I often spend a lot of time with early-stage companies talking about building the team – advisors, employees, partners, etc. This is no less important for experienced business owners and leaders. And both need to invest time and money into the wide variety of talent, systems, and expertise needed to build profitable ventures. What most people miss is that your team includes you and the investments you make in working on your business (and yourself) and not just in it.

Make Time and Money for Your Investment

The trick is making time and money for that investment. It’s hard to do – there is no line on the balance sheet for this asset. It may not have an immediate and directly measurable ROI. Nonetheless, it can make all the difference when it comes to meeting key milestones and maximizing profitability. How much time do you spend building your personal reserve of energy and strength? How do you maintain a sense of gratitude and abundance when times are tough and things don’t go as planned? When do you know that sheer force of will alone will not be enough to make it to the next level?

To Wrap It Up

It can start by prioritizing time to meet with your closest mentors and advisors. Or by carving out time for daily reflection, visioning, and planning. Perhaps it looks like picking five books to read this year or hiring a coach. Whatever investment you feel comfortable starting with is up to you. The key is to start. Get started now by subscribing to the Entrepreneurially Thinking podcast. 

When It Started

Back in 2016, Jade Harrell, owner of RareGem Productions had what I thought was a crazy idea and definitely did not want to step outside my comfort zone. She pitched a podcast to me and Cheryl Watkins-Moore. Cheryl and I have worked together for more than 3 years. Even early on you could tell that we were peas in a pod – fiercely committed to advancing racial and gender equity in entrepreneurship, eager to collaborate to make that happen and firey Sagetariouses to boot!

Instant Bond

Jade saw our chemistry and our potential to inspire listeners to be entrepreneurial wherever they are. The Entrepreneurially Thinking podcast was born. Needless to say, what started off feeling weird and scary has turned out to be deeply rewarding and a whole lot of fun! The podcast took me and Cheryl out of our comfort zones – actually, it reset the boundaries of those zones, making them wider, more flexible and less intimidating.

To Wrap It Up

So now, I am a podcaster, among many other things! And I know I will keep adding nuances to my identity as I continue to do new things and meet new people. I hope you will step outside your comfort zone in some small way. What assets, resources or potential do you have that is untapped? How are you underestimating yourself or your company? What are you afraid of? What’s the worst that can happen? Need help? Let me know!

Transforming the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

It may not seem like it but having a podcast is a big deal. Yes, Cheryl and I are funny (hysterical, actually.) And we interview fabulous people doing amazing things. What you might not know is that with each episode we are transforming the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Seriously. See how I stepped outside my comfort zone in my other blog post.

By choosing to focus primarily but not exclusively on women and entrepreneurs of color, often early on in building their ventures, the Entrepreneurially Thinking podcast gives voice to underestimated entrepreneurs. This is incredibly important. First, it makes their stories and experiences legitimate. Being featured in the media, being asked to tell your story and speak your truth makes it/you real. It’s documented. Citable. On the record. That makes it/them undeniable. When there are hundreds of such stories it makes their potential and reality replicable and repeatable. No one can claim our guests are the rare exception to the rule. We are normalizing their exceptionalism.

Stand Out

Being known also means they can be found. Often, investors, lenders, purchasers, boards of directors, executives, etc. say they can’t find women, people of color, LGBTQIA, people with disabilities or other non-majority group members with whom to partner, invest in, hire, mentor or lead. We’ve found them. They are here. Aggregating plentiful examples also makes it easy for aspiring entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and growing businesses to find role models to follow. We need to know the stories of people who look and sound like us in order to know what’s possible. To know that we aren’t alone and that we have every right to dream big.

To Wrap It Up

One day, telling these stories won’t be remarkable. We won’t have to have a #facesoffounders campaign to remind us that businesses are built and run by people other than white men. We won’t lament that women and entrepreneurs of color receive virtually no venture capital funding and often build companies with less than $1m in assets. And a venture fund specifically for black women founders won’t be newsworthy or needed. Until then, we will elevate and celebrate the stories of the underestimated, transforming the system one episode at a time.