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Turning Pressure Into Progress with Cotrenia Hood · The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson

0:37
Jennifer Johnson: You know those challenges that keep you up at night, the ones that make you question whether you're cut out for this entrepreneurial journey.
0:43
Jennifer Johnson: Well, today we're gonna flip the script.
0:46
Jennifer Johnson: We're not just talking about surviving challenges, we're talking about using them as a catalyst for growth.
0:51
Jennifer Johnson: Think about it.
0:52
Jennifer Johnson: Every major business has a success story that started with overcoming significant obstacles.
0:58
Jennifer Johnson: Amazon began in a garage.
1:00
Jennifer Johnson: Apple started with two guys tinkering with electronics.
1:04
Jennifer Johnson: What made those companies successful wasn't the absence of challenges, but it was how they transformed those challenges into opportunities.
1:12
Jennifer Johnson: Whether you're a startup founder working from your kitchen table, a small business owner looking to scale, or someone who's just beginning to dream about being an entrepreneur.
1:23
Jennifer Johnson: This episode is your roadmap to viewing challenges a little bit differently.
1:27
Jennifer Johnson: Because sometimes what looks like your biggest problem might be your biggest opportunity for growth.
1:33
Jennifer Johnson: So grab your notebook, get ready to shift your perspective, and let's dive into transforming your entrepreneurial challenges into powerful growth strategies.
1:42
Jennifer Johnson: Today we welcome into the studio Cotrenia Hood.
1:45
Jennifer Johnson: Cotrenia has over 20 years of experience in business development.
1:50
Jennifer Johnson: After a successful career in business with Fortune 500 companies, she transitioned to working with Chambers of Commerce, where she led business and economic development in both Louisiana and in Naples, Florida.
2:02
Jennifer Johnson: She felt a deep passion to step outside as an entrepreneur and in 2015 founded Steel Bleu, a business and executive consulting firm.
2:11
Jennifer Johnson: She serves on several boards and leadership councils and was also honored as Gulf Shore Business magazine Women in Business, an inductee in Florida Weekly's Power Women, and a graduate of Leadership Collier and Cornerstone Class of 40 with Leadership Florida.
2:26
Jennifer Johnson: A sought-after speaker on the topic of business and leadership development, as well as innovative strategies.
2:32
Jennifer Johnson: Katrinia has also been featured in magazines as well as hosts a segment Building a World Class Business on Wink and the CW.
2:40
Jennifer Johnson: Welcome.
2:41
Jennifer Johnson: Thank you.
2:42
Jennifer Johnson: Thank you for having me.
2:43
Jennifer Johnson: Resume is like impressive, not even a resume, just your bio is impressive.
2:48
Cotrenia Hood: Oh, thank you so much.
2:49
Cotrenia Hood: Well, I'm very blessed to be able to do what I love, as you know.
2:52
Jennifer Johnson: Yes.
2:52
Jennifer Johnson: And I have been, uh Katrini puts on this fabulous, fabulous con uh, it's not a concert.
2:58
Jennifer Johnson: Oh my gosh, Jennifer, get your stuff together.
3:01
Jennifer Johnson: It's a conference.
3:02
Jennifer Johnson: It's it's a day-long conference for women called Women of Steel.
3:07
Jennifer Johnson: Yes.
3:07
Jennifer Johnson: And it's amazing, empowering, uplifting, filled with knowledge.
3:12
Cotrenia Hood: Yeah, it's an exciting time.
3:14
Cotrenia Hood: I, Women of Steel has been a passion project of mine, happened before COVID.
3:18
Cotrenia Hood: I was like, I want to do this.
3:19
Cotrenia Hood: I it it it is why I think entrepreneurs do what they do, right?
3:23
Cotrenia Hood: Like we see that there's a gap in the community, in the marketplace, and we say, how do I fill that?
3:29
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
3:29
Cotrenia Hood: Like if not me, then who?
3:31
Jennifer Johnson: Right.
3:32
Cotrenia Hood: And so uh this conference was like, I need this for myself.
3:35
Cotrenia Hood: And then I thought, well, you know what?
3:36
Cotrenia Hood: If I need it, then other women in business need it as well.
3:39
Cotrenia Hood: So how do I create an environment that will feed us in a way?
3:44
Cotrenia Hood: I find that, you know, even when I talk to women who are entrepreneurial or come from an entrepreneurial family, a lot of times they don't have institutional knowledge, right?
3:54
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
3:54
Cotrenia Hood: They worked in the marketing department or maybe they were the bookkeeper for with their mom at their family-owned business.
4:01
Cotrenia Hood: But the totality of how to run that business, grow that business to scale, as we're talking about right now, they never got that information.
4:09
Cotrenia Hood: And so, how do we share in a parallel way that information with one another?
4:15
Cotrenia Hood: Because when you think about trailblazers like yourself and others that we know, um, they're young.
4:21
Cotrenia Hood: They are 50, 70, 40, just blazing a trail now.
4:26
Cotrenia Hood: So we are working around and with living legends.
4:30
Cotrenia Hood: And so that learning is a parallel thing.
4:33
Cotrenia Hood: I'm watching you, you're watching me, we're figuring out how to do this together, we're sharing insights.
4:38
Cotrenia Hood: And so creating not just an event, but a community where people can share those ideas and so that we can help to, you know, really grow together as women entrepreneurs is something important.
4:49
Jennifer Johnson: And this segues into something that I had on my list to ask you, and I wasn't going to, but now I am, because you were just talking about working together with other people, watching other people succeed, watching them, I don't say fail, but watching them have little hiccups along the way.
5:06
Jennifer Johnson: Of course.
5:07
Jennifer Johnson: As and I'm specifically speaking to women, and I know it's prevalent in men too, but I know for certain in women, a lot of us have issues with competition.
5:17
Jennifer Johnson: Yeah.
5:18
Jennifer Johnson: Competition with other women, other business owners.
5:21
Jennifer Johnson: What what do you have to say to that?
5:23
Jennifer Johnson: I mean, using that as a growth strategy.
5:25
Cotrenia Hood: Yeah.
5:26
Cotrenia Hood: Yeah.
5:26
Cotrenia Hood: I think that the the thing that we have to understand is competition is a healthy thing.
5:31
Cotrenia Hood: Um we um grow because something doesn't feel comfortable, right?
5:37
Cotrenia Hood: Like if we were comfortable all the time in our comfort zone and all the time, none of us would grow.
5:43
Cotrenia Hood: The evolution of man is based upon the uncomfortability of something, right?
5:48
Cotrenia Hood: We were hot, we created the air conditioning, you know, we wanted to go further faster, so we we invented the automobile.
5:55
Cotrenia Hood: All of these things come from us being a little uncomfortable.
5:59
Cotrenia Hood: So I think first and foremost, we as women leaders need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
6:04
Cotrenia Hood: It's okay.
6:05
Cotrenia Hood: It's okay that what you do challenges me, what you do inspires me, what you do makes me second guess whether or not I'm doing it right.
6:14
Cotrenia Hood: All of those things are natural.
6:16
Cotrenia Hood: And so getting away from thinking that competition is a negative thing.
6:20
Cotrenia Hood: Secondly, understanding that there is enough room for all of us in the marketplace.
6:25
Cotrenia Hood: Um, that's why there's a church on almost every corner, right?
6:28
Cotrenia Hood: Like that and a bank, church and a bank, a church and a bank, and a fast food restaurant, right?
6:34
Cotrenia Hood: Like all these things are on every corner because people have different tastes and different needs.
6:39
Cotrenia Hood: We are unique beings.
6:41
Cotrenia Hood: And although we all may do something like buy clothing or groceries, how we want to experience that buying power or that consumer knowledge is based upon our own individual needs.
6:57
Cotrenia Hood: So if you just can stay true to who you are, learn from one another, glean from one another, be inspired from one another, that competitiveness starts to dissipate.
7:08
Cotrenia Hood: You know, watch your lane, stay in your lane, focus on what you're doing well, and it'll come to head.
7:15
Cotrenia Hood: A lot of times I see things that you're doing well in your business, and I'm like inspired by that.
7:21
Cotrenia Hood: I need to do better, I need to try that.
7:24
Cotrenia Hood: I, when your signature pink, and and it's so on brand, right?
7:32
Cotrenia Hood: And so am I going to wear blue because my steel, my my name is steel blue?
7:36
Cotrenia Hood: Probably not.
7:37
Cotrenia Hood: But what I have learned is that you are on brand and you are consistent with that.
7:43
Cotrenia Hood: And that's a try.
7:44
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
7:45
Cotrenia Hood: It's just I love pink, but it inspires.
7:47
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
7:48
Cotrenia Hood: And so I think that instead of us kind of thinking of competition as a negative thing, think of it as an opportunity to help stretch and to help to grow.
7:59
Cotrenia Hood: And what can I glean from one another?
8:01
Cotrenia Hood: The beautiful thing about women in leadership and entrepreneurship is that we are big community builders.
8:07
Cotrenia Hood: I think we are what the world is missing, right?
8:11
Cotrenia Hood: Um, community, collaboration, um, building of cohesion.
8:16
Cotrenia Hood: We give life to things.
8:17
Cotrenia Hood: You put innovation.
8:19
Cotrenia Hood: Innovation.
8:20
Cotrenia Hood: Yes, because we can make something out of nothing, right?
8:22
Cotrenia Hood: Like it's leftovers and all of a sudden it's a whole new meal.
8:26
Cotrenia Hood: It's Thanksgiving dinners.
8:27
Cotrenia Hood: It's a whole new meal.
8:29
Cotrenia Hood: I love it.
8:30
Cotrenia Hood: But that's who we are, right?
8:31
Cotrenia Hood: That's what we bring to the table.
8:33
Cotrenia Hood: So again, don't let that uncomfortableness of competition or being competitive cause you to get um, to be negative, to get into a rut and not move forward, but let it be fueled to help you to be a better version of yourself.
8:52
Jennifer Johnson: And not without saying, I mean, most of us have all been in that position where we have faced a competitor.
8:58
Jennifer Johnson: I I have my own story of that when I opened my store.
9:01
Jennifer Johnson: Yeah.
9:01
Jennifer Johnson: And I thought, oh my gosh, we're done.
9:03
Jennifer Johnson: We're doomed.
9:04
Jennifer Johnson: I had to have somebody from the outside come in and tell me, it's all good.
9:08
Jennifer Johnson: Yeah, you're gonna be fine.
9:09
Jennifer Johnson: Like, why did I have to hire somebody to come in to tell me that I was gonna be fine?
9:14
Jennifer Johnson: Because I just needed it for me.
9:17
Cotrenia Hood: Yes, yes.
9:17
Cotrenia Hood: And and and when we are in our business, we are nose to the grind, right?
9:22
Cotrenia Hood: It's a day-to-day kind of push.
9:24
Cotrenia Hood: And so I think part of growing as a leader is to step away from the day-to-day, right?
9:30
Cotrenia Hood: And so I think, you know, one of the things that we'll talk about more is just, you know, how do we do a better job of not putting ourselves as leaders in a silo?
9:39
Cotrenia Hood: Um, and that comes from being able to step away.
9:42
Cotrenia Hood: So, first and foremost, it's understanding your leadership style, right?
9:46
Cotrenia Hood: Like what kind of leader am I, and how do I get better at that?
9:50
Cotrenia Hood: Where are my deficits?
9:52
Cotrenia Hood: And how do I hire people who help to fill those deficits?
9:56
Cotrenia Hood: And then how do I hire good people?
9:58
Cotrenia Hood: And how do I delegate to those good people?
10:01
Jennifer Johnson: The hardest part of all of it.
10:02
Jennifer Johnson: People think it's hiring, but it's not.
10:05
Cotrenia Hood: It's not.
10:06
Jennifer Johnson: It's delegating because it's your baby.
10:08
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
10:08
Cotrenia Hood: And so it's really hard to drop it off at daycare that first time.
10:11
Jennifer Johnson: It is, it is.
10:12
Jennifer Johnson: I'm glad we're talking about this because one of my questions again is we're struggling.
10:17
Jennifer Johnson: We're struggling because we are wearing so many hats in what we're doing.
10:21
Jennifer Johnson: We're the cook, the baker, the candlestick maker, we're the bookkeeper.
10:24
Jennifer Johnson: We do all of it.
10:26
Jennifer Johnson: And you're saying back away a little bit.
10:30
Cotrenia Hood: Yes.
10:30
Cotrenia Hood: And take a look.
10:31
Cotrenia Hood: Indeed.
10:32
Cotrenia Hood: And and I'm saying that in so from a financial standpoint, first and foremost, you have to understand that you are the MVP of your company, right?
10:42
Cotrenia Hood: You're the most valuable player in the company.
10:45
Cotrenia Hood: And, you know, on those times when we can really assess value proposition for our individual client employees.
10:54
Cotrenia Hood: Um paying someone at six figures to file papers, to issue payroll is something that, or to review an agreement is something that we would look at and go, who would do that?
11:12
Cotrenia Hood: What who would give that much money to someone doing this particular delegate, this particular job?
11:19
Cotrenia Hood: But when you as a CEO come down from creativity, come down from leading the pack, come down from setting and casting vision, come down from that execution and implementation to doing payroll, to going through inventory, you are then overpaying someone to do that job.
11:42
Cotrenia Hood: And so starting with just pure numbers, right?
11:45
Cotrenia Hood: You say sometimes, well, I can't really afford somebody to go through inventory.
11:49
Cotrenia Hood: Yeah, really, you're overpaying someone right now to do that.
11:52
Cotrenia Hood: Can you not?
11:52
Cotrenia Hood: Can you not afford?
11:54
Cotrenia Hood: And so thinking about it in that perspective, delegating gets a lot easier.
11:59
Cotrenia Hood: Also, understanding back to my first point, your leadership sky style.
12:04
Cotrenia Hood: What you bring to the table that is the most valuable.
12:07
Cotrenia Hood: And bookkeeping might not be the most valuable action.
12:13
Jennifer Johnson: Have you heard me talk about that?
12:15
Jennifer Johnson: I don't know.
12:15
Jennifer Johnson: I've just talked to a couple of dozen, you know, entrepreneurs a month.
12:18
Jennifer Johnson: So, yes.
12:19
Cotrenia Hood: Yes, but that's the problem, is sometimes we struggle with letting go of the things because we've done it all.
12:28
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
12:29
Cotrenia Hood: It's comfortable and it's convenient, but it's not always the most effective way of getting those things done.
12:37
Cotrenia Hood: And so, how do we take baby steps into that?
12:40
Cotrenia Hood: Um, I think that it's back to what you said earlier.
12:43
Cotrenia Hood: It's hiring the right people.
12:45
Cotrenia Hood: When we hire employees often, we will hire people who fit into our organization, especially newer companies, right?
12:52
Cotrenia Hood: We hire people who um have the culture, who are, you know, who make us feel comfortable, who are extremely confident.
13:00
Cotrenia Hood: We hire those individuals because we know they'll bring it, bring something to the table that may be able to allow me to delegate to them.
13:08
Cotrenia Hood: What we don't do often is we don't hire to the job or the vision of where we see that particular position going.
13:17
Cotrenia Hood: So sitting down before you even get to Indeed and really looking at that job description, saying, does this align with where I'm taking this company?
13:26
Cotrenia Hood: Before I post this, I don't want to put this, write a job description based upon that person's personality or what the last person did in this role.
13:35
Cotrenia Hood: Because, or I'm just taking the six tasks away from the last employee who was double dipping, and I'm making that a new job.
13:44
Cotrenia Hood: No, really think about the vision for your organization, for your company, and how this job will fit into that.
13:51
Cotrenia Hood: That's the person that you bring in to interview.
13:54
Cotrenia Hood: And then you figure out do they have the character?
13:56
Cotrenia Hood: Are they the type, will they fit the culture?
13:58
Cotrenia Hood: Will we work good to well together?
14:01
Cotrenia Hood: Because what we have what we find out is a lot of times we get the person in and they can't do the job, or they did the job that we split between two other people, but that's not where we're headed.
14:12
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
14:13
Cotrenia Hood: So making those types of decisions make it easier to then delegate.
14:17
Cotrenia Hood: Because if I know you can do the job and that you can do it well for the vision where I'm taking this company, then it's easy to say, I can hand this over to her because she gets it or him, because he sees the vision and we're all on the same page.
14:31
Cotrenia Hood: So that makes delegation a lot easier.
14:34
Cotrenia Hood: And then training and developing as we go to make sure, okay, I thought we were going 75, but we're gonna have to detour 41 because there was an accident, right?
14:45
Cotrenia Hood: We were on the interstate, we're gonna take the highway.
14:47
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
14:47
Cotrenia Hood: And so it's gonna slow us down a minute, but I want to be able to make sure that I'm keeping my team abreast on their ability to do that.
14:54
Cotrenia Hood: So that training is that that when we turn a little left or we slow down a little bit, that I am making sure that you have the skill set when I add this new product or this new service or we open this next location, that everything we're doing today will align to what we're going to be doing in the future.
15:11
Jennifer Johnson: This is such great advice because a couple of things.
15:14
Jennifer Johnson: Number one, I think a lot of employers fix it and forget it.
15:18
Jennifer Johnson: Yeah.
15:18
Jennifer Johnson: Um, so I hire you to do this job and then I ignore you for six months.
15:22
Jennifer Johnson: Right.
15:22
Jennifer Johnson: And then I come back and go, why aren't you doing your job?
15:25
Jennifer Johnson: Because we haven't, we haven't been training, we haven't been doing that ongoing touch point.
15:31
Jennifer Johnson: Yes.
15:32
Cotrenia Hood: And a lot of times the reason why we aren't training is because we don't have policies and procedures that are consistent.
15:38
Cotrenia Hood: Yeah.
15:38
Cotrenia Hood: Or any at all.
15:39
Cotrenia Hood: Or any at all, right?
15:40
Cotrenia Hood: Any at all.
15:41
Cotrenia Hood: And so because we don't, um, we are relying on what would Jennifer do, right?
15:47
Cotrenia Hood: What's in your head?
15:48
Cotrenia Hood: And at that moment, am I going to be able to read your mind?
15:51
Cotrenia Hood: No.
15:51
Cotrenia Hood: And so if those things aren't downloaded into manuals, into training policies, procedures, if they aren't downloaded to your CRM, like how you think should be modeled in your CRM, how would you be prompted to with this particular customer?
16:09
Cotrenia Hood: This particular customer brings this item to the table, let's say Starbucks, for example.
16:13
Cotrenia Hood: And they know that most people who buy this particular latte also have this particular pastry.
16:19
Cotrenia Hood: And so they are prompted to offer those things, right?
16:23
Cotrenia Hood: So, how do we download into our CRM how we think when we are at the register so that we don't always have to be there?
16:30
Cotrenia Hood: It gives everybody the tools and resources to be able to be to execute in a way that is not so reliant on the lead.
16:39
Cotrenia Hood: It's more intuitive.
16:40
Cotrenia Hood: It is.
16:41
Jennifer Johnson: You know, and something else going back to you were talking about, uh, and I I liken it to having the right soul for the right role.
16:48
Jennifer Johnson: Yeah.
16:49
Cotrenia Hood: Yeah.
16:49
Jennifer Johnson: Because a lot of times what small businesses do is they're in a hurry to hire.
16:55
Jennifer Johnson: They have an empty seat.
16:56
Jennifer Johnson: Somebody left and they're like in a panic.
16:58
Jennifer Johnson: Oh my gosh, I need to hire the first heartbeat that walks in that door.
17:01
Cotrenia Hood: Yeah.
17:02
Jennifer Johnson: Doesn't matter anything.
17:03
Jennifer Johnson: They're just gonna hire them.
17:05
Cotrenia Hood: Yeah.
17:06
Jennifer Johnson: Or you get into your company a while and you start thinking about the person in the role versus the role itself.
17:15
Cotrenia Hood: Indeed.
17:16
Jennifer Johnson: And that can get you, you know, it can get you in the weeds.
17:19
Jennifer Johnson: And the other thing is I've seen, because I've done it, yeah.
17:22
Jennifer Johnson: Hiring people for their past experience.
17:25
Jennifer Johnson: So just because you were in that role at XYZ company doesn't mean that you should have been in that role or that you knew what you were doing and now you're bringing all your bad habits to me.
17:36
Jennifer Johnson: What are your thoughts on that?
17:38
Cotrenia Hood: I think that, you know, hiring is is a tricky thing.
17:41
Cotrenia Hood: Um, I think it starts with understanding your organization, right?
17:46
Cotrenia Hood: Like your org chart.
17:47
Cotrenia Hood: And when you're thinking in a five-year growth strat, and again, we're talking about growth strategies, right?
17:52
Cotrenia Hood: So when you're thinking about five years from now, where do we want that to see this company?
17:56
Cotrenia Hood: Um, and you look at that organizational chart and see those positions that fall into that chart, it it kind of eliminates some of that.
18:04
Cotrenia Hood: I'm picking people based on what they did over here, because what they did over here may not fit in the model where we're going.
18:10
Cotrenia Hood: Um, I think that when you once you get your organizational chart and then those roles, it's hiring strategically.
18:18
Cotrenia Hood: Um, you don't want to hire a sales manager and you don't have a sales team, but it sometimes feels like if the sales manager can also sell.
18:27
Cotrenia Hood: Yes, yes.
18:30
Cotrenia Hood: But you've you've you've hired an $80,000 employee who managed a team of eight people, but never was boots on the ground.
18:39
Cotrenia Hood: There hadn't been boots on the ground in 20 years.
18:42
Cotrenia Hood: And so the strategy for how you go to market has totally changed.
21:12
Cotrenia Hood: And so you've hired a manager with no team.
21:16
Cotrenia Hood: So really understanding this is the way our organization is set up, but where strategically do I need people in order to grow in the way that I know is sustainable?
21:27
Cotrenia Hood: So yeah, I probably do need a salesperson first who could possibly have management experience or potential to grow into a manager before I'm putting $80,000 for someone who knows it in theory, but not in practice.
21:45
Jennifer Johnson: That's so, so true.
21:46
Jennifer Johnson: Yeah.
21:47
Jennifer Johnson: Very true.
21:48
Jennifer Johnson: We're gonna segue now into finances.
21:52
Jennifer Johnson: Okay.
21:52
Jennifer Johnson: And as small business owners, we've all heard this, we've all been up against it.
21:59
Jennifer Johnson: Limited capital or cash flow issues.
22:03
Jennifer Johnson: Yeah.
22:03
Jennifer Johnson: How can we use that as a growth strategy?
22:05
Cotrenia Hood: Yeah, so so I I always start with, you know, liking it to like the carpenter's addict, right?
22:11
Cotrenia Hood: Like you cut before adding.
22:13
Cotrenia Hood: So a lot of times when we're talking about growth strategies, people are like, oh, I need to open a new location.
22:18
Cotrenia Hood: Yes.
22:18
Cotrenia Hood: I need to add new products or services.
22:20
Cotrenia Hood: We are only doing breakfast and lunch.
22:22
Cotrenia Hood: We should be doing dinner.
22:23
Cotrenia Hood: Like, I'm not doing enough of this, or I need to do more of that.
22:26
Cotrenia Hood: And we think that growth strategy starts there, but it doesn't.
22:30
Cotrenia Hood: It actually starts with your cash flow management.
22:34
Cotrenia Hood: It's in how you manage what you have already in your receivables, in your payables, in your current inventory.
22:44
Cotrenia Hood: I can't tell you the amount of businesses that I go in and we start talking about receivables and their billing cycle is off.
22:52
Cotrenia Hood: It's like, what do you mean you haven't billed this person in 90 days?
22:57
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
22:58
Cotrenia Hood: You know, what do you mean you have over $70,000 in outstanding unpaid invoices?
23:04
Cotrenia Hood: Like, how did we get here?
23:05
Cotrenia Hood: Um, and so those things are like, what why are we adding a new service when there's $80,000 sitting here in receivables?
23:13
Cotrenia Hood: We don't need to add more work for the people who are already strained before we really think about where we're missing the mark.
23:20
Cotrenia Hood: Then we think about payables.
23:23
Cotrenia Hood: Um, most vendors, right, that you are buying in bulk from, that you are, you know, using their service, even down to your banking.
23:31
Cotrenia Hood: Like there are benefits to buying everything in bulk from one vendor, right?
23:37
Cotrenia Hood: And so do are you negotiating your terms?
23:40
Cotrenia Hood: Are you negotiating your pricing?
23:43
Cotrenia Hood: I've been buying for you for 20 years.
23:46
Cotrenia Hood: At this point, I should be getting a discount.
23:48
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
23:48
Cotrenia Hood: And so are we even considering those things?
23:51
Cotrenia Hood: Have you actually talked to your personal banker about what your finances look like, your line of credit?
23:59
Cotrenia Hood: Can it be extended?
24:01
Cotrenia Hood: Have you talked to them about we've been using credit card, our banking credit card, but we're not getting a rebate?
24:08
Cotrenia Hood: Why are we not getting a rebate?
24:10
Cotrenia Hood: How come I'm getting a rebate on my American Express or on my Discover card, but I'm not getting a rebate from a bank?
24:17
Cotrenia Hood: Well, they issue them.
24:18
Cotrenia Hood: So the question is, are you really working those relationships when it comes to people that you are paying?
24:25
Cotrenia Hood: Are you paying people too soon or out of cycle for your business?
24:30
Cotrenia Hood: So sometimes you have to look at your receivables, your payables, and then inventory.
24:36
Cotrenia Hood: So that's another big thing.
24:38
Cotrenia Hood: You have businesses who have a shelves of inventory that they aren't using because the CEO or leader had a great idea.
24:48
Jennifer Johnson: No, wait a minute.
24:50
Jennifer Johnson: Are you talking about me?
24:51
Jennifer Johnson: Not necessarily.
24:53
Jennifer Johnson: But it happens.
24:55
Cotrenia Hood: It does.
24:55
Cotrenia Hood: And so there's all this inventory sitting over here.
24:59
Cotrenia Hood: We're holding on to it, and it's costing us every single day.
25:04
Cotrenia Hood: So how do we run lean?
25:06
Cotrenia Hood: It feels like, oh my God, if we don't have enough of this thing, something's going to go wrong.
25:10
Cotrenia Hood: What if?
25:11
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
25:11
Cotrenia Hood: But you would much rather create a demand than have too much inventory that's costing your company every day that it's sitting on the shelf.
25:20
Cotrenia Hood: And we think, oh, well, I've already purchased it.
25:21
Cotrenia Hood: So it really doesn't cost, but it does.
25:23
Cotrenia Hood: Yeah.
25:24
Cotrenia Hood: But it does.
25:24
Cotrenia Hood: So those are the ways that I think you start with clack cash flow management.
25:29
Cotrenia Hood: And then we talk about how do you expand and how do you grow and how do you dive into new territory for growing your business.
25:37
Cotrenia Hood: But I'm telling you, nine times out of 10, a large portion of why your cash flow is the way that it is, is because you're not managing those three things.
25:47
Jennifer Johnson: I like the inventory thing because I have met several business business owners as well who, well, it would, there was a deal on these at market.
25:54
Jennifer Johnson: So you instead of buying, you know, 50, you went and bought 500.
25:58
Jennifer Johnson: Right.
25:59
Jennifer Johnson: Right.
25:59
Jennifer Johnson: It's, you know, as a consumer, it is a supply and demand thing.
26:04
Jennifer Johnson: If I come into a store and I see 500 of one thing, I mean, uh, not interesting to me.
26:10
Jennifer Johnson: Right.
26:10
Jennifer Johnson: Because I can I can get that anywhere.
26:12
Jennifer Johnson: Right.
26:13
Jennifer Johnson: So then then it also, if they did go out and buy 500, then you figure out the strategy for not putting them all out at once.
26:19
Jennifer Johnson: Yes.
26:20
Jennifer Johnson: Right.
26:21
Jennifer Johnson: But back to another thing, you mentioned, you know, going and asking for that discount.
26:26
Jennifer Johnson: So many people are afraid to do that.
26:30
Jennifer Johnson: Do you have any tips on how I muster up the courage to go and ask somebody, hey, you know, I've been here forever.
26:37
Jennifer Johnson: Yeah.
26:37
Jennifer Johnson: I want a discount.
26:38
Cotrenia Hood: Yeah.
26:38
Cotrenia Hood: So, so it's really understanding your value proposition, right?
26:43
Cotrenia Hood: Like there is nothing set in stone when it comes to negotiating.
26:48
Cotrenia Hood: And I think that, you know, sometimes as women, we um we are so committed to community and to making sure that everyone is well and happy, that we lose sight of the fact that this is a business and that I have employees that I'm responsible for.
27:06
Cotrenia Hood: So, how do I always keep us in a position where we can stay lean?
27:11
Cotrenia Hood: And part of that is that I'm a good negotiator and that I'm not negotiating on behalf of myself, but all of my employees, the people that are connected to me, to my community, to my customers, that they are getting the most value.
27:26
Cotrenia Hood: You know why?
27:26
Cotrenia Hood: Because as we understand in the market that we're in right now, it trickles down.
27:31
Cotrenia Hood: If it costs you more, it costs your customers more.
27:35
Cotrenia Hood: It should cost your customers more.
27:36
Cotrenia Hood: It should and it and oftentimes it does, right?
27:39
Cotrenia Hood: Like when we're talking about the price of groceries, right?
27:42
Cotrenia Hood: It is trickling down.
27:43
Cotrenia Hood: It is.
27:43
Cotrenia Hood: It costs more to get it shipped, it costs more to keep it on the, you know, it's costing more to pull it off the line, it's costing more for employees.
27:51
Cotrenia Hood: And because of that, when we go in the store, we are feeling the brunt of that.
27:56
Cotrenia Hood: And so, how do I, as a good keeper of my brand, of my organization, as this um thought leader, um, how do I make sure that I am passing on the best service at the best price for to my consumers?
28:14
Cotrenia Hood: And so I do that by negotiating.
28:16
Jennifer Johnson: Okay.
28:17
Cotrenia Hood: I negotiate well when I hire, so I'm not overpaying for employees.
28:21
Cotrenia Hood: And I negotiate in moments like this when it comes to negotiating for contracts or discounts or something of that.
28:27
Cotrenia Hood: So I think going into the conversation, saying to yourself, this is not just about I want a discount, but I am a good steward over this organization.
28:36
Cotrenia Hood: The people who trust me to purchase and take that bag out of the store want me to be a good negotiator.
28:42
Cotrenia Hood: They need me to be a good negotiator.
28:44
Cotrenia Hood: And so because of that, I'm going into this conversation with that in mind.
28:49
Cotrenia Hood: I think that helps for women.
28:51
Cotrenia Hood: It does, is not to think about it as I'm asking for it based upon what I need, but for those that are connected to me.
28:59
Jennifer Johnson: It becomes, it becomes nothing about you because that's how we feel it, it's us.
29:05
Jennifer Johnson: It doesn't become anything about us in turn.
29:07
Jennifer Johnson: Like I love the saying that it becomes you know about your customers and your employees.
29:11
Jennifer Johnson: Yes, indeed.
29:12
Cotrenia Hood: And then you be, and then it's easier for you to pass that on to them, right?
29:17
Cotrenia Hood: It's easier for you to give raises.
29:19
Cotrenia Hood: You know, that every little bit counts.
29:21
Cotrenia Hood: I mean, when you think about two cents on something over time, I mean, we we we listen to these um conversations or parables about like how you could save, right?
29:32
Cotrenia Hood: If you did five dollars a month for this amount of years, you know, millions of dollars are in the bank by the time by 25 years from now.
29:40
Cotrenia Hood: That little bit matters.
29:42
Cotrenia Hood: It matters to your customer, it matters to your employees.
29:45
Cotrenia Hood: It could be the difference between a bonus at the end of the year and no bonus.
29:48
Cotrenia Hood: It could be the difference between I'm going to upgrade um the hangers that things are on so that they stand out so that you can see what that looks like on every size woman, right?
29:59
Cotrenia Hood: Or I'm going to make sure that I have more racks in here so that you can see the inventory better.
30:05
Cotrenia Hood: All of that matters.
30:06
Cotrenia Hood: The little things.
30:07
Cotrenia Hood: The little things that every day do add up.
30:11
Cotrenia Hood: They do add up.
30:12
Cotrenia Hood: So negotiating for that reason is why we can step into those conversations confidently.
30:18
Jennifer Johnson: Such great advice.
30:19
Jennifer Johnson: Thank you.
30:19
Jennifer Johnson: Very great advice.
30:20
Jennifer Johnson: So, my last question is a challenge of finding and keeping customers.
30:27
Jennifer Johnson: Yes.
30:27
Jennifer Johnson: I know this is a big, a big one for a lot of uh business owners, especially right now.
30:33
Cotrenia Hood: Yeah.
30:34
Cotrenia Hood: Yeah.
30:34
Cotrenia Hood: So I think it starts with it's easier to keep than to find.
30:39
Jennifer Johnson: Right.
30:39
Jennifer Johnson: Right.
30:40
Cotrenia Hood: It's easier to keep just like employees.
30:42
Cotrenia Hood: Just like employees.
30:43
Cotrenia Hood: In any relationship, it's easier to keep than find.
30:47
Cotrenia Hood: Um, and so what I would I would start with is, you know, who are your early adopters?
30:52
Cotrenia Hood: Who are those people who will naturally, when you're starting a business, who would naturally buy your product or service?
31:00
Cotrenia Hood: Those people are where you invest your most time and energy in.
31:03
Cotrenia Hood: Then you go deep and wide with those individuals, right?
31:07
Cotrenia Hood: You find out what they like about what you're doing and what you can do more of, right?
31:11
Cotrenia Hood: And then you find out ways that you could tweak and disrupt the marketplace to make sure that those that they are seeing the value in what you do.
31:21
Cotrenia Hood: When we think about disruptors, you were talking about Amazon earlier, you were talking about other disruptors in the marketplace, right?
31:27
Cotrenia Hood: Um, people who come into a marketplace and understand their unique value proposition.
31:32
Cotrenia Hood: Like, what do you bring that's different from everyone else?
31:35
Cotrenia Hood: Because we all do because it's a part of who we are, right?
31:39
Cotrenia Hood: So that unique value proposition, when you really clearly understand and can define that, then you can really market that well.
31:47
Cotrenia Hood: But I think what happens often with small businesses is that we are trying to, you said you like that.
31:52
Cotrenia Hood: So I'm gonna do that.
31:53
Cotrenia Hood: Oh, we had four clients.
31:54
Cotrenia Hood: It's not based on data.
31:57
Cotrenia Hood: That's the other part.
31:58
Cotrenia Hood: Yeah, you're right.
31:58
Cotrenia Hood: Is keeping and maintaining customers needs to be data driven.
32:03
Cotrenia Hood: It cannot be emotion.
32:04
Cotrenia Hood: When you first started out, emotion was wonderful because you only had 100 clients, or you only had 200 customers a month.
32:11
Cotrenia Hood: So it was great because you could touch them all.
32:14
Cotrenia Hood: But after a while, as you grow, you cannot keep, you can't sustain it based on motion.
32:20
Cotrenia Hood: So you have to have the data points.
32:22
Cotrenia Hood: And so it starts with who are my customers, those early adapters, those people who I know are bought in, how do I keep them?
32:31
Cotrenia Hood: And then how do I dive deeper into their needs and make sure that I'm meeting them?
32:35
Cotrenia Hood: We also understand that those customers are more likely to tell others.
32:39
Cotrenia Hood: Absolutely.
32:40
Cotrenia Hood: And we are in a referral consumer market right now, right?
32:45
Cotrenia Hood: Like we get everything because someone else said that it was a great thing, right?
32:49
Cotrenia Hood: Whether it's Google reviews, whether it's Amazon reviews, whether it's someone on TikTok telling you about it.
32:55
Jennifer Johnson: Yeah, exactly.
32:55
Jennifer Johnson: It's all about social media.
32:56
Jennifer Johnson: It is.
32:57
Cotrenia Hood: And so, and so are your customers saying good things about you?
33:02
Cotrenia Hood: Are you giving, are you incentivizing them to share and to communicate what you are doing well?
33:09
Cotrenia Hood: That will draw clut customers in.
33:11
Cotrenia Hood: And then finding new customers is that outlier, right?
33:15
Cotrenia Hood: It's are you using your social media strategies?
33:18
Cotrenia Hood: Are you um are you are you making it easy for them to find you?
33:23
Cotrenia Hood: Like, can I Google and find you?
33:25
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
33:26
Cotrenia Hood: Is it difficult?
33:27
Cotrenia Hood: If I pull up the name of your company, will 12 names come up before you?
33:31
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
33:32
Cotrenia Hood: And then once I get to your website, how easy is it to do business with you?
33:36
Cotrenia Hood: Because if I have 10 steps, there's a great likelihood that I won't do business.
33:40
Cotrenia Hood: How do you how do you translate um views into transactions?
33:45
Cotrenia Hood: And how easy is that translation?
33:48
Cotrenia Hood: Those are all things that when you're dealing with new customers, you want to make it easy when they come to you, when they find you, when they go through that referral, when they Google, they need X and that's the service you provide.
34:00
Cotrenia Hood: Is it easy to do business with you?
34:03
Cotrenia Hood: And that's how finding new customers becomes easier because they're already out there searching.
34:09
Jennifer Johnson: Right.
34:09
Cotrenia Hood: They're already out there searching.
34:11
Cotrenia Hood: And if you're doing good with your marketing strategies, again, another piece, right?
34:15
Cotrenia Hood: Yeah.
34:16
Cotrenia Hood: There are so many small businesses who have no strategy around marketing.
34:21
Cotrenia Hood: Just throw it at the wall, see what sticks.
34:23
Cotrenia Hood: Throwing it at the wall.
34:24
Cotrenia Hood: Everybody's on this app, but does that app really work for your business?
34:29
Cotrenia Hood: And are you utilizing it?
34:31
Cotrenia Hood: Um, the most frustrating frustrating thing I can see in social media is that I'm following you on three platforms and I'm getting the same exact content on every platform.
34:41
Cotrenia Hood: You have to understand that everybody is not going to those platforms for the same thing.
34:47
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
34:48
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
34:48
Cotrenia Hood: And so utilizing the platform for what its algorithms are set to do is important.
34:53
Cotrenia Hood: And so all of that helps with your marketing.
34:56
Cotrenia Hood: Sure.
34:57
Cotrenia Hood: You know, it's it's, you know, do you spend the extra, you know, 12 cents to brand the bag uh so that when they carry it out of the store, or do you just leave it plain?
35:07
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
35:07
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
35:08
Cotrenia Hood: Um, do you make sure that when you're in speaking engagements that that and you're selling your service that you're actually talking about what you do well and that you don't let allow for the conversation to deviate too far from that because then you lose sight and they lose sight of the value that you add to the conversation.
35:26
Cotrenia Hood: And credibility.
35:27
Cotrenia Hood: And credibility.
35:28
Cotrenia Hood: Yeah.
35:29
Jennifer Johnson: You know, you you talked about basically removing the roadblock for the consumer to actually come in and purchase from you, whether that's in store and you know, you have a brick and mortar store, for example, right?
35:41
Jennifer Johnson: You know, it's having that warm smile when they're in the store versus somebody that has that, you know, I don't know why I'm here.
35:48
Jennifer Johnson: And then online.
35:50
Jennifer Johnson: Yeah.
35:50
Jennifer Johnson: How many clicks?
35:52
Jennifer Johnson: I feel like, how many licks does it take to get in the center of Tootsie Pop?
35:55
Jennifer Johnson: But how many clicks does it take for me to actually purchase something?
35:58
Jennifer Johnson: If it's too many, I'm out.
35:59
Jennifer Johnson: I'm out.
36:00
Cotrenia Hood: I'm out.
36:00
Cotrenia Hood: And, you know, when you think about inventory online, right, is it cumbersome?
36:05
Cotrenia Hood: Like, how far can I dive?
36:08
Cotrenia Hood: Can I say pink blouse?
36:12
Cotrenia Hood: Right.
36:13
Cotrenia Hood: And every shade and derivative from bright red to pink comes up, or will it be very specific, right?
36:21
Cotrenia Hood: Um, the more information that I feed the the the online purchasing, whatever you're using, you know, whatever that platform is, whatever the searches, the more specific it allows for me to be, the quicker I'm going to get to where I want to be.
36:36
Cotrenia Hood: I've I like I will say that there are some like furniture um wholesalers that I'm like, I cannot look at that many round rooks.
36:47
Jennifer Johnson: I know, I know.
36:48
Cotrenia Hood: This is way too difficult for me to get to where I need to be.
36:52
Cotrenia Hood: And so I think that that's one of the things is if you're offering a product to make it as as specific in the search as possible and how quickly can that person get to what they want.
37:03
Cotrenia Hood: Um, I will also say be careful about all the pop-ups.
37:08
Cotrenia Hood: Um, it's it's a challenge when somebody knows what they want and they come to your site and they're headed to that.
37:13
Cotrenia Hood: And every time they make a click, another pop-up happens.
37:16
Cotrenia Hood: And then it just frustrates them.
37:19
Cotrenia Hood: And so you get, you may, they may end up purchasing, but they won't be a repeat because of the fact that it's just too much work to be able to do that.
37:28
Cotrenia Hood: And so having both experiences, those in the store and that online, coinciding so that the buyer feels like every time I touch this brand, I walk away feeling like I've seen value.
37:44
Jennifer Johnson: Exactly.
37:44
Jennifer Johnson: I have loved our conversation.
37:46
Jennifer Johnson: There's so many tidbits and so many great little nuggets of knowledge that you dropped in here.
37:51
Cotrenia Hood: Oh, well, I have enjoyed having this conversation with you.
37:54
Jennifer Johnson: Thank you so much for having me.
37:56
Jennifer Johnson: If our guests would like to get in touch with you, how can they do so?
37:59
Cotrenia Hood: So you can go to my website, www.steelblue.
38:04
Cotrenia Hood: It's S-T-E-E-L, like the metal, and blue is in French B L E U.com.
38:09
Cotrenia Hood: So that's the quickest way, easiest way to go to the website.
38:12
Cotrenia Hood: And you can reach out to me.
38:14
Cotrenia Hood: We can do a quick consult, talk a little bit about your business, how we can figure out growth strategies, or how I could help you as an executive to grow and develop.
38:23
Jennifer Johnson: Awesome.
38:23
Jennifer Johnson: Thank you again for being on.
38:25
Cotrenia Hood: Thank you.