Navigating the Financial Industry as a Black Woman: Lessons from Michelle Richburg, Founder of Richberg Enterprises

Ever wondered how a successful black woman navigates the financial space? Get ready to be inspired as we sit down with Michelle Richburg, the dynamic founder of Richburg Enterprises, who shares candid insights stemming from her journey as a black female executive in the financial industry. Listen up as Michelle delves into the unique challenges she faced and her strategies for overcoming them. She unpacks the importance of meaningful relationships, integrity, and professionalism for her entrepreneurial journey. 

This episode is filled with Michelle's enlightening perspective on financial literacy and wealth mindset. She emphasizes the critical need for a solid foundation and key allies like a great banker, accountant, and lawyer to avoid going broke. Join us as we explore how being fired from a job she loved put Michelle on the path to discovering her purpose and starting Richburg Enterprises. Get to know how Michelle leverages social media to reach new customers and her tips to stay motivated in your entrepreneurial journey. You won't want to miss this episode loaded with valuable lessons and practical advice!

Transcript

Michelle: 0:00

Entrepreneur needs three things, period they need a great banker, they need a great accountant and they need a great lawyer. Those are the three things that they're not negotiable.

Ej: 0:15

All right guys, welcome back to another episode of the Inspired Talks podcast. We're super excited because we have special guests. Michelle Richberg right, the owner of Richberg Enterprises from New York City. Right, you just flew in not too long ago, correct?

Michelle: 0:32

Correct, I flew in yesterday.

Ej: 0:34

Yeah, that's insane. So we're super excited to have her on today because we just finished and completed our first content day. And how did that go for you today?

Michelle: 0:42

It went really well because you guys are dream team.

Ej: 0:46

It was even our first content day. Is that actually all right? What third, you'll say?

Michelle: 0:50

Third yeah.

Ej: 0:51

Yeah, technically third because we had the first one when you first were here and prom two.

Ej: 0:55

And prom two, and then another one this year, not too long ago, and then today. So today we just wanted to talk to you a little bit about your story and just some of the challenges and things that you went through on your entrepreneurial journey, because our audience that's listening on this podcast are new or aspiring entrepreneurs that are starting out on their entrepreneurial journey. So, before we even get started, can you just share to the audience a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Michelle: 1:22

Yes, so again, as mentioned, my name is Michelle Richberg. I'm the president, founder and CEO of Richberg Enterprises. We are a financial business management firm in New York City and really humbled to call you guys family and to be here on the podcast and what we do. We act as the CFO and handle all things money, taxes, financial planning for high net worth individuals and the music, sports and entertainment spaces. Primarily is our client base.

Brittny: 2:01

So I wanna go back to your story when you were in New York and cause you shared today about how the whole situation, how you even what, led up to you creating Richberg Enterprises. So I guess my first question is what were some of the initial challenges you faced as an individual before you got into Richberg Enterprises?

Michelle: 2:23

And then, yeah, so there were many, but the first couple that's come to mind is being a black executive in the financial space. Most people are white men with blue eyes and blonde hair that reached the level of success that I reached as a private banker before I started my company was one challenge. Another challenge was and that's inside of corporate. And then another challenge was also, you know, outside of being the banker in my sector, which was in the music business, and I banked entertainers and music executives and small business entrepreneurs. But I had to do a lot more convincing to get clients that were not in entertainment because I didn't look like the other banker. So I think there, from the onset, it wasn't as much confidence until I started to chat with them and want to know more about their business and to develop a relationship. And then it became like I want you to handle all of my finances for me, my business, my family, everything. But I had to work a lot harder than my you know my counterparts.

Brittny: 4:06

That grieves me so much and I wanted to know how were you able to even like knowing that, because you knew that in the moment, right. So how did you mentally deal with?

Michelle: 4:16

that I had great mentors.

Michelle: 4:18

I have two amazing mentors Doreen Harwitz, which she's retired, and one of my dearest friends, a gentleman by the name of Phil Godresis-Soll, who really groomed me in personal finance as a young banker and to just you, know things that seem really basic. But you know, when you meet someone, give them a firm handshake, look them in the eye, right, I knew what I was talking about or I knew the questions I wanted to ask, but it was really like you want to get to know them. You don't just start with can you sell them a credit card or can they open a bank account. It was about getting to know them as a person and then, once you understand them and maybe their business if they had one or their personal finance, you would be able to provide solutions because you got to know them as an individual. So, as you said, relationship. I'm old school and that will never go out of style, even though that's not the way business is done now, but everything is really driven by relationships and I was taught that by those two people.

Ej: 5:36

I love that and just can we even stay on the top of this? Can you talk a little bit about just the importance of relationships just early on on your entrepreneurial journey, like how pivotal was that for you?

Michelle: 5:48

Extremely pivotal. Like I said, relationships are everything. Your reputation comes before you, right. And so how you conduct yourself, how you lead with integrity, what your intentions are, those really reflect themselves in their actions, more so in their words.

Michelle: 6:17

Right, first of all, I learned that from home, from my grandmother and my grandfather, right. And then when I went into the professional space, into my first banking job at Chase, again I was blessed because this is all part of God's plan that he put the right people in my life professionally that I could model and look up to right. And I remember way back when I was probably 19 and another mentor of mine actually she's passed away, god bless her soul Her name was Gail Robinson and she said to me Michelle, if you could go home every night and look yourself in the mirror and know that you did the right thing, you had a good day. Don't worry about the consequences, don't worry about who yelled at you or what your boss said, but if you know that you did the right thing and you can look yourself in the mirror when you go home, you've done the right thing and that has always stuck with me, always stuck with me.

Ej: 7:28

So that is so true and that's something that we cherish and value in our company just being honest, living in integrity in terms of like how we communicate, and just being transparent with the process from start to finish and also building a relationship that's like our favorite part about what we do. Just being able to connect with amazing people like you and go beyond the lens, go beyond photography, and be able to build this connection beyond what we're doing right now with content creation. Yeah, I think my biggest question right now for me is, like, because a lot of people are probably in the stage of trying to figure out which direction they should go in terms of like business or their passions, like what kind of led you on this entrepreneurial journey in the sense of like, were you always like entrepreneurial spirit or you just, you know, like what led you on that?

Michelle: 8:22

I think I always was a fire starter and but not calling it an entrepreneurial journey. My she's one of my dearest friends now. Her name is Karen, but she used to be my assistant for 17 years and she jokes with me now like she's still in the financial sector and she's like you would never put up with this, you would never put up this, because I've always had that like are they crazy? You know, I've always had that, that like I could do it better, or I know my client Cause again, it goes back to relationships, right and so what led me to this purpose, or in my purpose, to this point, was being fired. I could never let it now. Being fired for no reason out of the clear blue sky 13 years ago, having the most depressing hard times of my life for nine months, when I when and it wasn't even about the money, to be honest with you it was about the psychological component of being fired from a job that I loved and I thought was my dream job, right. But again, we've talked about this before or what we were doing earlier, that God was setting me up to walk in my purpose and where I am now for a multitude of reasons, right, so my story can help and encourage and inspire the next person, the black single mother, single dad, the black woman entrepreneur, the person with a dream, just knowing that their purpose is bigger than them. Right, and to just go for it. Because that's what I did.

Michelle: 10:23

After I was fired, not immediately I got a job at another bank. I started this as a side hustle and now we're nine years old and we have an amazing clientele. I'm recognized and billboard as the top business manager for the last few years, which I'm really humbled for. And I couldn't do it without my team, because it's really my team that we every day, we get up every day to give our clients, you know, the best and try to lead them down the right road for financial success and teach them along the way right.

Michelle: 11:09

But you know, I had to call before I could walk because I started out just as Michelle in a one person office in downtown Manhattan, you know, doing QuickBooks myself, the bookkeep, all the things to where we are now. So I'm very humbled, I'm very proud of it and I put in a lot of work. Thank you, it's been a lot of work. Not everybody gets it. It's not for the week or the. You know it's a lot but it's worth it in the end and, like I said, when you receive the aha moment of why you're doing it and it's bigger than you, then that kind of fuels the fire to keep growing.

Brittny: 12:02

I love your whole story and guys, please go to her Instagram and because she's got more videos, that goes deeper into her story. But one of the things that just stands out is the fact that you were at this job that you believed you know was for you, but it's crazy that you know God had something even better that maybe at the time you couldn't even see. So it's insane just how your story unfolded. And so my last question for today unless EJ has more questions, but I you're in the finance space. So, to end this podcast off, we kind of want to know why is it so important? Finances, you know, for everyone entrepreneurs, and just to anybody listening right now.

Michelle: 12:45

Well, I will start off by saying and not try to make it long drawn out that we know that money doesn't buy happiness, right. However, we do know that money provides options right. My grandmother always told me to have options right. We also know that our community is lacking in financial literacy. You know access, or even if we and not just our community too, but a lot of people you know you always hear people that hit the lot of like. Now it's almost $2 billion, I think it's like 1.7. But then you hear about those people going broke in less than five years or 10 years. Why? Because they don't have a good foundation right, and so people get caught up in things as opposed to have good, have wealth right.

Michelle: 13:46

A wealth mindset. So I'm not saying I don't like nice things, I'm not saying I don't buy Gucci.

Ej: 13:53

I should have stock.

Michelle: 13:54

But what I'm saying is and I wasn't always this way I learned the hard way because I did have a very good teacher in the personal finance days, which was my grandmother. She bought four houses in cash, oh wow, and she only had a ninth grade education. Right, and she was a domestic worker, she was a cook and my grandfather was a chauffeur. Now they say chef and driver, but the job is the same.

Michelle: 14:26

She taught me and used to talk to me about money since I was five years old, but of course, I had my own path and I was, you know, got in credit card debt and overspent and I loved to shop and I did all the things until I don't now right, and so I try. I come from a place of not only that, this is my professional career and I've lived it, I've learned it, I've been educated in it, but I've also experienced it myself. So I just try to come from a place of all those things and the advice and the knowledge that or I shouldn't say advice, but the information that I share to the public about what to do and what not to do. So that's why it's important, because it gives you options right, so when you have financial knowledge and wherewithal, you can make informed decisions. The last thing I'll say is like, as an example, a lot of people are afraid of investing because they just they hear the word invest or they feel like they don't have enough money to invest. And now, with social media, there's so much information out there. But the bottom line is you can start anywhere and you should just start right and once you start and you form good habits and you educate yourself and you find a good financial support system.

Michelle: 16:06

Another thing I always say to people, especially entrepreneurs, which I was that person it's you need to have an amazing banker. You need to have a great relationship with your banker, right, because they can make or break you, your business you personally, and not they can the share information. So, as a banker, how I started which we talked about last time is that I realized that my clients didn't have access to a lot of financial things that other people did, so I wanted to be the one to bring them that information and help them thrive in their financial lives. Right Again, to go back to say that wealth doesn't buy happiness or provide happiness, or money doesn't provide happiness, let me say that. But what is important is that we all have the same playing field, that we all have the same access or knowledge and our information, and we can make the right decisions for ourselves and our family. That's why it's important.

Ej: 17:20

That's the exposure aspect exposing ourselves to the information, especially in our community, learning more about finances, learning about budgeting and using tools like that to help us on our journey. Because, honestly, my personal background I come from a background where we don't really talk about money, like that.

Ej: 17:41

And not many of my family members are in business or entrepreneurs, so a lot of the things that I'm learning is through people like yourself. That's online, in the digital space, that's providing the value that we're able to apply now in our lives. So, before we quickly wrap up, I just want you to share just some tips on how to manage finances in business, or whatever some tips or strategies you will like to share to the entrepreneur that's starting out. What should they first do if they're starting out on their journey?

Michelle: 18:16

They need. So an entrepreneur needs three things Period they need a great banker, they need a great accountant and they need a great lawyer. Those are the three things that they're not negotiable. And with the accounting and the finance base, what I would say is that a Lot of people will be like you know, I'll do it myself and I'll do quick books myself, which is fine, right, depending on where you are.

Michelle: 18:46

Not everybody needs a business manager, but what is important is that you recognize that you need real-time bookkeeping and accounting so you can print out financial reports and financial statements that we talked a lot about today, because In order to plan and make informed decisions, you need to know your numbers right, so you can't move forward if you don't know where you are. And even when you're starting you need to know, like you need to have a budget, so you need to know. You know if you're gonna get a small office space or If, like you guys, are in the content creation space, so how much equipment is gonna cost. You need to make sure you have you know great insurance. You need to Make sure that the way that you're setting up your company is the right way for you. So all that's where the accountant comes in. So I would you know, I could talk on and off about these things. So I'll just sum it up to say entrepreneurs, starting out, the three Non-negotiable basic things that you need is a great banker, a great accountant and a great lawyer.

Ej: 20:01

Whoo amen, amen to that. Those are three things that we learned quickly that we definitely had to learn more about, you know, just about accounting and taxes, what to write off, when not to write off, just the legal aspect right.

Ej: 20:17

Britney's really big in that aspect Contracts, making sure that's in place at all times, so Totally valuable. So, listen, if you're listening and you're starting out, those are the biggest things that you initially need getting started and, yeah, just look online. There's plenty of resources out there that can help you get started in that area. Or you can, you know, visit Michelle website and she can give you some, you know, practical advice or tips on that area. Yeah, quickly, just share. How can the audience stay in contact? Or, if they ever want to work with you, where can they find you?

Michelle: 20:52

so you can find me. Our website is wwwrichberginterpriseslccom. On Instagram, I am at the Michelle Richburg and LinkedIn is Michelle Richburg and Facebook is Richburg Enterprises LLC. I know it's all the things we're super proud of you to.

Ej: 21:16

Michelle, thank you so much for being on our podcast. We're just starting out not too long ago, so we're super excited about it. And, yeah, if you guys are listening on Spotify, please leave a comment review and if you're watching on YouTube, please Subscribe to the channel and let us know who you guys want to see next on the podcast, and we hope to see you guys soon in the next one. Take care, bye, bye.

Michelle: 21:42

Thank you.