Today we’d like to introduce you to Rico McKinney.
Hi Rico, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My journey as an entrepreneur started, for the most part, due to the influence of my mother; who has played a private role in my life. My mom had me at the age of 19 and I was her third child at the time. My older siblings and I were able to grow up with my mother, we witness her sacrifice greatly to provide for us. There were even times when she would work 17-hour days, she did not have the luxury of leveraging a degree or leveraging wealthy parents.
The most important thing my mother had was vision and faith. She knew she could not get to where she envisioned our family being, by simply depending on her job. I witness my mother test her faith by when she left her secure job and pursued the unknown of entrepreneurship. I witness her fail over and over again and she never lost faith. She always kept moving and trying new things. Today, she fulfilled her promise as a mother, She now has 4 successful businesses and living the life she always desired.
With a front-row seat to her life, I was able to find strength in pursuing my dreams. My journey started at 18 years old in the Network Marketing space, this industry changed everything for me. It disrupted my thinking from whatever limited belief I had about myself and what was possible. The gift I received from that space was exposure, I was exposed to what was possible and examples of individuals who are living the life I desired. Exposure indeed leads to expansion.
After 10 years within the Networking space, I develop leadership, negotiation, sales, presenting, communication, and people skills. 2022 was a year I dedicated to pursuing real estate and putting life into a few ventures I was pondering for a while. Today, I am a licensed TN Realtor and own a hospitality company within the peer-to-peer sharing spaces (Airbnb and Turo).
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been a journey, to say the least, I lost my oldest brother to a car accident during my teenage years and lost my youngest brother in 2021, to gun violence. This affected me greatly as a leader, as a brother, and as a person. The biggest effect was losing passion, inspiration, and enthusiasm for everything. I did not know what was next for me, or what I wanted anymore.
Nothing really matters after losing my youngest brother. Both of them were 18 and both had an entrepreneurial spirit. I could not understand why God kept me but took them, why was I chosen? What I have learned through it all is on the other side of pain you will find power, the greater the pain the greater the power.
In business and leadership, it is about being relatable. When you look at the dents on a soldier’s armor those dents should show that he/she is battled tested. My strength, awareness, compassion, perspective, faith, etc comes from the pain I have grown through. I recycled all the pain and now turning it into my power.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I am a Real Estate Agent practicing currently in Tennessee. Also the owner of a Hospitality company serving the peer-to-peer sharing marketplace of Airbnb and Turo. The company provides short-term rental properties and rental cars to travelers coming into and through Memphis. This allows travelers to have more convenient, inexpensive, and personal options to choose from as they travel.
Airbnb and Turo both have become a way of travel for many across the world, which in return gives individuals like me the opportunity to fulfill a need and earn income. As a leader, one of my strengths is my ability to understand people and see things from their perspective. This gives me an advantage in both hospitality and real estate. Customers, clients, and guests can expect an exceptional experience and customer service when interacting with GiftedEmpire as well as having me as a Realtor.
What matters most to you?
What matters to me most as an Agent and the operator of a company is service. It is said that the greatest among you is your servant. What type of feeling does a person, client, or guest walk away with after interacting with our company and me? That is where the focus and priority lie.
As a person, my relationship with God is the root of everything that I produce. My identity, my confidence, my understanding, my faith, my peace, my joy, my strength, my inspiration, my wisdom, my peace, etc all come from my oneness with God. I am no different than the next person, however, what people see happening in my life is a result of my connection with God.
Contact Info:
- Website: linktre.ee/giftedempire2
- Instagram: instagram.com/mr__residual
- Facebook: Facebook.com/rico.mckinney.9
