[#034] My First Billion: It’s Juneteenth

Today is Juneteenth, and I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t taught what that means growing up.

Just in case you weren't, let me give you the short version.

On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and announced that the enslaved people there were free…

More than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, and a couple of months after the Civil War had already ended.

The news had been kept from them that long.

Juneteenth marks that day. Black Texans have celebrated it for more than 150 years, and it became a federal holiday in 2021.

Now here's why I'm writing about this today.

First off, to honor this historical day.

Secondly, because I see the same thing happening in entrepreneurship every week.

People who are technically free, but still living like they're not.

They quit corporate America to be an entrepreneur and went from working 9 to 5...

To working 24 to 7.

Then started making millions with plans to at some point “be free.”...

But instead they still live in survival mode.

Their life shifts from…

Chasing and accumulating…

To protecting what they’ve accumulated in fear of going backwards.

Can’t even go on a vacation and unplug.

I’ve been there and that ain’t freedom.

I have accomplished all the goals and collected all the “trophies,” and I was STILL not free.

Because mentally, I was still running from that little boy who grew up without.

Still in survival mode.

Still chasing numbers to prove something.

Still letting the fear of going back drive every decision.

I had financial freedom on paper.

And didn’t know it, because I was still in bondage…

Just like the people in Galveston.

Free on the books, enslaved in reality.

Here's what I've come to understand.

Most of the chains we carry aren't from our current circumstances.

They're from people who spoke over us years ago.

Pastors who told us what God could and couldn't do through us and how we had to earn His love.

Parents who drew the ceiling based on what they knew or thought they knew.

Partners, friends, society, media.

All of them, whether they meant to or not, shaping what we believed was possible.

And we adopted those limits.

Built our goals around them and built our businesses inside of them.

And then wondered why, even after hitting the milestone, we still didn't feel free.

Because the proclamation was signed, but nobody delivered the news.

Consider me General Gordon Granger (the black version of course)...

Here to break the news. You’re free!

As I think about my favorite teacher, leader and strategist…

Jesus!

This is what He came to do.

He didn't come to start a religion, He came to deliver the same message.

You are free.

The debt is paid. The verdict is in. You can stop performing.

All that striving to earn your place?

You already have a place.

All that striving to earn love and forgiveness?

You’re already loved and forgiven.

The bondage of religion, of proving, of earning...

He reconciled all of it.

Now walk in it.

And everything you desire is available to you in that freedom.

Not because you grinded hard enough or were “perfect.”

But because you finally believed you were already enough to receive it.

That's the work.

Not just the business or the strategy.

The internal work of receiving the freedom that's already yours.

Of noticing where you're still running from instead of building toward.

Of catching yourself chasing the next milestone to feel worthy...

And choosing peace instead.

I’m here to tell you…

There is no number or trophy that’s gonna make you feel free.

There’s always another level to chase If you choose.

I’ve seen this with millionaires and multi-billionaires…

And now the first Trillionaire.

This is a big part of my mission.

Helping entrepreneurs not just build wealth.

But build it FROM a place of freedom.

From secured identity, not fear.

From abundance, not scarcity.

From the inside out, not the outside in.

Because you can have everything on the outside and still feel like that little kid who didn't have enough.

I know, because I lived it and now I’m Free.

Now I live before the audience of ONE and I have nothing to prove, nothing to lose, and nothing to gain.

So today, on Juneteenth…

I challenge you to take 10-15 minutes over the weekend to journal and reflect on a few questions...

So that next week, you're more focused and free so you can be lighter and operate from a state of flow instead of force.

I want to ask you a question.

Here are the questions:

In what area of your life or business are you still operating like you're not free?

Where are you still chasing approval or validation?

Where are you still working to prove something?

Where have you already been emancipated...

But nobody delivered the news to you yet?

Sit with that today or over the weekend.

And when you find it...

Decide to walk into your freedom, because you are free.

The proclamation has already been signed.

Feel free to reply and share your answers if you’d like. Some, all, or none at all. Your choice.

Tell those you love that you love them.

Marquel

P.S. If you missed Wednesday’s Pop-Up Zoom workshop on “How to Generate Consistent Qualified Leads That Convert Into High-Ticket Clients,” you can still watch it here before we pull it down and lock it in the vault.

Start from the beginning → Issue 001

Read what happened next → Issue 035