Brand Building: Delivers a candid and insightful masterclass on how to be a successful business owner
The Steve Harvey Morning Show
iHeartPodcasts
4.5 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 9 September 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald.
Drawing from his own experiences—including the rise and fall of his Houston-based comedy club—he shares hard-earned lessons about budgeting, hiring, planning, and the realities of entrepreneurship. The episode is both motivational and practical, offering real-world advice for aspiring and current business owners.
🧭 Key Points 🔑 Common Mistakes in Business
- Hiring friends, family, or underqualified people out of convenience or emotional ties.
- Starting a business without a budget or clear plan.
- Entering partnerships without knowing the other person’s work ethic or values.
- Ignoring logistics like parking, taxes, and insurance.
📉 Lessons from Failure
- Rushion’s comedy club was popular but unprofitable due to poor planning and lack of financial oversight.
- He learned that profitability requires structure, not just popularity or passion.
🧠 Mindset & Commitment
- Success requires time, discipline, and consistency.
- Entrepreneurs must be willing to sacrifice, show up early, and stay late.
- You can’t run a business on dreams alone—you need a plan.
🧰 Practical Advice
- Use resources like the Small Business Administration (SBA) and SCORE for free guidance and mentorship.
- Set clear expectations with employees from day one.
- Don’t compromise your business by ignoring red flags during hiring.
💬 Notable Quotes
“You can’t open a business and then try to set the budget. Now you’re playing catch-up.”
“Don’t hire people just because they’re close to you. Hire people because they’re qualified.”
“You can’t run a business on dreams. You need a plan.”
“Do not hire inexperienced employees because they are cheaper.”
“If you don’t have time for your business, your business won’t have time for you.”
“I was making money, but I never saw any of it because I didn’t have a budget.”
“Only you can look in the mirror and make a decision that benefits your future.”
#SHMS #STRAW #BEST
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:04.4 | Creativity is personal. |
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| 0:21.8 | sleeps, because neither do you. One device, all your worlds. Shop now at Lenovo.com |
| 0:27.3 | slash back to school. Bold ideas brought to life wherever inspiration strikes. |
| 0:35.2 | Hi, I'm Roshan McDonnell. I host a weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show. |
| 0:39.9 | The interviews and information that this show provides are for everyone. |
| 0:43.4 | It's time to stop reading other people's success stories and start living your own. |
| 0:47.9 | If you want to be a guest on my show, please visit our website, Moneymaking Conversations.com, |
| 0:54.0 | and click the be a guest button. Press submit, and the information will come directly to me. Now, let's get this show started. Let's get started here. I'm going to ask some questions about it. Has anybody ever thought about, you can raise your hand, you car driving you know just raise your eyebrow thought |
| 1:11.2 | about starting a business why didn't you do it have you ever thought about hiring people |
| 1:16.2 | for your business and you've hired the wrong people have you ever thought about hiring relatives |
| 1:21.5 | and guess what you hired those relatives have you ever hired people that you were getting a good deal on them? Oh, they got, |
| 1:31.8 | oh, they're cheap. Oh, that salary fits right into my budget, but they don't have the experience. |
| 1:38.1 | Am I, am I tapping into the right lanes with some of y'all out there? Or how about starting your |
| 1:43.3 | business and you don't even have a |
| 1:44.5 | budget it's just a good idea am i tapping into anybody out there yet okay how about this how about |
| 1:54.2 | this you start a business with somebody you don't know. How about that? |
| 2:02.3 | How about this? |
... |
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