Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / America at 250: Frederick Douglass - The Power of Owning Your Voice

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America at 250: Frederick Douglass - The Power of Owning Your Voice · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  Three, two, one, zero.
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  Ignition.
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  Lift off.
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with the number one small business expert, Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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  Have you subscribed to the small biz chat podcast?
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  Well, it's time.
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  Every Wednesday, we offer listeners bite sized actionable tips to start and grow a successful
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  small business.
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  In just twenty minutes or so a week, you can get a ton of insight and resources to propel
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  your business forward.
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  Be sure to subscribe to the Small Bitch Chat podcast today.
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  Hi, everybody.
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  Welcome to another episode of the Small Biz Chat podcast.
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  This is a special series called America two fifty, the entrepreneurs who built America.
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  I'm your host, Melinda Emerson, small business lady, America's number one small business
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  expert.
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  And as our nation celebrates its two hundred and fiftieth birthday in July, we are looking
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  beyond the history books to discover the entrepreneurs whose vision, courage, and
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  innovation helped shape America.
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  So far, we've talked about Benjamin Franklin, and we've introduced you to James Fortin.
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  And now today, we're gonna be talking about someone whose greatest business asset wasn't a
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  factory.
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  It wasn't a product.
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  It was in fact his voice.
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  We're gonna be talking about Frederick Douglass.
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  Now most Americans know Frederick Douglass as one of the greatest abolitionists in our
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  nation's history, but he was also an extremely successful entrepreneur.
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  He was a brilliant orator.
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  He was a gifted writer, a statesman, a champion for justice.
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  Frederick Douglass understood something every entrepreneur should understand today.
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  If you don't build a platform to tell your story, someone else controls your story.
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  So long before podcasts, YouTube, LinkedIn, newsletters, social media, Frederick Douglass
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  built a personal brand, launched a publishing company, owned a newspaper, became a best
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  selling author, and created multiple streams of income, allowing him to remain financially
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  independent while changing the course of American history.
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  His story isn't simply about freedom.
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  It's about ownership.
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  Now Frederick Douglass was born in 1818 in slavery in Maryland.
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  He didn't know his exact birthday.
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  He didn't know his father.
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  And as was common during slavery, he was separated from his mother while he was still an
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  infant.
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  For him, freedom wasn't limited.
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  It just simply didn't exist.
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  But there was one thing that Frederick Douglass possessed that could never be taken away, His
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  curiosity.
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  As a young boy in Baltimore, Douglass was sent to live with the Odd family.
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  Sophia Odd, the wife of the enslaver, began teaching him the alphabet.
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  And when her husband discovered what she was doing, he immediately stopped the lessons.
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  He reportedly told her that something that would change Frederick Douglass' life forever.
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  He said, if you teach him to read, there will be no keeping him.
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  Learning will spoil the best slave in the world.
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  Frederick Douglass later wrote that hearing those words was like receiving a roadmap to
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  freedom.
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  If education threatened slavery, then education must be the key to liberation.
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  So he taught himself to read.
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  He traded bread with neighborhood children in exchange for reading lessons.
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  He studied discarded newspapers.
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  He practiced writing whenever he could.
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  Every word he learned became another step towards freedom.
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  And this is an important lesson for entrepreneurs.
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  Knowledge changes everything.
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  No one can take away what you learn.
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  Your education becomes an asset that appreciates for the rest of your life.
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  Now in 1838, Frederick Douglass escaped slavery and made his way north.
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  He arrived to New York City with little money, but he carried something far more valuable, an
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  extraordinary story and the courage to tell it.
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  And little did he know, that story would become the foundation of one of the most influential
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  personal brands in American history.
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  Like many entrepreneurs, Frederick Douglass started out working whatever jobs he could to
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  find he had a young family, he had to support himself, so he loaded ships.
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  He worked as a laborer.
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  He did whatever honest work was available.
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  But then something extraordinary happened.
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  People began asking him to tell his story.
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  At first, he spoke small gatherings organized by the abolitionist movement.
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  Audiences were captivated.
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  Here was a man who hadn't simply read about slavery, but he survived it.
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  And his firsthand account was powerful, authentic, and impossible to ignore.
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  Word spread quickly.
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  Soon he was traveling all over The United States speaking before churches and civics
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  organizations, public meetings.
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  His speeches were eloquent.
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  He was persuasive and they were deeply moving.
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  And the crowds were amazed, not only by his personal story, but by his intelligence, wit,
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  and command of language.
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  Some people even refused to believe this man had ever been a slave.
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  Ironically, that skepticism created Douglas's next entrepreneurial opportunity in 1845.
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  He published his autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American
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  Slave.
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  The book became an immediate success, sold thousands of copies in The US and abroad,
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  introducing readers around the world to his remarkable journey, establishing Frederick
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  Douglass as one of America's most influential authors at the time.
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  Today, we call it a bestseller.
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  For Douglass, it became something even more important.
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  It became intellectual property.
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  In other words, your knowledge can become one of your most valuable business assets.
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  Frederick Douglass transformed his lived experience into a book that educated, inspired,
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  and generated income, but he didn't stop there.
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  As demand for his speeches grew, he built a national speaking career traveling extensively,
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  even in through Great Britain and Ireland.
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  His lectures generated income, expanded his audience, and strengthened his reputation.
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  Today, we will call that, you know, being a keynote speaker, being a professional speaker
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  with a powerful personal brand.
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  But Frederick Douglass understood something even more important.
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  He realized that if he depended entirely on invitations from others to speak, someone else
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  controlled his ability to generate revenue.
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  So, he made another bold entrepreneurial decision.
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  He decided to build his own platform.
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  In 1847, Frederick Douglass founded the North Star, an abolitionist newspaper published in
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  Rochester, New York.
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  Launching a newspaper in the nineteenth century was no small undertaking.
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  He had to raise capital, purchase printing equipment, secure office space, hire employees,
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  build a subscriber base, attract advertisers, manage production, oversee distribution, and
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  create compelling content week after week.
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  Not only was he a publisher, but he was also the editor and the marketer.
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  And he was also a a media personality at this point.
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  His newspaper's motto was rights is of no sex, truth is of no color, and god is the father of
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  us all, and we are all brethren.
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  This wasn't simply a slogan to him.
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  It was his brand promise.
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  Frederick Douglass understood that people don't simply follow products.
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  They follow purpose.
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  The North Star gave Douglass complete ownership of his story.
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  He told it himself, and he chose the headlines.
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  He wrote the editorials and he also gave other people opportunities to write for him.
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  And so he realized that as his influence grew, his business success did too, but he needed his
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  business to keep running while he was on the road doing speeches.
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  So that's why he empowered his team to keep the North Star going.
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  So really he viewed all of his businesses as a financial independence, really as a tool that
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  really enabled him to advocate boldly support others and remain true to his mission.
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  And that's really where his story becomes so inspiring By the 1950s, Frederick Douglass had
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  accomplished something, excuse me, by the 1850s, Frederick Douglass had accomplished
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  something extraordinary.
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  He had escaped slavery and had become one of America's best known authors.
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  He owned one of the nation's most influential newspapers, and he built a successful speaking
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  career that took him across the world, but he wasn't really interested in being famous.
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  He wanted to make America better.
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  He understood that financial independence gave him something incredibly valuable freedom, but
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  not just freedom for poverty, but freedom to speak the truth, freedom to challenge
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  injustice, freedom to lead.
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  And when you've built a successful business, you can gain the ability to choose your mission
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  instead of just waiting on someone else to define it.
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  Douglas also understood the power of relationships.
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  Through his life, he built meaningful connections with political leaders, business
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  owners, reformers, educators, and community organizers.
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  He believed that lasting change required collaboration.
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  One of those great relationships was with President Abraham Lincoln.
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  During the American civil war, Douglas met with Lincoln several times to advocate for the
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  enlisted black soldiers who were fighting on behalf of the union.
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  And he wanted to make sure that the policies there would move the nation closer from freedom
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  to equality.
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  Frederick Douglass built credibility long before he gained access to the highest levels
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  of government.
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  People listened to him because he earned their trust first.
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  He demonstrated integrity.
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  He consistently delivered value in his writing speeches and his leadership.
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  As entrepreneurs, we often focus on growing our network.
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  Douglas reminds us that as we should also focus on growing our credibility, your reputation
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  opens doors that money cannot.
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  Even as his influence grew, Douglas never stopped learning.
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  He continued writing.
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  He continued speaking.
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  He continued challenging himself.
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  And as he adapted as America changed, proving that great leaders are lifelong students.
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  Perhaps the greatest lesson from Frederick Dell is that, is that business was a vehicle purpose
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  was a destination.
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  His books funded his mission.
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  His new newspaper amplified his ideas and his speaking engagements expanded his influence.
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  His financial independence gave him the freedom to advocate for the changes he believed America
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  needed.
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  And that's entrepreneurship at its highest level.
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  I think when I think about Frederick Douglass' life, I'm reminded that every entrepreneur has
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  a voice.
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  The question isn't whether you have one.
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  The question is how will you use it?
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  Will you simply promote your products or will you use your platform to educate, encourage,
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  and inspire others?
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  Frederick Douglass chose the second path and nearly two hundred years later, his words
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  continue to move people, challenge injustice, and remind us that one determined entrepreneur
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  truly can help change the world.
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  So when I think about the five lessons that we as entrepreneurs can all take from Frederick
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  Douglass, number one is invest in yourself.
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  Frederick Douglass understood that education was the key to changing his life.
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  He taught himself to read and write, knowing that knowledge was something no one could ever
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  take away from him.
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  Number two is own your story.
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  Douglas did not allow others to define him.
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  He wrote his own books.
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  He told his own story and built his own platform.
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  And all of us as entrepreneurs have a story that connects with customers, employees,
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  investors, and potential customers.
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  Don't let someone else tell your story, tell your own story and get good at telling it.
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  Lesson three, build your own platform.
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  One of Douglas's greatest entrepreneurial decisions was founding the north star.
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  He understood that owning his own newspaper meant owning his voice Like this podcast or
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  like the small viz chat, you know, that we've done for years and years and years.
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  Those are things that I built my own platform.
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  You can use your platform to build your own community and create long lasting relationships
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  with the people you serve.
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  And number four, let your mission drive your business.
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  Frederick Douglass never viewed financial success as the finish line.
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  His business ventures always supported a larger purpose.
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  The strongest companies stand for something bigger than profit.
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  So think about whether or not you have a mission in your business.
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  My mission is to end small business failure.
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  So I completely identify with this And lesson five, use success to open doors for others.
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  Perhaps Frederick Douglass's greatest legacy was his commitment to creating opportunities
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  for future generations.
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  He believed that leadership meant lifting others as you climb.
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  As your business grows, ask yourself, who am I mentoring?
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  Who am I encouraging?
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  Who will have opportunities because I chose to succeed.
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  Frederick Douglass once said, if there is no struggle, there is no progress.
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  And as he reminds us that one person with courage, conviction, and entrepreneur spirit
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  can change the course of a nation, I think it's so awesome to think about him.
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  As we think about America at two fifty, Frederick Douglass challenges each of us to
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  build a meaningful legacy and to create opportunities that extend far beyond ourselves.
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  Thank you so much for joining me for this special edition of the Small Bitch Chat
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  podcast.
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  In our next episode, we're finally gonna hear about one of the big female entrepreneurs for
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  early America.
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  If you enjoyed today's podcast, please subscribe to the Small Bitch Chat podcast and
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  leave us a review on Apple podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite show.
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  And please share this episode with a fellow entrepreneur.
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  I want others to know all of the great advice and information we give on the small bitch tech
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  podcast.
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  Until next time I leave you with this.
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  You never lose in business.
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  Either you win or you learn.
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  Success is a process, not an event.
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  Build your business and leave a legacy that matters.
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  God bless everybody.
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  Thanks for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
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  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us next Wednesday for
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  more fantastic information and interviews.
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  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
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  website, succeedasyourownboss.com.
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  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.