Hurdles, Spirits and Marathons with LaVonne Idlette
Written by Erica Jeanine
TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF?
Lavonne: I’m from Hampton Virginia, went to Hampton University and ran track all through high school and college. Moved to Miami to go to graduate school and continue training for track and received an MBA. I then started a few businesses that allowed me to learn valuable lessons because of how challenging the journey was. I attended law school while participating in at the 2012 Olympics for track and field.
I was really spread thin throughout my career, I wasn’t specializing in anything and was the catch points person to make sure my team won. I am a firm believer that sometimes people see things in you that you haven't seen in yourself. I made the decision to go to Miami after my Professor, Dr. Whitaker, told me I should go be in the MBA JD program. I had never thought about being a lawyer and wanted to be a doctor my entire life, but after opportunities like these and getting the highest grade in my business law class in undergrad, I’m like okay. For the first time there was someone who didn’t look at me as a star, but an individual and I had to stop talking and do the work. He pushed me beyond the limits of what I thought I could do, this exposed me to the reason I was always able to preform so well was because I was being pampered. Also, my professor seeing something in me gave me the head start in taking the necessary steps needed to graduate. After graduation, I went to South Florida and worked the hardest I ever worked in my life and it will forever be a blessing in disguise.
WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM BEING IN THE OLYMPICS AND THE TRANSITION INTO THE WORKFORCE?
Lavonne: My experience from being apart of teams that were really good and an all-star was a eyeopening for me in many different ways. An important lesson I was able to take with me was not trying finesse my way out of hard work! Ultimately, I began asking myself what I needed to do to be better. Track and field can get crazy and be nothing but risk, risk, risk, risk with the hope of a reward on the back side. You're paying coaches, you're paying for massages, paying for travel and go to these races and hopefully get paid. When I begin to think about my path with track and field from a money perspective I realized how I limited the fact I possessed valuable talent and lived off it. And that was the attitude and mentality I kept when I entered the workforce. My path had to award me with what I needed live.
“I feel most successful when I see the intangible impact that comes to the communities.”
WHAT IS YOUR PASSION AND WHEN DID YOU DISCOVER IT?
Lavonne: Initially, I thought my passion was helping people, but I’ve since then learned that’s too general and over time realized that the issue is in Black entrepreneurship. There is not much access to the relationships needed to build and earn capital. So, I decided that I’d use my wisdom and resources to get my community in the right doors, to have the right conversations, so they could begin to really accomplish the things they sought out to. I've also always been pretty passionate about helping athletes and teaching them that they can see themselves in another light and sparking those kinds of thoughts for them. I discovered that as my passion when I realized I did have the option to not do one thing forever and wanted to share that. Doesn’t make a difference if you're a professional athlete or you work a job, you have to see that check as your efforts being turned into something valuable. Most days really suck and most of the time you're like on the edge of like should I just go get a job again, but the more you keep at something the more it builds your confidence and consistency really is key.
HOW IMPORTANT IS HOMEOWNERSHIP TOWARDS WEALTH BUILDING?
Lavonne: I believe that real estate is a cornerstone of wealth building in America, so many people have created massive amounts of wealth from owning their home, other properties and commercial properties. But there are communities of color that are marginalized or not fully educated on how to get into real estate. My family is a family of hustlers and I’ve never had like a limiting thought or belief as it pertains to what can and can't be done, it was always how it’ll get done. I had to spend my summers in real estate offices which I thought was a punishment at the time, but I actually learned things that I am able to use now and in the future. That's kind of how my parents approach to the things that I wanted to do growing up. And in my experience business is like marriage, it's a long-term relationship and you have to be aware of your relationship with money.
TELL US MORE ABOUT 1ST CLASS GROUP?
Lavonne: 1st Class Group is a platform that teaches professional athletes how to invest in communities they care about using commercial real estate. In and after college, I had tons of friends and peers who were athletes getting approached with deals, they wanted to make sure these offers weren’t scams so they came to me. Everyone began to ask me questions about what things were and what they should do, I became something like an advisor. Over the years of this happening, I realized I didn’t want to be an agent and or business manager for athletes. I wanted to help them invest in the communities they cared about and how much value they really possessed. I’ve also, operated a family-owned consortium of real estate companies with my immediate family. As a full-service vertically integrated company we do everything from sales mortgage, consulting, development. In addition, I have a consulting firm within our non-profit that assists with affordable housing and tenant services for the individuals in affordable housing. These skills inevitability support me in making sure 1st Class Group is successful.
WHAT WAS YOUR RELATIONSHIP & MINDSET WITH MONEY AS A KID TO A YOUNG ADULT?
Lavonne: I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, my mother owned a salon, my father was a developer and my grandfather owns Orange Groves and was the chairman of school board. They were very focused on making sure I went to school, but also figuring out a path to create income and have money for myself. Even as a child, selling candy in school, I was always conscious about making and spending money and how I could get the most money at once. My parents wouldn't necessarily buy my things creating an opportunity for me to have to earn money and I liked that. My relationship with money was also me being really frugal, it’s always helped me get a lot of stuff for a very low cost. The contrast to that as a young adult is me spending way too much time trying to save money and telling myself, I’m going to find the best alternative and I quickly learned was a waste of resources. Then going into college and my parents being so financially literate I had a very high credit score because they put me on their credit cards, I was an authorized user and had credit score way before I started my college career. Now I realize how much it was a terrible thing to give an 18-year old a credit card where they can charge tens of thousands of dollars. I was just like spending money and racking up debt, it was a good thing to go experience at a young age. I then had to begin working little jobs so that I was able to pay the minimum payment on my credit cards. Being able to buy anything I wanted in college even though I didn’t really like shopping and goin through that phase of being able to blow money and buy whatever. I feel like people have to go through that learn the real value of their money and income.
“The more you keep at something the more it builds your confidence and consistency really is key. ”
HOW DO YOU DEFINE SUCCES AND WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO WORK TOWARDS EMBODYING THAT?
Lavonne: I define success as being happy in and about the things that you do, you’re reaping the benefits your efforts. I don't really have like monetary goals, where I'm like I can't wait to reach a billion dollars or whatever the case may be. I feel most successful when I see the intangible impact that comes to the communities and I’m able to say, wow look what you did in this community. When I have results leaving a long standing impact like a high school having more graduates or seeing people in my community transition out of low-income housing. When I witness and facilitate events like this I feel most successful. Those impactful measures are much more of my motivation and success drivers than making more money. With my experience, I believe that getting started and staying committed despite obstacles is extremely important. That will separate you from others, your ability to take hardships or outside influence and not allowing it to consume you. Discipline has also been very critical to my success, doing what's required even when you don't feel like it, every single day and being consistent. For example, putting a little bit of money in the bank every day but being mindful of the fact it's for the future and your future vision. As a community we’ve normalized not being disciplined, take time to take care of yourself, yes. But get back to work and don’t ever get comfortable.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO ATHLETES THAT WANT TO BE SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE 21ST CENTURY?
Lavonne: Best piece of advice I’d give is to do your best to be educated on more than one subject, the deeper your knowledge the better. We operate in the information age and anything you want to know or learn you can ask Siri, Google or YouTube. It’ll give you a general idea of things but it’s up to you take that knowledge further really dig deep to make yourself valuable. When you know something so well you add value to yourself and whoever else needs that knowledge. So whether it's e-commerce, how to run ads, creating graphics, crypto whatever it is! Just become really invested in knowing it deeply enough to spark something in you. The goal is to be able enable yourself so that you can solve a problem that may not be as apparent. Everybody respects lawyers and it's not because lawyers are super smart, it’s because they are experts in that one specific area. So decide how you want to be valued and what for.
“I use my wisdom and resources to get my community in the right doors, to have the right conversations and accomplish the things they sought out to do. ”
Are you interested in connecting with LaVonne Idlette?
Website: lalahurdles2.com
Want to learn more about Athlete Tech Group?
Website: athletetechgroup.com
Instagram: @lalahurdles2