# Faith and Business: Created BOSS Network, promotes and encourages entrepreneurial and career development of women of color.

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 11 Nov 2024, 27 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/25e5e421-1089-43ae-9a3a-b220017f725b/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=35a10561-3e1b-4d05-a529-af62012aab6a

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dr. Carmeka Smith. Founded the BOSS Network is an online community of professional and entrepreneurial women who support each other through digital content, programs, and event-based networking. The mission of the BOSS Network, which stands for "Bringing Out Successful Sisters," is to promote and encourage the small business spirit and career development of women of color. The BOSS Network has had a long-standing commitment to women entrepreneurs. The mission of The BOSS Network is to promote and encourage the small business spirit and career development of women of color. The BOSS Network Celebrated Its Milestone 15th Anniversary?: This year, The BOSS Network announced two exciting initiatives during its yearlong celebration, highlighting its 15th anniversary milestone year. “Invest in Progress” Grant and “The BOSS Impact Fund The BOSS Network is changing how enterprising women are viewed among the masses and becoming a resource for companies seeking female minority influencers as their target market. Through initiatives, it has supported the careers and small business developments of more than 200,000 women of color nationwide. One of them is BOSS Business University, a digital platform that provides comprehensive mentorship programming through industry business experts. How Has The BOSS Network Celebrated Its Milestone 15th Anniversary?: This year, The BOSS Network announced two exciting initiatives that took place during its yearlong celebration highlighting its 15th anniversary milestone year. “Invest in Progress” Grant and “The BOSS Impact Fund”: The single greatest barrier to success for new businesses and startups is access to capital, and minorities make up less than 1% of founders that get investment. The BOSS Network and Sage (via the Sage Foundation)—the leader in accounting, financial, HR, and payroll technology for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), are partnering together to remove that barrier with the return of the BOSS Impact Fund and its three-year, $1.5 million commitment to support the Fund with the “Invest in Progress” grant investing in Black women led businesses. In 2022, the BOSS Network announced the launch of its BOSS Impact Fund, which focuses on investing in Black women led businesses and preparing these entrepreneurs to build scalable, growth aggressive companies. Its goal is to raise investment funding for Black women entrepreneurs over a three year period. Through the “Invest in Progress” Grant Program, 25 Black women entrepreneurs had the opportunity to receive a capital investment of $10,000 toward successfully starting and growing their business in addition to an entrepreneurial mentor program in support of Black women-owned small businesses. The “Invest in Progress” Grant has also provided coaching, curriculum, and connections while removing capital barriers to help this group achieve success. For more information, please visit: BOSSImpactFund.com. Pathways to Success: In addition, The BOSS Network partnered with both Sage and Swoop, a global fintech company specializing in funding solutions for businesses, on the launch of “Pathways to Success”–a new training and mentorship program designed to support Black women entrepreneurs in Atlanta. The Pathways to Success training and mentor program, developed and delivered through Sage Foundation, equipped 150 Atlanta-based Black women…

## Transcript

[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
[16:10] Speaker 4: Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
[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.

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