Race has been in the news a lot lately.
But it’s also one of those things you’re not supposed to talk about.
One of those important things like religion, politics, sex, and money that you’re just not allowed to discuss in polite company.
Capitalism.com founder Ryan Daniel Moran and paid advertising marketing guru Billy Gene both have a lot of strong opinions, but came to find some common ground over this conversation on all the hot button issues.
~ Billy Gene “The Wolf Of Paid Advertising” has a net worth that is unknown but since his company “Billy Gene Is Marketing” has over 60 employees and an estimated annual revenue of over $18M – we suspect he is doing well.
Billy Gene & Ryan Moran Talk Racism, Government, and Beyond
You might know Billy Gene as a successful digital marketer, but get ready to dive deeper than just his accomplishments. Previously, we shared all about Billy Gene’s net worth, including how he built his company from the ground up and made millions. However, this article will dive deeper into Billy’s outlook on many controversial topics, based on a recent discussion between Billy Gene and Ryan Moran (founder of Capitalism.com).
If you missed the first half of their conversation, you can check it out here.
Black Man vs White Man
One thing that distinguishes Billy Gene from most famous digital marketers is his ethnicity. He’s a role model for the black community and is very proud of how he got there. He wants to prove that you don’t have to be a gifted musician or hard-training athlete to reach this level of success.
While those career paths are great, it’s hard to find hope and inspiration when you grow up with only these role models. What if you’re not a musician? What if you don’t fit the height or weight requirements for sports? Billy loves to show off his money because he gets to establish a sense of pride in his community.
That being said, Billy has a different perspective on the world than most digital marketers. It’s interesting to see his viewpoints compared with Ryan’s.
Trump, Racism, and Privilege
There is a huge controversy behind Trump. Plenty of people believe that Trump is racist, while others don’t think he is. This has caused a division between communities.
Billy argues that Trump’s tagline of Make America Great Again obviously refers to a time in the past, but this is when black people were segregated and women were under advantaged. Why would anybody want to relive times of racism and sexism except for those of privilege?
Ryan points out that his choice to support Trump, or not, would be based on how he was raised and his peers. On the other hand, Billy states that it’s easy to put these things first when you’re privileged. For him, it’s hard to put such things before his race since so much of his world experience has been dictated by it.
Is privilege less of a determining factor of success than ever? Billy and Ryan both agree yes, but it’s obviously not completely gone. Privilege is a difficult topic because the word has a negative connotation, so there is push back from both sides.
Black: Don’t say you came from nothing because you don’t know what nothing is.
White: Don’t villainize me for being born with what I was born with.
Government + Taxes
Ryan and Billy discuss the role of government. Should there be taxes for becoming successful? Ryan believes the federal government should only exist to protect our borders, freedom, rights, and constitution, while the state government should handle everything else.
When you look at the richest people in the world, they are all white males. Unfortunately, we don’t see many of them donating their money to those who are less privileged. While charitable donations do occur, this is usually a very small amount compared to their total net worth.
Jeff Bezos net worth is sky high at over $100 billion, and his largest contribution for disadvantaged people has been a $2 billion fund for the homeless. Even so, he’s the only person among the top five richest people that hasn’t signed the Giving Pledge (a promise to give away more than half of their wealth during their lifetime or in their will).
Although people of privilege have a natural responsibility to help others, should the government force this responsibility onto wealthy people if they’re not fulfilling their duty?
Entrepreneurship vs. Freedom
Billy and Ryan agreed that a fad has been created around entrepreneurship. People desperately want to learn how to be an entrepreneur – they assume that freedom comes with entrepreneurship. Once they make a bunch of money, they’ll finally be happy and free to do whatever they want.
Instagram has created the idea that you can have the house, the car, the plane, the travel, and the company. Although some people manage to do it, it’s not as simple as it looks. 99% of the time, entrepreneurship is more than a full-time job. Freedom and money are not synonymous with entrepreneurship.
Freedom is defined differently by everyone. To be truly happy, you need to be constantly redefining your goals. Is your first goal financial freedom? Once you hit that, make a new goal – it could be making more free time, giving back to the world, traveling, and so on. Break it down into new goals whenever you’re feeling unfulfilled.
Often times, people get rich and become even more unhappy than they were before. Wealthy people typically become more isolated (for example, living alone in big houses) because they can afford it. This ties into another topic Billy and Ryan discussed – suicide.
The typical person who commits suicide is the white male. Why is this the case when minorities are at a disadvantage and go through much rougher circumstances? One idea relies on the fact that two things make our lives feel fulfilled: meaning and community. Minority communities are tight-knit, which isn’t something you find with white people. Black pride is a huge deal, but white pride? Nope.
Billy makes an interesting point – he believes people need to go through more negative experiences to squash their issues. When you’ve been through the roughest times, other things aren’t a big deal.
Billy on Business
Ryan asks Billy a few questions about business, but one really stands out – what is the driver for scaling your business? Billy responds with one word: simplification. He found peace by letting his team take charge of many business decisions for his company, Billy Gene is Marketing. He learned to stop being afraid of his team making mistakes, because it ultimately lets them learn and branch out into new ventures. Mistakes aren’t always a bad thing.
