Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Faith and Business: Created BOSS Network, promotes and encourages entrepreneurial and career development of women of color.

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Faith and Business: Created BOSS Network, promotes and encourages entrepreneurial and career development of women of color. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show.
0:06
Speaker 2: I am Rashwan McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
0:10
Speaker 2: where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success
0:13
Speaker 2: stories and start planning their own. Listen up as I
0:17
Speaker 2: interview entrepreneurs from around the country, talk to celebrities and
0:21
Speaker 2: ask them how they are running their companies, and speak
0:23
Speaker 2: with dog profits who are making a difference in their
0:26
Speaker 2: local communities. Now, sit back and listen as we unlock
0:29
Speaker 2: the secrets to their success on Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
0:34
Speaker 1: Hi is Rashon McDonald. Welcome back to Money Making Conversation
0:37
Speaker 1: Master Class. I am your host. This weekly show is
0:40
Speaker 1: called Money Making Conversation Master Class. Y'all know that a
0:43
Speaker 1: lot of people walking to go when it's coming on.
0:45
Speaker 1: It's coming on when you listen. The interviews and information
0:48
Speaker 1: that this show provides are for everyone. It's time to
0:51
Speaker 1: stop reading other people's success story and really and start
0:54
Speaker 1: living your own. I'm here to help you reach your
0:57
Speaker 1: American dream. I want you to be If you want
0:59
Speaker 1: to be a guest to my show, please visit my
1:02
Speaker 1: site money Making Conversation master Class and click to be
1:05
Speaker 1: a guest button, and then you can be on my
1:08
Speaker 1: show my guests, I mean, she was cool. My guest
1:12
Speaker 1: is founded or founded the Boss Network. It's an online
1:15
Speaker 1: community of professional and entrepreneurial women who support each other
1:19
Speaker 1: through digital content programs and event based networking. The mission
1:24
Speaker 1: of the Boss Network. This is the second time I've
1:25
Speaker 1: had on the show. The first time she was on
1:27
Speaker 1: the show, she blew me away. Stands for bringing out
1:30
Speaker 1: successful sisters. That's what Boss means is to promote and
1:34
Speaker 1: encourage the small business spirit and career development of women
1:38
Speaker 1: of color. This year, the Boss Network is celebrating the
1:43
Speaker 1: fifteenth year anniverse. It's fifteen years she's been in the game. Now,
1:46
Speaker 1: please welcome the Money Making Conversation master Class the one
1:49
Speaker 1: and only Doctor Kamika Smith. Doctor Smith, welcome back.
1:54
Speaker 3: Listen, mister McDonald. It's a pleasure to be back.
1:57
Speaker 1: You know, it's so fun. I was, I was in
1:59
Speaker 1: my office and I was just I said, you know something,
2:02
Speaker 1: because the first time, before I get into that story,
2:04
Speaker 1: let everybody know about the Boss Network. Please tell everybody
2:07
Speaker 1: what the Boss Network is in your words. I know
2:10
Speaker 1: they celebrating their fifteen year. That's why you're in here.
2:12
Speaker 1: So we talk about the November sixteenth, eight it's coming up,
2:16
Speaker 1: but let's talk about the Boss Network so other people
2:19
Speaker 1: can grow that brand and find out the value of
2:23
Speaker 1: what you're doing for women of color.
2:26
Speaker 3: Absolutely, Rashan, So to the Money Making Conversation listeners. I'm
2:29
Speaker 3: just excited to be here because again, you know, we
2:32
Speaker 3: are celebrating our fifteen year anniversary with the Boss Network.
2:34
Speaker 3: I founded this organization back in two thousand and nine
2:37
Speaker 3: when I was laid off, and I know a lot
2:39
Speaker 3: of people can relate to that, being laid off work
2:40
Speaker 3: and trying to figure out what's next. I was always
2:43
Speaker 3: an entrepreneur at heart, and so I just told myself,
2:46
Speaker 3: you know what, I'm going to take a year off
2:47
Speaker 3: and figure out this entrepreneurial thing. That already had started
2:50
Speaker 3: an event marketing company here in Chicago, and so I
2:53
Speaker 3: wanted to kind of build on that business. But I
2:55
Speaker 3: realized very quickly that a side hustle and a full
2:58
Speaker 3: time entrepreneurship journey is two different things, and so I
3:02
Speaker 3: really had to kind of find my community. And at
3:05
Speaker 3: the time I'm talking about fifteen years ago, it was
3:07
Speaker 3: not what you see now, where everybody supporting black businesses,
3:10
Speaker 3: everybody supporting entrepreneurship and tech. It really wasn't that, and
3:14
Speaker 3: so I have to really kind of build what I
3:16
Speaker 3: wanted and that's how the Boss Network came about. And
3:19
Speaker 3: so we started off doing evince here in Chicago because
3:21
Speaker 3: I really wanted to bring together black women to talk
3:23
Speaker 3: about how do we grow as business owners? How do
3:25
Speaker 3: we climb the corporate ladder? And through those conversations, we
3:28
Speaker 3: were able to build our community the bossntwor dot org.
3:31
Speaker 3: And so today we reached over two hundred thousand Black
3:34
Speaker 3: women across the country. We've invested in one hundred black
3:37
Speaker 3: female founders, We've trained over fifty thousand black women on
3:40
Speaker 3: success strategies, and we've coached about ten thousand women on
3:43
Speaker 3: how to start their businesses. And so it's been an
3:45
Speaker 3: amazing journey. And yeah, we're here today fifteen years later,
3:49
Speaker 3: still doing.
3:49
Speaker 1: The work now, Dizum two thousand and nine, that's fifteen
3:53
Speaker 1: years ago. Got laid off. What was the state of
3:56
Speaker 1: line of Kamika. This shoudn't say, come Comica got laid off.
4:01
Speaker 1: I'm talking to doctor Kamiki Smith today. Back then, Comica
4:04
Speaker 1: got laid off.
4:05
Speaker 3: Comika got laid off.
4:08
Speaker 1: So what was the thing of Comica back then? In
4:10
Speaker 1: two thousand and ninck.
4:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, Reshine. So this is the thing, you know,
4:14
Speaker 3: if you all remember, two thousand and nine was a recession,
4:17
Speaker 3: so you know, it wasn't just Comika, it was you know,
4:19
Speaker 3: a lot of the country. So I worked with Chicago
4:21
Speaker 3: Public Schools at the time, and so about fifteen hundred
4:24
Speaker 3: or two thousand people at our district had got laid off,
4:27
Speaker 3: and so I knew it was coming. It wasn't a surprise.
4:29
Speaker 3: And so by me being already an entrepreneur, I was
4:32
Speaker 3: just like, Okay, you know what, I've been working since
4:34
Speaker 3: I was probably twelve years old. You know, I started,
4:37
Speaker 3: you know, passing out flyers for a pizza company when
4:39
Speaker 3: I was twelve years old in my neighborhood. And I
4:42
Speaker 3: worked every since, and so went to college, got the
4:44
Speaker 3: master's degree, all the things, and I realized, like, you
4:47
Speaker 3: know what, I want a break, and so I was
4:49
Speaker 3: happy to take a year off, get my unemployment, and
4:51
Speaker 3: figure out how to start a business full time. And
4:53
Speaker 3: so I was happy, I'm not gonna lie. I was
4:55
Speaker 3: like looking forward to that break. And some times that
4:58
Speaker 3: you know, our counterpart, you know, they get to go backpacking,
5:01
Speaker 3: you up and all the things and we don't get
5:03
Speaker 3: to do that, you know. And so I was like,
5:05
Speaker 3: you know what, this is my moment to really take
5:06
Speaker 3: a break and figure out what I want to do.
5:08
Speaker 3: Because for me, it was like I was promised, you know,
5:12
Speaker 3: the career, the go watch.
5:14
Speaker 4: You know.
5:14
Speaker 3: I know a lot of people that work to Trabel,
5:16
Speaker 3: but schools have been there for thirty forty fifty years,
5:18
Speaker 3: and to be laid off, I was like, Wow, this
5:20
Speaker 3: is not what I signed up for. So if this
5:21
Speaker 3: is what it's going to be like in corporate America,
5:24
Speaker 3: I'm gonna just you know what, I'm gonna focus on
5:26
Speaker 3: building my own brand and that way, nobody could ever
5:28
Speaker 3: fire me or lay me off. And that's why I
5:30
Speaker 3: built the Boss Network, to be honest. So I was
5:32
Speaker 3: in a place of excitement of you know, looking forward
5:36
Speaker 3: to what was next, and a lot of people probably
5:38
Speaker 3: found it to be scary. But I've always been a planner,
5:41
Speaker 3: and so I have saved a lot of money. I
5:43
Speaker 3: have friends who are like, Okay, you're single, you don't
5:45
Speaker 3: have children, put some extra money in your four or
5:47
Speaker 3: three V save up, and so I was able to
5:49
Speaker 3: use that money to invest in my business. So yeah,
5:52
Speaker 3: I was I was ready to go.
5:54
Speaker 1: Now, you run a bunch of nervous people, you know,
5:56
Speaker 1: you know, people are always nervous when you're not doing
5:59
Speaker 1: something that's normal, because normal is forty hour week jobs.
6:03
Speaker 1: You know, because they go understand getting up, go work
6:05
Speaker 1: for somebody, get a check, health benefits, vacation, sick days. See,
6:09
Speaker 1: a lot of people are I want to use the
6:11
Speaker 1: work brainwas because that's not it. I did that job.
6:14
Speaker 1: But the entrepreneur thinks different. It's fear, and that fear
6:18
Speaker 1: is like and let me tell you difference between the entpreneur,
6:20
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur and a forty hour week person. An entrepreneur
6:24
Speaker 1: don't want to work forty hours, but as an entrepreneur,
6:26
Speaker 1: they will work eighty hours. So that's the difference. See,
6:29
Speaker 1: they work eighty hours for themselves, but don't want to
6:32
Speaker 1: work forty hours for somebody else. That is the difference
6:34
Speaker 1: between an entrepreneur and a person who works forty hours
6:37
Speaker 1: a week. Now that fear that she brought out, I
6:41
Speaker 1: can tell you this. I am afraid. I'm not gonna joke.
6:44
Speaker 1: I am afraid, but I plan, And that's what she
6:47
Speaker 1: was talking about. She spent that year off planning she
6:50
Speaker 1: had already saved money. She wasn't like jumping off the
6:55
Speaker 1: cliff without a parachute. She was thinking about the process
6:58
Speaker 1: she knew. She didn't say she was shot. She was
7:00
Speaker 1: disappointed it happened, but she wasn't shocked when she got
7:03
Speaker 1: laid off. Now, the sad part about it, a lot
7:06
Speaker 1: of people was shocked they got laid off because even
7:10
Speaker 1: though they were telling you it's going to happen, a
7:12
Speaker 1: lot of people didn't prepare for that. Now, the Boss.
7:15
Speaker 3: Network, whatever sho I WASNA said one quick thing I think.
7:19
Speaker 3: You know, for entrepreneurs, you can be just like anything,
7:22
Speaker 3: you can be taught, but sometimes it's innately in you.
7:25
Speaker 3: And I, to be honest, I feel like I was
7:27
Speaker 3: born to be an entrepreneur. I was born to create
7:29
Speaker 3: the Boss Network. My mother told me when I first
7:31
Speaker 3: got out of college and I started my career, you know,
7:34
Speaker 3: I you know, I wasn't really feeling a lot of
7:36
Speaker 3: the leadership and how things were going. She said, you
7:38
Speaker 3: know what can be done until you become your own boss.
7:40
Speaker 3: You gotta respect authority, You got to follow the rules.
7:42
Speaker 3: It's a game. And so that honestly is why I
7:45
Speaker 3: built the Boss Network. Because she said, until you become
7:47
Speaker 3: your own boss, you got to follow the rules. And
7:51
Speaker 3: I wanted to create my own rules. And so, you know,
7:53
Speaker 3: it was already in me. She nurtured that thing in me.
7:55
Speaker 3: She believed in me from day one, and that's what
7:58
Speaker 3: gave me the confidence to push forward.
8:00
Speaker 1: There are two things that they're doing that I want
8:01
Speaker 1: to talk about in a minute. But let me just
8:03
Speaker 1: back up and let everybody know who I'm talking to.
8:05
Speaker 1: I'm talking to doctor Kamika Smith. She founded the Boss
8:07
Speaker 1: Network and changing the ways enterprising women are viewed among
8:11
Speaker 1: the masses and becoming a resource for companies seeking female
8:15
Speaker 1: minority influencers as their target market. It has supported the
8:19
Speaker 1: careers listen to this, it has supporting The Boss Network
8:22
Speaker 1: has supported the careers in small business development of more
8:24
Speaker 1: than two hundred thousand women of color nationwide through initiative
8:29
Speaker 1: such as Boss Business University, a digital platform that provides
8:33
Speaker 1: comprehensive mentorship programming through industry business experts. Now, you have
8:38
Speaker 1: two things that we want to talk about. The invest
8:41
Speaker 1: in Progress Grant and the Boss Impact Fund. Started to
8:45
Speaker 1: invest in Progress Grant.
8:48
Speaker 3: Well, you know, it really started doing COVID my business
8:53
Speaker 3: before COVID was probably thuvy five percent conferences and events
8:56
Speaker 3: and in marketing, working with brands like Credentials, Jacie Park,
9:01
Speaker 3: and Chase Stage PepsiCo and really using their resources that
9:05
Speaker 3: you know, they wanted to target African American consumers to
9:09
Speaker 3: promote their brand. And so I worked with those brands
9:12
Speaker 3: on a lot of different projects to support small business owners.
9:15
Speaker 3: And you know, when COVID happened, it was literally shut down.
9:19
Speaker 3: There was no events, there were no travels, you know
9:21
Speaker 3: how it was. And so I decided, okay, what's next?
9:25
Speaker 3: Right that everybody was in that season of pivoting and shifting,
9:29
Speaker 3: and so you know me, I'm always trying to be
9:31
Speaker 3: ahead of what's happening. My brand had always been a
9:33
Speaker 3: digital brand because I knew the power of social media
9:36
Speaker 3: very early. I knew that I didn't want to be
9:38
Speaker 3: a working mortar business. I knew I wanted to have
9:41
Speaker 3: a space digitally so that I could reach as many
9:43
Speaker 3: people as possible. And so when COVID happened, all I
9:45
Speaker 3: did was just shift that seventy five percent of the
9:48
Speaker 3: traveling business to digital business. And we just used zooms
9:52
Speaker 3: to do our conferences in our events, and it worked
9:54
Speaker 3: out because we were able to save probably threty percent
9:57
Speaker 3: of our revenue that we spent on events into the business.
10:01
Speaker 3: But the problem was a lot of our community was
10:02
Speaker 3: struggling with their businesses and just educating them wasn't enough,
10:06
Speaker 3: and so I had to figure out a way to
10:07
Speaker 3: provide some support financially because, if you know, less than
10:12
Speaker 3: one percent of black women get VC funding for their
10:14
Speaker 3: small businesses. And so during COVID, you know the bailouts
10:19
Speaker 3: that was given, the PvP loans, we weren't not getting
10:21
Speaker 3: access to those things in the beginning, and so it
10:22
Speaker 3: was a real big struggle. And so I said, you know,
10:24
Speaker 3: as a leader, what I can do is actually pitch
10:27
Speaker 3: some of these companies that I'm working with and start
10:29
Speaker 3: my own fund and have them support that. And so
10:31
Speaker 3: we launched the Boss Impact Fund in twenty twenty to
10:35
Speaker 3: two thousand, sorry twenty and twenty one, and it was
10:37
Speaker 3: a three year project and we've invested so far on
10:40
Speaker 3: one hundred black female founders. They each recent recent to
10:43
Speaker 3: ten thousand dollars grant and a four year scholarship to
10:45
Speaker 3: our bosses and university. And so the Boss Impact Fund,
10:48
Speaker 3: the Investment Progress Grant, the bosses and university. All that
10:51
Speaker 3: was paired together to provide our entrepreneurs with not just money,
10:56
Speaker 3: but marketing and mentorship.
11:00
Speaker 1: Now that key mentorship, because so many people get out here,
11:03
Speaker 1: you know, don't even they want to be in business,
11:05
Speaker 1: don't have a business plan. Can you tell just talking
11:08
Speaker 1: to young entrepreneurs male and female, because they need to
11:11
Speaker 1: hear the true both sides because what you're about to
11:13
Speaker 1: say impacts men and women who want to be entrepreneurs,
11:16
Speaker 1: who want to get out in the small business space.
11:18
Speaker 1: What are the top three mistakes you see and just
11:21
Speaker 1: think about it for a minute that young entrepreneurs make
11:24
Speaker 1: when they jump out there on faith only or just jump.
11:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no, that's a good goodness question, Rashan. And
11:33
Speaker 3: like you said, this is for women and men. You know,
11:35
Speaker 3: the tools are for everybody because the color is green,
11:37
Speaker 3: right right. But one of the things that I would
11:40
Speaker 3: say for me is doing your research. You know, I
11:43
Speaker 3: think a lot of the times we look at other
11:44
Speaker 3: entrepreneurs online and that's how we get our motivation and
11:47
Speaker 3: we see what they're doing and we're like, oh, I
11:49
Speaker 3: could do that, but we don't really know the ends
11:51
Speaker 3: and out of that particular industry and what it takes
11:54
Speaker 3: for that grand to be successful. Because all you're saying
11:56
Speaker 3: is the highlight reels. You're just saying what they post
11:58
Speaker 3: on social media, and it might look easy, but trust me,
12:01
Speaker 3: what goes on behind the business is a whole other beast.
12:05
Speaker 3: And so I always thought entrepreneurs, the first thing you
12:06
Speaker 3: want to do is research. Research the industry, research their competitors,
12:11
Speaker 3: research the marketplace to see if you're even up for
12:14
Speaker 3: the challenge. Because I had so many people wanted to
12:17
Speaker 3: create communities right the BOSS Network, and they did, and
12:20
Speaker 3: I will be honest, none of them exists anymore. I
12:23
Speaker 3: think the BOSS I worked at probably these one of
12:25
Speaker 3: the very few black communities still standing. Because it's a
12:29
Speaker 3: lot of work, and it's a lot of work without rewards,
12:33
Speaker 3: you know, and so you've got to be in it
12:34
Speaker 3: for the love of it until you see that reward.
12:36
Speaker 3: And so my heart was always in it for the people,
12:39
Speaker 3: and so I waited a long time before I saw
12:41
Speaker 3: the reward that I felt like I deserved. But I
12:44
Speaker 3: believed in it. And just like anything, they say, if
12:46
Speaker 3: you love it, you do it for free. And I
12:48
Speaker 3: did you know the blessing was, you know, God kept
12:51
Speaker 3: me along the way financially, and I had a partner
12:53
Speaker 3: who supported me. But the reality was I gave a
12:56
Speaker 3: lot of to my community without receiving anything in return
13:00
Speaker 3: in the beginning as I was building, but I used
13:03
Speaker 3: that time to research and figure out how do I
13:05
Speaker 3: monetize this business? And so all that paid off in
13:08
Speaker 3: the end, and I knew for me there was a
13:13
Speaker 3: twofold component to my business, the B to B business,
13:16
Speaker 3: which was business of business that way I can get
13:18
Speaker 3: big clients and get six figure checks, and then the
13:22
Speaker 3: B two C business, which is way more consistent business
13:25
Speaker 3: right because corporations can pull the plug on you at
13:26
Speaker 3: any time, but if you have loyal customers and consumers,
13:30
Speaker 3: they'll grow with you. And so I created a model
13:32
Speaker 3: that included both of those revenue models. So research for
13:35
Speaker 3: me is a top.
13:37
Speaker 1: You know, I'm gon give you an example of me
13:39
Speaker 1: not doing my research. I remember when I my company
13:42
Speaker 1: is thirty and fifteen Media, and I was no longer
13:45
Speaker 1: managing Steve Harvey in twenty sixteen, launched the company in
13:48
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, and it was a marketing agency, and I
13:51
Speaker 1: had a lot of great ideas and I will sit
13:53
Speaker 1: down with these fortune five hundred companies and pitched my
13:57
Speaker 1: ideas and they loved it, and then they will go
13:59
Speaker 1: talk to my age you see it, oh agency. When
14:02
Speaker 1: I got the idea, and then I go to the agencies, well,
14:04
Speaker 1: you know, Rashan, you've about to do our job because
14:08
Speaker 1: we can actually do what you're pitching. So if we
14:11
Speaker 1: let you do that, then what we gonna do and
14:13
Speaker 1: that's not doing your reach you.
14:15
Speaker 3: I'm gonna give you some advice on that rushaurant whenever
14:17
Speaker 3: you ready.
14:18
Speaker 1: Okay, give me some advice now.
14:20
Speaker 3: Okay, Oh listen, we're we're we're in the same boat,
14:23
Speaker 3: right because again, think about it, if I also work
14:25
Speaker 3: as much as as a community for black women, I'm
14:27
Speaker 3: also a resource for brands, right, So the same agencies
14:31
Speaker 3: you're talking about. You know, I was one to those
14:33
Speaker 3: agencies too, and the recommendation of the brands that I
14:37
Speaker 3: was working with. But what I realized very quickly was
14:40
Speaker 3: the agencies wanted to give me pennies on the dollar,
14:42
Speaker 3: you know, to do big, big, big work, to do
14:46
Speaker 3: most of the work right. And so what I realized
14:48
Speaker 3: is I need to become the agency. So I just
14:50
Speaker 3: basically built my own marketing agency within the BOSS network,
14:53
Speaker 3: and I just decided to go directly to the brands
14:56
Speaker 3: and work with with their marketing department because it's about
14:59
Speaker 3: relationship and that's a big thing. If you have a
15:02
Speaker 3: relationship directly with the person, then you can bypass the agency.
15:07
Speaker 3: But if you don't have those relationship, they're going to
15:08
Speaker 3: send you right to the agency, and most fib you
15:12
Speaker 3: know it comes out of ten, they're not going to
15:13
Speaker 3: do business with you, right, And so I'll be honest,
15:17
Speaker 3: I only work with corporate brands. I don't work with
15:19
Speaker 3: any agency because I realized very quickly that I don't
15:23
Speaker 3: want twenty five hundred dollars. I want two hundred and
15:25
Speaker 3: fifty thousand dollarsand so I need to make those relationships happen.
15:29
Speaker 3: But the reality is the relationship take time, and so
15:31
Speaker 3: I have to be patient and build out my consumer
15:34
Speaker 3: business revenue models so that I can take the time
15:36
Speaker 3: to build those relationships with those brands that I wanted
15:39
Speaker 3: to invest in me. And that's how I was able
15:40
Speaker 3: to get a one point five million dollars investment from Stage.
15:43
Speaker 3: I haven't working with them for ten years.
15:45
Speaker 4: Please don't go anywhere, we'll be right back with more
15:48
Speaker 4: money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
16:00
Speaker 4: Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
16:06
Speaker 4: continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
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16:15
Speaker 3: You know, but I found the right time, in the
16:17
Speaker 3: right moment to make that big ass And sometimes it's
16:20
Speaker 3: about the time, you know. But we gotta be living
16:22
Speaker 3: up from the time. But you know, you're still gonna
16:24
Speaker 3: pay the bills. But you gotta have other ways to
16:26
Speaker 3: make money. So as an entrepreneur, you've gotta be you
16:28
Speaker 3: gotta be crafty. You gotta be crafty because juggle. You
16:38
Speaker 3: gotta be smart, you know. And I thank God that
16:40
Speaker 3: I tell people all the time, I might not be
16:42
Speaker 3: the smartest person in the room, but nobody can outwork me.
16:44
Speaker 3: Like I'm a God gave me this gift of just
16:47
Speaker 3: understanding how to make things happen. And so I don't
16:50
Speaker 3: get easily moved by fear. I don't get easily moved
16:54
Speaker 3: by the word no. I'm just like, Okay, what do
16:58
Speaker 3: I need to do? And I will be honest. That
17:00
Speaker 3: came from my mentors. I didn't just have I mean
17:02
Speaker 3: I had a lot of the confidences. My mother just
17:04
Speaker 3: instilled that in me. But a lot of it was
17:07
Speaker 3: because I got confirmation from mentors to say, Okay, do
17:10
Speaker 3: it this way, do it that way. And they helped
17:13
Speaker 3: me because I've always been a young ladies type of
17:15
Speaker 3: person who I want to learn from others mistakes. I
17:17
Speaker 3: don't want to make mistakes. What can I do? You know?
17:19
Speaker 3: And my messrs always told me, we love you because
17:21
Speaker 3: you listen, activates and I'm a person of action.
17:25
Speaker 1: Unique marketing is what she's talking about. She developed uniqueness
17:29
Speaker 1: and these companies came to her because they couldn't get
17:32
Speaker 1: it from their agency. I'm going to tell you how
17:33
Speaker 1: I developed my unique marketing. So now companies are coming
17:37
Speaker 1: to me because they know I have an audience that
17:39
Speaker 1: only I can deliver. That's what the Boss network is
17:42
Speaker 1: for her. She is an audience that she now has
17:45
Speaker 1: a loyal base to, has demographics. She can tell her
17:48
Speaker 1: exactly who she's talking to, age, where they live, what
17:52
Speaker 1: their expenses, are they married, are they single? That's what
17:55
Speaker 1: you have to do if you want to be able
17:57
Speaker 1: to do your research and walk past and that work
18:00
Speaker 1: into the corporations. They want unique marketing opportunities. You know,
18:04
Speaker 1: I'm slowing down because I'm talking to doctor Kimika Smith.
18:07
Speaker 1: Her energy is so out there. She has speed up
18:09
Speaker 1: your talk, Kimmicky tar and Lord knows, I should not
18:12
Speaker 1: be trying to talk fast with this country tone. I am.
18:14
Speaker 1: But the mission of the Boss Network stands for bringing
18:17
Speaker 1: out successful sisters. It's promoting courage, a small business spirit,
18:22
Speaker 1: and career development of women of color. The Boss Never
18:25
Speaker 1: has had a long standing commitment to women entrepreneurs. The
18:29
Speaker 1: mission is now fifteen years old. Now you have a
18:32
Speaker 1: big event coming up November sixteenth, I believe correct.
18:35
Speaker 3: Kamika, listen, Rashan, I have two big events coming up.
18:40
Speaker 3: I just announced that I'm going to be the executive
18:43
Speaker 3: one of the executive producers for ACCU Honors. It's happening
18:46
Speaker 3: in DC. That's right, That's right.
18:48
Speaker 1: My girl's doing that. It's hosted by Kim Whitley. I
18:50
Speaker 1: believe right.
18:52
Speaker 3: It's hosted by Kim's hosted by Kim Whitley. It's going
18:55
Speaker 3: to be honoring Will Packer. Hezekia Walker is performing. I
18:58
Speaker 3: think Fred Hammond. It's gonna be amazing events in DC
19:03
Speaker 3: on November fourteenth, area.
19:05
Speaker 1: On bbt BT got it, Yes.
19:09
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes, And so we're going to be in
19:12
Speaker 3: DC next week filming the show. I'm excited to be
19:15
Speaker 3: a part of it, you know. Shout out to my girls,
19:16
Speaker 3: Michelle Bailey, Michelle Thornton, the RNA Walker, the entire team
19:20
Speaker 3: at AHCU Honors, I am presenting a scholarship that day,
19:25
Speaker 3: and of course celebrating our fifteen years with the Boss Network.
19:28
Speaker 3: And then we're going to end the culminating celebration this
19:31
Speaker 3: year on November sixteenth with our Ladies that Lead conference
19:34
Speaker 3: sponsored by Stage and that information is that Ladies that
19:37
Speaker 3: Lead Tour dot com. So it's going to be an
19:39
Speaker 3: exciting week next week. So I'm excited for both of
19:43
Speaker 3: those events.
19:44
Speaker 1: Well, it was important that people understand that it started
19:47
Speaker 1: with a drink, It started with an idea, It started
19:49
Speaker 1: with a person not being afraid fear. We kind of
19:52
Speaker 1: mentioned it early in our interview, how people are working
19:56
Speaker 1: jobs afraid to leave, and they have relationships they're afraid
19:59
Speaker 1: to end because the unknown is the part of the conversation.
20:03
Speaker 1: I can't tell you you're going to be successful. That's
20:06
Speaker 1: not automatic. And you learn in life that you can
20:09
Speaker 1: go to a job that you've been there for twenty
20:10
Speaker 1: years doesn't mean it's going to be there twenty one
20:12
Speaker 1: years more. And so you can control. And plus age
20:18
Speaker 1: makes people fearful too. They get forty, they get fifty,
20:21
Speaker 1: they get sixty, they start worrying about change. Am I
20:25
Speaker 1: too old to making an adjustment? And am I too
20:27
Speaker 1: old to have a dream? And with the Boss Network,
20:31
Speaker 1: that's that's not The motto is believe, plan and win.
20:38
Speaker 1: And that's what I've always gotten from you the very
20:40
Speaker 1: first time I've interviewed with you, and you know is
20:43
Speaker 1: that you are a and it's a positive statement. You're
20:47
Speaker 1: a beast, doctor Kamiki Smith.
20:50
Speaker 3: I receive it. I receive it. You know. I think
20:53
Speaker 3: that with all of us, just as human beings, what
20:56
Speaker 3: makes us beast, what makes us believers, what makes us
20:59
Speaker 3: you know, in ourselves is the people we surround ourselves with.
21:02
Speaker 3: You know, I will tell you Rashan, it's nothing that
21:05
Speaker 3: you can do without community. You know, my community, the
21:07
Speaker 3: Boss Network, the women that I serve, they pour into me,
21:10
Speaker 3: They believe in me. They give me the confidence to
21:12
Speaker 3: wake up every day and do what I do. The
21:14
Speaker 3: brands that invest in me, the sponsors that believe in
21:16
Speaker 3: me and spend their money with me. They get me
21:19
Speaker 3: up in the morning to be able to go hard
21:21
Speaker 3: for what I do. And then you know the people
21:23
Speaker 3: I surround myself with, my family and friends, you know,
21:26
Speaker 3: they support me. And I'll be honest. You know, it
21:28
Speaker 3: has not been an easy journey. You know, the year
21:31
Speaker 3: my business got, you know, at multimillion dollar investment, my
21:34
Speaker 3: mother passed away. You know, so that's life, right, Life
21:37
Speaker 3: will life, and you have to be able to pick
21:39
Speaker 3: yourself up and keep it moving. And so what I've
21:42
Speaker 3: learned through this entire journey is that what is meant
21:46
Speaker 3: for you is for you. You got to just do
21:47
Speaker 3: the work. And one of my favorite quotes is those
21:50
Speaker 3: that show up go up. You got to just keep
21:52
Speaker 3: showing up for yourself every single day. And I believe
21:55
Speaker 3: that God would not burst anything inside of you, that
21:57
Speaker 3: he will not give you the tools to deliver. And
22:00
Speaker 3: so I know that He gave me this brand because
22:03
Speaker 3: he wanted me to impact people, because it's not about me,
22:06
Speaker 3: and because of that, He's going to always send me people, investors, support,
22:11
Speaker 3: And you know, I remember from my fifteen anniversary. I
22:13
Speaker 3: was thinking like, Wow, I want to do something amazing,
22:15
Speaker 3: something big, and then I got the opportunity to partner
22:17
Speaker 3: and being a producer for ABCU Honors. You know, I
22:21
Speaker 3: put that out in the universe and then it just
22:22
Speaker 3: came to me. So that is what it's about, believing
22:25
Speaker 3: in yourself to the point where you manifest these things
22:27
Speaker 3: through your faith.
22:29
Speaker 1: Wow, genius lover energy, don't you understand that there's a belief?
22:34
Speaker 1: Fifteen year Virtual Celebration Anniversary Virtual Celebration. This year's virtual
22:40
Speaker 1: conference be held on Saturday, November sixteenth from eleven am
22:44
Speaker 1: to two pm. Dr Smith and the BAFF Network. If
22:47
Speaker 1: you want to know more about it, where should they visit?
22:49
Speaker 1: What website should they visit? Dtor Smith?
22:53
Speaker 3: They should visit ww dot ladies that Lead Tour dot com,
22:58
Speaker 3: orthebossnetwork dot org. All of the information about both ACCU
23:02
Speaker 3: Honors and our ladies at lead Conference.
23:05
Speaker 1: Now, when I want to make sure I've I said,
23:08
Speaker 1: when I come back from break, I won't tell everybody
23:10
Speaker 1: about how my unique marketing I would look came because
23:14
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you I was out there getting bumped
23:16
Speaker 1: upside the head, the doors and my business were getting smaller.
23:20
Speaker 1: You know, when you get doors get smaller, means you
23:22
Speaker 1: can't even get in it no more. You know, you
23:24
Speaker 1: you're crawling through the door, you know. And because that's
23:27
Speaker 1: that's when the opportunities get less and less, That's what
23:29
Speaker 1: it feels like. And so I just sit back and
23:31
Speaker 1: realize that I can't compete with them, but I can
23:35
Speaker 1: develop my brand. So my newsletter sixty three thousand fan
23:39
Speaker 1: club members, my social media followers one million. These are
23:43
Speaker 1: my followers. You know what you mean said you can't
23:46
Speaker 1: access these followers. You know, when I sit down here
23:49
Speaker 1: on my show Money Making Conversations Massacolize, I interview doctor
23:54
Speaker 1: Kamika Smith. She's on here because I want her own
23:57
Speaker 1: this show. So I'm controlling my ways and this content
24:01
Speaker 1: is set to twenty HBCUs nationwide. That's called unique marketing.
24:07
Speaker 1: That means I'm talking to individuals within my sphere that
24:11
Speaker 1: you can't just make Rashwan say something that he don't
24:14
Speaker 1: want to say, or endorse something or or promote something
24:17
Speaker 1: unless Rashaan wants to. And then my podcast, you know,
24:21
Speaker 1: which is in partnership with iHeartMedia one point four million monthly.
24:29
Speaker 1: That unique marketing is what what allow companies now to
24:32
Speaker 1: come to me and say, Rishawn, can you voice this? Rashaan,
24:35
Speaker 1: can you endorse this? And that's what she's done with
24:37
Speaker 1: the Boss Network. When I say two hundred thousand, okay,
24:41
Speaker 1: that's not a number to you know, two hundred thousand,
24:44
Speaker 1: you know. And I love Doux Smith because she's just
24:46
Speaker 1: she moving so fast this sometimes I just got a
24:50
Speaker 1: call and go we just slow down and realize how
24:51
Speaker 1: great you are. And that's why I told her she's
24:53
Speaker 1: a beast because of the fact that you're doing things
24:57
Speaker 1: that in two thousand and nine, we're fifteen years later.
25:02
Speaker 1: You've had setbacks where I've had set back. We've had
25:04
Speaker 1: ups and down that makes us tougher, but didn't lose
25:07
Speaker 1: the faith, didn't lose the focus and the people around
25:10
Speaker 1: us we understand. That's why we're successful. As we close
25:13
Speaker 1: out this interview here, Dr Smith, anything you want to
25:16
Speaker 1: say to my audience.
25:18
Speaker 3: Well, you know what you asked me about three things.
25:21
Speaker 3: I think I mentioned one with the research and so
25:24
Speaker 3: the last two I'll give them is making sure that
25:27
Speaker 3: they understand revenue. You know, if you have a business,
25:29
Speaker 3: then you don't have you know, money, you've got a hobby,
25:32
Speaker 3: and so you've got to figure out how to monetize
25:34
Speaker 3: your business. You know, yes, we were in it to
25:36
Speaker 3: impact people, but you cannot do things not with longevity
25:40
Speaker 3: if you're not making money. And so that is the
25:42
Speaker 3: second thing. And then the third thing I would say
25:45
Speaker 3: is relationships. Relationships are your key to success. You know,
25:49
Speaker 3: my relationship with Rashan. With Rashan gets me on this
25:51
Speaker 3: show to be able to talk about my brand. You know,
25:54
Speaker 3: my relationship with my community is helping me to continue
25:57
Speaker 3: to grow and expand it. Like you said, that is
25:59
Speaker 3: my market value. Nobody can take that away from me
26:01
Speaker 3: because at the end of the day, when social media
26:03
Speaker 3: goes away, when the brands go away, I always have
26:06
Speaker 3: my audience that I can pitch something to and that
26:09
Speaker 3: is where you win.
26:10
Speaker 1: Wow again, thank you for taking the time to come
26:12
Speaker 1: on the show. I know I called you out of
26:14
Speaker 1: the blue and she signed up and got the team
26:16
Speaker 1: and on the show to promote you, my friend, I'm
26:18
Speaker 1: promoting you the Queen of the.
26:20
Speaker 3: Boss Networks always and you keep winning.
26:23
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversations Muster Click,
26:25
Speaker 1: bye bye. This has been another edition of Money Making
26:29
Speaker 1: Conversations Master Class hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Thank you
26:32
Speaker 1: to our guests on the show today and thank you
26:34
Speaker 1: our listening audience now. If you want to listen to
26:37
Speaker 1: any episode or want to be a guest on the show,
26:39
Speaker 1: visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handles money Making Conversations.
26:44
Speaker 1: Joined us next week and remember to always lead with
26:47
Speaker 1: your gifts, keep winning. The American Dream is available to you,
26:51
Speaker 1: just keep listening.
26:52
Speaker 2: This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
26:56
Speaker 2: hosted by me Rashawn McDonald. Thank you to our guests
26:59
Speaker 2: on the show today and thank you for listening to
27:01
Speaker 2: the audience now. If you want to listen to any
27:03
Speaker 2: episode I want to be a guest on the show,
27:06
Speaker 2: visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money
27:10
Speaker 2: Making Conversation. Join us next week and remember to always
27:14
Speaker 2: leave with your gifts.
27:15
Speaker 1: Keep winning.