50 Days to a Better Business

By Adam Chiocca

This book, 50 Days to a Better Business, is Adam Chiocca's 4th book in this series. This book is comprised of Part One, and Part Two. In Part One, Adam shares the real estate and business secrets he is using to build his nationwide chain of urban dance studios, which follow a similar model to that of the Boys and Girls Clubs, and YMCAs. Adam is the founder of a dance studio company intended to support Black and Brown boys and girls/ young people of color, and underprivileged youth. His mission is similar to a charity in the sense that his model includes low-cost access/ affordable dance team programs, which will be built in Black and Brown neighborhoods, so as to support Black and Brown moms and dads. Adam's passion and dedication to youth programming is unparalleled, and readers/ fans can learn more about his dance studio mission in his 2nd book, 50 Days to a Better Investment (2020). With this book, you too can build a charity with Adam's brilliant business model, which will allow you to stay in business every day, for a fraction of the cost. Yes, you can have a physical location (storefront) without having to pay the expensive rent that most commercial businesses must pay. The ideas in Part One can also be applied to regular businesses as well.

In Part Two of this book, 50 Days to a Better Business, Adam shares some revolutionary ideas for how corporate America, and its business leaders can help revitalize some of America's poorest neighborhoods. Adam had some unique experiences in 2019, when he was on his first nationwide book tour, which gave him a new perspective on the plight of our Black and Brown communities. Adam writes with courage and honesty as he tackles some of our most important conversations on poverty, crime, drugs, and the myriad issues facing our poorest communities.

At the time of this book's writing (2022), Adam is employed as a 7th Grade English Teacher with the Baltimore City Public Schools. You can learn more about Adam's mission and books at his company's website, chioccanetwork.com.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9781667886244

Book preview

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Copyright © 2023 by Adam Chiocca

All rights reserved.

Written in 2022, as 50 Days to a Better Business

This call-to-action nonfiction book shall serve as a guide to those willing to help.

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International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book

may be reproduced, or distributed without written permission, except in the

normal practice of brief quotations, as per fair use standard citation practices.

Printed in the United States of America, by BookBaby Publishing

Published in association with Chiocca Network LLC.

Chiocca Network LLC supports the right of free expression,

and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to

encourage writers and artists to create, produce, curate, arrange,

and summarize special literary and artistic works that enhance

our world, refine our culture, and develop our communities.

Thank you for visiting our website: chioccanetwork.com.

ISBN 978-1-66788-623-7 (Print)

ISBN 978-1-66788-624-4 (eBook)

BookBaby Publishing Inc.

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Part One - Ideas for Your Small Business, Non-profit, or Charity

Chapter 1: Starting a Business

Chapter 2: A Revelation

Chapter 3: Tom’s Idea

Chapter 4: How Tom’s Idea Connects to Larger Commercial Buildings

Chapter 5: Supply & Demand

Chapter 6: Your Why, Your Purpose

Chapter 7: Let’s Talk Big Problems

Chapter 8: Can I Really Change the World?

Chapter 9: On Bringing Value to the Marketplace

Chapter 10: Real Estate Markets & the 1% Rule

Chapter 11: Should I Buy This Property? Use the 70% Rule

Chapter 12: The BRRRR & Using Hard Money

Chapter 13: On Multifamily Properties & Small Commercial Properties

Chapter 14: Selling Several Properties via a Portfolio & 1031 Exchange

Chapter 15: Location #1 - How Do We Stay in Business Every Day?

Chapter 16: After Location #1 - Repeat BRRRR &

1031 Exchange steps in Location #2

Chapter 17: Comparisons to Newman’s Own

Chapter 18: Planning Your Strategy/Long-Term Plan, & Short-Term Goals

Chapter 19: Importance of a Schedule with

Most After-School Youth Programs

Chapter 20: Consideration of Doing a TV Show/

Online Media Show/Podcast

Chapter 21: On Selling Mugs, Hoodies, Earrings, & Christmas Ornaments

Chapter 22: On Scholarships

Chapter 23: On Child Safety

Chapter 24: On Responsibility, Integrity, & Credit

Chapter 25: On Being Intentional

Chapter 26: The Context & Communities of Color

Chapter 27: Where to Start?

Chapter 28: Why Youth Programming?

Chapter 29: On Having the Right Attitude

Chapter 30: All Green Lights

Chapter 31: Other Aspects & Challenges of Youth Programming

Chapter 32: Youth Programming Ideas Connected to the Jobs of the Future

Chapter 33: Alternative Ideas

Part Two - Ideas for Corporate America & Business Leaders

Chapter 34: Chiocca’s Plan (for Corporate America), The Backstory

Chapter 35: Doing Good Work

Chapter 36: Chiocca’s Plan is a Win-Win

Chapter 37: Courage

Chapter 38: Wealth & Slavery

Chapter 39: Urban Decay & Some History

Chapter 40: Let’s Imagine It’s 1955

Chapter 41: What Now?

Chapter 42: The Basics of Chiocca’s Plan

Chapter 43: On Whole Team Guidance & Support

Chapter 44: On Individual Guidance & Support

Chapter 45: On Building a Network of Friends & Mentors

Chapter 46: On Write-Offs

Chapter 47: If Corporations Might Coordinate

Chapter 48: Not Just Restaurants

Chapter 49: Convergence

Chapter 50: Final Thoughts

Afterword

About the Author

Introduction

Greetings friend. Welcome to the 4th book in this series. I’m Mr. Chiocca, (please smile) and I certainly feel like Mr. Chiocca, now, because most of my days, all day long, I hear my 7th Grade students ask me questions by first calling me this. It’s also part of the culture within our faculty and staff here at my school, and so yes, all day, I’m Mr. Chiocca. By the way, the Italian side of my family Americanized the pronunciation of our name, and so we say it like ‘Chalk-Ah, or Chock-Ah."

I’m currently (in November of ‘22) a 7th Grade English Teacher with the Baltimore City Public Schools. If you know anything about Baltimore, then you aren’t surprised to learn that my classes are made up almost entirely of Black boys and girls; and for this, I am truly blessed. Yes, I am blessed, so blessed to teach these children, and it was 100% intentional to be here. Before I move on from this, my current work, I’ll just say that teaching middle school is hard.

Now, do you know why I’m here? Have you been following my journey and mission? If you don’t know what I’m doing, or have done, then I’m happy to share that we are building a nationwide chain of dance studios, with a purpose similar to the Boys and Girls Clubs, and the YMCA, to teach, empower and help young people of color, and underprivileged youth. However, our mission is more specific, as my dance studios are specifically intended for Black and Brown girls/ young women of color, and underprivileged youth. I’m a big believer in youth programming, and keeping our kids busy during those important after-school hours. Everyone is welcome to join our youth dance programs though; we will not discriminate.

For now, I’m focused on the mission laid out in my 2nd book, 50 Days to a Better Investment. Please buy that book if you’d like to learn more about how I’m determined to build 14 dance studios in 14 major American cities. Over the last year (from November of ‘21 - November of ‘22), I have learned some secrets to real estate investing, and how a business can give itself a better shot at success. The ideas I’ve learned, and shared in this book, will allow me to build the foundation of this company, and other businesses I shall build.

I realize the title of this book says 50 Days to a Better Business, but to be honest, since the inception of this book’s birth and purpose, the working title has been 50 Days to a Better Charity. Besides using the word charity, I also considered using Non-profit, and Organization, as in 50 Days to a Better Organization, but as you can understand, I felt the need to make this book as attractive as possible. Furthermore, even though I’m excited about folks who want to start their charity, or charitable organization, to help support Black and Brown children, and families in our American Black communities, I think more people, in general, think about how to make money, perhaps via their new business idea, side-hustle, or venture. I felt the need to prepare this book for folks wanting to start or develop a business. Thus, I am trying to cast a big net, or pitch a big tent with this book. Then, hopefully, from the audience that might see this book, I can hope and pray that some folks who are inclined to start their idea for a charitable company or organization, will hear of my book, and go ahead with these powerful ideas. Please note that some names have been changed to protect the identity of individuals.

These powerful ideas will help those wanting to start a better business, charity, non-profit, not-for-profit, or most any type of organization. My last wish, or ask of you, is that if this book, or these ideas aren’t for you, I hope that you’ll gift this book to someone else, so that hopefully this book can end up in the right hands, at the right time. For this, I say thank you.

Part One -

Ideas for Your Small Business,

Non-profit, or Charity

Chapter 1:

Starting a Business

"But what is happiness except the simple harmony

between a man and the life he leads?"

-Albert Camus

So, you want to start a business? Or maybe you’d like to start a non-profit, or charitable organization? Or maybe you’ve already started, but you heard about me, or this book, and you’re willing to see what it’s all about. Excellent!

Now, even though I want to pump you up, and encourage you, I must alert you to a commonly-quoted statistic, that 50% of all businesses fail within the first 5 years. Yes, and with restaurants, the stats are even more bleak. It’s hard. It’s really hard. There are a variety of factors for why businesses fail, but for now, I’m just going to focus on bad ideas. I won’t spend much time on this, but rather would like to point this out to you, right now. I see bad ideas out there, all the time. I notice a lot, and have always been very observant, and I encourage you to review all of your ideas: the big ones, and the small ones.

I start off with these comments on bad ideas, and failure because it’s the reality of trying to run a business, or any organization. People fail. It happens. There are bad ideas. There are good ideas. If you want to be successful, I think it’s important to get honest about your ideas. If you think that you may need better thinking, or better ideas, then I encourage you to get my 3rd book: 50 Days to a Better Mindset.

In that book, I share some secrets to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I share secrets about psychology, about being human, and even some secrets to the universe. I will share that I’m not full of crap, but rather a kind soul willing to share what he’s learned. In the words of Maya Angelou, When you get, give. When you learn, teach.

Chapter 2:

A Revelation

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in

Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not

consider it robbery to be equal with God."

-Bible, Philippians, 2:5-6

It was January 10th, 2015, when I started writing. Yes, it was then that I started to write down some amazing, beautiful, and inspiring ideas, and to begin to craft some of my early business plans. I wasn’t sure what it was all going to be yet, but I knew that I wanted to help support the Black community. At that time, it was only a few months after the fatal shooting of Mike Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri (August of 2014), and the subsequent riot, burning, and destruction. I remain bothered by our long, difficult, and disturbing American story of Slavery, and the subsequent decades of injustice, oppression, and violence, the lack of opportunity into employment and education, and all of the pain and trouble which Black people have had to endure over the last 400 years.

I remember watching the TV as Ferguson burned, and