Speaker 1: Throwing it back to Black Tech Green Money episode two.
Speaker 1: Brian Michael Cotton is a music producer and songwriter responsible
Speaker 1: for more than a hundred million album sales, thirty five
Speaker 1: number one hits, and twelve Grammy nominations, including nine wins.
Speaker 1: On one of the first episodes of Black Tech, Green Money,
Speaker 1: asked Brian about the value of building a strong network
Speaker 1: with people who are at or close to your level
Speaker 1: firsts always reaching upwards to try to get put on
Speaker 1: by someone much further down the road. The majority of
Speaker 1: help Dive been getting in my life for the past
Speaker 1: it Team sixteen years have been directed from people that
Speaker 1: I came up with, whether it's the Shocks Lose, whether
Speaker 1: it's the Delicia Butterfields, whether it's you know, John Johnson's,
Speaker 1: whether it's you know what I mean, Chris Higgs. Like
Speaker 1: these are people who six was a little He helped me,
Speaker 1: he put me on. But if we look at it,
Speaker 1: you know, we talked about it all the time, like
Speaker 1: we were learning that through learning together. I look at
Speaker 1: the people around me and the people who's who helped me.
Speaker 1: They were definitely ahead of me, but they weren't Jimmy
Speaker 1: I V. You know, they couldn't just kind of check
Speaker 1: and just saved my life. We had to literally work,
Speaker 1: you know, learned together, and I needed them to guide
Speaker 1: me to get to those places. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I will say that, and then I looked at my
Speaker 1: peers like a Volicia Butterfield, Christie Henderson. Any help that
Speaker 1: I need, I could just reach out for them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's my network. And we came up together,
Speaker 1: came from nothing. So I was telling to be your
Speaker 1: net worth determines your net worth, right, So at the day, yeah,
Speaker 1: you could like it. Moving up is a is a
Speaker 1: good thing, you know what I mean. If somebody can
Speaker 1: help you, who's who's who's in position to help you?
Speaker 1: If if a if you're able to get to a
Speaker 1: puff or get to a you know, go be cocks whoever. Right,
Speaker 1: it's cool, you know what I mean. But at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, I can help you get the point. B.
Speaker 1: But the people that you surround yourself with all the words,
Speaker 1: is gonna be your your direct anchor, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Because you're not the way to call me
Speaker 1: for every little thing. I can't call card days for
Speaker 1: every little bit. So I can't call Jimmy Ivan or not.
Speaker 1: You know, I can't call you know man anything, anything
Speaker 1: I gotta issue with anything. I want to bounce off
Speaker 1: anybody as I can bounce off. I could call Chris Easy,
Speaker 1: I would call Alicia Easy. I could call j Q Easy.
Speaker 1: I could call John Tay Easy. You know. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's all people that we all came up together. The
Speaker 1: importance of having people around you and creating your network
Speaker 1: around you is I mean, it's necessary because you might
Speaker 1: you know if you don't, you know when the valley
Speaker 1: is hit and you out there by yourself. Who my
Speaker 1: valot is said I was. I was in a good
Speaker 1: space because I wasn't there by myself. I have people
Speaker 1: who came up with and we can help each other
Speaker 1: and want each other. Though I'm on Lucas and this
Speaker 1: is black tech, clean money. I'm gonna introduce you to
Speaker 1: some of the biggest names, some of the brightness of
Speaker 1: mind and brilliant ideas. I feel black in building simply
Speaker 1: using tech to secure your bag. This podcast is for you.
Speaker 1: Dr Key Hallman is the founder at the Village Market,
Speaker 1: a t L who's mission is to support the sustainability
Speaker 1: of socially conscious, community minded black entrepreneurs and black owned startups.
Speaker 1: I ask Dr Kid about the secret sauce to the
Speaker 1: blueprint getting black entrepreneurs from different industries in the same
Speaker 1: commercial space with the goal of not only building their businesses,
Speaker 1: but our businesses. I think the blueprint is together. I
Speaker 1: don't think I've created something that hasn't been done, and
Speaker 1: I would tell you in twenty sixteen, I wasn't up
Speaker 1: against what we're all facing right now, and that's being
Speaker 1: forced to be online so pre pandemic. I was teamed like,
Speaker 1: we need to see each other in person. We need
Speaker 1: to figure out how to use our best gifts. Like
Speaker 1: if if your gift is whatever it is, will and
Speaker 1: my gift what is whatever it is. My whole thought
Speaker 1: belief is that you're more powerful if I drawn with
Speaker 1: you and you're drawn with me. And so even in
Speaker 1: this e commerce space, I think there are some very
Speaker 1: unique opportunities for entrepreneurs, artists and great minds to collaborate.
Speaker 1: And a lot of that comes from conversations like this.
Speaker 1: So when we think, when we have these type of conversations,
Speaker 1: then we start to understand, like what you're really about,
Speaker 1: because what I know especial about black Folks is always
Speaker 1: much more than just a T shirt. It's always much
Speaker 1: more than than than the hair care products. There's a story,
Speaker 1: there's a legacy behind that, and there's also an aspiration
Speaker 1: to create something that we've never seen. So the point
Speaker 1: of entry to me and collaboration, especially in this digital space,
Speaker 1: is getting on zoom, getting cute, getting the lighting together,
Speaker 1: and having a conversation about how we got started, what
Speaker 1: we're doing, and what we can do together. I think
Speaker 1: those unified efforts in these most intimate ways and also
Speaker 1: convenient ways of being able to communicate, helps us start
Speaker 1: to establish what the partnerships look like in the twenty
Speaker 1: first century. Now when the world opens back up, there's
Speaker 1: nothing like being in the space in a room that
Speaker 1: synergy that you all do it at afro Tech, at Glavity,
Speaker 1: we do it at the Village Market. There's nothing like
Speaker 1: that vibration of being in a space of collaborative minds
Speaker 1: to a future thinking but also who are so thankful
Speaker 1: to being a present moment together. There's nothing that's nothing
Speaker 1: like that. So I look forward to being in that
Speaker 1: space where we can comfortably convene together, but in the meantime,
Speaker 1: how we can collaborate is literally doing what you and
Speaker 1: I are doing right now. And I've asked you this
Speaker 1: question before, but I want to make sure that people
Speaker 1: really get this next answer, because what I don't want
Speaker 1: people to leave here with after they hear your beautiful
Speaker 1: words today, but I don't want them to leave with
Speaker 1: is the idea what I'm gonna go support black businesses
Speaker 1: because you don't go to Target to support Target. You
Speaker 1: just go there because they got what you need. And
Speaker 1: so how do we get over this idea that we
Speaker 1: have to quote unquote support that our businesses need to
Speaker 1: support versus they're looking for their consumers and they I'm
Speaker 1: shopping there because they provide val you indeed, and good question,
Speaker 1: and because I do truly believe support is a verb.
Speaker 1: But I also know there's a count of narrative how
Speaker 1: we talk about words, and words have power. So when
Speaker 1: you go on to buy from black it's because you
Speaker 1: want the best on your body, want the best in
Speaker 1: your house. So I think it's the way that we
Speaker 1: think about and how we're normalizing our intentionality of making
Speaker 1: sure we find in support of black owned business that
Speaker 1: we intentionally buy from a black owned business. That's different
Speaker 1: than support support says I can take it to leave it.
Speaker 1: When those things that we want, we heavily pursue those,
Speaker 1: even if it's not conveniently around the corner for us.
Speaker 1: So I think we start thinking about about black businesses.
Speaker 1: What we've seen due to centuries of redlining and things
Speaker 1: like that, it's not as quote unquote convenient to find
Speaker 1: those black owned businesses, and so we're thinking about, like,
Speaker 1: how do I do that in such a way. I
Speaker 1: have to go and support and do this thing. But
Speaker 1: what I tell the entrepreneurs in the village, and as
Speaker 1: I tell entrepreneurs who are in this space, I mean,
Speaker 1: folks are missing out if they're not rocking your product.
Speaker 1: Both are not People are missing out if you're not
Speaker 1: the black owned doctor that's taking care of their kids,
Speaker 1: if this is not the black owned school that's educating
Speaker 1: your young folks. And I think it's so it's the
Speaker 1: way that we talk about ourselves is the way that
Speaker 1: we start normalizing the narrative of what it means to
Speaker 1: just be about black business. And I think that's beyond
Speaker 1: quote unquote supporting, because that sounds more philanthropick in nature,
Speaker 1: and rather than making it just a part of our
Speaker 1: lifestyle and what we do. What did you do at
Speaker 1: the village to ensure the narrative around doing business with
Speaker 1: black owned businesses was changing, because you know, we have
Speaker 1: this whole thing. You know, I can't do business with
Speaker 1: black folks because they ain't got good customer service, the
Speaker 1: whole thing. What did you do at the village to
Speaker 1: make sure, I, look, this is a place of excellence,
Speaker 1: and how did you how did you both inspire that
Speaker 1: with your your vendors um and then how did you
Speaker 1: shape that narrative with the people who would be coming
Speaker 1: there to shop? Yeah? Good, super good question again, and
Speaker 1: so even before we get to the vendors, even before
Speaker 1: we get to the consumers, I made sure that I
Speaker 1: had a good team. I made sure that I had
Speaker 1: a really good team that understood like what we were
Speaker 1: striving to build, because then it had to these thoughts
Speaker 1: had to outlive me. Then we began to work with entrepreneurs, brands,
Speaker 1: i e. Vendors, and so our job is if you
Speaker 1: ever had issues with customer service, let us help you
Speaker 1: out there. And so that programmatic piece before we are,
Speaker 1: before we would do a marketplace, we work with entrepreneurs
Speaker 1: over a course of thirty thirty to ninety days to
Speaker 1: prepare them what I said, to just be ready to
Speaker 1: be overwhelmed by a village of people who are seeking
Speaker 1: to buy. And so I think that programmatic components what
Speaker 1: made sure that the insurance that when you came to
Speaker 1: the village market that these are these entrepreneurs, these brands
Speaker 1: are well prepared to meet you, well prepared to make
Speaker 1: sure that the POS systems are in place. Were prepared
Speaker 1: to make sure that the meller system is locked in
Speaker 1: so you can be able to communicate with them after that,
Speaker 1: and that you have enough product, that your branding is
Speaker 1: there that you're marketing there. And so that was that
Speaker 1: multi pronged um process of ensuring that the entrepreneurs were
Speaker 1: prepared to meet the village. And then the only thing
Speaker 1: that we told the village that you don't want to
Speaker 1: miss this. If you think you've seen the movie, were
Speaker 1: kind of nothing like experiencing it, because that's what the
Speaker 1: village market is. And I think, again, I am I'm
Speaker 1: a former educator, but I truly understand the power of words.
Speaker 1: But when you beyond words, then you have to be
Speaker 1: able to meet that with a moment. I made sure
Speaker 1: that the Village Market literally dripped an excellence from the
Speaker 1: art on the wall, to the brands that were showcasing,
Speaker 1: to the musicians that were playing and I and I
Speaker 1: showed the plethora of what it means to be in
Speaker 1: a black artistic space, from jazz brent bands, to kid
Speaker 1: drummers to tap dancers to live art. All of that
Speaker 1: is inside of the Village Market. And so I think
Speaker 1: when we talk about excellence, excellence, it's not siloed. It's
Speaker 1: not a it's not a single narrative. And so it
Speaker 1: should be beyond just entrepreneurs. We should create whole experiences.
Speaker 1: But before we create that experiences, we have to make
Speaker 1: sure that the entrepreneurs are prepared to meet their consumer
Speaker 1: because at the end of the day, the only way
Speaker 1: that we can really ensure economic mobility we have to buy. Well,
Speaker 1: let's talk about that program, like what what do you
Speaker 1: do when somebody comes to you with the fantastic product
Speaker 1: on its face may not have the operational excellence, Like,
Speaker 1: talk to me about that program, you know whatever that
Speaker 1: when you's heavy word, that's curriculum, But talk to me
Speaker 1: about what that looks like over those you know, periods
Speaker 1: of times where you're taking them before you put them
Speaker 1: on the floor. They're going through this process, sure, and
Speaker 1: so the curriculum is our word former teacher and me,
Speaker 1: So we really build a curriculum around this. And also
Speaker 1: that point of entry for us first is the application
Speaker 1: and then we've created an amazing group break where we are.
Speaker 1: I have a council of thirteen scores who rotate every
Speaker 1: every ninety days who are looking at applications and we're
Speaker 1: looking at different things. We're looking at entrepreneurs to make
Speaker 1: sure that they have a way to uh that the
Speaker 1: audience and their buyers can buy outside of the Village market,
Speaker 1: meaning they have an e commerce space that their separation
Speaker 1: between their personal life and their brand identity and if
Speaker 1: it's merging, is merging in ways that makes sense. Um.
Speaker 1: That is also very clear on message of what we're doing.
Speaker 1: We're truly striving for the up, the up mobility for
Speaker 1: all of us. So we're looking at these things that
Speaker 1: once entrepreneurs get accepted into the Village or get accepted
Speaker 1: into our Elevate program that's running now, then they then
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs have one on one meetings and interviews with business
Speaker 1: coaches and so the questions we ask what are your
Speaker 1: wildest dreams and what is it? What is it gonna
Speaker 1: take you to get there? If target is your wildest dream,
Speaker 1: is it all is the only target because it's the
Speaker 1: only thing you've seen? Or are you afraid to go
Speaker 1: build your own thing? And so we we want to
Speaker 1: know those answers because that helps us create a place
Speaker 1: based curriculum that makes sense to that entrepreneur. And so
Speaker 1: one once the entrepreneurs are accepted into the village, and
Speaker 1: once in the village, you're always a villager. Don't believe
Speaker 1: in the council culture. Here we prepare. We make sure
Speaker 1: that those entrepreneurs have honestly everything they need. So if
Speaker 1: there is if there's a gap in their website, if
Speaker 1: they're not checking, if they don't have s c OH
Speaker 1: in place, if they're not looking at the analytics in
Speaker 1: their analytics, if they're not understanding their numbers, we have
Speaker 1: classes and workshops around that, and then we do the
Speaker 1: big reveal um and that is all before the pandemic.
Speaker 1: Since the pandemic has happened, all of that has changed,
Speaker 1: and we have our Elevate program that runs every day
Speaker 1: for so proprietors and so at the end of the
Speaker 1: elevated program UM entrepreneurs have an opportunity to be in
Speaker 1: our new retail space located upon City Market that's open
Speaker 1: seven days a week. And but will the catalysts of
Speaker 1: what we do and what makes the Village market extremely special.
Speaker 1: We don't just throw entrepreneurs out there like we're literally
Speaker 1: hand in hand. We're on this journey together. If you
Speaker 1: if we grow, that means you have UM And there's
Speaker 1: honestly we what's so special about our work. And I
Speaker 1: think other black lead organizations just not enough spaces created
Speaker 1: when entrepreneurs can test, refined, fell forward, failed, completely flat
Speaker 1: on their face, and then have counsel around them to
Speaker 1: help them solve some of these big problems problems by
Speaker 1: where capital problems, by where scaling operations problems. Was I
Speaker 1: just have no idea what I'm doing. I thought I
Speaker 1: just wanted to sell a candle. Now I have all
Speaker 1: these thousands of units that's going out of the door,
Speaker 1: and I have to grow to meet this moment. And
Speaker 1: so what we do is just make sure wherever the
Speaker 1: moment is, that they're somewhere in the village that can
Speaker 1: meet them where they are. This is a phrase you
Speaker 1: used in there, and you called the upper mobility, and
Speaker 1: I think too too often when we hear that phrase,
Speaker 1: it's just about economics. And there's also a point that
Speaker 1: you talked about, you know, uh in other interviews I've read,
Speaker 1: when you talk about our food is import and our
Speaker 1: education is important. Can you talk about your idea of
Speaker 1: upper mobility with all those things holistically? Yeah, when you
Speaker 1: said the word, I think our mobility anything over is holistic.
Speaker 1: I think the only way that things can move it
Speaker 1: must create a complete circle. And so for me, the
Speaker 1: first point of entry is mental health. So before we
Speaker 1: talk about economics, before we talk about even education. If
Speaker 1: the mind isn't well, then it's hard to dream something
Speaker 1: bigger for yourself. It's it's also hard to dream something
Speaker 1: bigger where you can actually believe that collaboration won't cut
Speaker 1: you out of the deal. And so it's like training
Speaker 1: our minds that think differently, training our minds to understand
Speaker 1: the general generational curses are very real thing, but we
Speaker 1: don't have to live and stay there. So we work
Speaker 1: hand to hand with a number of mental health practitioners,
Speaker 1: and we've done this for years to ensure that entrepreneurs
Speaker 1: and we start normalizing what therapy is, and so we
Speaker 1: can start literally trained here to start building. Now, the
Speaker 1: upward mobility is mental health, making sure that entrepreneurs have
Speaker 1: the resources, the technical, technical assistance, to education and place.
Speaker 1: Then we start focusing on how the trust scale of business,
Speaker 1: because what I don't want to happen is that we
Speaker 1: rescale and then everything everything is thriving except for us,
Speaker 1: that the money is sitting in the bank account. And
Speaker 1: and this is the most isolated we've ever felt, the
Speaker 1: most heartbroken and lonely we've ever felt, and also fear
Speaker 1: of even outgrowing where we are. And I think all
Speaker 1: of that goes to a place of wellness. Um, if
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs are like myself, the things I'm doing well, I
Speaker 1: have no relationship to it. In my family, UM, first generation,
Speaker 1: my sister and I college graduates, first generation entrepreneur in
Speaker 1: this way, with the exception of my great grandparents being
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs in Mississippi. But in the way that I'm doing it,
Speaker 1: I haven't. I haven't seen this before. And so another
Speaker 1: part of that over mobility is understanding that to be
Speaker 1: outward you have to have peers of like mind and
Speaker 1: and like intention and like enthusiast them to help you
Speaker 1: figure this thing out that many of us are experiencing
Speaker 1: for the first time. I would imagine you've had this experience.
Speaker 1: But I talked to a lot of people who run
Speaker 1: like small business and maybe they make candles, maybe they
Speaker 1: you know, do shade better like you just whatever, you know,
Speaker 1: the thing that they can whip up in their kitchen,
Speaker 1: And too many of them in my mind, because I
Speaker 1: want to get your opinion and I don't want to, like,
Speaker 1: you know, spoil the water before I put this over
Speaker 1: to you. Just you know, they're happy with just selling
Speaker 1: a few, They're happy with just making enough with their
Speaker 1: things to say they did a thing. What do you
Speaker 1: think is the root of that number one? And this
Speaker 1: is something that needs to be solved, And if so,
Speaker 1: how do we solve this idea that we can only
Speaker 1: be as big as this? Yeah, I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's a thing that you solve like an equation. I
Speaker 1: think it's a journey of wellness. I think as we
Speaker 1: love ourselves more, we know the capacity and wish that
Speaker 1: we can achieve things. I think we are almost sometimes
Speaker 1: a little afraid that if this grows to something else
Speaker 1: that's more exposure to me, This more opportunity for me
Speaker 1: to fail. Limited thinking is something that is ingrained due
Speaker 1: to deep oppression. It's hard for us and many people
Speaker 1: to start visualizing themselves being like a mogul in the
Speaker 1: industry because they have never seen and they think that's
Speaker 1: only for a select few that has to be in
Speaker 1: sound a certain way and come from a certain thing.
Speaker 1: But all of it again goes to mindset, and mindset
Speaker 1: is only that relationship to environment. And so the solution is,
Speaker 1: how do we nurture our environment, how do we nurture
Speaker 1: ourselves that it can be more than it can be
Speaker 1: more than a candle. We can literally create the jar
Speaker 1: that every coundle needs. We can create the wax that
Speaker 1: I'm sure I'm soory free. I'm hoping sort candles and
Speaker 1: and and all these countles out there that people are
Speaker 1: looking for, that we can be, We can be on
Speaker 1: the manufacturing in so, I think that proximity of seeing
Speaker 1: people who have done it. And I shared this to
Speaker 1: a good friend of mine um just this past weekend.
Speaker 1: He talked about the things that he wanted to do
Speaker 1: and the reason why he believed he can do all
Speaker 1: these things just because he's had a vast number of
Speaker 1: experiences that's being so close to proximity to it. And
Speaker 1: so I don't think the solution is something is one
Speaker 1: plus one equals too. I think it's the journey of
Speaker 1: understanding that there's a parts of us that need to
Speaker 1: be healed, parts of us that we don't even know
Speaker 1: how great we can be our And I actually talked
Speaker 1: to my doctor and she shared that many of us
Speaker 1: have no idea how great we can feel because we've
Speaker 1: never experienced being a healthy before. And I think visions
Speaker 1: and aspirations are the same, so it'll be a side
Speaker 1: hustle because you don't know you can do anything else.
Speaker 1: And I press upon everyone that the gift of vision
Speaker 1: is already anointed. I won't folks to truly understand that
Speaker 1: everyone everyone does not get the vision to create a
Speaker 1: path for themselves. And when you get it, you don't
Speaker 1: even have to worry about imposter syndrome. You have already
Speaker 1: been given the first thing that you need, and that's
Speaker 1: the seed of a big vision. So just I mean,
Speaker 1: go after it. I unapologetically go after everything that is
Speaker 1: in my mind because I know that it is divinely protected.
Speaker 1: What I don't do is go after things that I
Speaker 1: know are not for me though, and you can feel it.
Speaker 1: I love that. I love that. Um. How closely tied
Speaker 1: is civil rights? UM, social equality, closely health disparities to
Speaker 1: economic power? And I want to ask a specifically of you,
Speaker 1: because you know you like almost self proclaimed social entrepreneurs,
Speaker 1: which means you're not just in it for the money.
Speaker 1: But how closely tied are those things to economic power? Yes?
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier about redlining, and that was created to
Speaker 1: literally starved communities. And so if a community does not
Speaker 1: have a place where people can eat healthy foods, if
Speaker 1: there is no way the kids can be educated, then
Speaker 1: that that community would always be a as and deserters
Speaker 1: with without things that people can do to survive and live,
Speaker 1: and so economic mobility, that whole picture again, all of
Speaker 1: that has to be included, and that social entrepreneur in me,
Speaker 1: I'm always thinking about beyond the foods that we're eating,
Speaker 1: what type of foods are we eating and what is
Speaker 1: it doing to our bodies? What type of things are
Speaker 1: we reading, How we're educating our children, how we're educating ourselves,
Speaker 1: Because what is going to take and what is going
Speaker 1: to require for us to really move our community forward.
Speaker 1: Is that we're thinking about all these things all the time. Now,
Speaker 1: you don't have to be the magician. You don't have
Speaker 1: to be the one that has the magic in that area.
Speaker 1: That's why we have the village. But I do think
Speaker 1: comprehensive development, comprehensive community building and thinking about where we
Speaker 1: can be ten fifteen years from now. It's gonna requires
Speaker 1: to start thinking about the foods that were eating again,
Speaker 1: what's happening in our communities, why it's not happening in
Speaker 1: our communities, But then taken and honestly for black folks
Speaker 1: to know that this was created by design, and we
Speaker 1: know how something is designed, you have a much better
Speaker 1: way of being able to tackle it. But it's not
Speaker 1: something that can be tackled overnight. It is going to
Speaker 1: require people to separate their privilege because sometimes we're super
Speaker 1: happy to be at the table we saw, happy that
Speaker 1: we outside of that neighborhood that we grew up and
Speaker 1: I get it. But the but the thing about growing
Speaker 1: up in the neighborhood, of growing up in the country
Speaker 1: Mississippi like I did, and knowing that those spirities exist.
Speaker 1: Those of us who have have an opportunity to get out.
Speaker 1: Then our job is to do is to literally go back.
Speaker 1: And if you think about the Civil Rights movement, the
Speaker 1: leaders understood their call, they understood their charge. We think
Speaker 1: about the great migration from Mississippi to Chicago. My family
Speaker 1: left miss left Mississippi, go to Chicago. But they were
Speaker 1: supposed to go to create a better pathway, create a
Speaker 1: better life. And so what we can't do is to
Speaker 1: understand that we're supposed to create something better, then we
Speaker 1: just stopping. We never go back. So over mobility truly
Speaker 1: has to do with how we think about our positioning
Speaker 1: power and leveraging it to bring the community forward. I
Speaker 1: want to talk about this social entrepreneursial thing because again,
Speaker 1: like this is not something This is not a business
Speaker 1: you build just because you're a billion people are gonna
Speaker 1: using You're gonna be this trillionaire like you know, Jeff Bezos.
Speaker 1: Although you can do well while doing well. I want
Speaker 1: you to talk about how that works because there I
Speaker 1: would imagine if there is aspiring doctor keys out there
Speaker 1: who in their other town, may you know, think about
Speaker 1: putting together a market or doing something else, but they
Speaker 1: haven't not not yet figured out how to do well
Speaker 1: while doing well talking speaking up, Yeah, so I mean
Speaker 1: you said it will you can? You can do well
Speaker 1: while doing well. Um. The goal is to not stay
Speaker 1: where we've always been. It's all right to make money,
Speaker 1: it's not right to being authentic, it's not right to
Speaker 1: just do things for the money. Um. But in order
Speaker 1: for us to seek any sense of economic liberation is
Speaker 1: going to require many of us to start making money
Speaker 1: and put that money together to build things that we
Speaker 1: have never seen. So with those social entrepreneurs like myself
Speaker 1: out there, I can just tell you what I've done.
Speaker 1: I can only speak about from my own experiences. I
Speaker 1: made sure that the village was very it was very
Speaker 1: clear on what our intentions were. But I made sure
Speaker 1: that in the background of that that I had a
Speaker 1: comprehensive business plan with verticals in place. What is the
Speaker 1: nonprofit arm and what is the for profit arm? And
Speaker 1: it's okay to exist in both spaces. They're doing good
Speaker 1: to do good, But then that for profit is to
Speaker 1: make sure that you can bring your team on that
Speaker 1: that I have nephews who are who i I'm hoping
Speaker 1: one day that I can hand something out to them,
Speaker 1: and when it comes to land value and things like that.
Speaker 1: But I can't do that if I'm only in the
Speaker 1: space of doing things out of place with my heart
Speaker 1: and I'm not thinking about what is that financial impact
Speaker 1: that financial game. But one thing that I don't compromise
Speaker 1: and I'm and I'm hoping no social entrepreneur or any
Speaker 1: black entrepreneur, I don't think you ever should compromise your people.
Speaker 1: And I know that's hard. I know it's hard when
Speaker 1: things come at you and you're like, man, this is good.
Speaker 1: But we all have that intrinsic thing that happens inside
Speaker 1: of us when we know that something is deeply out
Speaker 1: of alignment. That level of discomfort that we have to
Speaker 1: live and experience when we do things out of alignment
Speaker 1: is not worth it. All money, as our grandparents to say,
Speaker 1: not good money. To leave that not good money over
Speaker 1: there and make some really good money and make sure
Speaker 1: you hire a really good team, because once you hire
Speaker 1: that really good team, then you're able to scare your business.
Speaker 1: But it put the verticals in place to make sure
Speaker 1: that the revenue model is solid, make sure there's enough
Speaker 1: after your revenue models is solid, and you can go
Speaker 1: out there and if you want to give grants and
Speaker 1: things like that. But it's hard to give from a
Speaker 1: place where you don't have things. You see, I'm sure
Speaker 1: a lot of small businesses who just aren't ready to
Speaker 1: be in the village market. And I'm wondering what are
Speaker 1: some of those things that people don't have in place
Speaker 1: that they're not even ready yet for that I talk
Speaker 1: and talk about some of the tactical things it should
Speaker 1: be doing, you know, to be able to be ready
Speaker 1: for whether whether it's a village market or just doing
Speaker 1: business period, things that you need to do. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: um for any entrepreneur in the village or wherever you
Speaker 1: the first part to make sure you prepare to make
Speaker 1: sure your your business is legit So have you have
Speaker 1: you done all the things that legitimizes your business, like
Speaker 1: that's the Instagram blue check. I guess have you got
Speaker 1: your business license in place? Because there's gonna come a
Speaker 1: time where you where, especially when we get this bank
Speaker 1: and stuff together, that you may need access to capital,
Speaker 1: you may need a line of credit, you may need
Speaker 1: along and so what they're what the first thing is
Speaker 1: they're going to ask you for is how many times
Speaker 1: will you foul taxes? And you can't sit with a
Speaker 1: blank stare. So the only way that you can foul taxes,
Speaker 1: you've got to make sure you have a legit businesses
Speaker 1: in place and a lot of And I understand the
Speaker 1: intimidation factor of that, but getting get legit meant and
Speaker 1: getting your certification is not It's not a hard process.
Speaker 1: It's just sitting down and doing um starting there. That's
Speaker 1: the first step of making sure your business is legit
Speaker 1: and then just being very clear on what are those
Speaker 1: short and long term goals. And I will say your
Speaker 1: short term goals don't have to be the same what
Speaker 1: you see as the highlight reel of some of the
Speaker 1: people who you look up to on Instagram. I mean,
Speaker 1: if we're catching a highlight reel, you miss in all
Speaker 1: the years that they had to put in to even
Speaker 1: create the highlight reel. So I wouldn't even assess that
Speaker 1: I would put that as the long term. But in
Speaker 1: a short term, do you want to make sure that
Speaker 1: your your brand identity is solid, these colors that you're choosing,
Speaker 1: these words that you're using, that voice and brand voice,
Speaker 1: Like what are you about if people never see your
Speaker 1: face but met your company, what do you want them
Speaker 1: to see? That's the stuff that you start thinking about,
Speaker 1: who is that customer, Who is that customer that would
Speaker 1: go that would shot from you during the pandemic asthetive pandemic,
Speaker 1: start considering who that person is. And then from a
Speaker 1: very tactical sense, I recommend everyone getting an accountant and
Speaker 1: getting a small business attorney. And there's organizations like the
Speaker 1: s b A that you can work with, and that's
Speaker 1: throughout the country. To make sure that you have those
Speaker 1: two people in place. I find that to be number one,
Speaker 1: because they're gonna make sure how I started this. They're
Speaker 1: gonna make sure that you are legit because you have
Speaker 1: to be prepared for when the great day comes, when
Speaker 1: all the algorithms clide together and you see yourself popping.
Speaker 1: You gotta be prepared for that customer overflow. It is
Speaker 1: going to happen if you continue to push at it
Speaker 1: and work at it um. But I really want to
Speaker 1: share again, beyond those tacticals senses, it is so important
Speaker 1: to disconnect from social sometimes because if you would look
Speaker 1: at the progression the highlight reel of other people, you
Speaker 1: constantly feel that you're feeling, You're constantly feel that there's
Speaker 1: no space for you. That is oversaturated that I can't
Speaker 1: do it like this person. And as long as you're
Speaker 1: watching that, that is stifling what you can truly be
Speaker 1: and what you can truly become. So another because another
Speaker 1: tas to a sense of getting prepared as getting unplugged.
Speaker 1: You have to be clear on what you're striving to
Speaker 1: be old and why you're striving to build it, and
Speaker 1: then you start creating your plan behind that. But my
Speaker 1: advice for those first investments, and this is just what
Speaker 1: I did. I got my accountant, I got my small
Speaker 1: business attorney, and now at the place where I can
Speaker 1: hire somebody who's always there. But at first, these are
Speaker 1: just contract the folks who I could afford U when
Speaker 1: it was important. But what you get to the place
Speaker 1: where you're able to keep these people on staff. Um there,
Speaker 1: I just said. Atlanta is a special places. It is
Speaker 1: just it's a special place, especially for black people. It's
Speaker 1: a special place. And it's not like to me, like
Speaker 1: rocket science, that this works in Atlanta, because Atlanta's they're
Speaker 1: wing you and plus Atlanta it's gonna work. How does
Speaker 1: this work outside of Atlanta? So if if if I
Speaker 1: am you and I'm trying to grow, or I am
Speaker 1: aspiring you I'm in the town that's like, Okay, how
Speaker 1: do you build community around commerce and black vendors in consumers?
Speaker 1: How do you do that outside of the Yeah, in
Speaker 1: fair question. So I also think Atlanta is a very special,
Speaker 1: special city. But if you take the word Atlanta the
Speaker 1: way Atlantis were comprised of people, every community, every city
Speaker 1: has people, Every city has folks that that's like Dr
Speaker 1: KEI and like Will. Now we may have our own
Speaker 1: flavor to it, but there's people out there who want
Speaker 1: to be disruptive and want to do things that they've
Speaker 1: never seen before. You get all those disrupted people in
Speaker 1: the room together and you started thinking of the master plan.
Speaker 1: And this is in basevill Mississippi, where I'm from um
Speaker 1: to Ohio to Detroit. You can do the same thing.
Speaker 1: All like mind, people need to start getting the room
Speaker 1: and talking together, talking about insecurity so we can go
Speaker 1: on and get that out of the way. Started talking
Speaker 1: about these big plans that we have and what we
Speaker 1: can do collaboratively together and what connections we have, because
Speaker 1: then we bring those connections together. Now we have a
Speaker 1: working ecosystem in our in our community that we can
Speaker 1: start plug and play. But I truly believe Atlanta it
Speaker 1: has all the secret sauce, But Atlanta has the secret
Speaker 1: sauce of people who decided to bring their sauce together
Speaker 1: in order to get something done. And so do I
Speaker 1: think this can happen in Mississippi? Yes? Do I think
Speaker 1: it can happen across the country. It doesn't matter if
Speaker 1: the city is hot Atlanta are not. I really do.
Speaker 1: I think it all deals with the people that you
Speaker 1: are in close proximity. And it takes how what you
Speaker 1: and I are doing today. It takes communication, It takes authenticity,
Speaker 1: It takes talking about things that we are not subject to,
Speaker 1: talking about a whole lot those things that make us insecure,
Speaker 1: and then we start working together. Before we ever start
Speaker 1: working together, having these conversations and saying like, what's like,
Speaker 1: what's the goal? Because the regardless of how well I
Speaker 1: may be doing, how well you may be doing well,
Speaker 1: none of us are doing well. Not one of us,
Speaker 1: none of us individually have can even imagine the potential
Speaker 1: of where we can be if we keep our minds
Speaker 1: that strong and continue to work forward and work together. So, yeah, collaboration,
Speaker 1: city to city conversations, um, getting those networks in the room,
Speaker 1: all the plugs and the community get them, getting them
Speaker 1: all in the same room and understand that the only
Speaker 1: way we can conquer the thing, it has to be
Speaker 1: done together. Black Tech Green Moneys in production of Black
Speaker 1: Dy Afro Tech on the Black Fact podcast Networking I
Speaker 1: Hired Media. It's produced by Morgan Dubon and me Well Lucas,
Speaker 1: with additional production support by Love Beach and Raven near Born.
Speaker 1: Especially thank you Michael Davis and sakasavon Yon you know
Speaker 1: like the Wine. Yes that's his real name. Learn more
Speaker 1: about my guests and other technis, weapons and innovators at
Speaker 1: afrotech dot com. The video version of this episode would
Speaker 1: drop the Black Tech Green Money on YouTube next week,
Speaker 1: So tap in enjoying Black Tech Green Money. Leave us
Speaker 1: a five star rating on iTunes. Gonna get your money,
Speaker 1: Peace and love