The Earn Your Leisure (EYL) founders took the world by storm with a different approach, combining business, financial literacy, and entertainment to build a business empire.
The company started in 2019 with what is now a Top 40 business podcast and has since expanded into a media organization; an online education platform, Earn Your Leisure University; and a one-of-a-kind festival, Invest Fest.
When discussing financial literacy, it is hard to miss Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings, co-founders of Earn Your Leisure. But, Michael MacDonald, the third co-founder of EYL, has been working quietly behind the scenes from day one to build the EYL brand and turn it into the success it is today.
Bilal, Millings, and MacDonald all grew up in New York City and have known each other since elementary school. Today, they are business partners in multiple ventures and have grown Earn Your Leisure to eight figures in revenue. It all started with a dream. Now these founders are taking Invest Fest to Europe, with plans to turn EYL and EYL University into publicly traded companies in the future.
I sat with MacDonald to discuss his journey as the third Founder of Earn Your Leisure. He shared the incredible odds he overcame to get to where he is today. “I grew up in the projects, on welfare, with a single mom and five siblings. I was in special education. I wasn’t supposed to make it,” MacDonald told BLACK ENTERPRISE.
MacDonald’s story is a testament to the belief that your start doesn’t have to determine how far you go in life. Here are my key takeaways from our conversation.
Photo Credit: North 13th and Create
Overnight success takes 10 years
For many people, Earn Your Leisure blew up out of nowhere. But, for years, Bilal and Millings were in classrooms teaching the youth about financial literacy. MacDonald, the brain behind the visuals and EYL’s early content strategy, had been practicing his craft for years.
“I started making flyers for promoters in my neighborhood, getting $50 a flyer at 14 years old. I was doing graphic design throughout high school.
One of my friends and mentor taught me photography, and I was a photographer for ten years. Before Earn Your Leisure. I worked with DJs, influencers, and models to help them get off the ground and build their brands,” MacDonald said.
The three friends found success with Earn Your Leisure, but it wasn’t the first business they started together. “We started investing in real estate in 2008, but that didn’t work out. We tried a cloud business for DJs. We had a couple of small businesses.”
Source: Meet Michael MacDonald, One of the Forces Behind the Earn Your Leisure Business Empire
