We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ebonie Baker. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ebonie below.
Alright, Ebonie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Any thoughts about whether to ask friends and family to support your business. What’s okay in your view?
Asking friends or family to help support your Business is a great way to get disappointed and could be a big set back to your ambition. Speaking from experience. Be mindful and respectful to your boundaries and theirs. There is a good possibility they will not be as helpful as you expect them to be and you cannot get upset if they do give the feedback you expected. Learning from experience I gave out several samples and got no feedback nor were they taking the products as instructed. At first I was upset because the Businesses I am building are Legacy’s that will be left behind, but then I had to realize this is my passion not theirs and I cannot be upset at them for not following through. I will get results from asking strangers who will be way more thrilled to help get me success stories that will feature them.
Ebonie , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Hello everyone My name is Ebonie Baker, I am known as a Commercial Mortgage Broker and a Health and Wellness Coach. I help Entrepreneurs get Money for their Business. I am also a Health and Wellness Coach where I am able to help you with fitness training, goal setting and your overall wellness journey. I am a Mother of five and a Grandmother of ten. I am building up legacies to pass down to my grandchildren’s children leaving behind Residual Income Passive Income and Generational Wealth. I am the first person in my family who is working on these two projects to leave behind for my family. I have been a single mother for 27 years. I had my first child at the age of 16 had my second child by the age of 17. Was able to complete my GED got my first job as a caregiver. Then live for me got really real as I started getting into the drugs and running the streets just consistently losing myself I ran this lifestyle for about 10 years before it did me in. The last 5 years I became severely addicted to methamphetamines cocaine ecstasy and just about anything else I could get my hands on. While during that time I was starting to recognize that was a lifestyle I never wanted to live beings it was the lifestyle I grew up in. I ended up losing my children to the state for a short amount of time I was able to get myself clean and get myself back into working a 9-5. Well I knew this lifestyle was never for me I always do in the back of my head it would be just a matter of time before I would be able to recover and start a whole new path. In 2008 to 2009 I was able to do just that. I then started seeing the bigger picture got into a trade school for 9 months and took the Medical Billing and Coding program. I was able to graduate got into the field and decided it was not a course for me. Got into horticulture and that was right where I needed to be I am a horticulturist and have been in the business since 2009. Because it is a seasonal job I was able to learn other trades during my offseasons but I’ve always went back to being a grower. 2015 I decided to get into a different trade and started getting into more retail and direct sales. In 2018 I’m at the man I thought was in my dreams the man that was going to be my forever he talked me into starting all over and have a my fifth child. Well he promised me the world it was the exact opposite. So at the age of 38 I started all the way over and I’m now a single mother still. While getting pregnant at 38 I knew was going to be a challenge starting all over so late in the game. But in the back of my mind I knew this person was never going to leave me and little did I know I moved in with the man for the first time in my life and things went the exact opposite way. Shortly after us moving in together it was obvious we were not going to make it in a relationship. I ended up getting pregnant right away in our relationship and started getting a little worried that the relationship wasn’t going to make it. I started having pre and postpartum depression being in fear of being a single mother at the age of 38 again was definitely a challenge. While I was a stay-at-home mother I decided I want to get my real estate license and become a realtor. So I spent that 9 months studying right before the baby was due I went in to take the test We started heavy on the domestic violence so every night I had to study before my test he was there creating some kind of havoc so therefore I will lose my focus in the ability to retain and hold the information to get in and take the test the next day. I attempted to take the test three different times and failed each test, at that time I knew it would be best for me to just put the schooling on pause until I got further situated and got myself into a home and where I could be more stable. Mind you I was a
stay-at-home mom which I have never had that opportunity in my life. So I had no income coming in. Long story short We ended up separating found out my father had stage 4 cancer in the middle of the separation he passed away. I was homeless for the first time in my life with a baby. I tried living in the shelter didn’t make it a couple of days there moved in with my mother temporarily until I was able to get a place. Once I was able to get back into my own place and get situated I then started sitting in networking events listening to other people talk about real estate and the things that are available for us not having to be licensed nor have a lot of money to get it going. To start a commercial mortgage business you do not need credit you need little to no money and you are a Independent Contractor And there wasn’t going to be a lot of the fees involved or the headaches that realtors have to go through to keep their businesses afloat. So I knew right away this business was for me I started this business and September 2023. I still needed to work a 9:00 to 5:00 so I had to go through a couple different trial and errors working a 9:00 to 5:00. One of my old employers asked me to come back to work and I decided that would be a good idea since I had left them due to the domestic violence that was starting when I first got pregnant it’d be the perfect place for me to go back to and they already knew the situation I was in. Beings the domestic has slow but not yet stopped The father was refusing to show up on time on Tuesdays to where I got fired from my first job ever! Then decided to go back to another old job where I knew I would be a good fit and it would be easy to do because I already knew the job I decided to hire my best friend who decided she needed the job more than I did and however the communications were going about I ended up getting fired from that job as well! so it has not been easy getting back on my feet. I needed that job for 2 years so I can purchase a house at the end of the 2-year mark and here I am got fired from my job in July just starting to work again while trying to run two businesses. Some days are better than others but I’ve definitely have hit a point to where I’m a little overwhelmed. Is the end of October one of my health and wellness coaches reached out to me introduced me to my new health and wellness business where we have dietary tees coffees supplements for depression energy focus clarity nutritional supplements the whole shebang which have been a game changer for me. I’ve been taking these products faithfully sense I have been sick less able to get more work done with the NRG and love my dietary tea. So now here I am rebuilding life after postpartum depression being severely depressed and all of the above. The legacies I’m building are what keeps me going knowing that in the next 5 to 10 years myself and my grandchildren will be set up for success and they will never have to worry about things that I’ve gone through as their mother to grandmother getting me to where I’m going today. As we well know life is just going to get harder and I just want to make sure that I have set them up for success the best way that I can. I enjoy the outdoors hiking yoga taking walks working out eating and things like that. When I need time to release you will definitely find me on a hike or an intense walk helping to relieve the stress. Running two businesses is not for the lame it is hard it is challenging I recommend it if you are up for a challenge and you know you’re not going to give up on yourself. It is okay to have a pace it is okay to have a race as long as you keep going no matter what. My ambition has been my children knowing I’m a single mother knowing it’s hard knowing they’ve seen me struggle their whole entire life I just want to show them that anything is possible and whatever we put our dreams and goals to we can bring to reality no matter what no matter how fast just slow and steady usually wins the race as long as you keep going. So no matters the situations you are in you have the mindset you have the ability you have the strength to always keep going.
Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?
Wow my business does not cost a lot of money to regulate it does require state fees licenses reports and stuff like that The last few months I have been looking for work it has been a challenge for me and I nearly just about miss my BOI reporting I’m behind on paying some bills so I’ve had a couple close calls to possibly getting imprisonment large amounts of fines and the possibilities of losing my business not having the funding available to pay the fees due to the loss of me losing my job in July.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
The basis of the story is based off of me continuing to align myself and my future for my children and I. I never thought I was good enough to be a CEO/ President and have been working at 9:00 to 5:00 since I was 18 years old. On my way to my fifth child I knew it was time to elevate and get around people who were doing things bigger than me. While being two questions away from getting my realtor’s license I took that loss knowing I was not going to give up on real estate and just shortly 3 and 1/2 years later I’m now the co-founder CEO of Bakersfield Commercial Mortgage Broker L.L.C. what I did not do was give up the hope or the knowing that I still have the ability to better myself I just knew it was going to take time and I didn’t know when or how or what I was going to be doing. I sat myself in rooms where I heard real estate being talked about picked out the things that resonated with me that I could see myself doing how I became a commercial broker. Well during the time of the separation was during COVID and losing businesses to the huge loss of employment being a commercial broker I knew was going to be best for all communities. I wanted to identify myself around an area where I knew would be helpful to help rebuild and scale Businesses all over again. And now here I am helping entrepreneurs getting money for their Business and or for startups to help bring back Businesses and employment that we need for our communities and our people.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.elitebizloans.com
- Instagram: @makemoney_w_ebonie, togetherwe_fitness
- Facebook: Ebonie Baker
- Linkedin: Ebonie Baker
- Youtube: Ebonie Baker
Image Credits
Not available