Speaker 1: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador
Speaker 1: accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with
Speaker 1: filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just
Speaker 1: some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President
Speaker 1: Donald J. Trump's leadership. I'm Christy nom the United States
Speaker 1: Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted illegal border
Speaker 1: crossings are at the lowest levels ever recorded, and over
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand illegal aliens have been arrested. If you
Speaker 1: are here illegally, your next you will be fined nearly
Speaker 1: one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned, and deported. You will
Speaker 1: never return. But if you register using our CBP home
Speaker 1: app and leave now, you could be allowed to return legally.
Speaker 1: Do what's right.
Speaker 2: Leave now.
Speaker 1: Under President Trump, America's laws, border and families will be protected.
Speaker 3: Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security.
Speaker 4: All right, guys, welcome back earned a Lisia La edition.
Speaker 4: We have a very we have a very very educational,
Speaker 4: exciting episode. I'm looking forward to. I know you're gonna
Speaker 4: learn a lot. We have for Zana Naani.
Speaker 3: That was good.
Speaker 4: Sorry I got nervous, cracked under pressure, cracked under pressure.
Speaker 4: But no, this is very this is very going to
Speaker 4: be an informative episode. So for people that don't know,
Speaker 4: there's a lot of programs that for business owners. So
Speaker 4: the thing of the think about this whole podcast is
Speaker 4: to get people information, is to inform people, and we
Speaker 4: inform people of all areas of finance, but especially business
Speaker 4: owners and entrepreneurs. Right, So when we heard your story
Speaker 4: and he was just educating us about how many programs
Speaker 4: and opportunities there are for business owners, I'm like, okay, yeah,
Speaker 4: we definitely we have to tell the people to enlighten them,
Speaker 4: to educate them, and to really you know, give them
Speaker 4: an idea of what's going on. So you are a
Speaker 4: business coach, business consultant and you've worked with over four
Speaker 4: hundred businesses in the last six years, all the way
Speaker 4: from small businesses to fortune five hundred companies.
Speaker 2: That's correct.
Speaker 4: Some of the largest companies are Lexus, Chet, Blue Us Bank,
Speaker 4: the La County, the Fire Department. So you and you
Speaker 4: work with a lot of different companies as far as
Speaker 4: the divert the inclusion program and diversity, right, yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 4: So first and foremost, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: For thank you for having me, thank you for.
Speaker 5: Coming taking out, thank you for hosting us exactly, thank
Speaker 5: you for coming.
Speaker 4: Exactly, exactly exactly, so we're gonna we're gonna jump right
Speaker 4: into it. And you was just you was educating me
Speaker 4: about redlining. And after redlining, there was some programs put
Speaker 4: in place by banks to kind of help the effects
Speaker 4: of redlining business. So, can we just get a brief
Speaker 4: explanation of what red lining is so people that might
Speaker 4: not be familiar with redlining.
Speaker 2: Sure.
Speaker 4: So.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, there was a lot of racist policies that were
Speaker 2: up held by the government and other aspects of our society,
Speaker 2: and one was redlining. And redlining is when a lot
Speaker 2: of different institutions drew literal red lines on the map
Speaker 2: and said we are not going to do business here
Speaker 2: and we're not going to have any loans here or
Speaker 2: access for people for real estate. And those were underrepresented communities,
Speaker 2: i e. People of color. And so what happened is
Speaker 2: as a result of that, years and years and years
Speaker 2: of this trauma and really this pain that has been
Speaker 2: put on people our communities, there have been programs and
Speaker 2: things that have come into place to help offset that.
Speaker 2: And one is called the Community Reinvestment Act and is
Speaker 2: literally an act that says that banks and other people
Speaker 2: have to donate back to those communities in the form
Speaker 2: of you know, donations and charity to nonprofits and specifically
Speaker 2: it's for financial literacy. So what all you all are
Speaker 2: talking about. They are funding that. They're giving the money
Speaker 2: to nonprofits. And I work for nonprofit, so I was
Speaker 2: fully aware of what amazing programs are there are because
Speaker 2: we were able to get the checks to do the program.
Speaker 2: So some of those things are business counseling, they're entrepreneur programs.
Speaker 2: I used to teach entrepreneur programs and they're really low
Speaker 2: cost or they're free, and so it's just really good
Speaker 2: for our people to know about that. I'm Filipino and
Speaker 2: Pakistani and so I worked in historic Filipino town in
Speaker 2: la and we did a lot of good work there.
Speaker 2: We still do a lot of good work there around
Speaker 2: how to get people aware of what's out there. Savings programs.
Speaker 2: They had one program back in the day where you
Speaker 2: could save money like fifty bucks a month and at
Speaker 2: the end of practicing saving for twelve months, you get
Speaker 2: two thousand dollars from this bank, from this grant. It
Speaker 2: was amazing. So people need to know about stuff like
Speaker 2: that and be aware about what's possible.
Speaker 4: Okay, so all right the Community Reinvestment Act. Can we
Speaker 4: just give a little bit, a little bit broad a
Speaker 4: detail on what that actually is? That is? That? Is
Speaker 4: that A because we're in l I don't know if
Speaker 4: I sit that way in LA, but we're in l
Speaker 4: A right now. Shout out to the city, the great
Speaker 4: city of Los Angeles. You know, we love l A.
Speaker 4: So but is this a program that is specific to
Speaker 4: California l A or is it a national.
Speaker 5: I feel like LA was broken into the red line zones,
Speaker 5: and I think it had something to do with the
Speaker 5: train tracks, and that's how the parts of LA were
Speaker 5: broken up, like Compton Wise, It's like all these things
Speaker 5: were broken up intentionally, right and in that time, that's
Speaker 5: how neighborhoods formed and.
Speaker 2: How games key people where they were.
Speaker 4: It was like, it's a history of that Chicago, and
Speaker 4: that's where the term other side of the train tracks
Speaker 4: exactly because literally a lot of you on the other
Speaker 4: side of the tracks that separated the good neighborhood from
Speaker 4: bad neighborhood quote unquote, well, I mean property from not poverty.
Speaker 4: So that's a good first bethead. I mean not good people,
Speaker 4: but good as far as you know real estate prices
Speaker 4: and stuff like that. So all right, But it was.
Speaker 2: A multiplier effect of that, because if you couldn't get
Speaker 2: a loan, you couldn't own a house. If you couldn't
Speaker 2: own a house, then you can't have wealth. So it's
Speaker 2: what we see multiply over and over. And then on
Speaker 2: top of that the schools is that you're in an
Speaker 2: undesirable neighborhoods, you're not gonna have good schools. So on
Speaker 2: top of that, then your schools are bad. So what
Speaker 2: do you have. You have liquor stores and check cashing places.
Speaker 2: You don't have banks, so you're now paying to cash
Speaker 2: your check. You're paying to go and get your check cash.
Speaker 2: So it's just lose, lose, lose the whole way. So
Speaker 2: this Community Reinvestment Act was to help offset that, to
Speaker 2: help get people back into banking, to trust banks again,
Speaker 2: so not to go to the check cashing places, not
Speaker 2: to go spend money doing putting your Oh we have
Speaker 2: people having cash under the mattresses. That's where people are.
Speaker 2: That's where they're saving them money because they're like, we
Speaker 2: don't trust the banks. How do we don't even know
Speaker 2: anyone at the bank. Actually banks don't have people that
Speaker 2: look like us. So these nonprofits where these intermediaries, these
Speaker 2: like go betweens to help people gain trust back into
Speaker 2: the banks. That's what they were for.
Speaker 3: It's funny like that.
Speaker 5: We we had conversations with adults were the first thing
Speaker 5: that they wanted to do when they got that check
Speaker 5: was go to check cash, and we were like, no,
Speaker 5: you should probably have a bank account. And it's like,
Speaker 5: now I don't trust it. It's just something that's been
Speaker 5: ingrained in our communities for so long. That's it.
Speaker 4: And people don't people don't understand how you know what.
Speaker 4: Somebody made a good, good analogy to me because when
Speaker 4: I first when I got my first job, and I
Speaker 4: went to the check cashing checks like a couple of
Speaker 4: blocks away from where I worked in the camp and
Speaker 4: everybody went there and they were saying, like, you never
Speaker 4: see a check cash in place in like a white
Speaker 4: neighborhood or like a wealthy neighborhood. You don't. This is
Speaker 4: what a fried chicken spot.
Speaker 5: You never see a couple of things. It's going to
Speaker 5: be a liquorster, a church, a fried chicken spot, and
Speaker 5: a check ash.
Speaker 4: No, it's it's true, it's true. So but all right,
Speaker 4: So there's programs put in place by banks to help
Speaker 4: educate people, right, So what are they actually educating them on.
Speaker 2: So one is how to have a bank account, how
Speaker 2: to actually write a check, how to just use the
Speaker 2: financial institutions that are out there to get you used
Speaker 2: to that so you don't have to pay for your
Speaker 2: money because a check cashing place, Okay, you cash your check,
Speaker 2: but then you get used to going there, and then
Speaker 2: they upsell you on like this a loan. Oh, you
Speaker 2: need an advance on your check. You need some money, Okay,
Speaker 2: but that's like going to cost you forty percent. So
Speaker 2: the next time around, now you're paying half your check
Speaker 2: right in order to get the money, and then that compounds,
Speaker 2: so now you owe money. So all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: you're owing money instead of making money. Where if you
Speaker 2: put in the bank you gain interest, even if it's
Speaker 2: a little bit interest, at least you're not paying to
Speaker 2: get your money. So it's a way to get people
Speaker 2: used to using financial institutions and Also the other programs
Speaker 2: were about how to start a business, which I really love.
Speaker 2: That's what I was a part of, so how to
Speaker 2: start a business. And then I even did financial literacy
Speaker 2: for kids, so we got piggybanks. We taught them how
Speaker 2: to count and use a calculator, and then we taught
Speaker 2: them about like needs and wants. So don't spend money
Speaker 2: on those name brands necessarily when you're that young, Like
Speaker 2: save a bit, you know, earn your leisure, how you
Speaker 2: have your assets.
Speaker 3: This sounds something right right, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2: That's what you teach. So we did it all for
Speaker 2: you know, there in those hoods, and it was great.
Speaker 4: Can you talk about the program for small business owners? Yeah,
Speaker 4: there's an SBA.
Speaker 2: So the government has different parts of it, and one
Speaker 2: part of it is called the Small Business Administration, the SBA.
Speaker 2: And who pays for that? You do? You do?
Speaker 4: I do?
Speaker 2: The taxes pay for it. The taxes that you pay
Speaker 2: go to programs. And these programs are free so that
Speaker 2: the programs are small business counseling, so you can come
Speaker 2: if you need a business plan, you can go roll
Speaker 2: up to one of these places and go and get
Speaker 2: yourself a business counselor for free, and they will coach
Speaker 2: you through a business plan. And you've already paid for
Speaker 2: it because you pay ten taxpayer, so you should go
Speaker 2: and get the resources that you've paid for.
Speaker 5: Where do I find this program? Because I know this
Speaker 5: is not being offered in schools, So is it at
Speaker 5: a community center or is there a designated area that
Speaker 5: I can find that program?
Speaker 2: Right? So, the SBA has centers, they're called Small Business
Speaker 2: Development Centers, and they're also partnering with the nonprofits, so
Speaker 2: they would employ people like me to work in these
Speaker 2: nonprofits to reach out to the community and then be
Speaker 2: like they're like proxy, like be their ambassador. So they
Speaker 2: would be the ones to help in those communities teach
Speaker 2: people about business plans and other stuff.
Speaker 5: Okay, and each demographic has its own, right because I
Speaker 5: know you said that you were working with the Filipino.
Speaker 3: Area, and is that true for the Hispanic area?
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the black communities too. So the banks knew
Speaker 2: that the only way for people to get used to
Speaker 2: them is to go through the nonprofits they know or
Speaker 2: the churches they know. So most of these communities have
Speaker 2: their own so you could just look up what's in
Speaker 2: your area look up who the main players are who
Speaker 2: are doing work in the area, really good community nonprofit work,
Speaker 2: and they're probably doing this already.
Speaker 4: But how do you look it up?
Speaker 2: How so you could look up small Business Counseling or
Speaker 2: free small Business Development Center SBA and you'll find it.
Speaker 4: And do you have to how do you qualify? Like,
Speaker 4: it's okay if I'm a small business owner, I want
Speaker 4: to have a business plan? Me right, there's a certain
Speaker 4: qualification that I have to meet to have a free
Speaker 4: business plan.
Speaker 2: No, it's free. You fill out one form with your name, address,
Speaker 2: and you check that you certify this information is true
Speaker 2: and that's it.
Speaker 4: So I can google. I can google s B a s.
Speaker 2: B a free business counseling or small business development center,
Speaker 2: and then you can find one near you and they're
Speaker 2: targeted to let's say women, or let's say the community
Speaker 2: that you're part of, and it's all free. They also
Speaker 2: have another program called SCORE and that program is with executives.
Speaker 2: So it's I forget the first part, but it's retired
Speaker 2: executives and it's these guys who are like retired in there,
Speaker 2: you know, in their retired time frame, like they're they're
Speaker 2: they're free and they want to give back, and they
Speaker 2: also do counseling for you. So you can even hear
Speaker 2: from an executive, which is a trip because they're they're
Speaker 2: you know, golfing and hanging out and they want to
Speaker 2: give back and so they will talk to anybody. You
Speaker 2: just make an appointment.
Speaker 3: And it's so in the area that you worked. What's
Speaker 3: the retenttrary?
Speaker 5: How many people do you see trying to create small
Speaker 5: businesses in the community you served.
Speaker 2: The thing is the thing that people think is you
Speaker 2: need money to make money. You don't need money to
Speaker 2: make money, you need drive. The thing that I saw
Speaker 2: that made everybody successful is they had ambition, Like they
Speaker 2: could have a couple bucks in their pocket, but they
Speaker 2: knew that they could do it. I had one sister.
Speaker 2: She had an ice cream truck and I'll give her
Speaker 2: a shout out. Her name, her company name is Callie Pop.
Speaker 2: And she would go in the hood and sell ice cream.
Speaker 2: Like why are you going in the hood. She's like,
Speaker 2: my papa did that. My papa did that because it
Speaker 2: was the jungle and he was the only one that
Speaker 2: would sell ice cream in the hood. And I helped
Speaker 2: her and so we got her her things set up.
Speaker 2: She got set up at the commissary like where she
Speaker 2: stocked her stuff. And just like the other day, I
Speaker 2: saw her in the Beach Cities areas and she was
Speaker 2: selling to the kids, and I was like, girl, you're
Speaker 2: doing good, Like I'm so proud of you that you
Speaker 2: came up. And she she didn't have much, but she
Speaker 2: made it work. But she had that determination and it
Speaker 2: was like her legacy because it came from her dad.
Speaker 2: So she really wanted to do it. And so I
Speaker 2: had people doing childcares and people doing record stores. I
Speaker 2: have restaurants, and they had nothing. They had no education,
Speaker 2: even you know high school dropouts, right, And one of
Speaker 2: my clients in the Park's Finest, they were high school
Speaker 2: dropouts and they used to cook barbecue in the hood
Speaker 2: to stay out of trouble, so they wouldn't get into
Speaker 2: fights with people because they'd be the ones that would
Speaker 2: come through and cook for you for your parties. So
Speaker 2: they never got in anybody's way. They were run on
Speaker 2: anybody's side. And they came to me one day and
Speaker 2: they're like, yo, like we want to go and buy
Speaker 2: this trailer. We want to buy this barbecue trailer. And
Speaker 2: so I helped them through it. They ended up now
Speaker 2: they have a storefront. They got on diners, drive ins
Speaker 2: and dives on the food network and it's like and
Speaker 2: it there's high school dropouts.
Speaker 4: So let me ask you this. So the Small Business Administration, Yeah,
Speaker 4: they help you. They can write, well, they can help
Speaker 4: you write a business plan. Yes, they can help you
Speaker 4: with coaching, mentorship, right, can they help you with funding.
Speaker 2: Yes they can. So all of the coaching and the
Speaker 2: classes that they have they do want to get you
Speaker 2: set up so you can go and get a loan.
Speaker 2: And so they actually have education on how to get
Speaker 2: a loan from a bank. So they work with banks
Speaker 2: on getting businesses ready to go and try to go
Speaker 2: for a loan. So all these banks and the SBA,
Speaker 2: they all work together to try to help the different
Speaker 2: business clients get ready and you know, try to acquire
Speaker 2: that which is possible.
Speaker 4: And it's all free.
Speaker 2: That is free, all free. It's all free. But we
Speaker 2: don't know about it.
Speaker 3: We do.
Speaker 4: Now, what are some things some people can do to
Speaker 4: help them help their chances to get alan because that's
Speaker 4: always come down to money and it.
Speaker 2: Always comes out with credit, right, So use your credit
Speaker 2: card responsibly and build your credit score up slowly and
Speaker 2: be responsible. So even if you okay, so when people
Speaker 2: use debit cards, it's cash out the door, right, which
Speaker 2: is fine because you're like, oh, I don't want to
Speaker 2: spend more than I have in my bank. But if
Speaker 2: you can discipline yourself and use a credit card and
Speaker 2: pay that fifty bucks down every month, then you have
Speaker 2: like a track record of credit. I remember the first
Speaker 2: credit card I opened, I only had five hundred dollars,
Speaker 2: like that's all I could get, Like that was my max.
Speaker 2: And I still have that card today because it and
Speaker 2: I won't close it because it has a history of
Speaker 2: credit history of how many years I've had that one
Speaker 2: credit card. In fact, I don't think I even increased
Speaker 2: the limit. I still only have five hundred on it.
Speaker 2: But I never closed it, and so they've seen like
Speaker 2: decades of me using a credit card. And I didn't
Speaker 2: have a lot of money at the time, like I
Speaker 2: was a student, like I literally they didn't know who
Speaker 2: I was. But I applied for it as a student.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, yes, I have this five hundred
Speaker 2: dollar card, and at the time that was like a
Speaker 2: lot of money for me. So I just never went
Speaker 2: over and I paid it off and then over time
Speaker 2: you built your.
Speaker 5: Credit score back to funding for a seconds. What's the
Speaker 5: maximum amount of money that can be loaned for a
Speaker 5: small business?
Speaker 2: There is there's no mak, no max. Okay, there's no max.
Speaker 2: There's different levels. So they have different programs for like
Speaker 2: depending on how much business you do, but they have
Speaker 2: smaller loans. It's more what's the minimum? I think that's
Speaker 2: the question. Like it's more like can I go for
Speaker 2: five thousand dollars? Can I go for ten? And so
Speaker 2: what it is is you can go and make a
Speaker 2: relationship with your bank, go and talk to someone there
Speaker 2: and start to ask these questions and they will actually
Speaker 2: also coach you through it to help you get ready.
Speaker 2: And it's all that's all free too.
Speaker 4: So I want to ask you one more question. The
Speaker 4: chamber of commerce you work with chame more commerce?
Speaker 2: Right? I did I work for? After this nonprofit? I
Speaker 2: work for an Asian Chamber of Commerce?
Speaker 4: So what is the chain of I could? I always
Speaker 4: hear chain of commerce here in this city, and there's
Speaker 4: different groups to have chain Like what is it? What
Speaker 4: is it? What does that mean? Like? What is a
Speaker 4: chain of commerce?
Speaker 2: What do you do So a chamber of commerce takes
Speaker 2: Businesses can sign up to join as a member, and
Speaker 2: you basically are members with other people, and then you
Speaker 2: can network with these people, meet them, maybe do business
Speaker 2: with them. You can go to their different events and
Speaker 2: learn from them, and it's basically an association, so you're
Speaker 2: not solo on your own. Like if you start a
Speaker 2: business and you're like, I don't know anybody. Where can
Speaker 2: I meet somebody or where can I learn from other people?
Speaker 2: And even though they're your peer group, like they're the
Speaker 2: same as you, they might have a tip that you
Speaker 2: don't know. So by going and hanging out with these people,
Speaker 2: you're also kind of raising the bar on yourself because
Speaker 2: you're learning from other people who might be struggling the
Speaker 2: same way but might have a tip for you. They
Speaker 2: might know something about a program, or they might actually
Speaker 2: introduce you to some business, and so by being around
Speaker 2: other people like that, you're just going to raise your
Speaker 2: chances of doing better.
Speaker 4: Okay, So a chain of commerce is not a government institution.
Speaker 2: It's not it's by the city. And then there are
Speaker 2: these offshoots like the one I work for, that are
Speaker 2: for the community. So there are nonprofit ones and they're
Speaker 2: all really like geographic base.
Speaker 3: Most of the time, anyone can can visit the chamber.
Speaker 2: Of commerce, you can join, there's usually a you to join,
Speaker 2: so that's the only kind of thing that you have
Speaker 2: to sign up for, right, cool.
Speaker 4: Cool, So yeah, that was some good information. So now
Speaker 4: we're going to go into the second segment. We're going
Speaker 4: to talk about different programs to hire small businesses. So
Speaker 4: the first thing you have to do is educate yourself
Speaker 4: to actually start a business. But once you start a business,
Speaker 4: was educating us that there's a lot of initiatives and
Speaker 4: programs and even stipulations a lot of times big corporations
Speaker 4: have to put in place to bring small business owners on.
Speaker 4: So yeah, we're going to go into that segment next.
Speaker 4: All right, So in the second segment, we're going to
Speaker 4: talk about supplier diversity, right and so, well, a lot
Speaker 4: of times people don't realize is that there are programs
Speaker 4: in place and some stipulations a lot of times in
Speaker 4: place that a big corporation or a government agency they
Speaker 4: have to use a portion of their budget for minority businesses. Right,
Speaker 4: So all right, can we go into.
Speaker 2: That, Let's do it all right?
Speaker 4: All right? So, so all right, So what's the deal
Speaker 4: with that.
Speaker 5: Before we go to the kid. Can we define what
Speaker 5: a minority is? Well, that might be important to know first.
Speaker 4: Right, Well, oh yeah, can we do that.
Speaker 2: We can do that, so tie together your question and
Speaker 2: your question. There are programs out there where companies have
Speaker 2: to do business with people who are underserved. And so
Speaker 2: the minority category is basically people of color, So it
Speaker 2: could be someone who's Black, Asian, Latino. That is the
Speaker 2: minority community. The Native community has their own as well,
Speaker 2: but they're also a minority. You also have veterans have
Speaker 2: their own categories. So if we have folks here who
Speaker 2: are veterans who have served our country, that's another category,
Speaker 2: and women is another category. So you can belong to
Speaker 2: more than one category and actually try to go for
Speaker 2: a business in each of these categories. But basically, if
Speaker 2: you're a person of color, you can go for the
Speaker 2: minority category. If you're a man or woman, whatever you are.
Speaker 4: So can you walk me through and we can go
Speaker 4: through LA. Like, since we're in LA. If I have
Speaker 4: an HVAC company in Los Angeles, I'm African American mail.
Speaker 4: Yeah right, all right, what do I do?
Speaker 2: So let's say you're doing pretty good. Like you you're
Speaker 2: you got your business going your you've got customers, like
Speaker 2: you've got to be at the point where you're you're operating,
Speaker 2: you're doing not bad for yourself, you've got your financials.
Speaker 2: Then you can start to go kind of for the
Speaker 2: big guns, like you can go for corporations. And corporations
Speaker 2: are buying stuff all the time. They're buying light bulbs
Speaker 2: or buying paper, they're buying, you know, things like that,
Speaker 2: and they're looking for vendors that are minorities, that are
Speaker 2: from these categories. And in California specifically, the utilities here
Speaker 2: have a general order that mandates basically, it makes it
Speaker 2: required that phone companies, the water companies, all these utility
Speaker 2: companies they have to do business with minorities have to
Speaker 2: have to have to is a law. Okay, so that's
Speaker 2: set aside. So at least fifteen percent of anything that
Speaker 2: they buy, any people they hire have to be minorities.
Speaker 2: So if you think about that, it's set aside for us.
Speaker 2: So how do we get it right? So that's the
Speaker 2: next question. So you have to get certified to show
Speaker 2: that you're a minority, and you have to prove it
Speaker 2: by going through different agencies that give you the certification.
Speaker 2: You fill out some forms, you show your financials, and
Speaker 2: then after some time you pay, like you pay a
Speaker 2: fee to do that, and then after some time you
Speaker 2: get the certification. And after that you can start to
Speaker 2: try to pitch your business to these corporations and you
Speaker 2: get in this special category where you can try to
Speaker 2: get that money.
Speaker 4: So in New York, I think it's called MWBE Minority
Speaker 4: Women Business Enterprise.
Speaker 2: You got it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And in order to be certified in New York,
Speaker 4: your business has to be i think in place for
Speaker 4: two years, and it's a long list of different things
Speaker 4: that you have to provide profit and law statements. You
Speaker 4: have to all kinds of stuff like corporation letter, and
Speaker 4: it's a very long list. I know because I've done it.
Speaker 4: So is it the same in Los Angeles?
Speaker 2: It's the same across the country.
Speaker 4: It's the same.
Speaker 2: They have the national they have a national certification organization
Speaker 2: that does this and MSDC, and then every region has
Speaker 2: their local version that helps give information about it. So
Speaker 2: it's the same across the country, okay for everybody. So
Speaker 2: what you just described is completely accurate, and it's the
Speaker 2: same across the country.
Speaker 4: Okay, that's good to know. I didn't know that, all right,
Speaker 4: So okay, so and then correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 4: Fifty one percent of the ownership has to be on
Speaker 4: because you can have a white partner, right.
Speaker 2: Right, You can have a white partner, but that you
Speaker 2: got to own more than them, So you got to
Speaker 2: own fifty fifty. So you can't be that's the thing.
Speaker 4: You can't be messing.
Speaker 2: Around and you can't be fake. And why did they
Speaker 2: do this is because white folks were taking advantage and
Speaker 2: so they're like, look, we need to make this a certification.
Speaker 2: It needs to be proof on paper that this is
Speaker 2: minority own Okay, because that's what this is about. This
Speaker 2: is not about some fake thing that you know, you're
Speaker 2: the face of it. No, this is to make things
Speaker 2: right for underrepresented individuals and communities that have not been served.
Speaker 2: And that's what this is for. To make it right.
Speaker 3: You said the process takes two years to No, you
Speaker 3: have to.
Speaker 2: Be in business for two years. You have to take
Speaker 2: like a few months. It's more how much paperwork you
Speaker 2: have in order. That's what takes time. Like you have
Speaker 2: to get your stuff together, you have to get your
Speaker 2: paperwork together. That's what I do. I help businesses get
Speaker 2: it together. And I do like consulting about that because
Speaker 2: sometimes they can be overwhelming. So so it's really important
Speaker 2: to try to just have your books in order and
Speaker 2: your paperwork together to try to get that ready. But
Speaker 2: after that, it just it doesn't take that long.
Speaker 4: So working in LA, how long you've been working.
Speaker 2: In LA fifteen years?
Speaker 4: So how many people that have businesses are aware of that?
Speaker 4: Of the program?
Speaker 2: There is more that they don't know about it, right
Speaker 2: or some people are like, I don't need that. I'm good,
Speaker 2: Like I'm fine with how I am. But the thing is,
Speaker 2: if you can go and get more, why don't you
Speaker 2: go and get more? Like if you can do business
Speaker 2: with major companies like brandnames I'm talking like Toyota or Honda,
Speaker 2: or Boeing or North of Grumman or any brand name
Speaker 2: that you know has a version of this, why wouldn't
Speaker 2: you go and try? Because they're looking for us, they're
Speaker 2: looking for women, they're looking for minorities to do business with.
Speaker 2: It's set aside. They have people in those companies that
Speaker 2: are their whole job is to go find minority businesses.
Speaker 2: Can you believe that? Yes, that's the whole that's the
Speaker 2: that's their whole job.
Speaker 4: So am I not to do it? A minority is
Speaker 4: pretty much anybody that's not white, right, that's rights.
Speaker 2: To say that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, and obviously a woman, any woman. It can
Speaker 4: be a white woman.
Speaker 2: It can be a white woman, yeah, or a black woman.
Speaker 4: Do you have do you know like percentage wise, like
Speaker 4: who benefits the most from these programs?
Speaker 2: You know, that's a good question. What I've seen for
Speaker 2: the minority category. I feel like, you know, it depends
Speaker 2: on the industry. So certain industries have more, right, So
Speaker 2: I don't want to stereotype, but that's what you see.
Speaker 2: So what you see on the world, what people are
Speaker 2: doing that it reflects back into this.
Speaker 5: In your fifteen years in this service, right, what's the
Speaker 5: largest amount you've seen allocated to a business millions?
Speaker 3: Millions?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Well yeah, no, like they start small, you start small,
Speaker 2: but then it multiplies. It's this multiplier effect, and then
Speaker 2: they get a bigger contract, and then they go bigger
Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden they're like running the
Speaker 2: whole thing or they're going like to different regions, right,
Speaker 2: and then after that it's guy's a limit because what
Speaker 2: happens is the folks that are in these corporations, they're like, yo, yo, yo,
Speaker 2: this person's good. You need some here, I'll refer you.
Speaker 2: So then they cross refer across the corporation. So then
Speaker 2: it's the same guy or the same woman or the
Speaker 2: same person getting more and more and more because they're trusted,
Speaker 2: they're known, they're like celebrated, and then all of a
Speaker 2: sudden they're killing it. So all I'm saying is like,
Speaker 2: why don't we get more people in that pipeline.
Speaker 4: Let me ask you this because a lot of times
Speaker 4: in our communities we pick businesses that aren't scalable. What
Speaker 4: I mean by that is go ahead, run them down,
Speaker 4: shohny arrest. Even though all of these businesses can be scalable,
Speaker 4: but for the most part, they're not. They're local mom
Speaker 4: and pop restaurants, barbershops, sneaker stores, stuff like that. Right,
Speaker 4: So these aren't type of businesses. Maybe a restaurant you
Speaker 4: can cater, but these aren't the type of businesses that
Speaker 4: are going to get these these dollars from these corporate companies. Right.
Speaker 4: So from being in the industry that's right for a
Speaker 4: long time, what are the most appealing businesses that can
Speaker 4: get money from large corporate Like what are they looking for?
Speaker 2: It's really everything. You walk through an office, what do
Speaker 2: you see? You see chairs, do you see paper, you
Speaker 2: see light bulbs. They're buying everything it could be. There
Speaker 2: was when I saw recently it was for hand loation.
Speaker 2: I'm not kidding. So there they bid it out. And
Speaker 2: the thing is they have to put it out to
Speaker 2: a bid to try to find minorities. If they don't
Speaker 2: get it, who gets it? The white folks. So if
Speaker 2: they don't find someone, if someone's not in that spot,
Speaker 2: it's going to go to somebody. So why not have
Speaker 2: our people there? Why not have our people in that pipeline? Right?
Speaker 4: So businesses like h FAG like construction.
Speaker 2: A big one. They can't find construction.
Speaker 4: Construction huge, construction is huge. It's not easy to start
Speaker 4: a construction, not easy.
Speaker 2: And a guy doing past control like you can think.
Speaker 3: Of control is huge, controls huge.
Speaker 4: H fact is it's pretty big business too though, because
Speaker 4: everybody needs a fact on a certain level, you need it.
Speaker 5: Then somebody reach out to us about pest control and
Speaker 5: they were like, they're running this huge business doing it
Speaker 5: and nobody knows about it's something that we definitely want
Speaker 5: to want.
Speaker 4: To talk about it. But I'm just I say that
Speaker 4: to say a lot of times we just have to
Speaker 4: think outside of the box and think different ways. Scalable
Speaker 4: business model, Yeah, because a lot of times, like I said,
Speaker 4: you start a business, if it's not scalable, you're only
Speaker 4: going to go so far right in your neighborhood. Right,
Speaker 4: And even if there's money allocated from corporations, they can't.
Speaker 2: It's not a fit.
Speaker 4: It's not going to do it.
Speaker 2: It's not it's not going to do anything right.
Speaker 4: So all right, you got certified. How do you find these?
Speaker 4: Is it like a database inside of the website to say, okay,
Speaker 4: HBO is looking for construction, Like how do they work?
Speaker 2: So every company has their own portals sometimes where you
Speaker 2: have to go and apply in there, and that's the
Speaker 2: biggest barrier because people have to go in each one
Speaker 2: and then apply, right, but they are the certifying organization.
Speaker 2: They also have a directory. So NMSDC has a directory
Speaker 2: of suppliers and if you can keep that directory entry
Speaker 2: up to date, people will come find you. So that's
Speaker 2: another way where you get tapped. And so I've done
Speaker 2: something where I've done some business with a university, and
Speaker 2: I filled out their database and now I'm in their database.
Speaker 2: So if they ever need somebody, they can tap it
Speaker 2: again like they know that they can find it because
Speaker 2: I'm in there. So once you're in, it's great and
Speaker 2: it can work two ways. You can try to pitch
Speaker 2: yourself or.
Speaker 5: This episode is brought to you by P and C Bank.
Speaker 5: A lot of people think podcasts about work are boring,
Speaker 5: and sure they definitely can be, but understanding a professionals
Speaker 5: routine shows us how they achieve their success little by little,
Speaker 5: day after day. It's like banking with P and C Bank.
Speaker 5: It might seem boring to safe plan and make calculated
Speaker 5: decisions with your bank, but keeping your money boring is
Speaker 5: what helps you live or more happy, fulfilled life. P
Speaker 5: and C Bank Brilliantly Boring since eighteen sixty five. Brilliantly
Speaker 5: Boring since eighteen sixty five is a service mark of
Speaker 5: the PNC Financial Service Group, Inc. P and C Bank
Speaker 5: National Association Member FDIIC.
Speaker 3: Earners. What's up?
Speaker 5: You ever walk into a small business and everything just
Speaker 5: works like, the checkout is fast, the receipts are digital.
Speaker 5: Tipping is a breeze and you're out the door before
Speaker 5: the line even builds odds are they're using Square. We
Speaker 5: love supporting businesses that run on Square because it just
Speaker 5: feels seamless.
Speaker 3: Whether it's a local coffee.
Speaker 5: Shop, a vendor at a pop up market, or even
Speaker 5: one of our merch partners, Square makes it easy for
Speaker 5: them to take payments, manage inventory, and run their business
Speaker 5: with confidence, all from one simple system. If you're a
Speaker 5: business owner or even just thinking about launching something soon,
Speaker 5: Square is hands down one of the best tools out
Speaker 5: there to help you start, run and grow. It's not
Speaker 5: just about payments, it's about giving you time back so
Speaker 5: you can focus on.
Speaker 3: What matters most ready.
Speaker 5: To see how Square can transform your business, visit Square
Speaker 5: dot com backslash go backslash eyl to learn more that
Speaker 5: Square dot com backslash, go backslash eyl. Don't wait, don't hesitate.
Speaker 5: Let's Square handle the back end so you can keep
Speaker 5: pushing your vision forward.
Speaker 1: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from El Salvador
Speaker 1: accused of murdering a Texas. Man of Venezuelan charged with
Speaker 1: filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just
Speaker 1: some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President
Speaker 1: Donald J. Trump's leadership. I'm Christy Nohm, the United States
Speaker 1: Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted illegal border
Speaker 1: crossings are at the lowest levels ever recorded, and over
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand illegal aliens have been arrested. If you
Speaker 1: are here illegally, your next you will be fine nearly
Speaker 1: one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned and deported, you will
Speaker 1: never return. But if you register using our CBP home
Speaker 1: app and leave now, you could be allowed to return legally.
Speaker 1: Do what's right.
Speaker 2: Leave now.
Speaker 1: Under President Trump, America's laws, border and families will.
Speaker 5: Be protected sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security.
Speaker 2: You can also be tapped for that. And then on
Speaker 2: top of that, these nonprofits like the Chambers and stuff,
Speaker 2: they do networking events for the supplier diversity. So to
Speaker 2: tie it all together back to the beginning, we're talking
Speaker 2: about all the different nonprofits that do programs. Another program
Speaker 2: is matchmaking, So they have these matchmaking fairs, matchmaking events
Speaker 2: where you roll up with your business cards. They have
Speaker 2: all the companies lined up. They have sessions for education.
Speaker 2: They have booths where all the companies are there waiting
Speaker 2: to meet you, and you can go shake hands and
Speaker 2: meet them and it's all free.
Speaker 4: What's the name it is, it's all.
Speaker 2: Front it's all supplier diversity, So supplier diversity match making events,
Speaker 2: that's what it's called. So they're they're they're ready, they're
Speaker 2: wanting to meet you. All you got to do is
Speaker 2: be ready with your stuff, like if you have a
Speaker 2: one pager which is like a one page business sheet
Speaker 2: on what your business is in your business card, and
Speaker 2: you get ready to make a good impression.
Speaker 3: So it's like a high level job fear almost.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a matchmaking it's like it's like you know,
Speaker 2: speed dating. Yeah, and and they're there to help you.
Speaker 2: And even if you're not ready at that point, you
Speaker 2: will if you make a good impression, that'll keep you
Speaker 2: in mind. And then they nominate you for programs. So
Speaker 2: there are these programs where you get put in Academy
Speaker 2: for for entrepreneurs. Macy's had an academy for entrepreneurs. A
Speaker 2: friend of mine went through Macy's Academy for Entrepreneurs. She
Speaker 2: Latino woman latina' black and she got put through Macy's Academy.
Speaker 2: Or there's another one, Goldman Sachs. It's called ten Thousand
Speaker 2: Small Businesses, and you can go and you learn souped
Speaker 2: up financial education. So once you're past the financial literacy,
Speaker 2: you know, the foundational stuff, they teach you the next level.
Speaker 2: And if the company likes you, even though you haven't
Speaker 2: done business with them yet, they'll put you through that
Speaker 2: program to get you ready to do business with them.
Speaker 2: It's all to help.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the Goldman program is good. I actually know a
Speaker 4: few people that went through that. It's like a college
Speaker 4: course pretty much, and they teach you high level business
Speaker 4: planning and how to you know, succeed a lot of
Speaker 4: times most businesses fail because of lack of education and planning.
Speaker 2: Lack of planning right, right, but like.
Speaker 4: They don't really know, they don't understand business. They might
Speaker 4: be passionate about what they do. Like if you're a
Speaker 4: restaurant owner, you might be a great chef, but if
Speaker 4: you don't understand payroll and you don't understand like what's
Speaker 4: the good time to open your restaurantf you don't understand
Speaker 4: the basic business principles, you're going to fail. Right, So
Speaker 4: this is what the podcast is about. But also it's
Speaker 4: important for people to seek resources outside of the podcast,
Speaker 4: So it's great information I should provide. And so one
Speaker 4: of the questions that I have was the bid you had.
Speaker 4: You said something about like the corporations they bid, right,
Speaker 4: what's the bid process?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so when they're looking for something, that's called a
Speaker 2: request for proposals or they are looking for a bid.
Speaker 2: So a bid is like it's like an auction, like
Speaker 2: I bid this, Like they're looking for you to bid
Speaker 2: your services. So you would go and say, I have
Speaker 2: this product and here's what my cost is. If you
Speaker 2: want to hire me for my product or my service,
Speaker 2: and I'm going to put my name in the hat
Speaker 2: to try to get that money or that contract and
Speaker 2: they'll review it. And if it's between you and someone
Speaker 2: else and you have minority certification, you will get it
Speaker 2: because they need those numbers, they need to fulfill this
Speaker 2: quota that they have, so it's worth it to get
Speaker 2: the certification. If you like, no, no, no, I'm good,
Speaker 2: Like I can get it on my own, Like sure,
Speaker 2: you can go and get it on your own, but
Speaker 2: if it's between you and someone else who has a certification,
Speaker 2: they're going to get it, so you might as well
Speaker 2: go and get it.
Speaker 3: Where do these bids take place and how often do
Speaker 3: they occur?
Speaker 2: So if you aren't in a good relationship with the company,
Speaker 2: they will actually contact you and let you know when
Speaker 2: it's coming. So that's one way. That's like the whole
Speaker 2: relationship thing, like everything in the world. If you know someone,
Speaker 2: you're gonna find out. So that's one thing. The other
Speaker 2: one is these fares. They tell you when they're upcoming bids.
Speaker 2: So at those booths I was just talking about, they'll
Speaker 2: handout papers and say we have this stuff coming up.
Speaker 2: It's not out yet, but it will be. And then
Speaker 2: another thing is they might have an online portal where
Speaker 2: they have, you know, information that they share. So if
Speaker 2: you're in the category of that service, like I do
Speaker 2: training consulting, so I'm on these directories, so I will
Speaker 2: get an email that says, hey, we've got a bid
Speaker 2: out for these services, and it'll say what services, and
Speaker 2: I can decide if I want to apply for or not.
Speaker 2: So those are a few ways that you can find out.
Speaker 2: And then the nonprofits also get contacted like yo, like
Speaker 2: we need someone now, like we need this person, so
Speaker 2: that happened with my friend with pest control where they're like, yo,
Speaker 2: like we need a pest control company. So I sent
Speaker 2: my client out and he got to do a walk
Speaker 2: through this like major venue here in LA And I'm
Speaker 2: so proud of this Filipido guy and he's walking with
Speaker 2: all these like major companies and he had a shot
Speaker 2: right It's because he knew me through a nonprofit that
Speaker 2: wasn't out on some internet website. That was because someone
Speaker 2: like emailed me and was like, hey, look, you know anyone.
Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, I know someone else, send him right now.
Speaker 2: So it's it's all all of the different ways.
Speaker 4: So does the lowest bidder always get the job or no.
Speaker 2: It's a few things. They want to trust you, they
Speaker 2: want to see your track record. They also want to
Speaker 2: see your potential, and they will give it a shot
Speaker 2: if they think that like you'll do good.
Speaker 4: The great thing about this whole situation is that I
Speaker 4: actually went through this before, so I could speak on
Speaker 4: the first hand and sometimes, like literally you could just
Speaker 4: fall into money. Because so there was a school that
Speaker 4: I was working with as an independent contractor and they
Speaker 4: had a program called My Brother's Keeper Initiative. President Obama.
Speaker 4: Anybody's not familiar. President Obama put together a program called
Speaker 4: My Brother's Keeper and it was to give money to
Speaker 4: school districts and other type of community. Oh so you sure.
Speaker 4: It was for them to bring in outside resources to
Speaker 4: add to their curriculum. So they got a budget and
Speaker 4: they had to fulfill the first twenty percent of that
Speaker 4: with minority women business enterprise thing, and they couldn't They
Speaker 4: couldn't do anything else until they filled that. The problem
Speaker 4: with it is that they didn't have they they didn't
Speaker 4: have the didn't know they were doing. So literally, if
Speaker 4: in that situation, if you you could have just stumbled
Speaker 4: and got paid because they were looking for and what
Speaker 4: they were looking for was like anything that they can
Speaker 4: bring into their school district. So I think they had
Speaker 4: a program for like video gaming. It was complete nonsense.
Speaker 4: But the whole thing about it is it.
Speaker 3: Was grossly mismanaged.
Speaker 4: Yeahs manage. Yeah it was, Yeah, it was terribly But
Speaker 4: the thing about it was, to their credit, they didn't
Speaker 4: really have too many options and then they had to
Speaker 4: really do it in like a three month window. Like
Speaker 4: you said, it's just sometimes like.
Speaker 2: Damn, we need this now, and then they they're like, well,
Speaker 2: like anyone know anybody, so they start like hunting for it.
Speaker 4: No, you could have had any program, anything that you had.
Speaker 4: I could have pitched it to the school district and
Speaker 4: you could have got a nice check for that. Because
Speaker 4: they had they had they had right time, right, they
Speaker 4: had to use the money. They had to use the money.
Speaker 4: It was over six figures six six six figures yep,
Speaker 4: they had to use it and one year spent and
Speaker 4: they only had like thirty days to implement their first program,
Speaker 4: their first phase of it. So you could have just
Speaker 4: walked into probably like twenty thousand dollars just by accident.
Speaker 2: So that's the thing you're talking about. It's time because
Speaker 2: every year these companies have a goal, they have a
Speaker 2: quota they have to hit, and so they're running up
Speaker 2: against the clock where they have to they have to
Speaker 2: they have got to find it. Do you see what
Speaker 2: I'm saying? Right, So it's like make it easy for them.
Speaker 2: Get yourself ready, like get know them and then and
Speaker 2: help them find you.
Speaker 5: That's the first thing we said when we met each
Speaker 5: other today. It was like you ready to get ready? Right?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: You ready? And were they ready? So you don't have
Speaker 2: to get ready, that's a.
Speaker 4: Fact, right, And you were saying that they have like
Speaker 4: like parties, graduation and stuff like that, like for these so.
Speaker 2: They have gala lunches, like they're basically celebrations and awards ceremonies.
Speaker 2: So once you're doing good and you get recognized, they
Speaker 2: will actually honor you at an awards ceremony as a
Speaker 2: proud minority business, which is amazing. So not only are
Speaker 2: you getting paid, you got the contract, but now you're
Speaker 2: getting an award. And what happens when you get an
Speaker 2: award other people see you in the room, and then
Speaker 2: the other companies like, yeah, oh we'll get him too,
Speaker 2: and then you get more because you're trusted and like
Speaker 2: oh they got an award, Okay, I'm gonna trust them.
Speaker 2: So then you get more. So it's it just multiplies
Speaker 2: and amplifies, and so the trajectory is like amazing, Like
Speaker 2: there's so much opportunity here. And I was inspired. I've
Speaker 2: been a lot of these. It is because of part
Speaker 2: of the nonprofit. So I got invited as a community
Speaker 2: member and I was inspired. And these people are making
Speaker 2: bank like like they're small businesses, and then the medium
Speaker 2: and then that they're the ones doing millions.
Speaker 4: You got to be a diplomat in this world, especially
Speaker 4: in business. A lot of times people have different views,
Speaker 4: especially entrepreneurs, like they don't really want any help. A
Speaker 4: lot of time anyone through things themselves. And I respect that.
Speaker 4: But but if there are ways to actually accelerate your
Speaker 4: business and to get money, and like I said, I've
Speaker 4: seen it firsthand where you can literally stumble into money,
Speaker 4: you have to really ask yourself is it beneficial to
Speaker 4: fight against a wave or to surf serve it? Because
Speaker 4: they're already they're gonna use somebody regardless.
Speaker 2: That's the thing.
Speaker 3: The money's going after it could be you or can
Speaker 3: that be you?
Speaker 2: Right? Might as well make it go and take it right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And like you said, I had a quick question
Speaker 5: about so when you have clients, right, you do the
Speaker 5: coaching part and more clients you get, are you compensated
Speaker 5: each time they get a new too or is it
Speaker 5: just the once they find it?
Speaker 6: Do?
Speaker 3: How's that work for you?
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 2: I do also coaching just to get people started, so
Speaker 2: it's an hourly rate. I do group coaching as well.
Speaker 2: So if people you just want to learn more, that's
Speaker 2: the thing. And then after that also to help them out,
Speaker 2: like we can work it out whatever works for people.
Speaker 2: I also am, I'm like, I want to give back,
Speaker 2: So I don't want anyone to be like I don't
Speaker 2: know what to do, or you know, like I will help.
Speaker 2: So there's educational resources, there's ways that they can you know,
Speaker 2: find out more.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I can do that for sure. So that leads
Speaker 4: us into our last segment, which we're going to talk
Speaker 4: about business coaching, right, So, yes, that's what we're going
Speaker 4: to next. All right, So in the last segment, we're
Speaker 4: gonna we're gonna keep it in the world the business,
Speaker 4: but a little different conversation because a lot of times
Speaker 4: when we tried to releases highlight every area of entrepreneurship
Speaker 4: and business ship and just business owners and just everything.
Speaker 4: So being a business coach not something that we've actually
Speaker 4: covered so far, so I think this would be a
Speaker 4: good way to cover it. So you're a business coach, right,
Speaker 4: that's right? Okay, So what does it mean? Because I've
Speaker 4: heard this term before and I'm still not exactly sure
Speaker 4: what a business coach does. So what does it mean
Speaker 4: to be a business coach?
Speaker 2: So what I do is I help people who are stuck.
Speaker 2: They have an idea and they don't know where to
Speaker 2: go with it, or maybe they're at a certain point
Speaker 2: and they can't get past it. And so what I
Speaker 2: can do is help with that, to help give strategies, tools, resources,
Speaker 2: and put them in touch with people or even you know,
Speaker 2: give them some ideas on their business plan to help
Speaker 2: them along. So it's like a consultant is a consult right.
Speaker 2: But the thing with coaching is like sometimes it's a
Speaker 2: personal block, Like maybe you're stuck in your head about
Speaker 2: something and you need like you know, life coaching, or
Speaker 2: you need, you know, a pep talk before you go
Speaker 2: into that meeting where you're going to do a bid
Speaker 2: like what we're talking about. So sometimes you need a coach.
Speaker 2: This is like sports coach, like you need someone to
Speaker 2: tack you through like the play right. So if you're
Speaker 2: on the floor right and you're like, okay, there's three
Speaker 2: minutes left on the clock, what are you going to do?
Speaker 2: Like the coach will know what to do because you're
Speaker 2: in the game. You're playing. You're like, yo, like I
Speaker 2: don't know what to do. So it's like do I
Speaker 2: shoot it? I passed? What do I do? So the
Speaker 2: coach is going to help you through that. That's what's
Speaker 2: gonna happen.
Speaker 3: That's a pretty good analogy. So are you day to
Speaker 3: day with the clients or are you meeting weekly? How
Speaker 3: does that work?
Speaker 2: Usually it's like every couple of weeks we do a
Speaker 2: check in or a month. Some people stretch it out
Speaker 2: where they're like, I'm good, Like we can talk in
Speaker 2: a month. It's a package. So you can do a
Speaker 2: series with me, and then after that, you know, you
Speaker 2: can go from there. I also have group coaching sessions
Speaker 2: so people can join those, so that's more affordable with them. Well,
Speaker 2: we don't have our culturally competent coaches. We don't have
Speaker 2: people that know how to talk our language, like yo,
Speaker 2: like I got you know, my grandma at home, she's sick.
Speaker 2: Like people are just looking at your profit and loss statement.
Speaker 2: They don't know all this other stuff. So what I
Speaker 2: do is I incorporate the cultural knowledge and respect in
Speaker 2: that and talk the language that you know, and also
Speaker 2: incorporate that into your plan because you can't just make
Speaker 2: a plan without thinking about your family. You can't just
Speaker 2: make a plan without you know, thinking about how you
Speaker 2: do business because you're not going to compromise your culture.
Speaker 2: You're not going to compromise yourself ethically because you're not
Speaker 2: going to survive. If you're someone else through all of this,
Speaker 2: then you're not going to survive because that's only going
Speaker 2: to last like a flash in the pan, and then
Speaker 2: you're done, or even worse, you're going to turn into
Speaker 2: someone that you can't look in the mirror and respect anymore.
Speaker 2: So what I do is I honor that in you,
Speaker 2: Like I'm like, what do you want to do? What
Speaker 2: do you want to do? Like in there, what do
Speaker 2: you want to do? Versus like what should I do?
Speaker 2: Or what the world's telling me to do or what
Speaker 2: my mom's telling me to do? You know. So that's
Speaker 2: what comes out of the coaching.
Speaker 4: Really not as powerful. It's honorable. A lot of people
Speaker 4: have compromised their culture, but it's a different conversation. So
Speaker 4: all right, so let's say I want to let's say
Speaker 4: I want to become a business coach. Right, Yeah, I'm
Speaker 4: tired of the podcast. I can't take it any more.
Speaker 4: I just want to just start coaching people in their business.
Speaker 4: How do I do that?
Speaker 2: Well, you got to be informed and figure out what
Speaker 2: it is that you know. So maybe you're a strategy person,
Speaker 2: like you know how to help people to like use
Speaker 2: the dynamics, Like you know how to how to operate
Speaker 2: within a company or operate like within an organization. That's
Speaker 2: your thing. Or maybe you're a really good like business
Speaker 2: plan person, like you're you know how to make the
Speaker 2: business plan. So you figure out what it is that
Speaker 2: you know and what you want to teach and how
Speaker 2: you teach, and that's what you go with. You go
Speaker 2: with what you know and what you're good at.
Speaker 4: How do you how do you market it? How do
Speaker 4: you personally?
Speaker 2: Me personally? It was all word of mouth, so people
Speaker 2: it gone on the street like, oh here, you want
Speaker 2: to know someone here, talk to her, and so it
Speaker 2: was word of mouth referral. The best thing out there
Speaker 2: is your name and your brand. That's the best thing
Speaker 2: out there. You got to keep that clean and shiny
Speaker 2: and true. And once you have that, you're good because
Speaker 2: people will know good people, attractive people. Right, look at
Speaker 2: how we all met.
Speaker 3: It just happens story, so.
Speaker 2: You kind of manifest it. Like if you've heard of
Speaker 2: this book, it's called The Secret. The secret is like
Speaker 2: how do you have people have things come to you?
Speaker 2: And there's a dude right, and he's like, look, I
Speaker 2: want to make a million dollars, so I'm going to
Speaker 2: write a check and put it on my ceiling. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna stare at that thing every day. So that was
Speaker 2: what he manifested. He manifested it, and that's what you
Speaker 2: can do with any of this stuff.
Speaker 4: So what's the pricing model?
Speaker 2: Like for coaching, I have a sliding scale so I
Speaker 2: can work with folks. So my corporate consulting rates are
Speaker 2: like three fifty an hour. But that's like if you're
Speaker 2: at the point where, look, I need it quick and
Speaker 2: I need I know exactly what I need, and you
Speaker 2: come and I'll give you that. If you want like
Speaker 2: group coaching, I can do you know, different rates for that.
Speaker 2: That's like a package. And then I do do like,
Speaker 2: you know, a sliding scale rate, so if you need
Speaker 2: to talk to me, it's like one hundred and fifty bucks.
Speaker 2: But the thing is just like, oh that's expensive. Okay,
Speaker 2: you want to waste your time, like you know, darting
Speaker 2: around doing the wrong thing. It's like, you you pay
Speaker 2: for quality out here, so invest in yourself. Don't buy
Speaker 2: those movie tickets for one night. You know what I'm saying. Like,
Speaker 2: don't buy that purse like you're in your leisure. We
Speaker 2: got to earn it. So put the put the money in,
Speaker 2: put the time and save the money, don't go out
Speaker 2: to eat, make that lunch right, and and invest in yourself.
Speaker 2: That's what people need to do.
Speaker 5: You know, is your coach in uh California base or
Speaker 5: do you?
Speaker 3: Because I notice that you you travel around.
Speaker 2: And speak about travel and speak a lot areas as well.
Speaker 2: Well that's all online so we can talk on zoom
Speaker 2: and it's like I'm in your living room, you know,
Speaker 2: like we can talk on video call and like you
Speaker 2: feel so close in that conversation. I do too that
Speaker 2: it's it's almost like we're in person. So that's the
Speaker 2: wonder and beauty of technology is that that can happen.
Speaker 4: So there's really no set standard for for pricing, like
Speaker 4: you could just you just it's like a psychologist, you
Speaker 4: just do whatever you want to do.
Speaker 2: Well you can, yeah, but it's like you all.
Speaker 4: In scale industry standard Like no, no.
Speaker 2: It's like I'm certified. So that's the thing. I have
Speaker 2: financial certification. I'm totally certified. I have National Development Council certification.
Speaker 2: I also have coaching certifications. So all of that is like,
Speaker 2: that's fine, that'll, you know, help your rate along. But
Speaker 2: if people like you, you'll pay. I knew dude I
Speaker 2: heard about he's like charging five thousand dollars for an hour,
Speaker 2: and it's like, are you for real? People who were
Speaker 2: buying that because he was good. So it's it's really
Speaker 2: up to you. I try to make it accessible though,
Speaker 2: So we.
Speaker 4: Had shout out to Alex. He was he's in a
Speaker 4: trucking industry and he said he charged ten thousand dollars
Speaker 4: and he had an eight month waiting list.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying, so you know, catch me now.
Speaker 5: So yes, the price is the price.
Speaker 2: Is going on, but I give a lap back. So
Speaker 2: I give in ways like I can tell when I
Speaker 2: can figure out a way for it to work. So
Speaker 2: you know, I might be in your neighborhood and I'll
Speaker 2: be doing a talk and maybe you can check it out.
Speaker 2: So if folks keep in touch with me on social
Speaker 2: or are on my email list, then you can find
Speaker 2: out when I'm doing the free things and then you
Speaker 2: can see me in person.
Speaker 4: So the best ways to kind of get your brand
Speaker 4: out there, to become a business coach is this is
Speaker 4: my personal opinion, right and correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 4: Social media, speaking engagements, any type of publicity that you
Speaker 4: can get, doing podcasts, writing articles, establishing your credibility as
Speaker 4: an expert in that particular field. Because this is the thing, right,
Speaker 4: You got to be a specialist. It's like going to
Speaker 4: a doctor. Now, I'm not going to a cardiologist to
Speaker 4: get my teeth fixed. Doesn't make sense, right, When you
Speaker 4: try to be a jack of all trade, you end
Speaker 4: up as a master of none. So you have to
Speaker 4: specialize in one particular area. So like the guy in
Speaker 4: the trucking industry, he specialized. He became the trucking guy.
Speaker 4: So now it's not unreasonable for him charge ten thousand
Speaker 4: dollars because he's established himself as a leader in the industry.
Speaker 4: Do you believe that that what I just said is correct?
Speaker 2: That's I do believe that. Yeah, So I agree with that.
Speaker 2: And I think for me, people know me because of
Speaker 2: what you just said, because I write and I speak
Speaker 2: and people see me. I'm at conferences all the time.
Speaker 2: And then you know, the corporations also call me, so
Speaker 2: I can call sometimes when something goes wrong and they
Speaker 2: can't call somebody else. And they'll bring me in and
Speaker 2: they won't tell anyone because they need it fixed. So
Speaker 2: I'm that person too. So I'm the person that can help,
Speaker 2: you know, find a solution a lot of time or
Speaker 2: strategy or way forward.
Speaker 5: And it's also important to know that, and you said
Speaker 5: this earlier off cameras that a lot of times you're
Speaker 5: doing this for free, like you're going to speak sometimes
Speaker 5: just for free to get your name out there. Yeah,
Speaker 5: that's important, right. You don't charge this amount when you start.
Speaker 3: You have to build that.
Speaker 2: I'm going to give back to So that's my ethic
Speaker 2: is like I've been there, I know, and parts of
Speaker 2: my family are still there actually a lot. So the
Speaker 2: thing is is like that's never going to go away.
Speaker 2: So what do we got to do? We got to
Speaker 2: help each other. And so you know, what they say
Speaker 2: is that you lift as you rise, You lift as
Speaker 2: you rise. If I'm rising, I'm gonna bring everybody along
Speaker 2: with me. And if you're rising, you bring everybody along
Speaker 2: with you. And if you do that and he does
Speaker 2: that and she does that, then we all grow, right,
Speaker 2: And that's what we want to do. We want to
Speaker 2: have everyone up there with us. We don't want to
Speaker 2: be alone. It's lonely there. I don't like to go
Speaker 2: into spaces where it's businesses and I'm the only woman
Speaker 2: of color. I don't like that. I want to see
Speaker 2: more people that look like me. I want to go
Speaker 2: up on stage and be like like everybody else. So
Speaker 2: I don't I don't want to do this by myself anymore.
Speaker 2: I need all of everybody.
Speaker 4: So how do you How do you convince small business owners,
Speaker 4: specifically small business owners that pain for education paying for
Speaker 4: a consultant is valuable because they always try a lot
Speaker 4: of times penny pinch. They want to pay anything. So
Speaker 4: how do you do it?
Speaker 2: It's two reasons, Okay. Number one is they figure out
Speaker 2: how to do it better, right, it's a strategy. The
Speaker 2: other one, number two is the motivation. If you're putting
Speaker 2: money down, you're going to go show up, okay. But
Speaker 2: if you're like it's free or this is not I
Speaker 2: don't know, Like you're not committed. So I'll talk to
Speaker 2: you next year when you're serious, because you're not serious
Speaker 2: right now. So it's a promise to yourself. You're making
Speaker 2: a promise to yourself, you're honoring yourself, you're putting yourself first.
Speaker 2: You're not putting that pair of shoes first. You're not
Speaker 2: putting you know that bet on the game first. Right,
Speaker 2: You're getting a guaranteed outcome out of this. And that's
Speaker 2: all I can say. I'm not saying it's going to
Speaker 2: end up like getting you whatever you need, like some
Speaker 2: kind of contract or whatever. But you're going to move forward.
Speaker 2: And that's the first step.
Speaker 4: You have to look at it like sports, like if
Speaker 4: you're Michael Jordan or Lebron James or whatever, they're not
Speaker 4: going in the gym by themselves. They have personal trainers.
Speaker 4: They also have massage therapists. They also have nutrition nutritionists,
Speaker 4: they have chefs and everything, right, and because they understand
Speaker 4: that like Lebron he said he invests a million dollars
Speaker 4: in his body every year. There's a reason why he's
Speaker 4: never really got hurt. He's putting that type of resources
Speaker 4: in it. He's obviously gonna be dedicated. You're not gonna
Speaker 4: spend a million dollars in and not be dedicated. But
Speaker 4: also these people are pushing him because you can only
Speaker 4: push yourself so far. It's like lifting weights, like that's
Speaker 4: why you need somebody to help you lift. If you're
Speaker 4: really gonna like try to max out right, It's like,
Speaker 4: you can only go so far by yourself. So I
Speaker 4: encourage everybody, no matter what industry you're in, to seek help,
Speaker 4: whether that's in the form of mentorship, whether that's in
Speaker 4: the form of a coach, whether that's in the form
Speaker 4: of just podcasts or you know, any type of information
Speaker 4: that you can receive. A lot of times people have
Speaker 4: the thing where they try to do everything themselves and
Speaker 4: you're only going to get so far by yourself. You
Speaker 4: need help, And there's nothing wrong with help. And I
Speaker 4: think a lot of times, you know, you have to
Speaker 4: look at people that have been extremely successful and they
Speaker 4: always have help in some capacity, and a lot of
Speaker 4: times they have a lot of help. So small business owners,
Speaker 4: unfortunately a lot of times they think small and the yes'.
Speaker 4: And so what you're saying is actually something that's extremely valuable.
Speaker 4: And I want people to actually fully understand the importance
Speaker 4: of it because I see it firsthand. I've seen it
Speaker 4: first hand. Even myself, I'll fall vic into it. Nobody's perfect.
Speaker 4: But you know, as you live and you learn and
Speaker 4: you become more humble, and that's the thing too. You
Speaker 4: have to be humble in order to seek criticism and
Speaker 4: also to seek help because a lot of times for coaching,
Speaker 4: it might not be something that you want to hear.
Speaker 2: That's a tough thing, but you've got to be ready
Speaker 2: to face it right right.
Speaker 4: Like, if I tell you that what you're doing is
Speaker 4: totally wrong and you've been doing it for ten years,
Speaker 4: it's like you you might not want to change that
Speaker 4: because nobody wants to admit that they're wrong. But if
Speaker 4: I know more than you, I'm trying to actually help you.
Speaker 4: So if you're humble enough to receive the information and
Speaker 4: you process it, then you could potentially blossom as a result.
Speaker 4: There it is, right there, go there, go, So how
Speaker 4: can people get in contact with you? Like, what's the
Speaker 4: social media handles? Where you have website? All that time?
Speaker 2: Right, I'm easy to find on social So my handle
Speaker 2: is at Farzana Niani so it's my first and last
Speaker 2: name together. I'm on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, I'm on LinkedIn
Speaker 2: as well. I have a website. My website is www
Speaker 2: dot or zanaiani dot com. A lot of resources up there.
Speaker 2: You can also follow me on all those social handles
Speaker 2: and see what I'm up to. You can follow my story,
Speaker 2: see my little words of wisdom that I have put
Speaker 2: up there all the time, and just check it out
Speaker 2: and be inspired yourself.
Speaker 4: For sure. One, thank you for coming, thank you for
Speaker 4: hosting us. And shout out to all the people in
Speaker 4: the Philippines as well. So I used to live in Hawaii,
Speaker 4: and if you did sort of, oh did you of Hawaii? Okay,
Speaker 4: I was on the Big Island.
Speaker 2: I went to school there for a couple of school
Speaker 2: You go to University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Speaker 4: Okay. I went to the University Hawaii a Heilo. So
Speaker 4: we have more com for sure. Mahallow, mahallo. So that's
Speaker 4: a boy.
Speaker 2: Yes, hello to everyone.
Speaker 4: I wear many ads, so yes, I say that to
Speaker 4: say there's a there's a very large Filipino population in Hawaii.
Speaker 4: So very good people actually went to the Philippines. Me
Speaker 4: and Jamal went to We went to the Philippines. So
Speaker 4: shouts all the good people at the Philippines. I have
Speaker 4: not been to Pakistan, but shout out to Pakistan. And
Speaker 4: both shouted good people with Pakistan and yeah that's a good. Yeah,
Speaker 4: that's the thing. Your leisure, We with everybody, with everybody,
Speaker 4: and the information.
Speaker 3: You're going to break out some tod, I was.
Speaker 4: The information is for the entire world, that's what that's
Speaker 4: what we We're not limiting ourselves to anybody. We want
Speaker 4: to of information to entire man cond all over the world.
Speaker 4: So thank you again for joining us. We appreciate it. Troy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we gotta give a shout out to Mike too. Right,
Speaker 3: he had a plane ride here to La.
Speaker 2: Dude, it was a cosmic meeting where we had four
Speaker 2: hours from Atlanta to La where we talked. We talked
Speaker 2: so much that the lady between us had to move
Speaker 2: because you're like, you all need to like get together.
Speaker 2: You're entrepreneurs.
Speaker 5: So he couldn't wait to tell us about the conversation meeting.
Speaker 5: So shout out to Mike and yes, thank you again.
Speaker 4: Shout out to Mike Man, the producer of the show.
Speaker 4: And he told us he was like, I just met
Speaker 4: this this lady on the plane and we got an
Speaker 4: interview with us.
Speaker 5: Say how he talks though, Yo, I just that this
Speaker 5: guy you got. We gotta have it.
Speaker 4: You gotta meet us, right man. If it goes wrong,
Speaker 4: it's on you.
Speaker 2: So yeah, then.
Speaker 4: Shout to Mike Man. We we put we put our
Speaker 4: faith in him him and I told him that he
Speaker 4: would get all the credit if they want, right and
Speaker 4: he would get all the blameing and going.
Speaker 2: So what's the verdict.
Speaker 3: He finish?
Speaker 4: I think you know he picked a He he made
Speaker 4: a good decision. So shout to Mike for sure. Yeah,
Speaker 4: Troy house keeping eye.
Speaker 3: And shout to everybody on Patreon dot com.
Speaker 5: Y'all know that's our proud to pay program. It is
Speaker 5: doing tremendously well. We have bonus content up there. Y'all
Speaker 5: notice five tiers. You can join that and we're gonna
Speaker 5: keep putting content and we have something special. I told
Speaker 5: you when we get to one hundred, we're gonna do
Speaker 5: something special for five of our patrons and we're about
Speaker 5: to release that very soon. And shout out to everybody
Speaker 5: who is buying the merch. You know, we put up
Speaker 5: the Full Fall with on Early dot com and shot
Speaker 5: he has on the crew neck, I'm wearing the hoodie.
Speaker 3: It is cold in New York and it is chilly
Speaker 3: at night in l A. It's chill. It's chilli at night.
Speaker 3: So yeah, that's why we have it on. Even though
Speaker 3: we are in l A.
Speaker 5: And we have some some some new merch chairs also
Speaker 5: going to be launched. We gave that out on on
Speaker 5: the episode with John Harry that Our Earners is going
Speaker 5: to be the name for our followers. So we're gonna
Speaker 5: have some merge that you know signifies that. So be
Speaker 5: on the lookout for that and keep supporting.
Speaker 4: Yeah, supporters, I like. I like the words supporters better
Speaker 4: than follow social media. I only like how they phrase
Speaker 4: that because you're not following us, you're supporting us and
Speaker 4: we appreciate you, and we're not. We're not treating you
Speaker 4: like a fan or follower. You're a supporter and we
Speaker 4: really love you. We love you and we appreciate you.
Speaker 4: We wouldn't be here without you. And the book tip
Speaker 4: for this week is by Ben Harwitz. If you're not
Speaker 4: may have been Hardwitz. He's a legendary VC investor, angel investor,
Speaker 4: and he's also very good friends with NAS. He's the
Speaker 4: one that actually encouraged NADS to get into the venture
Speaker 4: capital world. Anybody that follows NAS knows that he's huge
Speaker 4: right now in venture capital. So his book is What
Speaker 4: You Do Is Who You Are? So interesting read check
Speaker 4: it out and we'll see you guys next week.
Speaker 3: Peace, Peace, You gotta say peace, Peace.
Speaker 6: You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday.
Speaker 6: How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy?
Speaker 2: Just use Indeed.
Speaker 6: Stop struggling to get your job posts seen on other
Speaker 6: job sites. With Indeed sponsored jobs, your post jumps to
Speaker 6: the top of the page for your relevant candidates, so
Speaker 6: you can reach the people you want faster. According to
Speaker 6: Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed have forty
Speaker 6: five percent more applications than non sponsored jobs. Don't wait
Speaker 6: any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed,
Speaker 6: and listeners of this show will get a seventy five
Speaker 6: dollars sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility
Speaker 6: at indeed dot com slash pod katz thirteen. Just go
Speaker 6: to Indeed dot com slash pod katz thirteen right now
Speaker 6: and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed
Speaker 6: on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is
Speaker 6: all you need.