We recently connected with Anthony Davis and have shared our conversation below.

Anthony, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Crazy stuff happening is almost as certain as death and taxes – it’s technically “unexpected” but something unexpected happening is to be expected and so can you share a crazy story with our readers

Wow! Great question, where do I start? Lol. Ok, well one aspect of our business is the car rental or carsharing space. We utilize platforms such Turo (my personal favorite) Hyrecar and Getaround. These platforms allow you to rent or share your personal vehicle for income. They’re somewhat like the Airbnb of automobiles. Operating in these spaces require you to have ZERO emotional attachment to these vehicles, because the craziest things can and will happen. In my particular case I had a vehicle listed on the Hyrecar platform that was being rented by a gig worker. This was a long term rental as he’d had the car for about three months. By this time its the middle of December here in St. Louis so its freezing, just to paint the picture. So one day he calls me and tells me that the car has been stolen! The driver says he was delivering for Door Dash, he left the keys in the ignition with the car running and by the time he came out of the building it was gone. Now I could have freaked out but I didn’t. Keeping your “cool” in pressure situations as an entrepreneur is super for your growth not only in business but in life as well. I didn’t freak out because we were prepared for this exact moment prior to it happening. We invested in a course by @pushmanmitch in which he stressed the fact of placing multiple HARD WIRED trackers in each vehicle PRIOR to renting them out. With trackers in place I was able to “kill” the engine and notify the police of the location. The car was recovered, the city of St. Louis didn’t even charge me for the tow and storage surprisingly!! But the craziness didn’t stop there oh no oh no!! The car was completely TRASHED!! I mean just filthy, smoke, stains, cigar guts and an almost full Louisiana Hot Sauce bottle. You can’t make this stuff up, I assumed it was from the people that stole it but it was only gone for a few hours before it was recovered. I asked the driver why was the car filthy, and that’s when he told me he’d been living in the car. So yeah that was pretty wild but that’s only one, there’s plenty more and there’s plenty more to come.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Sure, not a problem at all. Hello my name is Anthony Davis, I am a Husband, Father of five, content creator, entrepreneur, Turo host and recent retiree of General Motors. Well I’d have to say that it “starts with your start” well its been that way for me at least. It began with the vision that I had of myself as I child that I never lost sight of. I’ve always seen myself as happy and successful regardless of the images that were being projected by my environment. With that being said I’d have to say I’m most proud of surviving and having the opportunity to tell my story in hopes that it will help someone along their journey as well. So going through the ups and downs growing up as a black man in America I found myself in the same typical cycle of no direction and no purpose. After high school I drifted from job to job, side hustle to side hustle just trying to find my way. After applying for a few years I was hired as a “temp” at General Motors in 2014. Working at General Motors changed my life and the lives of my family, for that reason alone I will forever be grateful for the opportunity that GM provided. As time moved forward I noticed I was missing out on time with my family as well as missing out on time for myself. I worked six sometimes seven days a week for nearly my entire seven years with GM. The money and benefits were awesome but none of that means anything when you don’t have the time to enjoy it with those who mean the most to you. Frustration began to sit in as the missed birthdays and special occasions began to accumulate. The window of time to get to the life that I imagined for myself was closing and I couldn’t see a way out. In the early part of 2021 my wife and I invested in a mentorship known as RPX, that investment helped strengthen our knowledge of credit and how to utilize it the correct way. With this information obtained through RPX as well as personal growth and development I was able to retire from General Motors at the age of 40! Fast forward one year and my wife and I have become content creators with our sole purpose of educating our communities on the importance of credit and financial literacy. We are known as The Common Cents Couple across social media platforms, and one of our goals is to help other married couples understand credit and how it can be used to generate income and create wealth. Far too often we in society viewed personal credit as only a way to purchase a home or vehicle, but credit can be used for a whole lot more. We have one on one strategy sessions as well as virtual classes where we teach and discuss all things credit. We feel so strongly about the subject of credit because it has changed our lives tremendously.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Well in my case, even though I retired early and having gained some insight into the world of credit there was no clear path or direction of what to do next. We started out in credit repair but soon found out that it was very tedious and time consuming, so we made a shift and began to focus on teaching others how to build their credit to generate income. In entrepreneurship you have to remain fluid, you must have the ability to pivot at a moment’s notice. Having access to large amounts of credit gives you the freedom to make changes or handle emergencies within your business when necessary. It’s funny because the unwritten rule at GM was “Everything is subject to change.” The art of the pivot was on full display my first day on the job.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Growing up I was of the mindset that you had to work for money. There was no one in my family that had any real understanding of money and how it works, other than it can be used to make purchases and pay bills. Along this journey of gaining more knowledge in regards to credit and money I’ve learned that the wealthy don’t trade their time for it. So I had to unlearn, and relearn everything that I knew about money. I now understand that having good personal credit is one of the fastest ways to creating long term wealth. These are the type of conversations we have with our children, breaking the cycle of fear and misinformation surrounding the topic money and credit. Money is important and we all want the best for our children. In my opinion, providing them with the proper information gives them the highest chances of achieving success.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/commoncentscouple
• Instagram: @thecommoncentscouple
• Facebook: The Common Cents Couple
• Youtube: The Common Cents Couple
• Other: Commoncentscouple on TikTok

Image Credits
Steven Green