Lonyo Holmes is the 59 year old business owner of Q&A Wholesale Smoke Shop, the only African American owned smoke shop in the city, located at 2749 Kensington Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19134, the heart of the Kensington epidemic. Along side his wife Tiesha Chandler, they celebrated 8 years in October 2022, while defending his turf from would-be thieves, and illegal solicitors. Combined with the setback of having his store robbed during the pandemic and failing to secure all but a PPA loan for his business, he’s felt everything. To this day he’s struggles to pay rent due to the economic side effects of an unchecked drug epidemic that deters those interested in learning more about this unique community space.

“During the pandemic one of my folks hit my phone and told me “yo, someone broke into your store. They broke in through the window”. So, me and my wife Tiesha go check it out… Man, they hit my displays, shelves, they cleaned me out. They left me with over 20,000 dollars in losses.”

Long before 2022, Lonyo opened his store to build and promote events by community members. So far he’s held shows around spoken word, and hip-hop, while hosting givebacks to the community, meet and greets and more. “Everyday I’m fighting for my livelihood. If I don’t open this shop, I don’t eat.”

Despite the challenges, the fight to survive lives on. These days Mr. Holmes spends his time selling food outside to keep the rent paid. “I started selling more food and water ice because that’s the only reason people were coming to my store. I gotta do something if no one is coming here to even buy a lighter”.

One of Philadelphia’s local celebrities, DJ Dior, found inspiration at Q&A, using it as space to provide food for the homeless and a give back with donations provided by Unapologetically Imperfect and The YMCA (North Philly Branch).

Mr Holmes continues to innovate his space, despite his environmental challenges. This past yr he’s added a stage, speakers and more for those blooming artist, both visual and musical. “This area is still a great space. The sound is good, the people are good and spirits here are good as well.“

Bryan Carter: What kind of work do you do in the community?
Lonyo Holmes: We feed the community as much as possible, primarily Friday and Saturday with our nonprofit Samaritans of Service. If we see someone in dire need, we’re here to help.

BC: What are you doing, or considering to rebuild your business?
LH: We are considering a way back – come to our establishment, get ya hair cut (Mr. Holmes is a certified barber), get your ID, or gently used clothes to get employed so folks can get on their feet. We also work with Take Back Philly and Momma Love Soulfood with a Twist where we give out large platters of food. DJ Dior was instrumental in meeting Alicia Joyner, CEO of Take Back Philly. Start between 4:30 and 5:30pm for an hr or until the food is gone. The donations we receive from The Rock Ministries and Richards and Friends United in the Community allows us to bless the rest of the ppl in line. We also deliver to different clothing outlets around the Aramingo area, and to orgs who share our donations with their audience.

BC: How can others get involved?
LH: I’ll tell you how to help our people and our city… Show up. We’re out here every Friday, 11am to 2pm unloading trucks, packing cars, delivers etc. and any help from you would be greatly appreciated.

If you would like to support Mr. Holmes and his community work, check out his event space, and more? Please visit 2749 Kensington Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19134 or call (267) 584-8354.

Go to school. Get a good education. Get a good job and open a bank account. Does this sound familiar? Most of us heard this from our parents. Most of us have been indoctrinated to believe that this formula would lead us to our dream life. How has that worked out? I refer to this as a covert poverty mindset. Our parents taught us this because that’s all they knew. If we don’t learn something different then we will most likely teach this to our children, and that covert poverty mindset will linger in our communities for at least another generation. Now, more than ever, we need effective and relevant financial literacy education.

• Establish an emergency fund: You should have 3-6 months of your financial obligations saved up for the purpose of protecting against unforeseen events. Studies show that more than half of American families have less than $1000 in savings and therefore struggle to survive the occurrence of even a minor financial emergency. (CNBC.com, “Here’s How Much Money Americans Have in Their Savings Accounts,” September 13, 2017)

• Get proper income protection: The industry refers to it as life insurance. I prefer the term income protection because many people believe that insurance will repair or replace the item that is insured. However, life insurance can not and will not replace a life. It will replace income. Many families lost loved ones due to COVID-19 and since many of those lost were not  properly covered, their families had to endure an additional hardship trying to finance the cost of final services for their loved one.

• The last concept that I work to teach families is, “Pay yourself first.” By that I mean prioritize and put money away for retirement. Learning concepts like the “high cost of waiting” and the “time value of money” help create the necessary urgency around investing. True financial freedom occurs when your investment income matches or exceeds that of your earned income. 75% of Americans admit to wishing that they had started planning for retirement earlier than they did. (2016 Wells Fargo Retirement Study)

When I work with families, I use these concepts, along with some others: like the rule of 72 and dollar cost averaging, to help them. I’ve found that many people because of the lack of information are unable to take advantage of, and benefit from the knowledge of the rules of the money game. It doesn’t matter what game you play, if you do not know the rules you are a lot less likely to win. Therefore educating families about the strategies to win, positions them in a much better place to do so. I believe the solution to better finances starts with education. The next step is to develop a plan and lastly to get a coach to help you implement and stick to the plan.

There are financial coaches, like myself, who are actively looking for individuals and families that want to succeed at the money game. Actively looking for people who are willing to open their minds to trying something that may be different. In this regard, financial health is very similar to physical health. When you need to assess or verify that your physical health is in order, you go see a doctor or health care professional for a checkup. They may ask you to change your diet or prescribe some medication to help remedy or enhance your condition. When your finances are in need of a check up, you need to go see a financial professional. They may ask you to change some of your spending habits or put you on a plan that will help or remedy your financial situation. As a parent I feel very strongly that you have to model for your children the importance of appropriate financial planning and to start creating positive financial habits at an early age. Sean Covey says in his book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “First you make your habits, then your habits make you.” When children and young adults begin to incorporate the strategies mentioned above, they maximize the time value of their money and more importantly create habits that become lifestyle.

Asante Sana,
Marc L. Wilson
Fresh Prince of Finance

Starting with a direct sales company over 15 years ago, Charles Roberts set out on his entrepreneurial journey. Learning skills such as sales and marketing, public speaking, recruiting, customer experience, not to mention event management and hosting, he does it all:

We offer a variety of services to ensure your business is meeting its full potential. We consult and coach professionals with their business development, networking, social media platforms and marketing strategies. We’ll connect you with valuable tools, resources, and opportunities within our vast network. Also, we host a series of conferences, workshops, and networking events geared towards the entrepreneur. – Charles Roberts, CEO of Social World Networking Professionals

Congratulations on your award as a PTE On the Move (Etc). Did you know that this award was coming up? 

No, I was contacted by the event organizer. They shared with me that I was being honored because of the numerous conferences I held and for recognizing influential people at some of my events. I definitely didn’t want to turn down recognition and I was humbled by the honor. 

MC: What effect do you believe your events left on Philadelphia and its attendees?

I think it made a really good impact on the attendees. Many attendees were new to networking and became more comfortable with networking from attending one of our networking events. Some people built great business and personal relationships. I even had some attendees meet one another at one of the events and they eventually married. You are able to come to an event in Philadelphia and network with like-minded professionals. You also had the opportunity to experience great center city restaurants and locations. 

MC: How has Social World Networking Professionals (SWNP) adapted to the avalanche we call covid 19? 

In the beginning, there were so many restrictions on what we could do. Like everyone else, I took a break from the hustle and bustle. It was a mini vacation, then I had to get back to reality: setting up zoom meetings, connecting with my team, and still maintaining safety. We discussed ideas of hosting small events at private clubs to bring entrepreneurs and like-minded professionals into the room to discuss their perspectives on how they’re navigating through this time. One time, we held a private viewing of a movie to bring some top entrepreneurs and executives into the room at a private club. 

MC: What are your thoughts on the use of private communities vs public communities for selling products and services? 

I provide services to the public community in terms of free resources and lower cost services. However, I do also have private clients and will soon hold private mastermind groups that will be offered exclusive services at higher price points.  Those services will include more. These services can be open to the public, but my private clients are more apt to purchasing those exclusive services.

MC: Did you receive a piece of advice that stuck out the most during the pandemic?

I received numerous forms of advice.  Consistency is something that people struggle with. We put forth New Year’s resolutions, but they don’t put forth tangible goals. One piece of advice that stuck out was to look at what I can complete in chunks of time versus trying to knock it out all in a day. 

MC: Let’s get away from the work questions for a bit. How did you relax during this time? What did you do for fun? 

Netflix and cooking with my significant other and my kids. I also was able to enjoy a private club where I was able to reserve a private screening room and watch new movies and eat. I went to a drive-in movie theater too. I tried to take advantage of what I could within covid restrictions and protect myself. On my downtime, I enjoyed relaxing with a book and sometimes a movie. Sometimes I grab a bite to eat. 

MC: Did you travel any time? Were you one of the lucky folks to have their plane delayed? 

I didn’t really care about traveling internationally, but then I had the opportunity to travel internationally last year. 

I was able to travel throughout Croatia for 2 weeks. It was amazing. The food was phenomenal and I was able to swim for the first time in the Adriatic Sea. I stayed on a private yacht and ended my vacation at an exclusive boutique hotel. It was better than I could have imagined it. Traveling to a different country gave me a new perspective on life and now I’m hooked and looking forward to the next time I travel.

MC: Were you able to gain anything from the forced year off? What was life like for you under lock down? 

In the beginning, being under lock down was an adjustment. You are talking to a person whose business model is largely centered around connecting with people in person. So I had to get creative.

As far as personal life under lockdown, I gained a new perspective in regards to the people who showed up in support during challenging times. I improved my communications skills with my loved ones and built a stronger and deeper bond with them as well. We had to be creative with maintaining contact and it strengthened our bond.

MC: What’s in store for 2022? Do you see any opportunities for expanding your work? 

I’m currently working with private clients on creating and branding their businesses. I’m an ambassador for a few private clubs. I’m also working on my next workshop and conference. I’m excited to expand my work this year by starting a podcast, a YouTube channel, and also creating my digital course.

Shout out to all my loved ones there for me and to all the entrepreneurs that had to pivot and make things happen.