August 23, 2022 • 32 mins
Johnny Bailey is a social entrepreneur and marketing strategist with a passion for economic empowerment. A hall of fame high school athlete and graduate of Hampton University, he’s taken his pursuit of excellence into the world of business and technology.
He’s Washington DC’s ‘Grow with Google’ digital coach, founder of the ShineHard Foundation where the mission is to close the racial wealth gap, and a national speaker, trusted by the biggest companies on the planet.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Afro Tech is back in Austin, Texas. This November is
the place for all things black, tech and web three.
The in person afro Tech Conference experience is bridging the
worlds of afro technologists, innovators, investors, corporations, musicians, and everyone
in between. So pull up, grabb your crew and grabbing
tickets and join this at the largest black professional conference
(00:20):
of the year. This experienced the afro Tech dot Com.
I'm will Lucas Mrs Black Tech Free Money. I'm gonna
ensued you to some of the biggest names, some of
the brightest minds in brilliant ideas. I feel black in
building or simply using tech to secure your back. This
(00:43):
podcast is for you. Johnny Baby is a social entrepreneur
marketing strategies with the passion for economic empowerment. Hall of Fame,
high school athlete and graduate at Hampton University. You're taking
this pursuit of excellent into the world of business and technology.
He's to grow with Google, Digital coach for Washington, d C.
(01:05):
And founder of the Shine How Our Foundation, where the
mission is to close the racial wealth gap in the
national speaker Trusted by the biggest companies on the planet,
asked Johnny, at what point does the company have a
corporate responsibility to invest in embudding entrepreneurs in their startups. Well,
I think it definitely starts at the top down UM,
(01:27):
just from timing and resource. UM. You look at the apples,
the Amazon's, Google's, Microsoft's, I mean, they're generating over nine
billion dollars in revenue UM combined, and they're getting these
trillion dollar valuations, and you know, it's really at the
(01:48):
hands of the consumers that are that are using these
products hardware, software and UM. Also, these companies are employing
some of the bright minds of our generation. So with
with great power and responsibility. Well, great power comes with
great responsibility. So I think, UM, at the top, you
(02:12):
definitely should see these companies as we have during the
pandemic UM even more see companies doubling down on corporate
responsibility and and racial equity, etcetera. UM. But there's there's
there's not limitations around smaller companies doing this too. I
think smaller companies definitely lead with their why and they
(02:33):
lead with mission more than ever because UM, it can
be a competitive advantage in the marketplace when you're looking
for talent and you're trying to to uh kind of
uh penetrate new markets or game market share. Like having
a mission driven product or service or company can definitely
differentiate yourself and do good at the same time. So
(02:56):
you kind of touched on this a little bit and
from the respect of acquiring good talent, you know. But
so when companies like the Apples and Googles of the
world that you mentioned, when they go and invest in startups,
whether it be mentorship or etcetera, are they doing it
to potentially look for companies that could be you know,
acquired ultimately, Yeah, well, I think then the consumer, the
(03:20):
talent market is more informed. We're more intelligent than ever before. Um.
We see the great resignation is really highlighting the power
shifting to the people. And these companies are one doing
good because it's important to do so morally. But I
(03:42):
also think that competitively, employees care like, what are you
doing to help people who look like me? What are
you help doing to help make the world a better place?
Because ethically and morally, employees wanted to feel good when
they're at work, and they want to work for companies
that are doing the things that make them feel good
and make them feel Um. Like a contributor to the
(04:05):
greater good of humanity. Right if you're if you're working
for a company that's that's doing shady things and controversial,
then you know, it's reflection of your body of work
and it's on your resume. It's kind of a stain
at the same time. So people care and companies need
to care just as much. What does good corporate responsibility
look like from your perspective when you're talking about you know,
(04:26):
companies reaching back to help budding companies grow, What does
that look like in practice? Yeah, I mean, I think one,
UM creating funds, grant funding for small businesses, for startups
of color or startups and in various identity groups, UM
(04:49):
creating accelerator programs for business owners get the education that
they need to get the mentorship that they need to
lower the barriers to injury and access to investors, and
UM other accelerator programs, And so I think grant funding, accelerator.
UM obviously like credits benefits that UM credits that can
(05:15):
subsidize the cost of the service of these big tech companies. Uh.
I know a lot of you know, the Googles and
the Amazon will offer like add credits two businesses or
maybe an AWS will offer some type of like UM
cloud support, etcetera. So those things have huge values to
to startups who are bootstrapping and and super tight on funds.
(05:38):
I think being able to lean into what we have
and also hire good people to to facilitate these type
of initiatives is really the way that UM big companies
can can do corporate social responsibility correctly. And you mentioned
there is also an opportunity for smaller and medium science
companies to you know, have a hand in helping their counterparts,
(06:02):
other small and medium sized companies grow. What ideas, you know,
could a company who's doing let's say a million dollars
year or five hundred thousand dollars a year in that range,
let's say five hundred thousands to a couple of million
dollars a year, what ideas could they involve themselves with
that could help other companies who are trying to get
out of the kitchen per se, you know, to make
(06:22):
it happy. Yeah, that's a great question. I mean one
they can serve as mentors. All of these accelerators, the
tech stars, the y combinators, the aws UM they are
always looking for mentors to to help serve those folks
that are in the accelerator the program right, and so
(06:43):
lending your time and your expertise as a mentor can
be a huge benefit to an early stage founder. UM
can save them years on their journey, thousands of dollars
of investments or mistakes that could be made UM. So
that's just one way, just kind of donating volunteering your
time UM. I also think from a financial perspective, you
(07:05):
can UH earmark funds to invest in other companies. If
you're doing a million and five million, you might you
have you probably have some disposable resources that can be
UM can be pulled together and H deployed in a
very intelligent way. UH. And you can partner with organizations
(07:25):
who get it right. There's visible hands, there's black ambition.
There's a lot of really great UM social UH corporate
responsibility organizations that are focusing on UH founders of color
that can help you deploy your funds more intelligently. If
that's not your lane, so UM those are Those are
probably like the two initial ways I think that a
(07:48):
medium sized business can can make an impact on founders
of color. Yeah, I think about because you've got me
thinking now, in another way is hiring them to do
their service for your company. So I think about you, like,
let's say if you are in a bank and you
you know, you've got a pretty well established small bank
and you need a cleaning company, you know, or things
like that, like you could hire that company who's providing
(08:10):
a service. And so it's not always a little speak
on that. Supply diversity is huge bro like UM. I mean,
obviously these big mega tech companies that have plenty of resources,
and it's important that they're thinking about supply diversity, which
essentially is to your point, maybe there's cleaning crews that's need,
there's food services, there's UM, real estate, all these different
(08:34):
management or functions that these big tech companies have a
need they have, you know, they need to to hire
someone to do that. And so being intentional about hiring
diverse businesses to supply the things UM your business needs
can be a huge lift for that business like that
(08:55):
that puts them on a whole different trajectory in terms
of revenue and sustainability over time time. And so hiring
black that to me is a great way to invest
back in the community. UM. And then even like hiring
this for as like UM like RFP contractual agency perspective
(09:15):
or company perspective, but also hiring talent in house. So
one thing that I I kind of the mental model
that I use when I'm working with big tech companies
and helping them think more intelligently and efficiently how to
serve black owned businesses. It's like UM. The culture comes
in like three flavors. One, it's like representation, so there
(09:36):
needs to be people who look like the community that
you're serving on your team and facilitating this work. Number two,
the competency. They need to understand the culture. They need
to understand the trends, the language of this community. And
then also the values right and so are we aligned
in the values of mobilizing or accelerating this economy? UM
(09:58):
together and so those three pieces really kind of help
build a foundation for how companies can hire and deploy
funds and also UM execute on initiatives that serve these
these communities. Why is it good business to provide assistance
to black owned starters? When you think about you know,
there's a moral responsibility UM, and that helps some people
(10:22):
get it that they should be doing this, But when
you talk about the business implications, why is it good
business to be invested into, into startups from people of color. Yeah,
that's that's a very popular question. And I mean, I
think economic empowerment is is important because I also think
about like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and when people are
(10:45):
struggling and just focusing on survival, they can't operate in
their full potential. They can't be great contributors to their
local community or to the now national community. They can't
bring new ideas, they can't innovate. So I believe that
(11:07):
economic empowerment allows people to have greater control over their time,
over their resources, and be greater contributors to society. And
we live in America, in a country that practices capitalism
and puts great value on innovation. I think providing more resources, um,
(11:27):
we're spreading resources more equitably will create more innovation from
the from these different communities that have so much talent,
where you know, so rich and culture and um just
unique value that allow it's really untapped. It's untapped capital,
intellectual property that's there that if you can give them,
(11:50):
get them out of survival mode and give them space
to to implement and too I d a and create.
There's a whole new world of opportunity that we can
come and stumble upon, and resources and ideas and services
that we haven't yet thought of. So that's to me,
the initial thought around economic empowerment. Plus I also believe
that social justice is a byproduct of economic empowerment. So
(12:14):
when you put more financial resources and capital and marginalized communities,
they now can start businesses and create a more self
sufficient economy. They now can donate and elect officials in
their local communities that look like them, that have their
best interests in mind. They now can invest in education
(12:36):
in their local communities and have better schools. So I
think foundationally it just creates better UM infrastructure and better
society for all people, and it gives it gives marginalized
communities more self sufficient UM resource and opportunities. So that's
that's kind of what I think about when I say
economic empowerment. I want to talk about accelerators for a second,
(12:58):
because it used to be, at least from my perspective,
that when you joined an accelerator it was to prepare
for some you know, some sort of demo day like
where you get to ultimately present in front of investors
and you know, they wave checks at you right, UM,
it doesn't necessarily seem that way anymore, but maybe that
black entrepreneurs are using it in different ways. Can you
(13:19):
talk about how, at least again, at least that's from
my perspective, how accelerators have evolved to help entrepreneurs more
than just putting them in front of vcs. Yeah. I mean,
I think traditionally the accelerator programs are certainly UM and
(13:40):
access to capital play. They're definitely a kind of market
validation play, and those things still, those factors and elements
still exist and they're very important. UM. I do feel
that there's a huge education components to accelerators that has
(14:00):
been been there. It's been a part of accelerators, but
even now, more than ever, it's being thrust to the
forefront as the value proposition for accelerator programs. UM. And
I think when I say education, it's really like access
to information intensive training and then also mentorship and having
subject matter experts, business leaders luminaries come in too to
(14:24):
really map out the steps of the process and and
help early stage founders think about the challenges and solutions
that they're up against. So UM, education is really important.
But I do think still yeah, and still you want
to get to a point where at the end of
your accelerator, when you're culminating this whole thing, there is
access to capital, there is access to networks that can
(14:48):
take you to the next step. UM. I think the
accelerated program is really just to prepare you for either
a an investment, be a UM like rapid growth, or
see the next accelerator program for your business stage. So
in that particular perspective, why when you think about UM
(15:10):
getting investment at the end of it, are we building
companies that are designed to scale in enough of a
way that it makes sense for us to be in
front of investors, or does the accelerator help we through
those folks who aren't ready for that. Yeah, I think
it just depends on the accelerator. UM. You know, I've
(15:30):
seen that Amazon with the Black Business Accelerator focusing on
e commerce sellers that our early stage, and they may
or may not be ready for, you know, the VC
fund to come in and like drop half a million
or drop a million on their brand. They may not
be there, But that accelerator is for a certain stage
(15:54):
of business owner, compared to maybe an AWS impact accelerator
where they're they're really specific looking for founders who are
ready for that next step or oy c or tech
stars like those. The Inseke process looks different like that
to me, is you know, maybe the biggest variation is
just like what is your um your outcome that you're
(16:17):
looking to help founders get to, and then you essentially
accept and source founders that can help that are ready
to take that step in and they're really close to
getting to the outcome with a little help and support
from your accelerator. When you think about those businesses that
are you know, still in those very early stages, Black
(16:37):
entrepreneurs who may not in many cases come from a
lineage of entrepreneurs, but they're really good at a thing,
whether that be you know, developing a hair care product
or of some sort of food or etcetera. I'm making
up things, but they are doing it in their kitchen,
they're doing it in their garage, They're doing it, you know,
in somebody's commercial kitchen or etcetera. What are some of
(16:59):
them most common UM business related issues that they walked
into the door with that they need resolved that prohibits
them from being able to reach a new level of
their business. Yeah, I think UM. The common misconception is
(17:20):
that everyone needs access to capital. That's what every business
owner thinks their biggest problem is. However, there was actually
a study done by UM the Russell Center for Innovation
down in Atlanta. Shout out to my my virtual mentor
j Bailey. They did a study with like five thousand
small business owners, early stage folks and asking them what
(17:40):
their greatest needs were, and surprisingly overwhelmingly, the number one
need and that survey was community and networks. Number two
was mentorship, Number three was access to capital, and number
four was UM technical skills training UM. And so if
(18:01):
that sheds any light and what folks really need, we
we know that community is extremely important and and and
that's largely because entrepreneurship has has not been accessible to
black and brown communities for for, you know, a very
long time, and it's becoming more and more prevalent. We
see women, Black women are the fastest growing group of
(18:24):
small business owners and entrepreneurs in the country, and it's
no surprise because they're the most educated for the Black community,
and technology has democratized information. UM. But I think that
UM being pursuing that that entrepreneurial endeavor, trying to diversify
(18:44):
your streams of income. You're gonna be a bit of
a black sheep in some families. You're gonna stand out.
You're gonna be doing different things, and you're not going
to be understood. So being able to be in a
group of like minded folks who are stepping out of
that nine of five or that thirty year career um
zeitgeist mentality, you need to find people who are who
(19:08):
are like minded, who are who are walking that same
path UM, just to give you the confidence to to
to hang in there when times get tough. UM. So
it's really a qualitative piece of just community can be
really valuable. Having folks who who can answer questions that
that you're that you're experiencing that can help you overcome
the imposter syndrome. UM. Those things are held of valuable.
(19:31):
And then UM in terms of like technical skills, I
think helping people actually UM get their businesses online. So
one of the early stage things is like having a website,
having a domain that you owned. You really need to
own virtual your website because that's virtual real estate. So
many people put a lot of eggs in the social
(19:52):
media basket thinking like that is going to be their
storefront and that's how they reach their audience. But a
Facebook and Instagram CONSI spend your account could delete your
account at any time and there's really nothing that you
could do. Your business would essentially lose that channel or
that stream of revenue. So having a website is a
major step that I work with and I advocate for
(20:14):
small business owners. Of course, building up an email list,
your email list is the most underrated asset into any business.
People think the vanity metrics of followers are really what
we're all working towards, but no, really, you should just
be trying to generate leads, provide value in exchange for
people's contact information so that you can sell and market
to them um and and that will be the group
(20:37):
that would really help you sustain your business and generate
the most revenue. So getting folks online technology moves really
really fast, and we just want to make sure that
we're not getting left behind in the education and the
access to the technology, and that we have the skills
to execute and flourish. There is just still the case then,
(20:57):
because there was a phrase that went round over the
last couple of years that black black businesses in particular,
we're over mentored and underfunded. Is that still the case?
You know? That's I think that's a quote from my
man Ryan Wilson after Gathering Spot he he came on,
UH did a podcast with him, and that's one of
(21:19):
the thing that he said. I think that is still
the case. Um. But it's arguable because I as a
as a business educator, I cared deeply about the education piece.
So I'm always thinking, you need education before you can
handle a million dollars, right because quite frankly, I think
you don't need a million dollars until you already know
(21:40):
I know exactly what I would do with this million
dollars as a business owner, right, Like, typically the demand
will hit you before you need the money. You're like,
oh shoot, we need to hire, Oh shoot, we need
to fulfill this order, and we need the capital in
order to do this, right, And so you'll kind of
you really will know when you need half a million
or a million dollars. That's how you know you are
(22:00):
like capital ready. Um. So I think the challenge as
a business educator, as a an advocate for corporate social
responsibility is really to help more black founders and companies
and startups get to a place where they are capital ready,
where they are ready to take on this this UH
(22:23):
cash or this capital injection, where they have a great
demand for the capital. And it's obvious and clear to
any investor, to any partner that this business is UM
getting traction and it's it's a scalable venture. So that's
where I want to get more black businesses to where
the undeniable need for capital is prevalent and UM well documented.
(22:50):
It was m part of the mission of your work
is to help us understand the history, UM and how
wealth is generating, why wealth wasn't arrated in our community.
And you have a seven step methodology that you believe
helps us, you know, increase our net worth. UM. Why
is history so so much a part of that? When
(23:13):
I mean we get inundated with our history all the time.
What is what are we missing about that? Then that
you feel like this is important to reinforce or a
different perspective on it that UM that helps us, It
helps us get over the hurdle. Yeah. Man, I think
history is so valuable because it can help predict and
(23:35):
see the future when we look back at when we
look at our current state. So many black founders and
entrepreneurs will say the words imposter syndrome. They will yearn
for community. And we're very aware of the feelings that
(23:59):
we that we hold, the sentiments how we show up,
but we don't always know the root cause of some
of these ailments or dispositions that we possess. And I
think it really goes back historically to our what we
call we have this eight step methodology in our Shine
Heart Family Legacy Accelerator, and one of our core principles
(24:23):
is find your roots. And in that module we talk
about two questions, where are you from? And how did
you get here? And where are you from? Leans into
your genealogy because if you ask a black person, a
Black American, where they're from, they're gonna tell you an
American city that's named after a slaveship. They're gonna tell
you some city that is not really where they're from.
(24:46):
You know, that's where they were born, that's where they
were raised, but they're probably they're definitely from Africa, and
some at some point in their lineage they come from Africa.
So doing your genealogy, whether that's ancestry, whether that's twenty
three and me or African ancestry, doing your ancestry because
you know, okay, I'm from Nigeria, I'm from Cameroon, I'm
(25:06):
from ben in Togo. That that gives you a sense
of pride and identity when you're here in America. And
then number two, doing your family tree helps you see
like how did I get here? Who were the folks
that are in my family tree? In my lineage? That
preceded me into showing up in this place where I
am and what you're what folks do? We've gone through
(25:27):
this course and I helped folks unpack this. You start
to find there's threads and their superpowers found in your lineage.
You start to see. For example, my second great grandfather
was born a slave in in eighteen twenty one, and
he bought his own freedom in eighteen forty two for
a thousand dollars which at the time is probably equivalent
(25:49):
to like half maybe a quarter million, I don't know,
a hundred thousand dollars. But then he went on to
to die. When he died in nineteen o six, he
had a net worth of fifty dollars, which is probably
equivalent to three or four million dollars. He had he
had like multiple farms, he was he was like a
real estate mogul in his own right. And when I
(26:11):
heard that, it gave me a great sense of pride,
a great sense of identity. And why I'm I'm so
entrepreneurial in nature, and why I'm so um cares so
deeply about creating wealth and expanding the abundance of my
assets and in my net worth. UM. And so I've
helped so many folks really discover who they are and
(26:33):
why they are from their history, and they show up
differently now. The impostit syndrome is eradicated. Now they have
a sense of responsibility over their lives to start that business,
to push forward. And we all always tell folks we
are the leaders of right now. This is our dash.
You know, there's gonna be people that there's obviously people
(26:57):
will come before us, and it's gonna be people that
come after us. But where will we leave those folks
both positions were they being when we passed the baton?
That's the question that we have to ask. And if
you could dial it down to your own lineage and
say where would your family be when you pass the baton?
That to me is a fire starter and gets people
really really fired up. To to go build a business
(27:19):
that that transcends and stands the test of time. There's
a stat that's on your website that I've research and
I found it to be valid, and it says self
employed people make up of Americans but account for sixties
seven percent of millionaires. And there's so many people who
are employed and want to be a full time entrepreneur
(27:44):
um because they want to be a part of that
sixty seven percent of millionaires. Right, And what are some
of the first milestones in transitioning from employment to self
employment um that people can take responsibly? So if if
they get an idea, do you say, okay, all right,
let's just go all in with you, Like, what are
some of the most schools they can take responsibly to
make their transition? Listen, do not do what I did.
(28:08):
I had an entrepreneurial seizure. I was working at Nike.
I saved ten grand and I was like, you're a
cool You're a cool f you I'm out. And I
just started my company with very little revenue and just
like a dollar and a dream, right, And by the
grace of God, I've been able to like flip that
and and grow. But that's not the advice that I
(28:28):
give to small business owners. What I think that most
people should do practically is use your nine to five
as your angel, investor into your side, hustle into your business,
and not every entrepreneurial venture has to be a full
time business a full time job. You can work at
nine to five and have a business on the side.
(28:50):
There's three ways to be a full participant in the
American economy. You can be a consumer, and historically Black
people are extremely good at consumers. I want Black people
to become or intelligent consumers where we're shopping and buying black.
Number two, you can be a producer, which means you're
an entrepreneur. You're creating jobs. That means you're creating our
product or service that solves a problem. You have a
(29:10):
solution that people will give you money in exchange for that.
Number three is investor. So in order to UM really
grow and have your money work for you, you need
to be investing your your money into other things that
are growing in the economy, whether it's a business, whether
it's an asset, real estate. UM. A lot of times
(29:31):
people think they have to be as an entrepreneur actively
doing another thing, but you also can be a real
estate investor and have a nine to five and that
can be very passive for you, but also have your
money working for you and be generating cash flow as
a business owner. So finding things that you can do well.
I also like to tell people like, what are your
(29:53):
skills that you're using at your job? What are the
skills that you acquire through your your fifty thousand a
hundred thousand dollar degree? How can you sell those skills
to someone else for in exchange for cash? And also
when you're thinking about how to scale your business and
create some like reliable income, how can you partner with
(30:16):
another business? So I'm a huge proponent of B two
B b TC is great. Most times Black folks who
are looking for UM that side hustle, we're always thinking
B to C like how can I sell to my cousin?
How can I sell to my Instagram followers? But that's
a lot like chasing cat, hurting cats and chasing pennies
(30:36):
a lot of times. How about you find a business
that needs your service and you sell your business as
a resident UM contractor for that business or whatever. If
you offer UM yoga services, go to the women's health
clinic and say, look, I'll provide to yoga sessions to
your your customers a month for X amount of rate,
(31:00):
and we'll do this for twelve months. So now you
have a twelve month contract where you have a retainer
and that can create a baseline revenue for your business.
Right now you have the space to maybe hire uh
and adding and hire a coordinator, and you can start
to grow your business on the foundation of one solid contract.
So it's not as hard as it might seem to
(31:21):
find that business to the business, but the business has
capital and they have customers. To me, it's a really
logical and um a first step that is viable for
most small businesses. Black Tech Green Money is the production
(31:53):
of Black and the aff Ro Tech, Black Effect podcast
Network and iHeart Media. It's produced by Morgan the Bone
in Me Well Lucas, with additional production supported by Love
Beaching Rose mc lucas. Special thank you to Michael Davis.
Something That's a SERRANTO. Learn more about my guests and
other techas brothers and innovatives at afro tech dot com.
The video version of this episode. We'll drop the Black
(32:15):
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enjoy your Black Tech green money, Share us with somebody,
can reat your money. Peace and love,
Afro Tech is back in Austin, Texas. This November is
the place for all things black, tech and web three.
The in person afro Tech Conference experience is bridging the
worlds of afro technologists, innovators, investors, corporations, musicians, and everyone
in between. So pull up, grabb your crew and grabbing
tickets and join this at the largest black professional conference
(00:20):
of the year. This experienced the afro Tech dot Com.
I'm will Lucas Mrs Black Tech Free Money. I'm gonna
ensued you to some of the biggest names, some of
the brightest minds in brilliant ideas. I feel black in
building or simply using tech to secure your back. This
(00:43):
podcast is for you. Johnny Baby is a social entrepreneur
marketing strategies with the passion for economic empowerment. Hall of Fame,
high school athlete and graduate at Hampton University. You're taking
this pursuit of excellent into the world of business and technology.
He's to grow with Google, Digital coach for Washington, d C.
(01:05):
And founder of the Shine How Our Foundation, where the
mission is to close the racial wealth gap in the
national speaker Trusted by the biggest companies on the planet,
asked Johnny, at what point does the company have a
corporate responsibility to invest in embudding entrepreneurs in their startups. Well,
I think it definitely starts at the top down UM,
(01:27):
just from timing and resource. UM. You look at the apples,
the Amazon's, Google's, Microsoft's, I mean, they're generating over nine
billion dollars in revenue UM combined, and they're getting these
trillion dollar valuations, and you know, it's really at the
(01:48):
hands of the consumers that are that are using these
products hardware, software and UM. Also, these companies are employing
some of the bright minds of our generation. So with
with great power and responsibility. Well, great power comes with
great responsibility. So I think, UM, at the top, you
(02:12):
definitely should see these companies as we have during the
pandemic UM even more see companies doubling down on corporate
responsibility and and racial equity, etcetera. UM. But there's there's
there's not limitations around smaller companies doing this too. I
think smaller companies definitely lead with their why and they
(02:33):
lead with mission more than ever because UM, it can
be a competitive advantage in the marketplace when you're looking
for talent and you're trying to to uh kind of
uh penetrate new markets or game market share. Like having
a mission driven product or service or company can definitely
differentiate yourself and do good at the same time. So
(02:56):
you kind of touched on this a little bit and
from the respect of acquiring good talent, you know. But
so when companies like the Apples and Googles of the
world that you mentioned, when they go and invest in startups,
whether it be mentorship or etcetera, are they doing it
to potentially look for companies that could be you know,
acquired ultimately, Yeah, well, I think then the consumer, the
(03:20):
talent market is more informed. We're more intelligent than ever before. Um.
We see the great resignation is really highlighting the power
shifting to the people. And these companies are one doing
good because it's important to do so morally. But I
(03:42):
also think that competitively, employees care like, what are you
doing to help people who look like me? What are
you help doing to help make the world a better place?
Because ethically and morally, employees wanted to feel good when
they're at work, and they want to work for companies
that are doing the things that make them feel good
and make them feel Um. Like a contributor to the
(04:05):
greater good of humanity. Right if you're if you're working
for a company that's that's doing shady things and controversial,
then you know, it's reflection of your body of work
and it's on your resume. It's kind of a stain
at the same time. So people care and companies need
to care just as much. What does good corporate responsibility
look like from your perspective when you're talking about you know,
(04:26):
companies reaching back to help budding companies grow, What does
that look like in practice? Yeah, I mean, I think one,
UM creating funds, grant funding for small businesses, for startups
of color or startups and in various identity groups, UM
(04:49):
creating accelerator programs for business owners get the education that
they need to get the mentorship that they need to
lower the barriers to injury and access to investors, and
UM other accelerator programs, And so I think grant funding, accelerator.
UM obviously like credits benefits that UM credits that can
(05:15):
subsidize the cost of the service of these big tech companies. Uh.
I know a lot of you know, the Googles and
the Amazon will offer like add credits two businesses or
maybe an AWS will offer some type of like UM
cloud support, etcetera. So those things have huge values to
to startups who are bootstrapping and and super tight on funds.
(05:38):
I think being able to lean into what we have
and also hire good people to to facilitate these type
of initiatives is really the way that UM big companies
can can do corporate social responsibility correctly. And you mentioned
there is also an opportunity for smaller and medium science
companies to you know, have a hand in helping their counterparts,
(06:02):
other small and medium sized companies grow. What ideas, you know,
could a company who's doing let's say a million dollars
year or five hundred thousand dollars a year in that range,
let's say five hundred thousands to a couple of million
dollars a year, what ideas could they involve themselves with
that could help other companies who are trying to get
out of the kitchen per se, you know, to make
(06:22):
it happy. Yeah, that's a great question. I mean one
they can serve as mentors. All of these accelerators, the
tech stars, the y combinators, the aws UM they are
always looking for mentors to to help serve those folks
that are in the accelerator the program right, and so
(06:43):
lending your time and your expertise as a mentor can
be a huge benefit to an early stage founder. UM
can save them years on their journey, thousands of dollars
of investments or mistakes that could be made UM. So
that's just one way, just kind of donating volunteering your
time UM. I also think from a financial perspective, you
(07:05):
can UH earmark funds to invest in other companies. If
you're doing a million and five million, you might you
have you probably have some disposable resources that can be
UM can be pulled together and H deployed in a
very intelligent way. UH. And you can partner with organizations
(07:25):
who get it right. There's visible hands, there's black ambition.
There's a lot of really great UM social UH corporate
responsibility organizations that are focusing on UH founders of color
that can help you deploy your funds more intelligently. If
that's not your lane, so UM those are Those are
probably like the two initial ways I think that a
(07:48):
medium sized business can can make an impact on founders
of color. Yeah, I think about because you've got me
thinking now, in another way is hiring them to do
their service for your company. So I think about you, like,
let's say if you are in a bank and you
you know, you've got a pretty well established small bank
and you need a cleaning company, you know, or things
like that, like you could hire that company who's providing
(08:10):
a service. And so it's not always a little speak
on that. Supply diversity is huge bro like UM. I mean,
obviously these big mega tech companies that have plenty of resources,
and it's important that they're thinking about supply diversity, which
essentially is to your point, maybe there's cleaning crews that's need,
there's food services, there's UM, real estate, all these different
(08:34):
management or functions that these big tech companies have a
need they have, you know, they need to to hire
someone to do that. And so being intentional about hiring
diverse businesses to supply the things UM your business needs
can be a huge lift for that business like that
(08:55):
that puts them on a whole different trajectory in terms
of revenue and sustainability over time time. And so hiring
black that to me is a great way to invest
back in the community. UM. And then even like hiring
this for as like UM like RFP contractual agency perspective
(09:15):
or company perspective, but also hiring talent in house. So
one thing that I I kind of the mental model
that I use when I'm working with big tech companies
and helping them think more intelligently and efficiently how to
serve black owned businesses. It's like UM. The culture comes
in like three flavors. One, it's like representation, so there
(09:36):
needs to be people who look like the community that
you're serving on your team and facilitating this work. Number two,
the competency. They need to understand the culture. They need
to understand the trends, the language of this community. And
then also the values right and so are we aligned
in the values of mobilizing or accelerating this economy? UM
(09:58):
together and so those three pieces really kind of help
build a foundation for how companies can hire and deploy
funds and also UM execute on initiatives that serve these
these communities. Why is it good business to provide assistance
to black owned starters? When you think about you know,
there's a moral responsibility UM, and that helps some people
(10:22):
get it that they should be doing this, But when
you talk about the business implications, why is it good
business to be invested into, into startups from people of color. Yeah,
that's that's a very popular question. And I mean, I
think economic empowerment is is important because I also think
about like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and when people are
(10:45):
struggling and just focusing on survival, they can't operate in
their full potential. They can't be great contributors to their
local community or to the now national community. They can't
bring new ideas, they can't innovate. So I believe that
(11:07):
economic empowerment allows people to have greater control over their time,
over their resources, and be greater contributors to society. And
we live in America, in a country that practices capitalism
and puts great value on innovation. I think providing more resources, um,
(11:27):
we're spreading resources more equitably will create more innovation from
the from these different communities that have so much talent,
where you know, so rich and culture and um just
unique value that allow it's really untapped. It's untapped capital,
intellectual property that's there that if you can give them,
(11:50):
get them out of survival mode and give them space
to to implement and too I d a and create.
There's a whole new world of opportunity that we can
come and stumble upon, and resources and ideas and services
that we haven't yet thought of. So that's to me,
the initial thought around economic empowerment. Plus I also believe
that social justice is a byproduct of economic empowerment. So
(12:14):
when you put more financial resources and capital and marginalized communities,
they now can start businesses and create a more self
sufficient economy. They now can donate and elect officials in
their local communities that look like them, that have their
best interests in mind. They now can invest in education
(12:36):
in their local communities and have better schools. So I
think foundationally it just creates better UM infrastructure and better
society for all people, and it gives it gives marginalized
communities more self sufficient UM resource and opportunities. So that's
that's kind of what I think about when I say
economic empowerment. I want to talk about accelerators for a second,
(12:58):
because it used to be, at least from my perspective,
that when you joined an accelerator it was to prepare
for some you know, some sort of demo day like
where you get to ultimately present in front of investors
and you know, they wave checks at you right, UM,
it doesn't necessarily seem that way anymore, but maybe that
black entrepreneurs are using it in different ways. Can you
(13:19):
talk about how, at least again, at least that's from
my perspective, how accelerators have evolved to help entrepreneurs more
than just putting them in front of vcs. Yeah. I mean,
I think traditionally the accelerator programs are certainly UM and
(13:40):
access to capital play. They're definitely a kind of market
validation play, and those things still, those factors and elements
still exist and they're very important. UM. I do feel
that there's a huge education components to accelerators that has
(14:00):
been been there. It's been a part of accelerators, but
even now, more than ever, it's being thrust to the
forefront as the value proposition for accelerator programs. UM. And
I think when I say education, it's really like access
to information intensive training and then also mentorship and having
subject matter experts, business leaders luminaries come in too to
(14:24):
really map out the steps of the process and and
help early stage founders think about the challenges and solutions
that they're up against. So UM, education is really important.
But I do think still yeah, and still you want
to get to a point where at the end of
your accelerator, when you're culminating this whole thing, there is
access to capital, there is access to networks that can
(14:48):
take you to the next step. UM. I think the
accelerated program is really just to prepare you for either
a an investment, be a UM like rapid growth, or
see the next accelerator program for your business stage. So
in that particular perspective, why when you think about UM
(15:10):
getting investment at the end of it, are we building
companies that are designed to scale in enough of a
way that it makes sense for us to be in
front of investors, or does the accelerator help we through
those folks who aren't ready for that. Yeah, I think
it just depends on the accelerator. UM. You know, I've
(15:30):
seen that Amazon with the Black Business Accelerator focusing on
e commerce sellers that our early stage, and they may
or may not be ready for, you know, the VC
fund to come in and like drop half a million
or drop a million on their brand. They may not
be there, But that accelerator is for a certain stage
(15:54):
of business owner, compared to maybe an AWS impact accelerator
where they're they're really specific looking for founders who are
ready for that next step or oy c or tech
stars like those. The Inseke process looks different like that
to me, is you know, maybe the biggest variation is
just like what is your um your outcome that you're
(16:17):
looking to help founders get to, and then you essentially
accept and source founders that can help that are ready
to take that step in and they're really close to
getting to the outcome with a little help and support
from your accelerator. When you think about those businesses that
are you know, still in those very early stages, Black
(16:37):
entrepreneurs who may not in many cases come from a
lineage of entrepreneurs, but they're really good at a thing,
whether that be you know, developing a hair care product
or of some sort of food or etcetera. I'm making
up things, but they are doing it in their kitchen,
they're doing it in their garage, They're doing it, you know,
in somebody's commercial kitchen or etcetera. What are some of
(16:59):
them most common UM business related issues that they walked
into the door with that they need resolved that prohibits
them from being able to reach a new level of
their business. Yeah, I think UM. The common misconception is
(17:20):
that everyone needs access to capital. That's what every business
owner thinks their biggest problem is. However, there was actually
a study done by UM the Russell Center for Innovation
down in Atlanta. Shout out to my my virtual mentor
j Bailey. They did a study with like five thousand
small business owners, early stage folks and asking them what
(17:40):
their greatest needs were, and surprisingly overwhelmingly, the number one
need and that survey was community and networks. Number two
was mentorship, Number three was access to capital, and number
four was UM technical skills training UM. And so if
(18:01):
that sheds any light and what folks really need, we
we know that community is extremely important and and and
that's largely because entrepreneurship has has not been accessible to
black and brown communities for for, you know, a very
long time, and it's becoming more and more prevalent. We
see women, Black women are the fastest growing group of
(18:24):
small business owners and entrepreneurs in the country, and it's
no surprise because they're the most educated for the Black community,
and technology has democratized information. UM. But I think that
UM being pursuing that that entrepreneurial endeavor, trying to diversify
(18:44):
your streams of income. You're gonna be a bit of
a black sheep in some families. You're gonna stand out.
You're gonna be doing different things, and you're not going
to be understood. So being able to be in a
group of like minded folks who are stepping out of
that nine of five or that thirty year career um
zeitgeist mentality, you need to find people who are who
(19:08):
are like minded, who are who are walking that same
path UM, just to give you the confidence to to
to hang in there when times get tough. UM. So
it's really a qualitative piece of just community can be
really valuable. Having folks who who can answer questions that
that you're that you're experiencing that can help you overcome
the imposter syndrome. UM. Those things are held of valuable.
(19:31):
And then UM in terms of like technical skills, I
think helping people actually UM get their businesses online. So
one of the early stage things is like having a website,
having a domain that you owned. You really need to
own virtual your website because that's virtual real estate. So
many people put a lot of eggs in the social
(19:52):
media basket thinking like that is going to be their
storefront and that's how they reach their audience. But a
Facebook and Instagram CONSI spend your account could delete your
account at any time and there's really nothing that you
could do. Your business would essentially lose that channel or
that stream of revenue. So having a website is a
major step that I work with and I advocate for
(20:14):
small business owners. Of course, building up an email list,
your email list is the most underrated asset into any business.
People think the vanity metrics of followers are really what
we're all working towards, but no, really, you should just
be trying to generate leads, provide value in exchange for
people's contact information so that you can sell and market
to them um and and that will be the group
(20:37):
that would really help you sustain your business and generate
the most revenue. So getting folks online technology moves really
really fast, and we just want to make sure that
we're not getting left behind in the education and the
access to the technology, and that we have the skills
to execute and flourish. There is just still the case then,
(20:57):
because there was a phrase that went round over the
last couple of years that black black businesses in particular,
we're over mentored and underfunded. Is that still the case?
You know? That's I think that's a quote from my
man Ryan Wilson after Gathering Spot he he came on,
UH did a podcast with him, and that's one of
(21:19):
the thing that he said. I think that is still
the case. Um. But it's arguable because I as a
as a business educator, I cared deeply about the education piece.
So I'm always thinking, you need education before you can
handle a million dollars, right because quite frankly, I think
you don't need a million dollars until you already know
(21:40):
I know exactly what I would do with this million
dollars as a business owner, right, Like, typically the demand
will hit you before you need the money. You're like,
oh shoot, we need to hire, Oh shoot, we need
to fulfill this order, and we need the capital in
order to do this, right, And so you'll kind of
you really will know when you need half a million
or a million dollars. That's how you know you are
(22:00):
like capital ready. Um. So I think the challenge as
a business educator, as a an advocate for corporate social
responsibility is really to help more black founders and companies
and startups get to a place where they are capital ready,
where they are ready to take on this this UH
(22:23):
cash or this capital injection, where they have a great
demand for the capital. And it's obvious and clear to
any investor, to any partner that this business is UM
getting traction and it's it's a scalable venture. So that's
where I want to get more black businesses to where
the undeniable need for capital is prevalent and UM well documented.
(22:50):
It was m part of the mission of your work
is to help us understand the history, UM and how
wealth is generating, why wealth wasn't arrated in our community.
And you have a seven step methodology that you believe
helps us, you know, increase our net worth. UM. Why
is history so so much a part of that? When
(23:13):
I mean we get inundated with our history all the time.
What is what are we missing about that? Then that
you feel like this is important to reinforce or a
different perspective on it that UM that helps us, It
helps us get over the hurdle. Yeah. Man, I think
history is so valuable because it can help predict and
(23:35):
see the future when we look back at when we
look at our current state. So many black founders and
entrepreneurs will say the words imposter syndrome. They will yearn
for community. And we're very aware of the feelings that
(23:59):
we that we hold, the sentiments how we show up,
but we don't always know the root cause of some
of these ailments or dispositions that we possess. And I
think it really goes back historically to our what we
call we have this eight step methodology in our Shine
Heart Family Legacy Accelerator, and one of our core principles
(24:23):
is find your roots. And in that module we talk
about two questions, where are you from? And how did
you get here? And where are you from? Leans into
your genealogy because if you ask a black person, a
Black American, where they're from, they're gonna tell you an
American city that's named after a slaveship. They're gonna tell
you some city that is not really where they're from.
(24:46):
You know, that's where they were born, that's where they
were raised, but they're probably they're definitely from Africa, and
some at some point in their lineage they come from Africa.
So doing your genealogy, whether that's ancestry, whether that's twenty
three and me or African ancestry, doing your ancestry because
you know, okay, I'm from Nigeria, I'm from Cameroon, I'm
(25:06):
from ben in Togo. That that gives you a sense
of pride and identity when you're here in America. And
then number two, doing your family tree helps you see
like how did I get here? Who were the folks
that are in my family tree? In my lineage? That
preceded me into showing up in this place where I
am and what you're what folks do? We've gone through
(25:27):
this course and I helped folks unpack this. You start
to find there's threads and their superpowers found in your lineage.
You start to see. For example, my second great grandfather
was born a slave in in eighteen twenty one, and
he bought his own freedom in eighteen forty two for
a thousand dollars which at the time is probably equivalent
(25:49):
to like half maybe a quarter million, I don't know,
a hundred thousand dollars. But then he went on to
to die. When he died in nineteen o six, he
had a net worth of fifty dollars, which is probably
equivalent to three or four million dollars. He had he
had like multiple farms, he was he was like a
real estate mogul in his own right. And when I
(26:11):
heard that, it gave me a great sense of pride,
a great sense of identity. And why I'm I'm so
entrepreneurial in nature, and why I'm so um cares so
deeply about creating wealth and expanding the abundance of my
assets and in my net worth. UM. And so I've
helped so many folks really discover who they are and
(26:33):
why they are from their history, and they show up
differently now. The impostit syndrome is eradicated. Now they have
a sense of responsibility over their lives to start that business,
to push forward. And we all always tell folks we
are the leaders of right now. This is our dash.
You know, there's gonna be people that there's obviously people
(26:57):
will come before us, and it's gonna be people that
come after us. But where will we leave those folks
both positions were they being when we passed the baton?
That's the question that we have to ask. And if
you could dial it down to your own lineage and
say where would your family be when you pass the baton?
That to me is a fire starter and gets people
really really fired up. To to go build a business
(27:19):
that that transcends and stands the test of time. There's
a stat that's on your website that I've research and
I found it to be valid, and it says self
employed people make up of Americans but account for sixties
seven percent of millionaires. And there's so many people who
are employed and want to be a full time entrepreneur
(27:44):
um because they want to be a part of that
sixty seven percent of millionaires. Right, And what are some
of the first milestones in transitioning from employment to self
employment um that people can take responsibly? So if if
they get an idea, do you say, okay, all right,
let's just go all in with you, Like, what are
some of the most schools they can take responsibly to
make their transition? Listen, do not do what I did.
(28:08):
I had an entrepreneurial seizure. I was working at Nike.
I saved ten grand and I was like, you're a
cool You're a cool f you I'm out. And I
just started my company with very little revenue and just
like a dollar and a dream, right, And by the
grace of God, I've been able to like flip that
and and grow. But that's not the advice that I
(28:28):
give to small business owners. What I think that most
people should do practically is use your nine to five
as your angel, investor into your side, hustle into your business,
and not every entrepreneurial venture has to be a full
time business a full time job. You can work at
nine to five and have a business on the side.
(28:50):
There's three ways to be a full participant in the
American economy. You can be a consumer, and historically Black
people are extremely good at consumers. I want Black people
to become or intelligent consumers where we're shopping and buying black.
Number two, you can be a producer, which means you're
an entrepreneur. You're creating jobs. That means you're creating our
product or service that solves a problem. You have a
(29:10):
solution that people will give you money in exchange for that.
Number three is investor. So in order to UM really
grow and have your money work for you, you need
to be investing your your money into other things that
are growing in the economy, whether it's a business, whether
it's an asset, real estate. UM. A lot of times
(29:31):
people think they have to be as an entrepreneur actively
doing another thing, but you also can be a real
estate investor and have a nine to five and that
can be very passive for you, but also have your
money working for you and be generating cash flow as
a business owner. So finding things that you can do well.
I also like to tell people like, what are your
(29:53):
skills that you're using at your job? What are the
skills that you acquire through your your fifty thousand a
hundred thousand dollar degree? How can you sell those skills
to someone else for in exchange for cash? And also
when you're thinking about how to scale your business and
create some like reliable income, how can you partner with
(30:16):
another business? So I'm a huge proponent of B two
B b TC is great. Most times Black folks who
are looking for UM that side hustle, we're always thinking
B to C like how can I sell to my cousin?
How can I sell to my Instagram followers? But that's
a lot like chasing cat, hurting cats and chasing pennies
(30:36):
a lot of times. How about you find a business
that needs your service and you sell your business as
a resident UM contractor for that business or whatever. If
you offer UM yoga services, go to the women's health
clinic and say, look, I'll provide to yoga sessions to
your your customers a month for X amount of rate,
(31:00):
and we'll do this for twelve months. So now you
have a twelve month contract where you have a retainer
and that can create a baseline revenue for your business.
Right now you have the space to maybe hire uh
and adding and hire a coordinator, and you can start
to grow your business on the foundation of one solid contract.
So it's not as hard as it might seem to
(31:21):
find that business to the business, but the business has
capital and they have customers. To me, it's a really
logical and um a first step that is viable for
most small businesses. Black Tech Green Money is the production
(31:53):
of Black and the aff Ro Tech, Black Effect podcast
Network and iHeart Media. It's produced by Morgan the Bone
in Me Well Lucas, with additional production supported by Love
Beaching Rose mc lucas. Special thank you to Michael Davis.
Something That's a SERRANTO. Learn more about my guests and
other techas brothers and innovatives at afro tech dot com.
The video version of this episode. We'll drop the Black
(32:15):
Tech Green Money on YouTube next week, so tap in
enjoy your Black Tech green money, Share us with somebody,
can reat your money. Peace and love,
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