Meet: The WIN Factory

The WIN Factory

Tamara Varella, Newdy Felton, and Malcolm Coley were entrepreneurs working on their own businesses at the CoIN Loft on Market when they first started collaborating on the Wealth League, a wealth-building membership group that provides access to information, strategy, resources, and opportunities. It was going great for a hot second, and then news came that the CoIN Loft was closing. Suddenly, they had to put all those strategies, resources and opportunities (and partners Linda Watson and Alfred Campbell) to work in order to find a new home.

Now, inside Wilmington’s newest co-working space, The WIN Factory, the three found a minute to gather together and reflect about the journey they’ve been on:

Tamara: “So we were all at the CoiIN Loft together, me with Manifest Business Consultants, Newdy and Malcolm at Influencers Lab Media. I had this concept for the Wealth League. People from Wilmington often have the mindset that you can’t succeed in Wilmington, no one’s going to support you. But meanwhile, people that come to Wilmington are blowin’ and growin’, buying up the properties, killing the game, starting businesses and thriving.”

Newdy: “Wilmington has always been a place that attracts entrepreneurs. One of my strengths is networking. I’ve done things all over the country and there’s nothing was quite like Wilmington. New York’s down the street. You have Philly, D.C., everything within driving distance or a train ride. The only thing we need to do is scream loud enough for people to stop.”

Tamara: “So it was around the time The News Journal ran that article about how Wilmington is the worst place to fulfill the American dream. That’s what made me push the button on the Wealth League, because I was like, OK, y’all play too much. I need to stop dragging my feet, because the narrative that people are putting out in the public is not acceptable. But then we had to leave the CoIN Loft and fell into creating a co-working space.”

Newdy: “That wasn’t part of the plan.”

How did you find this space?

Tamara: “Random.”

Newdy: “So random.”

Malcolm: “Super random.”

Tamara: “We had a small window of time to find a place.”

Malcolm: “When she says a ‘small window,’ she means 10 days.”

Tamara: “We had exactly 10 days to find a home. And we literally saw every single commercial space …”

Malcolm: “… we went everywhere ….”

Tamara: “… in this whole city, everywhere. The very last day, we were with Chris Moore from Patterson-Woods, and whatever he showed us that day is what we had to get. I swung the door open here and as soon as my big toe hit the wood, I was like, where do I sign?”

Newdy: “I wasn’t there. They called me on FaceTime. I was like, yo, let’s just call it, throw in the towel …”

Tamara: “I’m not giving up! I’m not quitting! We will not die!”

Newdy: “… I was on Facetime and it was like, the light shining down on us –woooooooooo! But wait. We can’t afford that. That is NICE, and that is not in our budget. I got cold feet the day before.”

Tamara: “DAY OF! They got cold feet the DAY OF!”

Newdy: “’How’s this going to be? This is not going to work.’ And Tam’s like, you need to …”

Tamara: “Man up!”

Newdy: “… ‘Go and pray! You need to go to church. I’m going to hang up this phone right now, and you gonna think about it, and you’re going to call me back in two hours.’ And that was it. Here we are today. It’s been a journey. But full transparency, right? When you see African American people in this space, with all types of people together, it’s a big deal. I think we all struggle being present in the moment and really understanding the magnitude of what it is that we’ve been doing.”

Malcolm: “We launched three businesses at one time.”

Tamara: “Who does that? The WIN Factory, the Wealth League and this as an event space.”

Malcolm: “The Wealth League, there’s nothing like it in the state of Delaware.”

Tamara: “The core missions is really about leveling the playing field by providing access to resources and information to those that want it, especially first-generation wealth builders. Our speakers are not paid speakers. They’re just people who are out there doing the work and have achieved a level of success in their industry. When people ask questions, they’re like ‘Well, this is what I did. I call this person, and I use this piece of paper, and I filed it, and Bam.’ And at the end you get to walk up and talk to them and get their business card. It’s pretty powerful.”

Malcolm: “How many times are you actually in a position where you can sit and talk to a millionaire and really understand their process of how they got to their millions? Where I grew up, we didn’t have access to that, or if we did, they weren’t doing it legally. So for us to have that type of access to the resources and information, it’s a whole different ball game. Because when you get the information, you can change your life.”

Tamara: “I think one of the most powerful features of the Wealth League is the group economics of buying properties together. I don’t care if you have $500 to put into a deal, but if you have the power to drive your family past a property and say ‘I own a piece of that,’ that’s life-changing. It will definitely break whatever limitations you had in your mind in regards to owning real estate. And now your kids are in a whole different realm. I don’t care if you own a doorknob. It’s yours. And just having that conversation, using those words, can be life-changing.”

Why Wilmington?

Malcolm: “I was born and raised in New Jersey. I’m a graduate from Seton Hall University. But for real, coming to Delaware is one of the best decisions I ever made. In terms of business, in terms of the access to the people, there’s nowhere like it.”

Tamara: “Senator Carper’s coming here. He asked to come in on the 17th to do a walkthrough. Just a random call. That’s not happening in New York or Philly.”

Malcolm: “There’s things bubbling in Wilmington that’s about to pop. Tech stuff is starting to pop. Gaming is about to pop. Once people really find out that stuff is happening right in their own backyard – mindset shift! We want to turn to Delaware into a gaming mecca, and on top of taking a thousand kids and helping them monetize something they already like, we can teach them a skill on the back end. Because coding is automation. Uber’s got self-driving cars. When you go to Royal Farm, you don’t talk to people. Like Andrew Yang said, if we don’t learn these skills, we’re going to be irrelevant. I’m talking specifically about black people. We won’t be relevant. I don’t want that to happen. So we’re trying to create some stuff so that won’t happen.”

Newdy: “For me, it’s still surreal when we see the impact that we have. I am always grateful for what we’re able to do. But we’re trying to learn to live in the moment more.”

Malcolm: “It’s crazy because I say this stuff to Newdy all the time. I’m like, ‘Newd! Oh! Oh! Look what we’re about to do! We about to do this and that and the third!’ And Newdy here, he’s OG. He’s like, ‘Yeah, this is what we doing.’ But it resonates with me. When I’m in certain rooms with certain people, my excitement levels are through the roof. Tam be chillin’, Newdy be chillin’, and that kind of brings me back a little bit, but I’m just like, man, this is really crazy that we’re in these rooms, talking to these people, and out here changing lives. It’s crazy, really crazy to me.”

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This post is courtesy of New Market Wilm. View the original post here!