Latest / Black Fridays: Business Growth for Entrepreneurs, Creators & Professionals / Black Fridays Special - How Black Women Entrepreneurs Are Reshaping Detroit

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Black Fridays Special - How Black Women Entrepreneurs Are Reshaping Detroit · Black Fridays: Business Growth for Entrepreneurs, Creators & Professionals

0:00
[SPEAKER_03]: Love, you know, love what I do for a living and I love what I do for a life and it's a big difference.
0:04
[SPEAKER_03]: So I do for a living.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So I do for a life.
0:06
[SPEAKER_03]: The main thing is, I don't want our young people or our community to be poor.
0:11
[SPEAKER_03]: Poor means passed over opportunity repeatedly.
0:14
[SPEAKER_04]: If it's your passion for every know that you hear there will be a yes.
0:18
[SPEAKER_04]: Don't give up.
0:19
[SPEAKER_04]: Don't give up on yourself.
0:20
[SPEAKER_04]: Don't give up on the dream because we need whatever it is that you have.
0:25
[SPEAKER_04]: If there's a place for it, we want it.
0:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Talk to your audience, talk to the people you're trying to sell a product, sell the service because if you don't talk to them, how do you know exactly what they're need?
0:36
[SPEAKER_02]: You're just going off assumptions and then next thing you know, nobody's buying a wish or selling.
1:00
[SPEAKER_00]: But up there, Black Friday family, welcome back to another installment of Black Friday's podcast.
1:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Before we get into today's episode, we've got like button subscribe, drop a comment, share video as well.
1:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, as we get into today's episode, we continue in our live podcast from the lip bar downtown Detroit.
1:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And I have a very special guest.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This is a repeat guest to my that you have seen before on the podcast.
1:22
[SPEAKER_00]: If you have been following Ms.
1:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Geopay, Mason, how are you today?
1:25
[SPEAKER_03]: I am also, but I'm happy to be here today.
1:28
[SPEAKER_03]: I love this podcast, just going all over now.
1:33
[SPEAKER_03]: I am so proud of you.
1:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
1:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
1:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
1:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate it so much.
1:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And so just to give people a little bit of background, what you do, you have been working in finance for years.
1:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And also, you are the founder of Money Matters for Youth, which is a camp that helps children learn about financial literacy or young people, I should say, not all of them are children,
1:54
[SPEAKER_00]: but just for a love to be able to understand where you are with that and to get because you do this program every summer.
2:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So for money matters for you, what has the summer transpired and the summer that just recently transpired, what did that look like for the program and what did you all work with your folks on this year?
2:15
[SPEAKER_03]: So while we're going into
2:22
[SPEAKER_03]: before you even moved.
2:24
[SPEAKER_03]: So I've been doing this, but I started a bunch of monies, but what we did this past year, we did an amazing trip to DC for our young investors, and that was behind a large cap, which means high schoolers.
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[SPEAKER_03]: They became change agents.
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[SPEAKER_03]: They had to take a bank.
2:42
[SPEAKER_03]: and they had to collect change and put the change in the bay and they collectively they thought their money together and they helped out families in Detroit because of what's going on in our city what's going on with lack of healthcare people losing healthcare people losing childcare people are not being able to pay for food so they ended up collecting thousands of dollars to help so they had a bank that says be the change you want to see in this world
3:09
[SPEAKER_03]: Then after they did that, they made their change in Detroit.
3:13
[SPEAKER_03]: Then we got on the road to DC.
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[SPEAKER_03]: We went and met with Supreme Court Justice Natalya Brown Jackson to talk about change in Supreme Court and what changes they want to see through their eyes.
3:24
[SPEAKER_03]: Then we went on to Congress and Senate.
3:28
[SPEAKER_03]: So we went to DC and went to Capitol Hill and we ended up meeting with Senator Peters and then we actually went on the floor.
3:35
[SPEAKER_03]: And our youth had an opportunity to talk about the change they want to see in D.C.
3:40
[SPEAKER_03]: The Juneteenth Juneteenth, you have to sell them under hotel, which is black on.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So that was the summer before they went to New York Stock Exchange earlier, and we write in the bell at the NASDAF.
3:52
[SPEAKER_03]: And then we ended up having our summer money camp, which is the largest was over 300 young investors, where they learned
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[SPEAKER_03]: They had a financial hopscotch game at Joe Lewis Greenway that had the largest one in the world and then we also did things from learning from adulting and how to be adult and scholarships and exactly and how to give back and we planted financial gardens in the city of Detroit.
4:16
[SPEAKER_00]: amazing amazing how I always loved that work and being able to expose young people to financial literacy as early as possible to be able to help them as they matriculate through life and go through different lived experiences and always love getting your financial tips in terms of how you can't
4:36
[SPEAKER_00]: make some extra money you get to the bag because I know your three boys and you started them young in terms of investing and learning about stocks and those things.
4:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to know what's the yellow pair in Mason tips to gain in the bag and then be able to keep and secure the bag.
4:52
[SPEAKER_03]: So let me take the reason I try to talk about it is because growing up, I was your age, I hadn't had a bag.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I didn't know what a bag was.
5:01
[SPEAKER_03]: I didn't even know all I knew was overdraft protection was my line of credit.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So I knew nothing.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So that's why I actually teach our youth.
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[SPEAKER_03]: We went on to secure the bag tour, which we went to HBCU challenges.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So they ended up going to learn how to not only secure the bag before they go to college.
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[SPEAKER_03]: They learn everything from tips on, you know, how to buzz it, you know, put a GPS on your money and make sure it's never homeless.
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[SPEAKER_03]: They learn how to be a owner of a company versus a consumer.
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[SPEAKER_03]: They learn everything from just different tips and like, you know, how to take pictures and upload them and get paid.
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[SPEAKER_03]: How to become a seek filler at a concert.
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[SPEAKER_03]: They learned everything.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, just so many different things and how to eat and get paid.
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[SPEAKER_03]: You know, I'm going to focus groups or just different things like that.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So they learn so many different avenues of income.
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[SPEAKER_03]: But the thing is we make all of our youth get a pillowcase and if the right on a pillowcase, how about making money while I'm sleeping at night.
5:56
[SPEAKER_03]: So they have to write that down, like, what is making money for them?
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[SPEAKER_03]: So they're like, I want to real estate to make money from me.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I want this to make money for me.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So they do so many different things and they become entrepreneurs.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So everybody age eight to 18, they start a business together.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And they learn to pay themselves in dividends versus actually exchanging dollars for hours.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So we try to give them a different mindset, a mindset that I did not have growing up, a mindset that I didn't know anything about.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So I always wanted my, my children, my three children of a nice and my children.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, that's a large children in city of Detroit and I say children also, but also young people because I think if they learn younger,
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[SPEAKER_03]: they could actually lead a legacy and empower more people and empower more families.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Yes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: What would you say is your favorite side hustle slash side quest like what's been like a favorite thing on your earth that you've been able to make money from or to do or to put in place that you made money from.
6:55
[SPEAKER_03]: You know what, and I'm not gonna say a site hustle because I ended up, you know, I've got, you know, with my license and stuff.
7:03
[SPEAKER_03]: I'll type business activities and all this stuff.
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[SPEAKER_03]: But my thing that I love doing is people will ask me, okay, can you come speak or I wrote a book?
7:10
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_03]: writing a book is not as difficult as people think it is, but nowadays, when I first wrote one, it was, but actually writing a book, you know, your books are selling while you're sleeping.
7:21
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah.
7:22
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
7:22
[SPEAKER_03]: People are buying your books.
7:24
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think people should if they have a purpose which everybody does, but turn their purpose into their passion and purpose into their pain
7:34
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's what I need to do like I love to cook.
7:35
[SPEAKER_03]: If I really had time, I would just I would actually cook.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That would be my best side as well.
7:39
[SPEAKER_03]: Because I love to cook.
7:41
[SPEAKER_03]: But I do think, you know, there's so many things that are used to doing.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That's why we teach them.
7:45
[SPEAKER_03]: And I'm so glad you had Sean on here.
7:47
[SPEAKER_03]: Because we teach them entrepreneurship skills.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And Sean came and talked about entrepreneurship skills.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So it's perfect.
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[SPEAKER_03]: A great segue into, but teaching them how to turn
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[SPEAKER_03]: their passion into payment.
7:58
[SPEAKER_03]: Everybody has a passion.
7:59
[SPEAKER_03]: So, you know, mine, this is so many different things.
8:02
[SPEAKER_03]: I think I'm busy, you know, I was adopted and in foster care, so I'm have Jamaican.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I got like 10, 10, 10, and I was like, you know, I really didn't understand it.
8:10
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I really didn't understand it.
8:12
[SPEAKER_03]: I really didn't understand it.
8:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, okay.
8:14
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, and out later on in life that, you know, I'm have Jamaican.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That's how it works so many jobs.
8:19
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that is true, yeah, it's just learning your blood.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's in my blood.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So yes, I'm always like, okay, I can do this.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I can help somebody do this.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So I'm always thinking like you, like for example, this is your passion.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It's been your passion like this is it and so I love to see you in your passion I love to see you, you know, when it comes to like in the magazines our magazine black tech Saturday Like you're doing your passion right now and that's what
8:51
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, it's, it's not about the money will follow if you do your passion.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And that's what I try to teach our youth that the money would eventually follow.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I love, you know, love what I do for living and I love what I do for life.
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[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And it's a big difference.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So I do for living.
9:05
[SPEAKER_03]: So I do for life.
9:05
[SPEAKER_03]: But the main thing is, I don't want our young people or our community.
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[SPEAKER_03]: to be poor, poor means passed over opportunity repeatedly.
9:13
[SPEAKER_03]: But because of podcasts like yours, you always get people opportunities.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Whether it's in a tech industry, whether it's small business, whether it's that you're doing it.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So I think that's what we need to do as plant seeds, all of our community, and take care of each other, especially doing these trying to have.
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[SPEAKER_00]: agree agree and last question I want to ask you is where this is black business month because we're in August right now and that's the purpose of us being here today at the lip bar and being able to celebrate that so what does that mean for you in terms of celebrating black on businesses being in a establishment like the lip bar and what they've been able to listen to him it's been able to build here what does that mean to you
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[SPEAKER_03]: First of all, Melissa's my niece.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I call her my niece.
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[SPEAKER_03]: You call her her to life.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So Melissa ended up, I was on her lip bar bus.
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[SPEAKER_03]: You know, we were right, you know, driving, they said he had Detroit.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And I was like, can you give me a ride?
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[SPEAKER_03]: Helm, she drove me home and that, but I love before Melissa had lip bar.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Before she got into her again.
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[SPEAKER_03]: pushing things.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And then I also work with Detroit development plan.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I'm on the board of there.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So she actually, you know, we, you know, worked with her and all the businesses in Detroit.
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[SPEAKER_03]: But the one thing we did this summer, which was so powerful for empowering for our use and for the small businesses, we selected like 12 businesses in the same Detroit.
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[SPEAKER_03]: mostly African-American on whether it was a barber shop, shops on top, jabs, gym, just different, a whole bunch of hot sands, we went Kyla Walker Miller, we went to electric companies or just so many different companies, and our youth did a merger and acquisition with black owned businesses.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So when they win the black owned businesses, they research it all week long, and they went in there and said, we're going to do a business in the black plan for you, and through their
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[SPEAKER_03]: make money for their generation, like you gotta keep this going, like you gotta keep the lip bar going.
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[SPEAKER_03]: You gotta keep hot say I'm going.
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[SPEAKER_03]: We did it for Simmer's in Clark.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It's our hundred year anniversary and guess what business plan they're using.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The ones from our students, so you look at it as we are, you know, if they learn from doing murder, they know what a version of acquisition is.
11:16
[SPEAKER_03]: Number one, and then they say, okay, this is how a business can leave a legacy.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So that was probably one of the most powerful things.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Our young people have done, they took over different companies, whether it was nonprofits, and actually let them have a legacy planning session with them.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So it was powerful.
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[SPEAKER_03]: love that love that and so for the people who want to stay in touch with you they want to learn what you're doing with money matters for you if they want to be able to follow your journey work and they find you website e-mail social media and you can go to money matters for use.com so money matters for use.com just go on there and they can reach out to me there or you know my Instagram, I'm Gail Perry Mason, Instagram Facebook definitely just reach out to me
12:01
[SPEAKER_03]: But no, but I'm looking forward to it, but I will sell everybody's on your podcast.
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[SPEAKER_03]: They need a personal board of directors.
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[SPEAKER_05]: Yes, yes.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Everybody needs a personal board of directors.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So we teach our youth also, just like just like your podcast.
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[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_03]: These are board of directors.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Like you had people that you, you know, that you work with.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And so I just think we can't make it in this world without we can't do it on our own.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So people could become entrepreneurs, people do different things.
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[SPEAKER_03]: You need people to look up to and be able to work with you.
12:28
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, absolutely.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, Ms.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Gayle, thank you so much for joining the podcast again and thank you for being a pillar support for so many different communities and people in the city Detroit.
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[SPEAKER_00]: You probably don't know the level of impact that you have on so many different communities and people, but it definitely is so.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And it's very important.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So we thank you.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Now, it's blessing for all of us to support one another.
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[SPEAKER_03]: We are stronger together.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, that's it.
12:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
12:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I love you so much.
12:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Love you, too.
12:58
[SPEAKER_00]: We are continuing our conversations here at LeBar for Black Business Month and celebrating the essence of that.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm here with Ms.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Erica Banks of Bank of Milwaukee.
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[SPEAKER_00]: How are you doing today?
13:09
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm good.
13:09
[SPEAKER_04]: How are you?
13:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Doing pretty good.
13:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you came to the started date, did you know you could be on a podcast?
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[SPEAKER_04]: I somewhat knew Jimi Luh called me and said, hey, we've got a podcast going on down at the lip-art and he comes to me with all those new things.
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[SPEAKER_04]: You do something.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
13:21
[SPEAKER_04]: You do it.
13:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_04]: I'm glad that she called me.
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[SPEAKER_04]: I'm glad to be here.
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[SPEAKER_04]: Love the lip-art.
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[SPEAKER_04]: So, it's an amazing kind of thing here.
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[SPEAKER_00]: very dope.
13:28
[SPEAKER_00]: So can you tell us about bankable marketing and tell us about what services that you provide and then also how you came to create your own marketing agency?
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[SPEAKER_04]: Sure.
13:37
[SPEAKER_04]: So bankable marketing strategies is that full service marketing communications we are from is actually my mother and I. Okay.
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[SPEAKER_04]: So shout out Sharon Banks.
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[SPEAKER_04]: She started bankable marketing back in 2009.
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[SPEAKER_04]: I joined the agency in
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[SPEAKER_04]: 16th anniversary, 15th 16 years, so we do everything from PR to marketing to events, crisis management.
14:12
[SPEAKER_04]: I feel like I'm forgetting something, but it's communications, the whole, we, under that umbrella of Marcom, that is us.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
14:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And is that your overall professional background or is this something that you found a passion for later on in life in terms of marketing as as a whole.
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[SPEAKER_04]: So this actually came to me later in life.
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[SPEAKER_04]: I went to Eastern Michigan University, shout out, you know, and I went to the teacher, actually.
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[SPEAKER_04]: And then I was blessed with my daughter and needed to make a career change because unfortunately, teachers are not paid that they should be.
14:44
[SPEAKER_05]: Right.
14:45
[SPEAKER_04]: So I cut my teeth at one afford mode of companies, marketing agencies, and literally fell in love.
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[SPEAKER_04]: And from there, I bounced from agency to agency, and then my mom started the agency.
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[SPEAKER_04]: light bulb went off and she said, you know, you should come join the family business.
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[SPEAKER_04]: And I have been there ever since.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Very nice.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And what does it like for you and as some stuff like business month and being in the city of Detroit?
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[SPEAKER_00]: What does it like for you or have been like for you being a business for 16 years being the business owner in the in the in the Detroit area?
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[SPEAKER_04]: It's been amazing.
15:14
[SPEAKER_04]: Honestly, all of our clients thank God.
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[SPEAKER_04]: I've been word a mouth.
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[SPEAKER_04]: So we have worked with the Wayne County Treasurer's office.
15:23
[SPEAKER_04]: They're read the Franklin Ampeth Theatre.
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[SPEAKER_04]: We have the Detroit Jazz Festival as a client.
15:28
[SPEAKER_04]: So if you're out and about in Detroit, come on down, Labor Day weekend.
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[SPEAKER_04]: But it has been amazing working in the family business.
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[SPEAKER_04]: I have learned so much from my mother in this space.
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[SPEAKER_04]: We have
15:41
[SPEAKER_04]: an amazing team.
15:42
[SPEAKER_04]: We have an amazing time and to still be a black female owned business thriving in the city of Detroit.
15:50
[SPEAKER_04]: I think it speaks volumes to how the city and natural Detroit just uplift small businesses.
15:56
[SPEAKER_00]: That's right, say one more time, like female.
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[SPEAKER_04]: Black female family owned business in the city of Detroit.
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[SPEAKER_04]: It is phenomenal.
16:03
[SPEAKER_00]: There we go.
16:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Here we go.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That's what it's all about.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And in terms of marketing, I want to see if I can lean on some of your expertise real quick.
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[SPEAKER_00]: working with the different, because you, you had mentioned some of the projects that you had in clients that you work with.
16:17
[SPEAKER_00]: How can small business owners be better marketers?
16:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, whether in my experience, these are some of the things that I feel like are either overlooked or undervalue when it comes to, especially for small businesses.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Because the easy thing to say, I don't have budget for, I don't have time for
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[SPEAKER_00]: I just need to do the thing, but at the end of the day, that's directly tied to yourselves.
16:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And how you make money and let people know about your business and get opportunities.
16:41
[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to know, do you have any strategies that you would tell people to implement when they are small business owners that will help them be better marketers?
16:50
[SPEAKER_04]: I think networking is key.
16:52
[SPEAKER_04]: I think getting out there, meeting people, you are your own brand.
16:58
[SPEAKER_04]: So you have to sell yourself.
17:01
[SPEAKER_04]: One thing that I'm big on with my clients is it's not so much what you say about you.
17:06
[SPEAKER_04]: It's what other people say about you, so if you are proud of what you have, your product, your service, whatever your offering is, the way that social media is right now, you can create your own ads, you can create your own content, and so you're full.
17:21
[SPEAKER_04]: Get out and network whether it's a small business, opportunity, whether it's, I know the DEC is always putting on events, but you have to be out there, Amazon is not going to deliver those clients to you.
17:33
[SPEAKER_04]: Right.
17:34
[SPEAKER_04]: Get out, range of self, promote yourself, and is not.
17:39
[SPEAKER_04]: an easy turnkey is going to happen tomorrow but if it's your passion and you love it it won't feel like work and once people start talking again it's not what you say about yourself is what other people say about you so just make sure that what they're saying is what you want them to say yeah for sure
17:54
[SPEAKER_00]: For other people who are in the marketing space or let's say creative in that arena, do you have any advice or lived experiences as to how they can get to the back?
18:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, how do I get a client like the Franklin Franklin amphitheater to pay me money to do services?
18:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, how do you make those things happen?
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[SPEAKER_04]: Again, I think it's about how you're marketing yourself.
18:19
[SPEAKER_04]: If you're a CEO, you can do a day in the lack of a CEO, just so we know what it looks like, what it is that you're doing, how your day looks.
18:31
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't know that there is one.
18:34
[SPEAKER_04]: right answer to get to the bag, be every client is different.
18:39
[SPEAKER_04]: But for us, for bankable, a lot of what has been delivered to us in terms of clients, again, has been one of the people that said.
18:49
[SPEAKER_04]: So whatever it is you're doing, whether you're selling lip products or you're selling your services,
18:55
[SPEAKER_04]: Put yourselves in positions where people start to know and pay attention to who you are, what it is that you're offering, and then eventually someone will say, hey, I remember so and so from this event, I remember this podcast and I saw them there and then people will start to reach out and that's how you just build a momentum in my opinion.
19:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, for sure.
19:16
[SPEAKER_00]: For sure.
19:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I got to introduce you now to my favorite part of Black Fridays, which is Freestyle Friday.
19:22
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, I'm going to guess got a Freestyle.
19:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So whatever bars you get, whatever.
19:26
[SPEAKER_05]: Why not?
19:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Why not?
19:30
[SPEAKER_00]: That's part of the surprise.
19:38
[SPEAKER_00]: You say ready, you ain't got to get ready, you know?
19:43
[SPEAKER_00]: It's all good.
19:44
[SPEAKER_00]: It's actually just random assortment of questions.
19:45
[SPEAKER_00]: It's rapid fire questions that ask my guests.
19:48
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
19:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So in the last year, do you have any marketing campaigns that stood out to you that were done by other people?
19:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Or just recent memory in general, it doesn't have to be
19:59
[SPEAKER_04]: You know who's campaign I really recently fell in love with is no shade to live bar.
20:05
[SPEAKER_04]: I love you guys with the next cosmetics that they just did with Nick and a land here from love.
20:09
[SPEAKER_04]: I love it.
20:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, because I'm here.
20:10
[SPEAKER_00]: You better say, live bar.
20:12
[SPEAKER_04]: So sorry.
20:12
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm so sorry.
20:14
[SPEAKER_04]: That's the one that.
20:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I understand.
20:16
[SPEAKER_04]: I think two days ago.
20:19
[SPEAKER_04]: I love how brands are now connecting with.
20:25
[SPEAKER_04]: I guess we can call them influencers, but not necessarily celebrities, but folks that we would trust to say, okay, you're not necessarily who I would think to be associated with this brand, but because I trust you, I'm going to check out this brand.
20:37
[SPEAKER_04]: I do know that the lip bar engaged, Coco, who I love, shout out the lip bar.
20:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
20:41
[SPEAKER_04]: But that's the most recent one that I can think of at the top of my hand.
20:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Very dope.
20:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
20:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And what do you have in rotation right now?
20:47
[SPEAKER_00]: What you listen to?
20:49
[SPEAKER_04]: So I just listen to I'm listening to him.
20:55
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm listening to him.
20:59
[SPEAKER_04]: I'm a huge K-line fan.
21:00
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
21:02
[SPEAKER_04]: And then at the gym, as a late DJ Kelly.
21:06
[SPEAKER_05]: Okay.
21:07
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay.
21:12
[SPEAKER_00]: You sure?
21:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have a favorite piece of technology that you use?
21:17
[SPEAKER_04]: My cell phone.
21:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
21:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that where that's where all the business getting handed?
21:21
[SPEAKER_04]: I have two phones.
21:22
[SPEAKER_04]: One is personal one is business and that is on purpose.
21:26
[SPEAKER_05]: Okay.
21:26
[SPEAKER_04]: Because I will allow my client to send a love in a file.
21:30
[SPEAKER_04]: It's still phone.
21:31
[SPEAKER_04]: It's still tech.
21:32
[SPEAKER_04]: So I had to set that boundary.
21:34
[SPEAKER_04]: So the work phone goes on the first phone.
21:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
21:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're not like my business hours are nine to five.
21:41
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not true.
21:42
[SPEAKER_04]: No, they're like nine to that, but I'll do nothing.
21:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
21:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Nine until they find out when you off the clock, first you're, and speaking of cell phones or phone in general, would you prefer, is your phone call only do one of these functions and no other functions which phones you pick?
22:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Call, text, or video call.
22:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
22:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't call you about nothing.
22:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Just.
22:08
[SPEAKER_04]: You can call it.
22:09
[SPEAKER_04]: I want to go to people if I text you.
22:12
[SPEAKER_04]: Don't respond with a call.
22:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
22:14
[SPEAKER_04]: That text.
22:15
[SPEAKER_04]: Now I call you.
22:16
[SPEAKER_04]: Call me.
22:17
[SPEAKER_04]: But if I text you, don't.
22:19
[SPEAKER_04]: Just respond for the text.
22:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Gotcha.
22:21
[SPEAKER_04]: And this new thing where people just face time you.
22:23
[SPEAKER_04]: Like, oh, yeah.
22:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know where.
22:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
22:25
[SPEAKER_04]: No.
22:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
22:26
[SPEAKER_00]: You guys get you know that.
22:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
22:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
22:57
[SPEAKER_04]: For every know that you hear there will be a yes don't give up don't give up on yourself don't give up on the dream because we need whatever it is that you have if there's a place for it we want it way man.
23:10
[SPEAKER_04]: Can you give us your what people can find you social media website all that good stuff How to people if they connect it um it's air defense or bankable marketing strategies on Instagram I'm that PR girl underscore eat but everything is either air defense It's basically not wrap her though, okay Yeah, that's the same way yeah
23:36
[SPEAKER_04]: But yeah, check me out on Instagram, check out our LinkedIn, our Facebook website, bankablempg.gov.
23:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Perfect.
23:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, Erica, thank you for joining us on the podcast today and helping us celebrate Black Business Month at the lip bar.
23:49
[SPEAKER_00]: We appreciate it.
23:49
[SPEAKER_04]: Absolutely.
23:50
[SPEAKER_04]: Thank you.
23:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Right now, I am joined by Mr. Jameh, of G-Pixel, Kassote.
23:55
[SPEAKER_00]: How are you, Dan?
23:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Good.
23:56
[SPEAKER_00]: How are you?
23:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm doing great.
23:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And you look familiar.
23:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you might have been the podcast before.
24:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, merging up the world.
24:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, just just two black people podcasting.
24:10
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, yeah.
24:12
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's good to see you in this place and obviously we are celebrating like this is month at the lip bar.
24:18
[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to know what does black this is month me for for you.
24:23
[SPEAKER_02]: So I would say black business month for me is multifaceted because of course having my own business Learning and growing from other black business owners cross networking and sharing resources and space Observing and taking in lessons and then pouring in that support.
24:43
[SPEAKER_02]: I think as much as you can you should support black business It's not just for a month, but 365
24:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely.
24:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And it tells a little bit about your black on business.
24:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Sure.
24:53
[SPEAKER_02]: So I, one of one of my businesses, I own G pencil consulting.
24:57
[SPEAKER_02]: I have a PhD in industrial and organization of psychology, which is business psychology.
25:03
[SPEAKER_02]: And I work with small business owners, nonprofit entrepreneurs, and help them develop in ways of organizational development, project management, and grant writing.
25:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
25:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Very nice.
25:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And so you actually have study.
25:19
[SPEAKER_00]: You have a, let me give me right.
25:21
[SPEAKER_00]: You got a PhD in psychology.
25:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
25:23
[SPEAKER_02]: So my PhD is in industrial and organization of psychology with the specialization in consulting psychology.
25:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
25:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And so when it comes to the psychology of business, that's what I want to ask you about and see if you can be deeper into that because as an entrepreneurial self and now also working with different business owners and consulting them, I'm sure you get a chance to see things from both sides of the coin literally.
25:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you could just talk to us about what is you're understanding when it comes to the psychology of business or some of the things that you
25:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so I think when people hear psychology, they automatically assume like, you know, the white college you lay out, you tell somebody your problems.
26:05
[SPEAKER_02]: And for like from a certain perspective or aspect, IOS psychology is similar to that just for businesses and organizations.
26:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Like we go in to help
26:15
[SPEAKER_02]: businesses and founders and owners diagnose their problems or challenges that they're facing with their workforce.
26:23
[SPEAKER_02]: And when we talk about what those problems are, it's more so, you know, we look at behaviors, trends and patterns.
26:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Why people are reacting in certain ways, why are certain things not working, because sometimes,
26:38
[SPEAKER_02]: People just throw solutions at things, not really digging into the root of what's happening.
26:43
[SPEAKER_02]: And when you dig into the root, you often times find out, okay, this solution isn't working because what I'm trying to apply isn't really the actual problem.
26:53
[SPEAKER_02]: And even with small businesses, nonprofits, they go through the same challenges that large businesses go through, but they don't have necessarily have the resources to diagnose and break those things down.
27:04
[SPEAKER_02]: So I also
27:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Why, you know, what those trends are, what are what's future state?
27:11
[SPEAKER_02]: What could potentially happen based on how people are behaving and especially like the environment, how that's impacting the work the workforce to.
27:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And I saw a post not too long ago or yesterday, I think it was like TikTok or something.
27:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Somebody basically was saying that people don't
27:27
[SPEAKER_00]: like your trauma from work or your trauma in life, the other just disappear when you go to work.
27:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Some people feel like they can split their time or personality between the two.
27:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that something that you see a lot in the work that you're doing?
27:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And things that you've researched and done?
27:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I think, you know, pop culture and society has definitely influenced that perspective.
27:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Because we look at like the show severance, for example.
27:49
[SPEAKER_02]: It talks about how people have literally separated themselves from their personal life.
27:54
[SPEAKER_02]: and their work life.
27:55
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think as the workforce was developing and evolving into what we know now, there was this big idea of work life balance and everyone wanted to be, um, you know, have that completely separate.
28:07
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think in some professions, yes, you can separate your personal from your work, but oftentimes a lot of what we find is that people carry their personal life
28:18
[SPEAKER_02]: And they build interpersonal relationships with our coworkers, you tell your coworkers your business, you involve them in your family gatherings, and sometimes people bring work home.
28:28
[SPEAKER_02]: And they bring that stress and that frustration and that tension.
28:33
[SPEAKER_02]: It can often lead to either a toxic home environment or a toxic work environment because people aren't taking the time to really process what's happening and how they can truly blend and work cohesively within themselves and within the work environment, you know, successfully.
28:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm of the school of thinking that, you know, sometimes people run into or a lot of situations people run in a bad managers or bad management, what they come from like your direct manager at the top down, I think that people in certain organizations or whatever and obviously they could create their own rules and policies, but I think that some people need to be if you'll manage people you need to.
29:13
[SPEAKER_00]: be willing to go to therapy or like seek some type of counseling.
29:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
29:17
[SPEAKER_00]: While you're doing that because yeah, some people like that trauma and that stuff that you've got baggage we have at home and you bring in that and you
29:24
[SPEAKER_00]: projecting that or other people, that's not okay.
29:26
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, and I think oftentimes, a lot of people aren't prepared for the leadership roles that they're thrust into or placed into.
29:34
[SPEAKER_02]: It's sometimes they're placed into that role out of convenience or necessity, because there's no one else able to do the job, or we see managers and supervisors or, you know, people in leadership roles,
29:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Like this person is causing havoc in the workplace and it's people have become so terrified talking to this person and giving feedback that it's just created this negative environment for everyone and you know we talk about how.
30:07
[SPEAKER_02]: Generally, we see the different generations in the workplace, right?
30:11
[SPEAKER_02]: You have Gen D, you have Millennials, you have Gen X, you have Fulmers, and everybody has a different communication style.
30:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Everybody has a different leadership style.
30:19
[SPEAKER_02]: And sometimes it can be overwhelming because one person may want to email.
30:22
[SPEAKER_02]: One person may want you to pick up the phone.
30:24
[SPEAKER_02]: One person may want you to have a team meeting, and one person is just not even responding at all.
30:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And as a leader, you're supposed to take charge over all of these different people,
30:36
[SPEAKER_02]: successfully get them to work together.
30:39
[SPEAKER_02]: How do you do that?
30:40
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that what a lot of people don't realize is that yes, it can be a challenge, but talking to the people around you, talking to other leaders,
30:52
[SPEAKER_02]: allows you to learn and grow.
30:54
[SPEAKER_02]: And also looking at like the history, what has been done in the past hasn't worked, you know, if some of it worked and some of it didn't, how can we evolve and, you know, more this into something that may be successful or maybe positive.
31:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, for sure.
31:10
[SPEAKER_00]: What are some trends that you're seeing from the psychology standpoint of business that you like or that you see is going in a positive direction?
31:19
[SPEAKER_02]: So, I think one of the things I like is that we are, so we're coming away from the pandemic from a work perspective where, you know, a lot of people were in a remote setting.
31:32
[SPEAKER_02]: And,
31:34
[SPEAKER_02]: Initially, we saw these big corporations trying to force people back to work, you know, nope, COVID's gone, everybody has to come back.
31:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And people pushed back on that.
31:44
[SPEAKER_02]: People said, actually, I can't perform my job from home remotely without, you know, without having to come into the office.
31:50
[SPEAKER_02]: You can't force me to come into work.
31:53
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that that pushback created
31:57
[SPEAKER_02]: a new chasm or a new layer of managers and supervising, wait a minute, maybe this is, maybe I need to rethink how we establish the workplace.
32:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe the workplace is not necessarily this office.
32:09
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe it can be spread out across the US.
32:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe I'm more productive if my, you know, if my team isn't in the office because some people don't like being a box.
32:19
[SPEAKER_02]: They can't like a cubicle is going to completely
32:27
[SPEAKER_02]: And I also think that with the internet, like the internet has changed so many different aspects, AI has changed so many different aspects of how we work.
32:37
[SPEAKER_02]: But I also think it's created more communication and people are talking more about how they can be more innovative and how they can challenge themselves to create a better product, create a better service.
32:49
[SPEAKER_02]: Because what we're seeing now is that people aren't afraid to voice their opinions about anything good or bad.
32:57
[SPEAKER_02]: When businesses and leaders encounter that feedback, not just from their workforce, but from the outside, like from their audience, how are they taking that information and making it, making their product or service better?
33:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
33:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I think that communication piece really the innovation and creativity piece and having tools like AI and different technologies help people unlock that.
33:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that that helps unlock Word of possibilities for people like me who have I've had nine to five jobs that I worked in even though I did that in a professional capacity from the standpoint of marketing and consulting whatever role I had I've always
33:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I felt the need to have a creative outlet for myself and then so being able to I feel like that allows you to have a little bit more of a balance Because I don't completely believe in like work like balance.
33:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's more so like a mix versus the balance where it's like it's never truly going to be balanced It's the way I think about it, but I don't know if you've got any thoughts on it
33:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, you know, I think the work life balance kind of stuff is interesting, because you have one side of people who will say, well, I love what I do so much, but I don't consider it work.
34:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, right.
34:03
[SPEAKER_02]: And so, that's great.
34:04
[SPEAKER_00]: You just live in your life at that point.
34:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
34:06
[SPEAKER_02]: And then you have some people who are like, absolutely not, I don't want to take work home with me, at all, I want to completely separate myself.
34:13
[SPEAKER_02]: And so you have to be able to like, you have to create an environment in a space where both those types of people to be able to thrive because you can't force one person to be on this side with the other person like it's not you're not going to work well together because they're going to get on each other's nerves like we see it in in often environments every day and also think like I think.
34:35
[SPEAKER_02]: What I appreciate and what I like that brand and organizations are doing is that I feel like up into maybe the last five or ten years, a lot of organizations did not realize the power of social media and having a dedicated social media team.
34:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Like they just assume, oh, we'll just get this person to run our social media accounts if they had social media accounts, post a couple tweets.
35:00
[SPEAKER_02]: not really realizing the power and influence of engagement because when you're engaging your audience, you're getting that feedback in real time, you're getting that that personality almost from a brand that you necessarily wouldn't expect to see.
35:16
[SPEAKER_02]: And that that also highlights bad social media practices and PR because we've seen some organization kind of know that
35:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, Jermaine, I want to give you, you remember this part of Black Friday who was just free-stop Friday's.
35:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I need you to give us some bars this time.
35:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I need you to wrap, you need to give us some poetry, you need to sing, however you go, however you go, roll this out, it's up to you.
35:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Or you can just, I got one question for you.
35:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I bet you all, I just need to know, I want to know if you can give us some business quick hit.
35:51
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you had three things that you want to tell entrepreneurs what they need to do in terms of improving their business and or getting to the bag, what's your three things that you you stand by don't undervalue PR even if you don't have the money.
36:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And go to free workshops, resources, whatever you can, to get that PR edge because it'll save you more than it'll hurt you.
36:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Talk to your, talk to your audience, talk to the people you're trying to sell a product sell a service because if you don't talk to them, how do you know exactly what they're me, you're just going off assumptions and then next you know nobody's buying wish or selling so then now you kind of.
36:33
[SPEAKER_02]: was up a creek without a paddle.
36:35
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
36:35
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
36:38
[SPEAKER_02]: And then um number three don't be afraid to change.
36:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Like especially what I see with a lot of my clients is that sometimes you have to pivot.
36:47
[SPEAKER_02]: If you're if you keep going at something and it's not working, maybe it's it's time to take a look at what's going on, what you have, what you're presenting and evolve it, going a different direction,
37:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to sum it up in three in terms of PR people in terms of talk to you people and pivot.
37:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, change when necessary.
37:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, absolutely.
37:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Perfect.
37:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So, demanding working people tapping with you if they want to leverage your services, if they just want to follow you and be able to follow their journey, wish your handles, your website, all that stuff.
37:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, so you can follow my social media Instagram, G pencil consulting, you can visit my website, G pencil consulting dot com.
37:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Perfect.
37:27
[SPEAKER_00]: We appreciate you for pulling up on this, especially to celebrate Black Business Month here at the lip bar.
37:32
[SPEAKER_00]: And we wish you continue success and maybe we'll pop up on your podcast and you pop up on the podcast.
37:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you never know.
37:39
[SPEAKER_00]: You never know.
37:40
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a chart.
37:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.