. Everybody's taught cash and debt is bad for you. You don't owe anybody. You know, but I understood I was living in a different system. And if I don't leverage the system, I can't maximize the potential of what the system can produce for me. That's so good. That's so good. What thing you said earlier, it was so good. It was you said, you said, uh, you said, I realized at that point, the hard work didn't equate to wealth. And some people never learn that their whole lives. Yes. What was that thing that made you realize, I have to work smart instead of just working hard? You can only work so hard your life. You have to find ways to be strategic. You have to find ways to leverage and position yourself so you, how long can you do this? Facts. You can't keep exchanging time for money. That was something like, if I'm not at work, I can't earn anything. That's it. So, it's like being on a hamster wheel if you just continues to doing the same thing over and over again until you get burned out. That's it. So, hard work, you know, even being a bartending and work working those four or five jobs, that's hard work. It is, yeah, yeah. So, learning, upskilling made me do another hard work. Right. Yeah. So, but there's a better way. Absolutely. And with working 9 to 5, you can never build ownership, you can't build legacy. Can't pass it down. You can't pass it down. Yeah. So, learning that I I realized there's so many working professionals, my professionals as well, that don't understand these things. We just straight time for money and leave paycheck to paycheck. Facts. And we we still feel financially stuck. Stuck. So, it it is that great area for me like, why are we still we don't there's so much we can do and we can't do. Facts. That's good. That's good. All right, you talking good. I love it. So, for you now, being this person who you're doing these amazing things, of course, you watch the podcast, you saw me, you came to the challenge, and then you had that burning desire. At that point, did you then make a decision that I'm going to now start helping people, or am I going to help myself first? Like, which which one did you do first? So, I helped myself first. Okay. And because you can't save anybody until you save yourself. That's it. So, I needed to put on the life jacket first, and I wanted to be the proof of concept. Oh, that's good. So, I went on to try to get myself funded. I I started understanding what credit really meant. Yeah. I didn't understand there was something called revolving credit, revolving, you know, installment. So, I started understanding, oh, there's a there's something about your credit mix, there's something about paying on time, there's something about utilization. It's not about the score. I was at a 700, but I couldn't get funded for some certain limits. I was like, what, you know, So, I started understanding that there are data points that the lenders are looking at. I love it. And that opened me to a new, whoa. Yeah, I start to see it. This is a whole different ball game. Yeah. So, I started positioning myself and learning, you know, going through those lessons and I got myself funded. How much? Almost a half a million dollars. That's so crazy. What? Yes. And what I realize is that, and this is where most people get it wrong because they feel debt is bad. Yeah. But credit is actually a tool that makes you control opportunities. 100%. That's so good. I love the way you broke it down. So, I decided if I'm going to take this money, it has to be called capital. Yes. And that's where other people make, you know, get it wrong. They use credit, get this funding and turn it to lifestyle spend. Terrible, right? Yes, that's when it's dangerous. Yes. You want to take the money and turn it into a cash flowing business. 100%. Something that gives you return on the investment and that investment pays back the debt. Yes. And that's what I did. I love it. So, I went ahead to acquire, um, a laundromat. I love it. Partner to get a dry cleaning service as well. Wow. I also had, um, opened up, um, luxury car rental services. So, we have some fleets of, um, Are you in Atlanta? Is it in Atlanta? Yes, sir. Okay. So, you live in Atlanta? Yeah, I do live in Atlanta. That's fire. Yes. So, when evaluating, so, so more risky, they're both if you shop, right? Of course not risky, but if you say, someone comes to you in a real risky versus you will revert them to real estate over buying a business. No, there's preference. Okay. Just preference. Just preference. Got it. Some people want daily income. So, that's where the cash flowing business would just, yes. So, like a laundromat, whether I'm there or not, I'm making money. That's fire. So, you want to leverage people, you want to leverage systems and processes. Do they already come with the people and process and systems in it? That's why business acquisition is better. So, when you go acquire a business, you're not starting from scratch. You're you're you're buying cash flow and systems. So, you can see numbers from past years and all that. Everything. I love it. Let's get into it. All right. So, if I want to come to you because this I really might be coming to you, and I got all this credit. I got money, whatever, and I want to buy a business. What, so, what you do is the first thing I would do, I would come to you and what would you direct me to first? So, if you're ready to buy a business, the first thing we want to do, first identify the industry. It could be car wash, you want to buy, I have different clients with different needs. Okay. They want to buy a gas station, they want to buy a car wash, they want to buy a home health business, they want to buy a laundromat or a restaurant. So, whatever it is that they identify, whatever industry, now we need to find the source. So, you can go to Bizbuysell.com. You can go to Loopnet.com, Dealstream.com, Digest.com, you can go to off deal markets, they have like communities. Some people like, oh, I can just YouTube, or I can just Google. What do you say to that? Now, how you gonna help me get these funds so I can have this fun? We start off with the
