Keeping Up with the Jones

Keeping Up with the Jones: Meet the Mother & Son Duo That Helping Families Build Generational Wealth By: Shawnte Mckinnon

Shawnte Mckinnon sits down with Janel Jones and her son Christon “The Truth Jones,” who is a 14-year old millionaire, to discuss what it means to actually be a Jones.

Shawnte: I am so excited to have you guys on tonight. Thank you so much for taking this interview with SwagHer Magazine. So, I want to start, so Janel, tell me a little bit about your SwagHer?

Janel: Parenting.

Shawnte: So, Christon, what do you think your swagger is?

Christon: Football!

Shawnte: I love it! Janel, I understand that you are prior military or currently still in the armed forces?

Janel: I’m still currently in. My last day is November 28th!

Shawnte: Congratulations! So, tell us a little about Truth Speaks.

Janel: Truth Speaks is my son’s company, and I am the president on paper, but actually, he’s the CEO that runs it every day and does all the coaching and training for his clients. That’s where basically everything is under, The Truth Speak. So, he (Christon “The Truth” Jones) is an international speaker, and he is certified through the Les Brown’s program. And, not only is he a speaker, but he’s also a coach, and he coaches people on how to invest in trading and the stock market. So, those are his two primary things that fall under The Truth Speaks. He does have books and other offered products or services, but those are the two primary businesses. While I am the president on paper, he’s the CEO. That’s kind of how we run that. I kind of stay in the background running ads, you know, if he needs automation, updates to his website, things of that nature. I stay in the background and do that, or if he needs to take off, cause he’s also a student-athlete, then our teachers take over, and we’ll coach his students for maybe that week or that month, just depending on what’s going on with his schedule.

Shawnte: That is so amazing! I have to say this because your last name is Jones. I have an aunt with the last name Jones. She’s often quoted saying, I don’t have to keep up with the Joneses because I am a Jones.

Janel: Yeah. Yep (laughter). You know how social media is, and you see people trying to compete with you on the low or trying to compare their kids to your kids. Every now and then, we’ll throw that out there.

Shawnte: Exactly! But, I’ve come to learn that if you are a leader, you’re going to have followers even on the low.

Janel: Yeah.

Shawnte: Do you feel any of your background, your military training help cultivate the growth of your son’s business?

Janel: Not leadership, not my army background, but what I was exposed to by moving around being in different environments, in different countries, parenting, watching people’s dynamics. I think that really helped me build our family and our structure, which also trickled into his business. Shawnte: So, what made you decide to support The Truth’s dreams? Did he say, “Hey mom, this is what I want to do”? Janel: He didn’t say he wanted to be an entrepreneur because he didn’t know. He was eight years old when he wrote his book. He was always writing; he’s gifted at writing and very creative. He’s an excellent writer. And so, he was actually getting bullied on the football field. He was journaling about it. He had written a comic book as well. So, I read both of them, and I was like, “Hey, you know, would you like to get your book published?” He kind of was like, “eh”- indifferent. You know, but I continued on. “I want to do the one about bullying. Cause, I’m like, you’re going to impact a lot of children. This is bigger than you.”

Shawnte: Absolutely!

Janel: You know, he was eight years old, a little boy, a football player. He was embarrassed by it. But, I kind of encouraged him by showing him the impact and how the impact was going to affect and save others, and he was going to be able to be their voice for somebody that experienced the same thing he’s been through. So, he agreed to it. He wrote his first book, and then after he wrote it, I made him sell it. I knew the two skills you need to be successful in the world are public speaking and sales; people hate both of them. People are literally terrified of it. But when I looked over the years at successful people, like top CEOs, what differentiated them from everybody else was sales and speaking. I knew those were the two skills he needed. So, he was going to talk to perfect strangers and ask them to buy something. And it was a cold sale. I had him doing door-to-door sales, which are the hardest sales cause you are bothering people. However, once you get over that and learn those rebuttals, you’re able to roll that off your back. His books were $10. My goal for him was to sell a hundred-dollars worth of books every time he had a football game because his book is about football. We’re often out there with hundreds of kids; there’s no way you can’t sell ten books. So it was an easy sale, but it was a cold sale and made him do something that he hadn’t Once he learned how to take rejection and hit people with rebuttals to encourage them to buy the book, it made it easier, and he grew his confidence and his bank account. So, that was kind of how he started and how he got started into entrepreneurship. He didn’t know that’s what he was really doing.

Shawnte: That’s amazing! Many parents overlook those kinds of things, right? I love the fact that you recognized that he was very gifted early on. So, what advice would you give to other parents who have gifted children or children who are being bullied?

Janel: You kill people by success. I was like, “Oh, don’t worry about it. We are going to write a book about them, jokers! We are going to change their names and get paid off of what they tried to do to you. We are going to kill them with success. So, that was my thought.

Shawnte: Christion, let’s get back to you. Well, what we learned about you is that you are the truth. Tell me a little bit about how you decided to get into stocks, what piqued your interest and what made you tell your mom that you were interested in stock?

The Truth (Christon): I was watching a video years ago of a kid out of Chicago who built a $50,000 stock portfolio. We’re the same age. I was watching his videos of this black kid out of Chicago who built a 50,000-stock portfolio, and seeing how you’re able to make money and just seeing his story inspired me. It made me want to get into it. So, I began asking my

Shawnte: Okay, so mom, where did the “no” come from?

Janel: I felt this is going to be too much information. He’s not going to get an understanding. In my mind, oh, finances and stocks are boring, and kids change their minds every day. You have to ask me a couple of times, and I know you’re serious because you’re consistent. But yeah, I do that with sports, with food. I do that kind of with everything, but some of the “no” were his age. He was nine. So, I didn’t think he was going to understand this( stocks/trades). I don’t like to waste my time. I don’t care what it is; you’re not about to waste my time. So if you are serious? Let me know you’re serious. I don’t want to waste my time or my money.

Shawnte: I get it. So what happened? Where was the shift?

Janel: He came back and was speaking the jargon. He learned some terminology. Okay, then I knew he was serious. You know, when somebody has actually looked, researched on their own, and actually using the jargon in the right context, it’s like, okay, he’s ready.

Shawnte: That’s amazing! So, the truth, What inspired you to continue to learn more about it and then present it to your mom after the “no”?

The Truth (Christon): Mainly, I was thinking, well, since you’re not going to teach me, I’m still learning this myself because that was ultimately the goal. Of course, I used my resource system, which is the internet. And so, I just looked up different terms and tools I could use to understand; it wasn’t in the plan to necessarily present it to her. I just happened to tell her about it because of everything I was learning.

Shawnte: I love love love that! Janel, you spoke a lot about success. What does success mean to you?

Janel: Success to me means living and walking in your truth and whatever that is for you. If your goal is to be a billionaire, go for it. Don’t let anything hold you back. If your goal is just to be free and you don’t want responsibility, so you decided to be a beach bum, go for it. Live your truth. Be confident in your decisions, trust your gut, your intuition. And just do whatever it is you want to do. Do what’s going to make you happy because this is your life at the end of the day. You only get one, and you always live with dogma when you live with other people’s decisions or if they talk to you into something. You know, those decisions are hard to live with because it really wasn’t your decision, you let somebody talk you into it. You will always regret that. But, when it’s your decision, you can live with it because it was your decision.

Shawnte: That’s amazing! So The Truth, how did that name come about?

The Truth (Christon): Well, so initially, it was going to be my real first name; however, it changed later on but ended up circling back around as we were looking for a type of moniker or something to go by and then a unique signature for me to use for my business. For me, it means strength and courage.

Shawnte: I absolutely love that! So tell me in truth, what does success mean to you?

The Truth (Christon): Personally, for me, success means being able to do well-essentially freedom, but being able to do what I want when I want to do it; however, I want to do it and be able to live out my dreams and just have a great experience while I’m still here.

Shawnte: Awesome! So tell me, how does it feel to be a millionaire at 14-years old?

The Truth (Christon): It feels more surreal thinking about everything I’ve done. It feels surreal on a day-to-day basis.

Shawnte: So mom, how does it feel to have a son that’s a millionaire at 14?

Janel: It’s amazing! And it wasn’t the money. It was the impact. There have been so many little incidents where people have written me, literally made videos, and all kinds of different things reaching out to me and crying. They are like, “You and your son changed our family dynamic. You changed the legacy. Now we’re building generational wealth. I never thought this was possible!” They are often single parents, but I even had dads reach out to me, and you know, they don’t do that. It’s been the impact for me. It has been so phenomenal because it was happening early. I don’t think he really grasps and understands what he’s doing and the impact he is having. These people’s grandkids and great-grandkids are going to be living off the fruit of those parents’ labor. But it’s because of him, and of course, they’re not going to know him or know anything about him, but because of him. His legacy is going to be years beyond any of us being here. So, I don’t think he has grasped the whole concept of what he’s doing and how he’s impacting the world.