How Dr. Valecia Dunbar Became Entrepreneurs’ Crisis Champion

Episode Transcript
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Announcer (00:00):
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(00:21):
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Now let's dive in.

Marc Bernstein (00:41):
Good morning America.
How are you?
Let's adjust our mic.
Oh, there we go.
I had to adjust my headphones.
I am very excited for the show.
I'm excited because we've beenoff for a couple weeks, we're
going to be off for a couplemore and I'm going on vacation,
going to Alaska early tomorrowmorning.
And I'm excited about our guesttoday, Dr.

(01:01):
V, and I'll formally introduceher in a minute.
But we were talking on the wayin and it's on my mind, because
of this trip, bureaucraticcomplexity, because I've never
had such issues planning for atrip before going to Alaska.
But I'm going through Vancouver.

(01:21):
So I had to get my passportrenewed, which I did last year,
then I proceeded to lose it,then I had to reapply and
expedite it, and that is a wholecomedy of errors that I won't
go through.
But I just barely got mypassport in time and I didn't
even know you needed a passportto go to Canada, because I never
did before.
It was always you just needed adriver's license.

(01:43):
Then I'm checking into theflight and they're telling me I
need a visa, and so I'm goingthrough the whole process of
getting an emergency visa andthen it says, oh, if you have a
passport, you don't need a visaTo Canada, to Canada, oh, and
Air Canada is on strike, whichis I was flying United operated
by Air Canada, and it was veryshaky as to whether we're going

(02:07):
to have our flight.
We're starting on a cruise, sowe couldn't be late, so we had
to switch our flight.
What a it's been unbelievable.
So we've been talking aboutthis and I think it's getting
worse.
Dr.
V, I think you don't agree,right?

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar (02:21):
I think it's the same.
You think it's the same.

It's always been bad.
So the real question is not.
The real question, of course,is not what happens to you, it's
how you deal with what happensto you, right?
So how do you deal with thiskind of complexity when it
happens to you?

Yes, I've learned my lesson.
It happened once and so I willnever let it happen again.
And so I just prepare.
I just stay so far ahead of theplanning process and actually I
go online and I read you knowwhat are the current processes
and procedures, and then I call.
So I triple check, I crosscheck everything off, just to

(02:57):
make sure that I have an idea ofwhat to expect, so I can get
ahead of it.

Will you come live with me?
Listen, I say this because mywife God bless her is a
wonderful woman.
She's a family therapist bybackground, great with people,
great with advice.
She's been my backbone forever.
But when it comes toorganization, forget it.
So it all falls to me and I ampretty good.
But I've had a lot on my platethe last few months and I'm not

(03:26):
on my game in that way the way Ihave been.

Well, it takes a personality type as
well.
So you know I have that kind ofleaning towards type, a
attention to detail personalitytype.
You know I'm a certified discassessment provider, so
understanding.

What is your disc profile?
What is yours?

I'm a d s, so dominant.
And then for the s, it's the uh, oh, my goodness, uh the?

uh, that's okay introvert.
I'm sorry d s introvert well,I'm I'm a d also, but I'm, my
thing is so either somethingcalled colby and I'm a quick
start, which means I've gotgreat ideas and but I need
someone to help on the back end.
Not that I can do those things,but it doesn't energize me to
do the detail stuff on the backend.

(04:14):
So in business, I've been ableto surround myself with the
right kind of people.
Personally, I haven't quitefigured that out yet.
So anyway, here we go.
So let me now introduce you toour guest today, who is very
excited.
She came to us today fromJacksonville, florida, to
Philadelphia, to be here, and Ijust think it's wonderful.

(04:35):
So her name is Dr.
V Dunbar, otherwise known as Dr.
V, and she's the visionaryfounder and CEO of the Center
for Confidence.
Full Confidence.
Rx symbols are FCRX, a premierorganizational leadership firm
specializing in professionalbusiness and financial coaching
for top performers andmission-driven changemakers,

(04:59):
with a passion for helpingleaders thrive in complex
environments.
Aha.
She has become a trustedadvisor to executives,
entrepreneurs and institutionsacross the globe.
She is a subject matter expertin organizational crisis and
leadership, and Dr Dunbar serveson the MBA Advisory Committee
at the Forbes School of Businessand Technology and has led

(05:21):
national research efforts as asenior research facilitator,
including groundbreaking studieson the impact of COVID-19 on
multicultural businesses.
As a business advisor withGoldman Sachs' Blackened
Business Accelerator, shechampions women-owned solo
enterprises, guiding founderstoward long-term financial

(05:42):
growth and sustainability.
By the way, frida Thomas, aprevious guest, recommended Dr.
V and I guess you know eachother through the Goldman Sachs
program right, yes yes, gotcha.
So her latest endeavor, the newLa Villa, is a bold $1 million
plus community reinvestment incommercial real estate
crowdfunding campaign to converta historic landmark into modern

(06:05):
co-working space and anentrepreneurship hub in
Jacksonville, florida, revivinga historic neighborhood through
innovation, ownership andcollective vision.
Follow her work and her seriesLost Fortunes, which is I've
read a couple of her articlesthat are really good on LinkedIn
, at linkedincom slash I-N.

(06:26):
Slash D-R-D-U-N-B-A-R for DrDunbar, and across social media
at TheTrueDrV.
I love that.
Thank you, Marc.
And she's very colorful todayand she's got a La Villa
Jacksonville outfit shirt on.
That she said is her, what didyou call it?
Your, your, that's your, go towar.

Yes, this is my my you know tribe
shirt.
Today I'm trying to bringcommunity together and build our
tribe around the Nula Villa, sothis is my lioness shirt, that
I'm wearing the lioness shirt,that's right.

That's what you said.
It's wonderful.
So listen, we just took up 10minutes with your introduction
because you had so many things.
I'm kidding you, but anyway,let's get into it.
So tell me about your humblebeginnings and how you started
and how you became a doctor andwhere it went from there.

Yeah, I'd love to.
And let me clarify very quicklyI'm dominant, stable.

Oh, there you go , stable Okay.

Not the interactive and the
conscientious personality types.

I think they changed that.
I don't remember stable as oneof the words.
Anyway, we can talk about that.
Yeah, yeah.

So for my background, my history born
in Jacksonville, florida, and wewere talking earlier about
people who have low confidence,low self-esteem I would have
called myself that at that timejust a very quiet, shy,
introverted personality still anormal introvert, but definitely

(07:55):
have, as an entrepreneur, havemastered the challenges around
just getting to know people andinteracting with people.
I always knew that I wanted toown my own business.
For some reason I knew that andit was a cross between media,
marketing, entertainment or do Iwant to work in community

(08:18):
service fields.
And I started out actuallyworking in community service
fields.
So I was a grant writer forsome time, working with
nonprofits.
I was also an officer withFlorida International, my
graduate school alma mater.
So I went to FloridaInternational University in
Miami, received my master's inpublic administration there

(08:39):
because I wanted to branch outand start working more so at a
national level, working more soat a national level, helping
people and serving people, andmarried that with my degree in
journalism.
So how do you go fromjournalism to working with
nonprofits and community service, just working within those
departments, the marketing andcommunications departments?

within those fields.

Yeah, and then the writing was natural
.
So marketing, grant writing,all of that was communication
for me.
And once I graduated fromFlorida, international moved to
Philadelphia, so I lived herefor a year, I remember you said
that I lived here for a fullyear and then got married, of
course, moved to DC, but I lovedPhiladelphia I really did, and

(09:22):
so it's nice to be back and seethe changes.
And as soon as I get here, I'mlooking at real estate and
looking at how much does it costto kind of have a pad that I
own here.

It's a lot more affordable than a lot of
Northeast cities.
It is still affordable it wasaffordable then and then.

it's still affordable now, even more
affordable than Jacksonville,which the prices are going up
there as well.
But coming back, here.

Everything in Florida has exploded.
It's going, yeah.
We have a lot of people movingin within the past Not this
moment, but over the last fewyears it's really exploded.

Within the past less than a decade,
because I moved back when myhusband retired from the Air
Force.
We were in San Antonio and whenwe moved back the prices were
fairly decent and now, withinthe past eight years or so, the
prices are getting up there.
So if you're looking to investand buy real estate in Florida,
definitely get there now.
I have you know we live parttime.

Yeah, you're on the West Coast, I'm on the East
Coast, but we drive down withArlo, who I was talking about,
my dog, and we, you know, so wedrive down with Arlo, who I
always talk about, my dog, andwe, you know, so we drive
through Jacksonville a lot.
So that's our second night.
Overnight is in Jacksonville.

Okay, so next time we'll have to stop
and have dinner at Morton's onthe shoreline there on the St
John's.

Can Arlo come?
Of course Arlo can come.
As long as Arlo can come, Do atime outside to the.

He'll love the view.
The water view is beautiful andso yeah, so moved to
Philadelphia and then gotmarried.
My husband was in the Air Force, stationed at Andrews Air Force
Base, loved living in DC afterthat and then he was transferred
overseas so we lived in Englandfor three years and that was

(11:08):
right at the moment.
I applied for my doctorate atUniversity of Maryland.

Gotcha.
And then what happened afterthat?

And then lived in England for three
years, had a wonderful time myfirst time working for the
federal government as themarketing director for their
morale, welfare and recreationdepartments, and flew back and
forth working on my doctorate inmanagement, with an emphasis on
crisis management.

(11:37):
So, if you can imagine,physicians save people.
For me, it's saving businesses,and that's why I'm so
passionate about working withentrepreneurs to help them to
figure this business model outand to keep pace with the
environmental changes andtechnology that are happening,
to make sure that they succeed.

So it's good work.
Back to Philadelphia on October9th because we're having the
first founders forum network,for all the previous guests of
the show to get together andwe're going to have a speak to
them that would be lovely.

You have a lot of potential clients
there.

So we have to talk about that would be great.
So you have a very like calmingpresence, which part of that
might be because you're quiet,but you've come off as a lot of
confidence, so you've built thatover the years, I see.

I built it into my company's name the
Center for Confidence, because Istarted seeing that in so many
other people, especially women,who wanted to go out on a leap
of faith and start their ownbusinesses and lean into what
they're passionate about.
You know, passion is a seriousthing.
It gnaws at you over and overagain until you finally do it,

(12:55):
and I'm sure so many people canunderstand that.
And so helping people to getout of their own way and to
believe in themselves startingwith just the mindset work, of
course is what I wanted to work.
You know, I wanted that to bethe work that I do seeing people
transform and then applyingthat to a business model.

So we only have about two minutes left before
the break.
So I want to ask you about themindset work and then I want to
talk to you about the transitionto be becoming an entrepreneur.
But what kind of mindset workdo you do?

because I'm I'm very much into that you
know, it starts with theassessments, so I found that
once you tell them who they are,it's interesting.
Um, they don't understand whothey are, and so that's part of
the problem is that so manypeople are giving them
information that doesn't makesense about themselves like they
don't know who they are.

Use discs and what else do you disc?

people.
Styles is my favorite, and thenum, the cure c assessment is
very good, okay as well.
So cure c gets into temperament, um, and that's something that
I didn't quite understand.
Like, what is temper?
Why do people do the thingsthat they do?
Is you know, it's their wiring,it's just how they're wired,
they can't get out of their ownway.

You come with your temperament.

It doesn't change, you come with it
, and so managing it is the goalFirst recognizing it and then
managing it.
And then the one that was verybig a while back I can't
remember that one, butMyers-Briggs.

I've been doing this for so long.
We've used that a lot.

So Myers-Briggs was the one that
most people were using thoseinstruments.
But then along comes some thatare more refined around behavior
versus personality andpreferences.
So that's where you have thedisc assessments People's styles
.
Assessments is how people seeyou, so that's why that one's so
valuable.
And then UPenn has the valuesassessment about character

(14:48):
strengths that I absolutely love.
Ah.

I'm aware of that one.
So you know what.
We're almost out of time beforethe break.
So when we come back, let'stalk about how you transform
from working for the governmentand your other jobs into being
an entrepreneur.
And then we want to talk aboutthe government and your other
jobs into being an entrepreneur,and then we want to talk about
the growth of your company.
So with that, let's take aquick break and we'll be right
back on Founders Forum.

Announcer (15:19):
For over a decade, the Center for Confidence LLC
TCFC, has been dedicated totransforming high potential
professionals and top industryperformers into confident,
capable leaders and businessowners who drive meaningful
change.
Guided by our mission to buildeconomic capacity and influence,
we partner with smallbusinesses and mission-driven
corporations, deliveringcustomized programs, special
projects and ongoing supportthat spark organizational growth

(15:40):
, career advancement andlong-term impact.
At TCFC, and with our emergingbrand, full Confidence Rx, we
have the prescription for notjust developing leaders we help
them shape industries,strengthen communities and build
lasting legacies.
We don't just build, wereinvest.
Join our campaign, the New LaVilla, to honor history,

(16:02):
revitalize the community andgive small businesses ownership,
equity and financial confidence.
Be part of creating a vibrantfuture for small businesses.
Follow our campaign and getinvolved today at
wwwfullconfidencerxcom.

We're back on Founders Forum with our guest
today, Valecia Dunbar, otherwiseand more popularly known as Dr.
V.
So Dr.
V, how did you get from yourvarious positions, where you
learned a lot on the job andbrought a lot to those jobs to
becoming an entrepreneur?

Yeah, so you know, going back to when I
was a kid I wanted to have myown business.
Going back to when I was a kidI wanted to have my own business
.
After we finished his work atthe Air Force and retired, I
knew day one I'm going to godowntown and I'm going to file
for my business license and getstarted.
Just get up and running, justformalizing it, registering the

(17:00):
business name and then puttingup the website shingles to open
the doors and invite clients in,because no one knew me really
in Jacksonville when I started.
I started offering pro bonosessions at the local incubator,
and so that's how I startedbuilding the brand and building
the business.

So with young entrepreneurs, new entrepreneurs
Of all types, of all types.

Yeah, this was the local business
incubator, where startups,mostly in Jacksonville, would
have low overhead and low rentso they could save some of the
money towards really buildingthe brand and marketing and
having a strategic approach togrowing and scaling their brands

(17:44):
, and so I wanted to be part ofthat from the beginning up.
But they also had tenants therewho were in business for 10, 15
, 20 years.

And how long ago was that roughly when you
started, when I?

started 10 years ago, so that would have
been 2016.

Okay, so 10 years ago.
So, and at what point did yousay, okay, this is what I'm
going to do, full time.

That was always the point.
So it was always a point.
What happened is it sort ofshifted into a niche focus on
not necessarily helping business, every business and every
business type, and you know, atevery stage.
So it really honed in onworking with people who were

(18:27):
within their first five years ofbusiness, who were ready to
scale and grow.
So they were generating revenue, steady revenue, and maybe they
were hitting the six-figureMarc or even transitioning to
the million-dollar Marc, butstaying in that small business
model range, gotcha.

So did you have challenges in growing your
business.

Yeah, the messaging was always tricky.
Who doesn't?

by the way.

Yeah, the message is always so tricky,
especially working with peoplewho have an entrepreneurial
mindset but they don't yet havethe business mindset.
And what I mean by that is theyknow they want to have a
business, they know they have aservice that they like to
provide or a product they liketo provide, but teaching them

(19:17):
the financials and understandingthat this is a numbers game.
Entrepreneurship is a numbersbusiness and you have to sustain
the income and to keep thatincome coming in, and every year
you're starting over.
So what does that look like foryou and your brand?
How do you build that clientbase and make sure that they

(19:39):
continue to believe that you'rethe choice amongst all the
competitors?
So it's really a journey goingon that journey with them, but
helping them to transition out.

So when you figured out that you're figuring
out that message, but at thesame time, you've just entered
the entrepreneur's game,entrepreneur's world, so you
have to master the numbers gameat the same time.
While you're doing that, right,you have to master the numbers
game at the same time whileyou're doing that right.

Valecia "Dr. V" D (20:04):
Interestingly , that was my second business.
I started a business not toolong after college, so I started
my marketing business.
I worked for State Farm, as amatter of fact, in insurance,
for a bit, just to make sure mystudent debts were just
manageable and paid off, andafter that I started a marketing

(20:28):
firm.
So I had the marketing firm forthree years and then in Orlando
, and then when I decided topursue my master's, I focused on
that.

So you'd already done the numbers game before,
so you had that experiencebehind you.
So you figured out the message.
And how is your business today?
How busy is it today?

My business is great.
Today I found my niche.
I've been working with I'mcertified with the state as a
business technical assistanceprovider, working with
entrepreneurs, individuals withdisabilities who are interested
in entrepreneurship, withentrepreneurs individuals with
disabilities who are interestedin entrepreneurship.
I've been working with theGoldman Sachs program now for

(21:08):
quite a while as a businessadvisor, so it's corporate,
state and local contracts arecoming in and it's been a
rewarding journey.

So well, are you on your own?
Do you have other people?
Do you have subcontractors,contractors, you do Many or I
you have subcontractors,contractors you do Many, or I
have six contractors.
Yeah, I figured you and theyrotate in and out.

Yeah, depending on the job.

By the way.
So we talk a lot here about,you know, employee culture,
company culture and all thatkind of thing which is culture
is changing because a lot ofcompanies actually a smart I'm
not saying you shouldn't haveemployees, our company, we have
employees but it makes a lot ofsense today to have contractors.
And you still need to build aculture, which I'm sure you're

(21:52):
doing, because you're all aboutculture.

Yeah, so we have our team meetings and
so our team name is Team OpenShoot.
Name is Team Open Shoot.
So you know, we want to be thatparachute that is opening up,
you know, jumping out of it anddiving in to help and support
people.
So we are, you know, theinspiration in our minds to help

(22:23):
people, to open up their ownparachutes and give them
protection and cover and a good,firm landing when they need
guidance.

So let's talk about La Villa and what's going
on with that.

Over the years.
La Villa is what I see as theanswer to why so many
entrepreneurs go out of businessprematurely, and that's because
they're trying to grow andscale, but they don't have the
resources in place yet, and sothe two largest expense items
employees and office space werethe two that were just eating up

(22:54):
their income, and so I wantedto address that issue with the
new LaVilla.

And how do you see that working so people?
Obviously space will be a lotless expensive.
There'll be pooled resources, Iimagine.
Actually, when I'm in Florida,I work in a co-working space, so
I have a sense of what that'slike and it's great actually.
I've always had my own office,but I love doing that.

Yeah, and imagine having ownership in
that space.
That is the Nula Villasbusiness model that I now want
the businesses in that space tohave ownership and equity in it
so that they not only and in thereal estate itself.
In the real estate itself thatthey're owning the properties
and they don't have to throwaway this money.
They can actually start gaininginterest and benefits.

It's almost like an employee stock ownership
plan for entrepreneurs, in asense.

Exactly.

It's really cool , Exactly Really cool idea.
Do you know about EO, by theway?
Entrepreneurs Organization.

No, I do not oh we'll talk about that
offline.

So I've been a member.
I've just left just because I'mso busy, but it's a great
organization worldwide ofentrepreneurs that you should
connect with because they coulduse you.

I would appreciate that referral yes.

We.
So let's talk about your futurevision.
I know a lot of that has to dowith Lovilla, but for the next
three, if you and I are talkingand it's August of 2028 and
we're looking back on the lastthree years Dr.
V, what would have to happenfor you to feel that that was a
successful three-year period inyour business, in your life?
However you want to approachthat?

Yeah, three years from now, I want to
have multiple new La Villabusiness models around the
country, and so the other pieceof that is reinvesting in some
of our forgotten spaces, ourhistoric main streets where
people have, you know, there'sbeen disinvestment and people

(24:49):
have moved out and thebusinesses are struggling and
buildings are vacant.
How do we take those vacantbuildings and start to bring
them back to life?

I noticed you're like a poet Forgotten Main
Streets and I'm a songwriter.
So I'm writing that downbecause I think there's a
songwriter.
So I'm writing that downbecause I think I think there's
a song in that, because we'rereinvesting in our forgotten
main streets.

That's our, that's our motto.

I love that.
What challenges do you see overthe next three years in
accomplishing that?

vision.
You know consistency.
It goes a little bit back toyour, your word of the day
Bureaucracy is staying on top ofeverything that's changing in
terms of regulations and policyrules.
So just staying ahead of thereal estate game and making sure
that we're not only creating anew business model but also

(25:44):
informing how small businessescan best perform and thrive in
this new economy that's emerging.

I always ask what strengths do you have to
meet those challenges?
But you've already answered itYou're going to stay ahead of it
because that's one of yourunique abilities.

Stay organized, plan, watch your
numbers, watch what's comingthis year.
You know every year you'restarting over, so right now you
should be thinking about 2026.

I know you're prepared.
I can't wait to hear what it'slike in three years.
Couple really quick questionsbecause we're almost out of time
, which is time flies.

This goes too fast.

Sure does.
You're a reader.
I know what are you currentlyreading oh, wow, I.

So I this, uh, the six, triple, eight
movie that came out, the womenof the post is the book version
of it, so I've I've beenfinishing.

Yeah, the women of the post that was a great
movie or show.
I guess it was like a series,right uh, it was a netflix.

I guess it was like a series, right.
It was a Netflix show, netflixmovie, yeah.

Netflix movie yeah, that's a cool one.

The 6888 , the Army Regiment during World
War II.
Ah that carried the mail, andso there was a blockage of mail
that was not getting back to thefamilies of the soldiers, and
so it was a huge morale issuethat they solved.

So we've been talking about you're doing very
important work and I love itbecause it's centered around
entrepreneurs.
What about your legacy?
What would you like to seethere?

I've been looking into trusts and
forming longer term financialinstruments so that whatever
wealth I generate from mybusiness, whatever wealth that
we generate from the ownershipin these properties, that
entrepreneurs in the future maybe able to draw from it as well

(27:34):
and benefit from gettingfinancial grants or resources
for their businesses coming outof the pool of money that we
grow Well.

as a financial planner, I've been talking a lot
to people about purpose trust.
We'll have to talk about thatoffline.

I'd love to talk about that.

Dr.
V, thanks for being here.
I knew this was going to be alot of fun and it was, and I
really appreciate you,appreciate the audience, for
listening to us and we'll seeyou all again next week on
Founders Forum.

Thank you.

Announcer (28:05):
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Thank you, we hope you enjoyedyour time with Founders Forum
and that you found value to takewith you throughout your day.
Join us again next week foranother episode of Founders
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