Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Entrepreneur: Dr. Cameka Smith, Founder of The BOSS Network, a community of over 200K professional and entrepreneurial women.

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Entrepreneur: Dr. Cameka Smith, Founder of The BOSS Network, a community of over 200K professional and entrepreneurial women. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations.
0:06
Speaker 2: It's the show that she is the secrets of success
0:08
Speaker 2: experience firsthand by marketing and Brandon expert Rashan McDonald.
0:11
Speaker 1: I will know he's giving me advice on many occasions.
0:14
Speaker 2: And in case you didn't notice, I'm not broke. You
0:17
Speaker 2: know he'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision
0:21
Speaker 2: make because it's what he likes to do, it's what
0:23
Speaker 2: he likes to share. Now it's time to hear from
0:25
Speaker 2: my man, Rashan McDonald money Making Conversations.
0:28
Speaker 1: Here we go. That's how I get a lot of guests.
0:32
Speaker 1: Guests are recommended to me. People email me, people call me,
0:36
Speaker 1: people text me and say we Shaan, I love your show.
0:38
Speaker 1: This is who you should have on your show. This
0:40
Speaker 1: person is a perfect guest. Again, I host this show weekly.
0:44
Speaker 1: Is my Money Making Conversations masterclass show. The interviews and
0:46
Speaker 1: information that this show provides. Again, it's for everyone. It's
0:50
Speaker 1: time to start reading other people's success stories and start
0:53
Speaker 1: living your own. My guest is on the phone right now.
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Speaker 1: She is a speaker, investor, or, what winning entrepreneur. She's
1:00
Speaker 1: the founder of the Boss Network, a community professional and
1:04
Speaker 1: entrepreneurial women. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Doctor
1:08
Speaker 1: Kamika Smith. How you doing, Dtor Smith?
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Speaker 3: I am doing wonderful.
1:13
Speaker 1: How are you pretty good? What city are you're based in?
1:16
Speaker 3: I'm based in Chicago.
1:18
Speaker 1: I love that city. Is it still as the climate?
1:21
Speaker 1: Is it still cold like it used to be. I
1:23
Speaker 1: was up there from twenty twelve to twenty seventeen, and boy,
1:27
Speaker 1: it was cold this time of year. How's the weather?
1:30
Speaker 4: Yeah?
1:30
Speaker 3: You know what, I will say, this global warming has
1:33
Speaker 3: been good because it was seventy degrees today.
1:35
Speaker 1: So you're kidding me right now? I got clothes right now,
1:40
Speaker 1: Dtor Smith? I can only wear in Chicago. I would
1:43
Speaker 1: walk down the street. I had a mask on at
1:45
Speaker 1: a fur I'm gonna tell you true, I had a
1:46
Speaker 1: fur on, I had boots, and you didn't know if
1:49
Speaker 1: I was a black man or white man. That's how
1:50
Speaker 1: I covered I was because at this time of year
1:54
Speaker 1: I'm talking about February twenty seventh, I was like in
1:57
Speaker 1: six degree temperature and you're telling me seventy degree that's
2:01
Speaker 1: the norm.
2:02
Speaker 3: That's the norm. But for some reason we've been getting
2:04
Speaker 3: some extremely warm weather. It was like sixty yesterday, but
2:07
Speaker 3: then it's gonna snow this week too, so you know
2:08
Speaker 3: it's in both bipolar city I've ever seen.
2:10
Speaker 1: But you know the BOSS Network. What is the Boss?
2:14
Speaker 1: What does BOSS mean?
2:16
Speaker 3: The BOSS actually is an acronym, so it stands for
2:19
Speaker 3: bringing out successful sisters. And I launched this organization back
2:24
Speaker 3: in two thousand and nine. I was a former educator,
2:26
Speaker 3: which your howe public schools and had a great career
2:30
Speaker 3: and I got laid off at the height of the recession.
2:32
Speaker 3: As you know, probably many of your listeners had were
2:34
Speaker 3: experienced that, and I had always been an entrepreneur, so
2:37
Speaker 3: you know, for me, it was about, you know, just
2:39
Speaker 3: kind of stepping out there and seeing what I could
2:41
Speaker 3: do with my business and just you know, just kind
2:44
Speaker 3: of seeing how I can go into business full time
2:46
Speaker 3: for myself after thinking I was gonna retire from Chicago
2:49
Speaker 3: public schools. You get to go watch you know, the
2:51
Speaker 3: old stories, but it didn't happen that way. And yeah,
2:56
Speaker 3: so I launched a series of events fifteen years ago
2:59
Speaker 3: for black women because I felt like there was not
3:00
Speaker 3: a lot of support for us starting businesses. Now, minagin
3:03
Speaker 3: this was fifteen years ago, so all the things that
3:05
Speaker 3: you see now, all the support, all the research, all
3:08
Speaker 3: the funding, all the access, it did not exist. And
3:11
Speaker 3: so we launched our first series of events in the
3:13
Speaker 3: summer of two thousand and nine, took advantage of social
3:16
Speaker 3: media and created a national network. And today we reached
3:20
Speaker 3: over two hundred thousand women and we have the largest
3:23
Speaker 3: digital platform, the Boston Worre dot org that helps black
3:26
Speaker 3: women start businesses in the country.
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Speaker 1: Okay, you know, congratulations. First of all, I'm a hype guy.
3:35
Speaker 1: What you just said is hype to the next level.
3:38
Speaker 1: I want to be your you know they said every
3:39
Speaker 1: great rapper I have a hype person in front of him.
3:41
Speaker 1: Just go out there and go Here comes doctor Smith,
3:44
Speaker 1: Here comes doctor Smith. Two hundred thousand, launch in two
3:47
Speaker 1: thousand and nine. Can I be your hype person? Because
3:49
Speaker 1: what you just said was incredible information? Incredible information two
3:56
Speaker 1: hundred thousand, two thousand and nine. But everything starts with
3:59
Speaker 1: an idea, and it does. So how did that How
4:02
Speaker 1: did you believe in that idea back in two thousand,
4:05
Speaker 1: because I know it started before two thousand and nine.
4:07
Speaker 1: But you know, you're entrepreneur, you're working a forward our
4:10
Speaker 1: week job and a lot of people telling you, firl,
4:12
Speaker 1: come on now, really, who are your exactly?
4:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I'll be honest, I don't. I don't think
4:20
Speaker 3: even back then, I was thinking about being a full
4:23
Speaker 3: time entrepreneur. I was just like trying to, you know,
4:25
Speaker 3: see how I can make my side hustle work for
4:26
Speaker 3: me and make some extra money. I had a career,
4:28
Speaker 3: I went to school, I got a master's degree, you
4:30
Speaker 3: know at the time. I have a doctorate now. But
4:33
Speaker 3: you know, my career was what I was focused on.
4:35
Speaker 3: But you know what we noticed with most Black women,
4:37
Speaker 3: when they experience lay off or they experience situations where
4:40
Speaker 3: they're not you know, getting to where they want to
4:42
Speaker 3: be within their you know, their corporate career, that glass silly.
4:46
Speaker 3: You know. We we sometimes go the other route, which
4:48
Speaker 3: is entrepreneurship. And I think I just came in at
4:51
Speaker 3: the height of that. I think around two thousand and nine,
4:54
Speaker 3: you know, black women are starting to see themselves as
4:56
Speaker 3: independent outside of their jobs, and I just came at
4:59
Speaker 3: a really awesome time. And so I think, you know,
5:02
Speaker 3: I was, you know, talking to someone the other day
5:04
Speaker 3: and it was like we literally were one of the
5:05
Speaker 3: first communities, you know, to do this work. And so
5:07
Speaker 3: I feel like it just was a perfect time. And
5:10
Speaker 3: once we start to put the information out there on
5:12
Speaker 3: social media and you know, let people know what we
5:14
Speaker 3: were doing, we were literally listed in Forbes magazine within
5:17
Speaker 3: six months as one of the top websites for women
5:19
Speaker 3: in business. And so that type of support and you
5:23
Speaker 3: know accolades really helped to level us up and really
5:27
Speaker 3: create a space for ourselves in the marketplace. And so
5:30
Speaker 3: we just took that and just ran with it. You know,
5:32
Speaker 3: I was just like, Okay, I'm out at in Forbes.
5:34
Speaker 3: I got to go hard and make sure that I'm
5:36
Speaker 3: able to provide quality, you know, things for my community
5:40
Speaker 3: and bring as many resources and opportunities to black women
5:44
Speaker 3: as I can. And the support that we've garnered and
5:46
Speaker 3: the things that we've accomplished over the last fifteen years
5:48
Speaker 3: has been incredible.
5:50
Speaker 1: You know, I'm talking to doctor Kamika Smith, founder of
5:53
Speaker 1: the Boss Network. Boss Network stands for bringing out successful
5:57
Speaker 1: sisters to promoting and encourage the small business space and
6:00
Speaker 1: professional development of women. Boss Network. Any events you have
6:05
Speaker 1: coming up, Well.
6:07
Speaker 3: We just recently just closed out our Impact Fund grant program,
6:13
Speaker 3: which this is our third year. We were able back
6:15
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty two, we launched our own Funds for
6:18
Speaker 3: Black Women and we were able to raise one point
6:20
Speaker 3: five million dollars for small businesses and we've since then
6:24
Speaker 3: invested in sixty black women owned businesses. Our applications just closed,
6:28
Speaker 3: so we'll be investing in twenty five women this year.
6:31
Speaker 3: And so this being our fifteen year anniversary, we have
6:33
Speaker 3: a lot of things happening this year. We just launched
6:35
Speaker 3: our first report on Black women called Voices of Strength Report.
6:40
Speaker 3: We will have an anniversary of event in Atlanta this fall,
6:44
Speaker 3: and so, you know, just so many different things we're
6:46
Speaker 3: doing throughout the year to celebrate fifteen years and supporting
6:50
Speaker 3: black women. So, yeah, a lot of good stuff. Everything
6:52
Speaker 3: is at the Boston work.
6:54
Speaker 1: You know, when you're trying to do something positive, there's
6:56
Speaker 1: always somebody at that attacking, attacking because a lot of
6:59
Speaker 1: pros that are focusing on uplifting certain communities, like in
7:05
Speaker 1: this case, you know, women of color, black women are
7:08
Speaker 1: being under attacked, being sued and uh and so so
7:13
Speaker 1: will you hear that? Are you mad? Are you? Are you?
7:16
Speaker 1: Are you go? Get your are your lawyer up? What
7:19
Speaker 1: is going on? When I hear things like that? I
7:21
Speaker 1: want this is not DEI. Right now, I want to
7:24
Speaker 1: talk to you about d I. I want to talk
7:25
Speaker 1: about the organization like yours who's designed to uh move
7:31
Speaker 1: forward the needle for African American women are being challenged
7:35
Speaker 1: and being called racist programs or programs that are unfair.
7:39
Speaker 1: Please please expound.
7:41
Speaker 3: Well, you you asked a really point in question, ra Sean,
7:43
Speaker 3: You said, do you get mad or do you lawyer up?
7:45
Speaker 3: You do both, you know, because you know that that's
7:47
Speaker 3: where we are right now. You know, we've worked so
7:50
Speaker 3: hard and people are attacking diversity and inclusion, their attacking
7:53
Speaker 3: affirmative action, and they're using laws that we're meant to
7:55
Speaker 3: protect us against us, right and so but I'm a
7:59
Speaker 3: want to so I don't operate out of fear. And so,
8:02
Speaker 3: you know, me continuing the work that I'm doing, I
8:04
Speaker 3: make sure that I have my lawyers in place to
8:06
Speaker 3: make sure that we are covering ourselves. And then I'm
8:08
Speaker 3: also making sure that I'm I'm educating my community because
8:12
Speaker 3: the more support that we can garner around the things
8:15
Speaker 3: that matter to us, the more that we can move
8:17
Speaker 3: the needle and try to you know, get things to
8:19
Speaker 3: move forward instead of backwards. And so it's just it's
8:23
Speaker 3: just where we are right now. I tell you know
8:25
Speaker 3: a lot of people that you know, from what I've
8:27
Speaker 3: seen being in business for fifteen years with the Boss
8:29
Speaker 3: Network and being an entrepreneur for twenty years, there are
8:32
Speaker 3: cycles right, right, and so there are cycles, especially for
8:35
Speaker 3: the black community. You know, we don't get anything consistently right.
8:38
Speaker 3: It's normally you know, at an election time, who's the president,
8:42
Speaker 3: you know, George Floyd, you know, several unrests, you know,
8:46
Speaker 3: and so when we see those things happening, we have
8:48
Speaker 3: to take advantage of the moment, but we have to
8:50
Speaker 3: also always be prepared to how to survive when those
8:54
Speaker 3: seasons are not around. And that is what tenacity and
8:58
Speaker 3: you know, for me, consistently is all about, you know,
9:00
Speaker 3: because it's not going to always be in our favor.
9:03
Speaker 3: But when those moments come, we got to you know,
9:05
Speaker 3: ride that wave and just move forward and keep moving forward.
9:08
Speaker 1: Now, the Investment in Progress grant program, that's it's still operation.
9:12
Speaker 3: Correct, absolutely so the yeah. So the Boss Impact Fund
9:19
Speaker 3: is our fund that we launched, and we launched this
9:21
Speaker 3: fund to raise ten million dollars over the next five
9:23
Speaker 3: years to invest in five hundred black women owned businesses,
9:26
Speaker 3: and under that fund, we launched individual grant programs and
9:29
Speaker 3: so the Investment Progress Grant is a partnership with Stage
9:34
Speaker 3: and they are the one of the largest financial accounting
9:37
Speaker 3: solutions firms that works with small and medium sized businesses.
9:40
Speaker 3: And so not only with that program are we providing
9:42
Speaker 3: ten thousand dollars grants to black owned women's businesses, but
9:46
Speaker 3: we also offer them a full year scholarship to our
9:48
Speaker 3: Boss Business University, which gets some access to mentoring, coaching, training,
9:53
Speaker 3: marketing for their business. And so, you know, I really
9:56
Speaker 3: wanted to make sure that I was giving these women
9:57
Speaker 3: an opportunities to succeed because, as you know, black women
10:01
Speaker 3: are starting businesses at are higher rate than any other group.
10:05
Speaker 3: But most of our businesses are not succeeding because we
10:07
Speaker 3: don't have the financial support or the access to the
10:10
Speaker 3: resources that our counterparts have.
10:12
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm very much aware of that, and that's a
10:15
Speaker 1: run of the reason I brought you on. You know,
10:16
Speaker 1: I want people to hear about the Boss Network, a network,
10:20
Speaker 1: an online entrepreneur network that's one of the leading voices
10:23
Speaker 1: in the entrepreneurial space for women of color, black women.
10:26
Speaker 1: And so when how does one register are is there
10:29
Speaker 1: a registration process, it's a registration process an ongoing thing,
10:32
Speaker 1: or it's a window for the for the for the
10:36
Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars twenty five thousand, you have twenty five
10:40
Speaker 1: women can qualify for the ten thousand dollars grant opportunity.
10:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that particular program just closed on last Friday, Okay,
10:48
Speaker 3: but we relaunched every single year, and of course we're
10:51
Speaker 3: always in fundraising, so we're always trying to raise funds.
10:53
Speaker 3: You can just imagine what the climate that we're in
10:55
Speaker 3: right now. That is a very difficult task because you know,
10:59
Speaker 3: you know, some people have taken you know, the bates
11:02
Speaker 3: or just decided that they don't want to support anymore.
11:04
Speaker 3: I'll just say that, right because a lot of brands
11:07
Speaker 3: made a lot of these commitments during you know, George
11:10
Speaker 3: Floyd about supporting the black community, and a lot of
11:12
Speaker 3: those funds or support never got to the black community.
11:15
Speaker 3: So you know, I'm just gonna be honest. But the
11:17
Speaker 3: reality is, you know, there are people who want to support,
11:20
Speaker 3: who want to see us win, and so we're always
11:22
Speaker 3: actively fundraising and trying to garner more support because you know,
11:26
Speaker 3: even with this particular grant program. We get over almost
11:30
Speaker 3: twelve thousand applications Rashan for twenty five grant, so the
11:34
Speaker 3: need is huge. Last year we got eighteen thousand. This
11:39
Speaker 3: year we get twelve thousand. Yes, and so you know,
11:43
Speaker 3: we have created some amazing partnerships with Divine nine Black
11:46
Speaker 3: female sororities to help us to you know, try to
11:49
Speaker 3: gain more support in and we're just doing everything that
11:52
Speaker 3: we can, you know. But as far as the Boston Network,
11:54
Speaker 3: our membership is opened throughout the year so women can
11:57
Speaker 3: join and they can get access to other grants that
11:59
Speaker 3: we about, other trainees programs. We are like a one
12:03
Speaker 3: stop shop for entrepreneurs.
12:04
Speaker 1: Twelve thousand, We'll be right back, you know that for
12:09
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five women competing for twelve thousand, and it's
12:13
Speaker 1: just and I'm not downplaying it, but it's ten thousand
12:15
Speaker 1: dollars and that goes back to banking where you can
12:18
Speaker 1: go get along. We're gonna talk more about this because
12:21
Speaker 1: you know, if we're gonna change the system, then we're
12:22
Speaker 1: gonna become victims of the system. And that's what we're
12:25
Speaker 1: talking about with doctor Smith. The Boss Network, you listen
12:30
Speaker 1: to money making conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashan McDonald.
12:41
Speaker 4: We'll be right back with more money Making Conversations Masterclass
12:44
Speaker 4: with Rashaan McDonald. Welcome back to the Money Making Conversations
12:50
Speaker 4: Masterclass hosted by Rashan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass continues
12:56
Speaker 4: online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making Conversations
13:00
Speaker 4: Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
13:04
Speaker 1: Hi there, welcome back to Money Making Conversations master Class.
13:06
Speaker 1: You're speaking to listening to Rushan McDonald. I'm the one
13:10
Speaker 1: speaking and I'm speaking to an interviewing doctor Kamika Smith.
13:14
Speaker 1: She founded the Boss Network. The mission of the Boss
13:18
Speaker 1: Network which stands for bringing out successful sisters to promote
13:22
Speaker 1: and encourage the small business spirit and career development of
13:25
Speaker 1: women of color. And when I say that, I'm telling
13:28
Speaker 1: you on that commercial break, I was mad. I was
13:31
Speaker 1: mad because you know, the George Floyd came out all
13:37
Speaker 1: over this world, people making massive donations to HBCUs and people,
13:43
Speaker 1: you know, people, you know, white people were admitting they're wrong.
13:47
Speaker 1: The system, the system was broken. And then you fast
13:51
Speaker 1: forward and I was I could feel a change, Like
13:55
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two, I could feel that it was changing,
13:59
Speaker 1: you know, ever, stop whatever you know? You know, and
14:04
Speaker 1: then now DEI seems to be making a combat, but
14:07
Speaker 1: it's under attack. I know, states have change the rules.
14:11
Speaker 1: Can you explain to everybody what DEI is and why
14:15
Speaker 1: we have to continue to fight for that level of
14:18
Speaker 1: diversity and inclusion?
14:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know so, I mean, simply put, de I
14:24
Speaker 3: is diversity, equity and inclusion, and it's supposed to be
14:27
Speaker 3: a framework that seeks to support and promote fair treatment
14:32
Speaker 3: and participation for all people, particularly underrepresented groups, against discrimination
14:37
Speaker 3: on the basis of identity or disability. And so for me,
14:41
Speaker 3: when we talk about an attack on de I, you know,
14:44
Speaker 3: some people try to say, well, you know, we're giving
14:46
Speaker 3: people who don't qualify or don't deserve certain things just
14:50
Speaker 3: because of their race, and that's that's definitely not what
14:53
Speaker 3: it's about. And it has never been that way, right.
14:55
Speaker 3: It's always been about giving those of us who have
14:58
Speaker 3: the same qualification as our counterparts the same opportunities. And
15:03
Speaker 3: that's why it's so important to protect the eye at
15:05
Speaker 3: all costs.
15:06
Speaker 1: And that's why it's important for me to allow an
15:09
Speaker 1: individual like you who's out there fighting to fight. You know,
15:13
Speaker 1: I'm talking to talk. You know. I try to bring
15:15
Speaker 1: individuals on money making conversations master class to communicate that
15:18
Speaker 1: level of consistency. And that's a consistent thing. We're not
15:21
Speaker 1: trying to get in front of the line. We just
15:22
Speaker 1: want to be in the line when somebody's looking out
15:25
Speaker 1: there for to hire somebody. We won't just to be standing
15:28
Speaker 1: right there because our application allows us to be qualified.
15:32
Speaker 1: And when I when I see things like you know,
15:34
Speaker 1: Elon Musk, and then people are attacking HBCUs and saying
15:38
Speaker 1: that you know, United Airlines created this program and they
15:42
Speaker 1: it was through HBCUs that they wanted to align themselves
15:45
Speaker 1: with Boom. Hey, HBCUs aren't qualified. They aren't qualified, you know.
15:50
Speaker 1: And then you know, then you have people like Mark Cuban,
15:53
Speaker 1: who used to own the Dallas Mavericks is still part
15:56
Speaker 1: of the he runs the Dallas Maverick. It was talking
15:59
Speaker 1: about diversity. Echoed inclusion is important. He said, if you
16:02
Speaker 1: look around any successful company, That's what he said, any
16:06
Speaker 1: successful company, they're successful because they value the principles of DEI.
16:13
Speaker 1: And that is absolutely true. You cannot tell if you're
16:16
Speaker 1: trying to get the best football team, you want the
16:19
Speaker 1: best players out there no matter what race color they are.
16:23
Speaker 1: You want to say, if you look at the way
16:25
Speaker 1: sports is are put together and we did the same
16:28
Speaker 1: thing in the corporate world, then we will win. But
16:30
Speaker 1: in that corporate world this tends to be that old
16:34
Speaker 1: sacred that's what racism really pops his ugly head. Is
16:37
Speaker 1: there a way we can get around this or you
16:40
Speaker 1: just said, Rashan, just keep battling, keep waking up, don't
16:43
Speaker 1: lose the don't lose the grit to to achieve, and
16:47
Speaker 1: just realize that your brand can be consistently in a
16:51
Speaker 1: positive place as long as you keep moving forward. Is
16:53
Speaker 1: that is that the right approach?
16:56
Speaker 3: You know, and you said it can be very it's hardening,
17:00
Speaker 3: especially for those of us that are on the front line.
17:02
Speaker 3: You know, we're fighting. You know, we're sitting at these
17:05
Speaker 3: tables and we're hearing people talk about what they're doing,
17:07
Speaker 3: but we don't see that same support being garnered for
17:11
Speaker 3: the work that us in the community are doing. But
17:13
Speaker 3: you know what I will say is that how we
17:16
Speaker 3: continue to push forward is by making sure that our
17:20
Speaker 3: voice is heard, right like you have done today for Sean,
17:23
Speaker 3: giving someone like me a platform to talk about it. Right,
17:26
Speaker 3: We can't just be content with just scrolling on our
17:29
Speaker 3: phones and looking at the news and saying, oh, well,
17:32
Speaker 3: poor them, Now it's us. It's not them, that it's
17:36
Speaker 3: us and it affects us. And so you know, when
17:38
Speaker 3: election comes around, our vote matters, right, when these things
17:41
Speaker 3: are getting attacked, our support matters, right. And so you
17:46
Speaker 3: know I talk about you know, getting you know, eighteen
17:48
Speaker 3: to twenty thousand applications for twenty five grants. Well, you
17:51
Speaker 3: know what, that's twenty five women that I've impacted that
17:54
Speaker 3: would have never had an opportunity to get access to
17:56
Speaker 3: a traditional loan or maybe not have access to other
17:59
Speaker 3: grants that they won't qualify for it because they don't
18:01
Speaker 3: have the revenue in place, right, But they have a
18:04
Speaker 3: vision and they have a clear focus on what they
18:06
Speaker 3: want to do, and we see that, right, And so yeah,
18:09
Speaker 3: it might be a drop in the bucket. But what
18:11
Speaker 3: I know about black women is when you invest in
18:13
Speaker 3: one black woman, you've invested in the entire community. And
18:16
Speaker 3: so you know, I still am encouraged to know that.
18:19
Speaker 3: You know, at the end of this year, I would
18:21
Speaker 3: have invested in almost one hundred black women owned businesses,
18:24
Speaker 3: and many people can't say that. So you know, I
18:26
Speaker 3: just stay encouraged. I keep fighting a good fight. I
18:28
Speaker 3: keep pushing forward. You know, my mother, she introduced me
18:31
Speaker 3: to my black history many many years ago and brought
18:33
Speaker 3: me the Encyclopedia of Black history so that I can
18:36
Speaker 3: understand where I come from and who I come from.
18:39
Speaker 3: And so because I know I come from good stock
18:40
Speaker 3: and we are some resilient people. Nothing we're gonna stop
18:43
Speaker 3: me from keeping and pushing forward.
18:45
Speaker 1: Doctor Smith, you fired up right now? Yeah, I love,
18:48
Speaker 1: I love you. Know you know what I love. You
18:52
Speaker 1: know you you was over here. You're not saying you
18:54
Speaker 1: you went unprofessional. I'm not saying that, but ball, I
18:57
Speaker 1: pressed the button somewhere, and you're gonna look look because
19:00
Speaker 1: you know, because when I hear people out there like you,
19:05
Speaker 1: are you asking give me money so I can make
19:08
Speaker 1: this country better. Give me money so I can give
19:12
Speaker 1: people an opportunity to show their true talent, their true value.
19:15
Speaker 1: Because when you when you create entrepreneurs, you people who
19:19
Speaker 1: employ people, people who pay taxes.
19:22
Speaker 3: Absolutely, we're not asking for a hand out. When you
19:24
Speaker 3: invest in black businesses, you invest in the country. It's
19:28
Speaker 3: good for everybody. It's good for the economy. It's good
19:30
Speaker 3: for the ecosystem, it's good for our world, right, and
19:33
Speaker 3: so that that is what we're saying, right and for
19:36
Speaker 3: those of us that for those that want to keep
19:38
Speaker 3: us in what I call bondage, because what they know
19:40
Speaker 3: is that when we have access to ownership, right, we
19:44
Speaker 3: can own our own, We could be on our own,
19:47
Speaker 3: and they want us to be dependent.
19:49
Speaker 1: See when I introduced I said, speaker, say the speaker
19:52
Speaker 1: part of hers coming out right now? You know?
19:55
Speaker 3: So I want to hour.
19:59
Speaker 1: No, this is a blessing because see, because you know,
20:02
Speaker 1: when I when I interview people like you, you know,
20:05
Speaker 1: and I interview a lot of people, I'm always trying
20:07
Speaker 1: to figure out what what what? What's that button that
20:10
Speaker 1: keeps you going? And what's going is passion and it's
20:13
Speaker 1: passion with intelligence. Okay, And you're not letting frustration win
20:17
Speaker 1: because I'm gonna tell you something. I will tell you
20:20
Speaker 1: I'm black every day in my life if I walk
20:22
Speaker 1: out the door, you know, worried about the cop stopping me,
20:25
Speaker 1: worried about getting turned down by a laan, but worried
20:27
Speaker 1: about somebody somebody not give me the money I deserve.
20:30
Speaker 1: And guess what then, frustration wins. Now, I know it's
20:34
Speaker 1: going to happen, but I keep planning for the next opportunity.
20:39
Speaker 1: And then when I look at the Boss network, I
20:40
Speaker 1: feel that's the principle of what you guys are based
20:43
Speaker 1: on planning for the next opportunity.
20:46
Speaker 3: Correct, we started with not having support, so when you
20:51
Speaker 3: when you have, and that's how most of us start.
20:53
Speaker 3: That's why when you give us a little bit of something,
20:55
Speaker 3: we can make something out of nothing, right, And that
20:57
Speaker 3: that frustrates those that want to keep us in bondage,
20:59
Speaker 3: right because like you know, oh, we've seen them get
21:02
Speaker 3: a little bit of opportunity and they're out here. Now
21:05
Speaker 3: let's be let's be real. We have more millionaires Black
21:07
Speaker 3: millionaires than we've ever had before because we can do
21:09
Speaker 3: a whole lot with a little, right, So they don't
21:11
Speaker 3: want to give us a little right because they don't
21:13
Speaker 3: want to see us have a lot. But we know
21:16
Speaker 3: because we always thrive with little, you know, so it
21:19
Speaker 3: don't phase us. I mean when somebody, you know, when
21:21
Speaker 3: they weren't giving out PEP loans, it's like, okay, well
21:23
Speaker 3: I ain't never got a loan.
21:24
Speaker 1: So it's like, girl, I was sitting know that we're
21:28
Speaker 1: doing that PPP loan and then realizing that the reality
21:31
Speaker 1: stars out there buying cars and houses and thriving gent ahead,
21:36
Speaker 1: how are they getting it? And I need it? I
21:38
Speaker 1: need I'm the business owner. Than that's they always looking
21:41
Speaker 1: at every line. Alright, I'm going I feel all the
21:44
Speaker 1: right people, but I need a lie like the reality star.
21:47
Speaker 1: But these are the things that make us look bad though, doctor,
21:51
Speaker 1: Yes it is, you know one of those story go see,
21:55
Speaker 1: I told youself. Yeah, and then we lumped into all that.
22:00
Speaker 1: I like to call it black ignorance.
22:03
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, and that's why my model has been since
22:06
Speaker 3: they won to operate in a state of excellence. You know,
22:10
Speaker 3: people try to tell me what the BOST networks should
22:12
Speaker 3: be many many times, right, you know, I'm like, hey,
22:15
Speaker 3: I'm not here to be media takeout. We got enough
22:16
Speaker 3: of that. I want to be a network that pushes entrepreneurship,
22:20
Speaker 3: that pushes career development, that pushes you know, personal development,
22:23
Speaker 3: that pushes ownership. And yeah, it might not be the
22:26
Speaker 3: most popular conversation online, but guess what, I'm changing lives
22:30
Speaker 3: and hopefully, you know, changing communities with what we've done.
22:33
Speaker 3: And so that's all that matters. To me.
22:35
Speaker 1: You know you know you money Making Conversation Masterclass, That's
22:40
Speaker 1: name of my show.
22:42
Speaker 3: I love that.
22:43
Speaker 1: And just hearing you talk you go with Sean, people
22:47
Speaker 1: gonna ask you to do it differently, and people always
22:51
Speaker 1: ask why are you doing this show?
22:53
Speaker 3: Who?
22:53
Speaker 1: What's the exciting talking to an entrepreneur, what's the exciting
22:55
Speaker 1: talking about the small business? What's the talking about a nonprofit?
22:59
Speaker 1: Because these are the cornerstones of how this country works,
23:03
Speaker 1: and these are the new stars of our community. This
23:05
Speaker 1: is not the new stars. Aren't this aren't the steven A.
23:08
Speaker 1: Smith's of the world, or the or the any the
23:12
Speaker 1: Lebron James or any actress or Denzel Washington. The stars
23:16
Speaker 1: are who I'm talking to on this show. The Boss
23:20
Speaker 1: Network entrepreneurial women who are the fastest growing small business
23:26
Speaker 1: entrepreneurial space in the world are black women. And the
23:29
Speaker 1: black women. And if I can give a voice to
23:33
Speaker 1: somebody like doctor Smith, then I'm gonna keep giving it.
23:36
Speaker 1: I will I will keep giving it to you. And
23:38
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry that I just started talking to you
23:42
Speaker 1: today because we missed opportunities to promote some things that
23:45
Speaker 1: happened in your life. Your business, said rishon just last week,
23:48
Speaker 1: we just stopped that program, but that will never happen
23:51
Speaker 1: again on my show.
23:53
Speaker 3: I appreciate that you're.
23:55
Speaker 1: Going to be at the forefront of all my conversations.
23:58
Speaker 1: If you got two hundred thousand ready to hear what
24:01
Speaker 1: you got to say, well guess what, I got a
24:03
Speaker 1: platform ready to hear what you got to say.
24:05
Speaker 3: Too, awesome, I listen. I appreciate that, yes, because that's
24:09
Speaker 3: what it's all about. You know, we have to you know,
24:11
Speaker 3: share knowledge, and you know, the people people want to
24:14
Speaker 3: say that we're not trying to grow and develop, but
24:16
Speaker 3: I don't. I don't believe that. You know, we want
24:19
Speaker 3: to grow, we want to develop, and we want to
24:20
Speaker 3: be owners and we want to be you know, creating
24:23
Speaker 3: our own way. And so this conversation that you're doing today,
24:26
Speaker 3: I was listening to the podcast you had earlier with
24:29
Speaker 3: the Young Lady, and I was just smiling from it
24:30
Speaker 3: to ear because that's what it's all about, you know,
24:33
Speaker 3: us being able to do something, because that's what we
24:35
Speaker 3: do as black people. We're not doing most things for ourselves.
24:38
Speaker 3: We're going to always do something to help other people.
24:40
Speaker 3: That's just how we are built, you know, and hopefully
24:42
Speaker 3: in the midst of that, we can, you know, take
24:44
Speaker 3: care of ourselves as well. But you know the reality
24:47
Speaker 3: is we're always trying to uplift our people and that,
24:49
Speaker 3: to me is what keeps me going every day.
24:52
Speaker 1: I appreciate you again, welcome to Money Making Conversation master Class.
24:56
Speaker 1: You not only at the front of the line, you
24:58
Speaker 1: are the line. And preciate you Doctor Smith for coming
25:01
Speaker 1: on my show. Keep winning, Keep winning, and anybody who's
25:05
Speaker 1: listening to the show, you keep winning too, and please
25:08
Speaker 1: come back next week because I'm here every week doing
25:10
Speaker 1: the thing, bringing the stars from the Boss Network, showing
25:14
Speaker 1: them up, tell them the world you can keep winning.
25:17
Speaker 1: Bye bye, y'all.
25:26
Speaker 4: Money Making Conversations Masterclass continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com
25:32
Speaker 4: and follow money Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
25:37
Speaker 4: Ladies and gentlemen, it's time you stop reading other people's
25:40
Speaker 4: success stories and start writing your own.