Wishing everyone a Happy New Year that supported me. I didn’t say Happy New Year to people who didn’t support me, I don’t care what they going through in 2023. I learned to accept the nature of funny-acting folks and give back the same frequency they have been giving me. I’m only caring about those who cared about me and guess what – life is better when I adopted this approach.

My 2022 was a strong pivot and I can look back and just say let’s get better this year and fight whatever comes our way. On a personal note, I declared at the beginning of 2022 that it was the year of health for me. As a Black man in his 50s, I have already witnessed the unnecessary deaths of fellow brothas dying of late-stage colon and prostate cancer because they never got screened. Had other brothas die of stuff like sleep apnea and not getting that taken care of as well.  The majority, almost 100% were those “macho” and “hyper-masculine” Black brothas in their 40s and 50s thinking they were good in life and health.

I had both my prostate and colon screenings in 2022. My prostate is ok for now but I’m proactive with my urologist to stay on top of my prostate so I can keep peeing and erecting well. A lot of brothas who are older than 40 and not on top of their prostate got limp dicks and don’t want to talk about it. As for my colon, polyps were found in the first run and removed, including a good-sized one. A second follow-up was scheduled and more polyps were removed but knock on wood, all the polyps were benign. If I delayed screenings and let the polyps linger, I would be telling a different story about my colon a few years from now.  I did not know, did not feel anything wrong with my colon or any symptoms, and didn’t know I had those polyps going on inside of me.

I’m not embarrassed to talk about my prostate or colon because like I said, I’m the one looking at the embalmed waxed-up corpses of brothas my age in the casket at the funereal in their 40s and 50s who did not look after their health and their death was avoidable if they stayed on top of their screenings and made adjustments.

You brothas better take heed and I hope in 2023, you take your screenings seriously and be the owner of your body and health. Stop letting that wife of yours feed you that processed pork and other crap and leave/divorce her if she doesn’t want to cook right – your life depends on it because I forgot to mention the majority of these dead brothas I know were married and those wives slowly quiet-killed the brotha with that garbage food she is cooking in their marriage.  

Now I discussed personal health, the second part was mental health – I finally acknowledged I am tolerating negative people in my life and the inner circle that can no longer be tolerated. I’m tired of the “family” and “blood is thicker than water” rhetoric and it’s always that broke-ass member of the family preaching that “family!” nonsense so they can mooch off you or try to claim your estate after you die, arguing with your spouse or your children for your possessions. Be honest about that and stop letting people come at you with analogies and made-up stories trying to contradict what you really see going on – Black people are good at that making up analogies instead of facing truths.

I had to acknowledge the sistas – let’s be specific – Black women were not being right to brothas like me. I realize this Black woman was over here crapping on me and what I’m doing for myself and trying to tear me down to gaslight me.   Over here telling me she knows someone doing what I’m doing and then start blabbing about they made or got millions of dollars – I don’t talk about my money but it’s obvious she figured something out. See, all those sistas be doing that crap around me like I’m supposed to care about someone outside of me, my family, and my relationship with God.

Let’s call what the sistas were doing what it is – jealousy. Brothas be doing the same jealous thing but I don’t hang around brothas like that, never did, never will. I seek mated partners to marry and raise generational legacy, the rest of these brothas can enjoy Tariq Nasheed publicly and Lil Nas X privately all they want – I care only about the women and my family I’m responsible for, including the ex-girlfriend's kids. Let me explain something really quick so I can move on to the empire talk.

I never had a problem with dating fine sistas who got 5-6 figure Instagram followers or were raised in a bougie household in Mt. Vernon or South Shore. It’s usually the ugly sistas with feminists leaning quietly hating Black men because of daddy issues that be coming at me with the bullcrap. That garbage sista is dating these thugs and knuckleheads because of her poor self-esteem issues and when she encounters a real brotha like me, I represent everything she wishes her daddy and that garbage brotha she dating should have been for her. And she hates a Black man like me for that and it took a lot of experience for me to realize these kinds of garbage Black women exist out there, bitter and single and settling for garbage brothas.

The natural path is a brotha who got his money and well-being and his goals right and is going to be out and about throughout the world. He going to run into that fine Indian and Asian chick, he going to look at that Eastern European chick and that Latino chick as well and he really going to go nuts when he encounters those Middle-Eastern, African, and Afro-European chicks – a Black man who got his act together know he got options. We not going to pay attention to any silly-acting Black woman thinking she got exclusive rights to a brotha and she can treat good brothas any kind of way. The happiest moment for me in 2022 is watching these sistas disappear or ghost on me and I be like bye. But in 2022, I had some global chicks almost ghosting and I had to take an air trip for 7-11 hours to get her back on team Black man, I cannot let her go like that.

What I’m saying is I’m no longer acknowledging, accepting, or tolerating another Black woman who wants to see how she can tear a good Black man down or try to position me less than the garbage she dating or have as a father in her life. I don’t got time for Black women with these Black man-hating mental health issues – the human life span is too short to put up with that nonsense. I’m going to be with women that celebrate being with a good Black man and I’m damn sure going to give the woman that appreciate me all the love I can give out of my heart and I’m going to pray to God for that woman and her well-being, trust me on that. I’m supporting only those that support and celebrate me, plain and simple.

Now the business and the empire. I realized what Japan did to me was a blessing in disguise. Japan in 2020 has imposed a strict travel ban with no exceptions that shut people and businesses out completely. It was stubborn politicians like Kishida who kept the travel ban in place and trust me – I was the lucky one. There were foreign students who were studying in Japan who were suddenly locked out and cannot return to Japan to get their things. There were foreigners who moved and settled in Japan and they flew overseas for a business meeting and were locked out and were rendered homeless and stuck. That is how bad and messed up the Japan travel ban was and it locked me and my business out of Japan for over 2 years and I’m not forgiving or forgetting what happened to me.  

Why would anybody in their right mind go to Japan and startup a business after that? It is apparent Japan do not respect or appreciate foreigners doing what they did. In addition, there is no tax incentive or financial incentive to do business in Japan. Actually, Japan is one of the worst places for a real ex-pat, I’m not talking lightweight money military retirees or teaching English, I’m talking global mogul entrepreneurial-level hustle. The saying goes, Japan is a nice place to live but don’t die there – because Japan will come after all of your global assets and whatever you thought was going to your spouse and children.

In 2022, I was looking at all the options to reconsider a global hub. Atlanta is not as great as it was and also, we got a whole generation of young people following social media influencers instead of handling their own hustle, these young folks are lying on their pockets and not putting in that core work and trying to fake it until they make it. You cannot build an empire with clowns like the generation of Americans we got now, especially in Atlanta where folks were always faking and posing hard. Charlotte was okay but that place is really Atlanta twin. Dallas and Austin, I thought would be too expensive than Atlanta so no advantage and nothing compelling to move. The West Coast from Los Angeles to Portland and Seattle has gotten too far left and liberal where entrepreneurs are shunned and they celebrate having folks homeless and in extreme poverty to have a social problem they promise to fix but not really committed to doing anything.

I was told of one option and I had to go check it out – Dubai, UAE. I went over there and they have free zones, they have a good free zone visa program but they also had something I really liked. The first thing I liked is I saw a thriving global entrepreneurial scene – go to a business hotel and you see an American or African Black woman running the lounge area table showing her business model to other business professionals discussing deals. See, that Black woman is going to Dubai where she is being celebrated and I peeped that as well.

The second thing I liked was the diversity of everybody I have worked with in technology right there in Dubai – Indians, Filipinos, Africans, Eastern Europeans, and even Latinos are all up in Dubai and have their own community near the airport area in the old Dubai area. I can hire anybody in the world to move to Dubai and sponsor them and I got the money and means to do so. I feel like me, my money and my hustle will be celebrated in Dubai a lot better than where I’m at now in Atlanta.

Look, let’s be honest and call a spade a spade – why in the heck would I stay in Atlanta trying to hire Black students or Black talent when they are actively not even acknowledging Ed Dunn or Dream and Hustle? I supposed to subscribe to “support each other” Black-identity dogma and hire my own people when they don’t even acknowledge who I am and what I’m doing!? Why would I bring people like that in my company, and my empire and believe they will be aligned with my mission and vision? Spare me the race-loyalty, Black Enterprise magazine nonsense – a garbage publication that doesn’t even support brothas and sistas as entrepreneurs with that whack content they putting out. I’m not hiring anyone who doesn’t celebrate me and you wouldn’t do that either if you were in my position.  

I’m going where I’m celebrated and working with those who appreciate my skills, talent, and contribution. That is why I have moved forward with analyzing Dubai as the next destination and make sure if we move, we properly vetted Dubai but so far, I don’t think anybody got Dubai beat except the United States as a global hub. The biggest advantage of the United States is the social safety net where none exists in Dubai, so if you go broke in Dubai, better make a run for the airport. But if I have to stay in the United States, it’s likely going to be Austin or Dallas or staying in Atlanta but we know I’m going to do 400 north corridors in Atlanta where I get the most respect from the people living in that area than I’m getting near the I-20 corridor.

Looking forward, I wanted to share that I’m looking out for me in 2023. I will be on top of my physical health staying proactive. I will be defending and maintaining my mental health by being only in positive and meaningful relationships. I will be growing my empire only with customers and stakeholders that support me and my goals. I have found where I need to stand and how to move forward on the journey set out for me. I hope the same for you brothas and sistas in 2023 and wish everybody that supports me a Happy New Year.