Business is EMOTIONAL!
Our community’s efforts to “support Black Business” is not permission to be mediocre. Being a BLACK Business Owner adds us to a powerful community of world changers, activists, and innovators! And I do my best to honor that with ALL MADE WELL • Spiritual & Emotional Recovery Advocates.
If you haven’t checked out what Black inventors have created, I invite you to Google Black inventions and learn a few new names this month.
But I would be inauthentic if I didn’t acknowledge the big pink elephant in the digital room:
A LOT of Black-owned businesses have been run poorly and left bad impressions on their past clients. (Come on. Let’s be real.)
But I invite you to consider why:
A lot of Black business owners were forced to start business to escape the toxic environments that many of us have experienced in the workplace. So they may have begin with a sense of necessity and not as much awareness of what it would take.
But once you begin, it feels like the pressure compounds to continue and see it through. So many Black-owned businesses are solopreneurships because hiring someone else requires revenue.
But there isn’t enough revenue because they began with limited funds and couldn’t get bank loans to pour thousands into advertising like their paler competitors do. So they are trying to do marketing, sales, client support, fulfillment/shipping, and client retention activities all themselves.
So they exhaust their savings trying to stay afloat hoping to go viral and get an influx of clients/orders, and then they get a text from a friend who wants to use their service. “Yay!!” But they didn’t come with any budget at all and they expect a discount “because we’re friends!”
Out of a need for revenue, they continually take what they can get and then their customer base is filled with people who see them as a friend and not a business and refuse to pay what it costs to maintain the business. And they close.
When we say “support Black business”, it is a request that we be seen as the innovators and world changers we are trying to be and held to the same standard and given the same respect that you would Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk—Did get a friend discount on your last Amazon order? Or are you texting Elon for that ugly truck for free?
So if you respect what they are doing and their work is something you believe in, SUPPORT a Black-Owned Business today!
That means—Pay full price. (Extra as a donation if you believe in what they are doing!)
Refer people who can also. Because we have already poured all we have into these businesses.
And if you have a grievance, bring it (at least bring it to me. I can handle it. I can’t vouch for how other people will respond. 🤷🏾♀️) I am constantly trying to get better so tell me.
LIKE • SHARE • COMMENT on posts. Because we need more EYES on our businesses outside of just the little pocket of the community that we know.
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As you can imagine, I could go on, but I think you see where I’m going.
If you know a business owner, be gentle with them. This road is HARD!! As a business owner, I am so grateful to those who supported me while my business was messy. 😁 I absolutely believe in business excellence, but when it doesn’t work out seamlessly, just know I’m still trying.
And if you are a Black business owner, please have a therapist, support group, and accountability partners and vent to THEM. The client experience should not be based on how your day is going. Your legacy and impact in the world is bigger than that!
#BlackBusinessMonth #healunapologetically #MeMADEWELL #holyhothead
