Legal-ease For Entrepreneurs: Empowering Creatives About The Legal Aspects Of Running A Business

Gabi Gregg is a style blogger and designer whose mission is to not just encourage women of all sizes to feel beautiful but to create change within the fashion industry.   And that’s exactly what she did with her plus size "bikini shoot" that ignited a viral craze in 2012.   The photos of Gabi in her "fatkini" landed her a 5-year design partnership with Swimsuitsforall and put her on the map as a blogger with mega influence.  When she announced her first collection - it sold out within months!  In this episode, Gabi and I discuss: Why her blog gained a huge following very quickly; How signing on with a blogging agency helped her see her value and learn the to use her influence to create a sustainable business; And some of the struggles she faced trying to get her clothing line, Premme, off the ground. Gabi has written for InStyle Magazine, Vogue Italia, Refinery29 and Rookie Mag. She has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, and MTV, and has partnered as an ambassador and consultant to many top g

Libryia Jones is living a two-fold dream:  building a business that allows her to travel around the world.  The Wanderist Life is a community of location independent (entrepreneurs or employees) mostly black professionals who travel the world for up to a whole year.  Libryia had always wanted to travel and live abroad but she just didn’t know how.  While in grad school, her professor recommended her for the perfect opportunity, but she was disqualified because she had a child.  Years later, another opportunity presented itself and Libryia was yet again disqualified because she had a child.  That’s when Libryia sprang into action and created a travel community that could accommodate people just like her.  In this episode, Librya and I talk about how the Wanderist Life travel program works, who it’s a perfect fit for, how they prepare their travelers for their trip, and in case you’re thinking well I’m not location independent, then Libryia has tips and resources to help you become location independent. Listen

Today I’m chatting with Kendra James, CEO and creator of The Finance Femme, a premier finance consulting firm for women entrepreneurs.  Kendra integrates her corporate experience, extensive entrepreneurial knowledge to help women run their business with the confidence of having a full-time CFO.  Upon graduating with a degree in Finance and accounting, Kendra spent 10+ years working for companies like GE managing over 2 billion in sales and 200 million in expenses.  She spent thousands of hours inside or preparing for, Executive Boardroom meetings.   But, a random conversation with the business owner of a boutique garnered Kendra her first client.  The boutique owner was on the verge of losing her business because of her finances and Kendra was able to help her get things under control.  It was through that experience that Kendra discovered a passion for helping small business owners with their finances. Kendra and I discuss her own entrepreneurship journey, how she went from not defining her target audience t

Today I’m chatting with Kriss Rowry of KrissDitIt.com.  Kriss specializes in this art – her websites are masterpieces!  Krystle Rowry (or Kriss) is not only a web designer and brand strategist, she specializes in creating beautiful online homes that generate ongoing revenue while conveying each entrepreneur’s unique style and message. Kriss Rowry gives amazing insight into how she grew a business that keeps her booked six months out, how B-school changed everything for her, and the do’s and dont’s to creating a beautiful and profitable website.  Kriss started out as a beauty blogger and an intern and quickly became known for designing websites.  Kriss made two major decisions that turned her business around: (1) she joined Marie Forleo’s B-School and she niched down to cater to an elite clientele.  As a result, Kriss has designed some of the most popular and beautiful websites on the internet. She is a member of the Marie Forleo web design team and is an official mentor of B-School.  Kriss is such a fan of B-

According to a recent study, by 2053, the median income of Blacks will be $0 (ZERO) - the Black middle class will disappear.   A Brandeis University study last year determined that the real reason whites are richer than blacks is because they pass wealth down from one generation to the next.  Some of the notable statistics the study found were:   Whites have enjoyed a long history of public policies that have favored them – GI bill; housing banking, education, etc.;  White adults who attended college have 7.2 times more wealth than the median Black adult who attended college; White SINGLE parent homes have 2.2 times more wealth than the median Black TWO-parent household; White households that include a full-time worker has 7.6 times more wealth than the median Black household with a full-time worker. Blacks earn more money today than any other time in history; Blacks own more wealth today than any other time in history.  But we don't pass it down and each generation has to start from scratch.   In this epis

Today I’m chatting with Lamar Tyler, owner of Traffic Sales & Profit, whose life’s motto is Passion, Purpose, and Profit. He and his wife Ronnie, are the creators of the internationally renowned blog Black and Married with Kids.  They own Tyler New Media which has four independently produced films and a social media presence that includes over 500,000 Facebook fans.  Lamar’s businesses focus on promoting positive images of black families and building generational wealth in the black community. Today Lamar and I discuss why they decided to focus on promoting positive images of black families, why it’s important for us to build wealth that we can pass on, and our greatest challenges as entrepreneurs.    According to Lamar, the key to success in the black community is:       Building a network and sharing information       Making sacrifices to create and accumulate wealth       Creating multiple streams of income; and       Investing in education and coaching Lamar has been recognized by Ebony, Essence, an

January is almost over and I'm sure you're working on all of those power resolutions you made for your business this year.  Those power moves should include making the legal aspects of your business a priority.     In today’s episode, I’m talking about the 4 legal moves you need to make in 2018 to take your business to the next level.    Legal move #1 - Legalize your business.  There is no reason you should be out in these streets without legalizing your business.  Here are three reasons why you should do it: Make your business official Build trust with your audience and attract higher caliber clients Protect yourself and limit your liability Legal move #2 - Get a lawyer on your team Establish a relationship with an attorney (pay for a consultation!) You don’t have to hire an attorney full-time, but having one you’ve worked with and who is familiar with your business makes it easier for you to ask that “quick question” down the line Legal move #3 - Put it in writing! No transaction without a contract, no

Imagine being stranded in a desert for four days and the only way to get water is to crawl on your hands and knees for 4 days, just to get water.   That’s how Rohan felt about getting out of corporate servitude and that’s what drove him to laser focus on building his own business.  Rohan’s no-fluff-no-nonsense approach to entrepreneurship is refreshing and productive.  In an age where too many of us focus on the things that don’t matter, Rohan knows how to cut to the chase and get paid. In this episode, Rohan and I discuss his childhood growing up in Barbados, how getting overlooked for promotions at his accounting job forced him to turn to entrepreneurship, and how he mastered providing local services with a tech twist. Rohan shared three things every entrepreneur needs to be successful: Discipline – success requires waking up every day and doing the same thing and not seeing a return for a long time; Self-awareness – some ideas where no amount of passion will make it viable; and Creativity - the ability to

Today I’m chatting with Bola Sokunbi, Certified Financial Education Instructor and founder of Clever Girl Finance, a platform that empowers and educates women to make the best financial decision for their current and future selves and to pursue their dreams of financial independence in order to live life on their own terms.  To date, Clever Girl Finance has reached over 100,000 women.   It’s easy to budget when you have a steady paycheck, but what happens when you get paid every other month or make 10K from a major launch and crickets for another three months?    Bola and I discuss her early teachings of finances from her mother while growing up in Nigeria, why she started Clever Girl Finance, how she went full-time in Clever Girl Finance within a year, and the common mistakes entrepreneurs when starting a business. Bola shared three tips for entrepreneurs wanting to transition from their 9-5 to full-time entrepreneur: Management expectations and expect inconsistent income. Create a business plan, one which

In August 2016, losing a close friend left me devastated and I was ready to quit my solo practice and go back to working for BigLaw.   In June 2016, my business had finally started to turn around so I decided to start a podcast to share my journey.  And by August 2016, I had recorded a couple of episodes, told a few friends, lined up guests and dropped $2k on a website and brand strategies.  When tragedy struck in 2016, I wanted to pack the whole thing up and move on, but I had already invested time and hard-earned money into this podcast, I figured, I'd just release the episodes - which I did in December 2016.   I had no intention of recording additional episodes and didn't think anyone would listen.  However, I wanted to finish what I started, so I released the episodes.     After releasing the podcast, I received so much support and feeback from friends and family (and random people!), it kept me going.   In this episode, I talk about how my podcast helped me find my voice, increase revenue in my business

Persistence - nothing can take the place of persistence.  Persistence and determination are all powerful.   I mentioned in episode 37 that I lack discipline and it has held me back from realizing my potential.  I dug deep and discovered that my lack of discipline was due to my inability to follow up - in other words, I'm not persistent.     In this episode, I explain the rationale behind why I chose persistence as my word for 2018 (shout out to Dreena Whitfield and WhitPR and the movie The Founders).   In this episode, I discuss:   Persistence works because it's a numbers game. Being persistence requires a level of crazy - be proud of your crazy. In order to be persistence, you have to be very clear about your message and you have to know the business you're in.   Why I'm going for RESULTS and not goals How working toward my result gives me more purpose than just focusing on goals (tip form Ep. 33 guest, Courtney Sanders).   I'd love to hear all about your word of the year.  DM, tag me or holla at me on Ins

December 3, 2017 marked my 1 year podcast anniversary.   I've learned so much about myself, my profession, online marketing, and entrepreneurship, etc., the list goes on.   In this episode, I narrow it down to the five (5) most important things I've learned.  Here's my list: You have something to say and people want to listen.  someone is waiting for YOUR story to get started Just start! Done is better than perfect You cannot do it alone. building a community of other solopreneurs has been the highlight of my year.  Create systems that support your goals and collect data. data tells you who your audience is and what they want. Know your true competition.  everyone who does what you do is not your competition.  Knowing your true competition will take your business to the next level.  Two things I've learned about myself: I'm a risk taker and I like it #goodtrouble I'm afraid I'm not disciplined enough to be an entrepreneur :-/   Listen for more details.  To get more information about

Is your content irresistible? Content creation is a major component of building an online business;   it's what helps to get your name out there - as an expert, it’s what helps you build your list and it’s what makes you those sales.  But monetization is not always easy.   Today's guest, Danielle Leslie is the founder of Courses From Scratch and is a course selling bad ass.  She's has developed a few techniques and strategies that help content creator monetize their content.   Danielle's career has taken a few twists and turns.  She's worked for a couple of start-ups and Udemy, where she honed her course creating and course launching skills.   When she started her consulting business 2 years ago, she made 10K in consulting revenue within 30 days and booked over $35,000 in consulting contracts.  Danielle now teaches other business owners how to monetize their content.   In this episode, we discuss: How she went from 0 to 1530 email subscribers and made $20k from my online course (when she had no following, no

LinkedIn is one of the most underutilized social media platforms and today's guest Becky Mollenkamp discusses how creative solopreneurs can use LinkedIn to attract steady paying corporate clients. Becky is a business mentor for creative entrepreneurs and started her career working for one of the largest publishing companies.  At one point she left and started her own freelancing business and uses linked in to attract corporate clients.  There's a lot of talk about who your ideal client is but unfortunately, that doesn't usually include corporate clients.  Corporate clients are great because they are usually working with a sizeable budget, pay on time, and give you more leeway in creating work.   In today's episode Becky details the process of getting in the eyeballs or the inboxes of corporate businesses and landing those corporate clients;  How to use linked in to up your connections and your chances and how to create content and post content on Linkedin that will attract those corporate execs. To get more i

Multiple revenue streams are a key component to building a sustainable business.  And one way to create an additional stream of income is through affiliate sales.   Addi Ganley started her online journey in 2011 on a whim because she wanted an outlet to share how her family was saving money. What began as a hobby quickly turned into a business and now 6 years later it generates a six-figure income. Addi realized that as her blog was becoming a daily resource for her readers, they began asking her for tools (read - links) to help them.  Addi then created a system to monetize the traffic she was getting from various outlets to her affiliate links.   I’ve applied some of her methods and teachings to my business, and it has helped me generate affiliate income – so it does work.   In this episode, Addi and I talk about how she stumbled into affiliate marketing, how she connected the dots between what her audience was asking for and affiliate links and how she created a system that drove traffic to those links, and

If you want to learn how to build a successful business, Courtney Sanders is the person to talk to.  Not only has she built her own side hustle to multiple 6-figures in about 2 years, she's helped thousands of other women do the same. I chose Courtney to open up this series because building profitable business starts with self-discipline and focus.  Courtney specializes in just that.  Courtney is an authority on women’s empowerment, she offers training and personal development online & in-person education.  In this episode, Courtney details her progression as the Think and Grow Chick from having her first event where she lost $300, to self-publishing her first book, to developing a sales funnel and a mastermind that has earned her multiple six figures in her business.  And she breaks down exactly how she did it!  Courtney explains why when she was steadily grossing almost 6K per month, she waited almost a year before quitting her job.   Since launching Think and Grow Chick, Courtney has had the opportunit

 If you haven’t heard about Arsha Jones then you’re missing out on an amazing resource and a source of inspiration. She is one of the smartest online business and e-commerce entrepreneurs I've come across.  She has a keen sense for marketing, sales, technology, social media and pop culture. She has built multiple e-commerce businesses, including Capital City and Tees in the Trap, with revenues approaching nearly half a million dollars in less than two years. Arsha’s brands have been featured on media outlets such as Buzzfeed, The Washington Post, Black Enterprise, Fox CBS, and TV One.  Arsha also runs a wildly popular Facebook group called Build, Brand and Launch where she teaches others how to turn their passions into profit with physical products and how to optimize their e-commerce business. Arsha and I talk about: How her SEO skills got her noticed by The Washington Post; Her recent recognition from Black Enterprise, winning the Best Family-Run Business award; How Tees In the Trap come about and why she

Tiffini Gatlin was tired of spending 5-6 hours a day prepping synthetic hair for just one client, so she came up with a technique to pre-curl the hair - this idea turned into Tiffini's million-dollar hair company, Latched and Hooked. But that's not the whole story.  Tiffini's story involves leaving her corporate job as an assistant VP and starting a few companies, including a celebrity concierge service and a digital magazine.  Eventually, she settled on braiding hair and she eventually developed a business idea that turned into her current business.   In this episode, Tiffini and I talk about how she got started with banking, how she used those skills when she started her business, some of the legal issues she's faced while building her business and how she distinguishes herself in a competitive, saturated market. Tiffini's big takeaways from this conversation is (1) lawyers are important - if you can't afford an attorney, then you shouldn't take your product to market (2) she doesn't balance everything, pra

Janet LeBlanc, the founder Paper + Spark, offers easy online bookkeeping solutions to makers and creative entrepreneurs.  Janet, a certified public accountant, also makes jewelry and stationary products that she sells on Etsy.  Once her follow Etsy store owners found out she was an accountant, they started reaching out for bookkeeping and accounting tips.   Seeing a void, Janet created her first iteration of the Etsy Seller Spreadsheet, 2015.  Her goal was to help creative entrepreneurs become more confident and less confused about the financial side of running a business.  Janet's spreadsheets and bookkeeping solutions are made specifically for entrepreneurs who don't have the budget to hire a bookkeeper but still need a comprehensive accounting and bookkeeping solution. In this episode, we talk about the four common mistakes new entrepreneurs make when it comes to the tax and accounting of their business and we walk through how Janet's spreadsheets help to fix all of those mistakes.  Janet's spreadsheets in

Archel Bernard has taken her love for design and sewing African fashion to unprecedented heights.  She is the owner of The Bombchel Factory and Mango Rags boutique in Monrovia, Liberia.  When Archel moved back to Liberia after graduating college, she wanted to get into journalism and thought a great way to stand out on YouTube but blend into the community would be to wear West African fashion. What started as a need to represent her Liberian heritage has now turned into training disadvantaged women to sew her designs and empowering the women to become self-sufficient. Archel's mission took a significant turn amid the deadly Ebola outbreak in Liberia. She saw the devastation in a country she loved; a country still struggling to overcome civil war. Archel decided to open a factory to help the people of her ancestral homeland to rebuild.  She named it The Bombchel Factory. We talk about selling her first pieces out of her mom’s garage, her business surviving the Ebola virus, being mentioned in the New York Times