# The INSANE Reality of Being the Poster Child for Funding You Can't Get

An episode of [Earn Your Leisure](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1450211392), 15 Feb 2026, 26 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/8dbc4f54-a337-4481-9ef2-b355012b0a3d/fe93a565-bcb1-4900-ac17-b3f100a982f1/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=eac4c628-29cb-469a-b5c8-b355012b0a48

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## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: How you doing.
[0:00] Speaker 2: There we go, I'm good, I'm good. How you doing good?
[0:04] Speaker 1: Good? Thanks for being here, well, thank you.
[0:07] Speaker 2: For having me. I really appreciate it.
[0:09] Speaker 1: Jessica Spaulding, this is an interesting and it's an important
[0:13] Speaker 1: story to tell. So uh shout out to Adrian Walton,
[0:17] Speaker 1: our mutual friend, a legend put us together last last year,
[0:23] Speaker 1: and then you know, I had to reintroduce the situation recently.
[0:28] Speaker 1: But long story short. Jessica is an entrepreneur who owns
[0:32] Speaker 1: the Harlem chocolate factory Staple Staple and Harlem and have
[0:42] Speaker 1: come up across some unfortunate situations. But it's a I'm
[0:45] Speaker 1: gonna let you tell a story because you could tell
[0:47] Speaker 1: it obviously better than I can. But it's an important
[0:49] Speaker 1: conversation that I think we need to have as far
[0:51] Speaker 1: as entrepreneurship, small businesses in our community, access to capital,
[0:56] Speaker 1: brick and mortar, different things that nature. So can you
[0:59] Speaker 1: tell it? Can you tell a story to kind of
[1:01] Speaker 1: open it up?
[1:02] Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean the quick overview is we started the
[1:06] Speaker 2: business in twenty fifteen after I joined a business plan
[1:10] Speaker 2: competition and I was unemployed and I found out about
[1:15] Speaker 2: the competition while I was at the library with my kids,
[1:19] Speaker 2: and I wound up winning the competition to start my
[1:24] Speaker 2: business for fifteen thousand dollars. But I started to learn
[1:30] Speaker 2: right after that how media coverage can also thank you,
[1:37] Speaker 2: because immediately that winter, we went into two hundred and
[1:41] Speaker 2: fifty Media Kids given out by Sam Adams, and we
[1:47] Speaker 2: were flooded with orders and I was working out of
[1:50] Speaker 2: a little six foot table in a commercial kitchen, and
[1:55] Speaker 2: so it was just like really a really rapid growth.
[2:00] Speaker 2: Went from a two foot table in the back of
[2:03] Speaker 2: a Brownstone selling our products to now being in like
[2:08] Speaker 2: major tourist attractions and selling out every week. And then
[2:13] Speaker 2: from there we went to the Fancy Food Show and
[2:16] Speaker 2: got selected as like the best bites at the show,
[2:20] Speaker 2: and so I'm like, Okay, we need to find a
[2:22] Speaker 2: larger production space. At the time, Amazon reached out and
[2:26] Speaker 2: wanted this huge six figure order, and so I'm like,
[2:29] Speaker 2: let me find a production space. Let me find a
[2:31] Speaker 2: production space. And I couldn't find one, and I couldn't
[2:34] Speaker 2: find the capital to find a space that was big
[2:38] Speaker 2: enough for us to really produce in. So we found
[2:41] Speaker 2: the store. And the thing that I didn't realize I
[2:45] Speaker 2: was doing was I was changing my business model. I
[2:47] Speaker 2: had been doing wholesale and doing corporate gifting, and that's manageable,
[2:53] Speaker 2: you know, with a small team. The introduction of retail
[2:58] Speaker 2: and brick and mortar come completely shifted the model and
[3:03] Speaker 2: it feels like, Okay, I'm making so much more money,
[3:07] Speaker 2: or the sales are different because they're in the face.
[3:10] Speaker 2: But now I have this very very important part, especially
[3:14] Speaker 2: for a black owned business, which is customer service. I'm
[3:17] Speaker 2: spending forty five minutes explaining to people why my chocolate
[3:23] Speaker 2: costs more than what's at the corner store, and customer
[3:26] Speaker 2: education and customer acquisition, and then distribution for each and
[3:31] Speaker 2: every individual order. Where before I'm boxing one hundred bars
[3:35] Speaker 2: at a time and shipping it out in one box.
[3:38] Speaker 2: Now Tamika want six chocolates, and I got to spend
[3:44] Speaker 2: a half an hour making sure every six chocolate is
[3:46] Speaker 2: correct and goes to her you know office. And it
[3:51] Speaker 2: really really really became a struggle to manage in such
[3:55] Speaker 2: a small space. Our kitchen is two hundred square feet
[3:59] Speaker 2: and we were pumping out thousands of bars and we've
[4:03] Speaker 2: sustained and carried on this time, but at my sacrifice,
[4:07] Speaker 2: and so people are like, Okay, well, let me get
[4:12] Speaker 2: you more orders. Let me get you more orders. And
[4:15] Speaker 2: I'm like, you're actually low key drowning me. You actually
[4:22] Speaker 2: and and and trying to explain the economics of why
[4:28] Speaker 2: more ordering actually has put us in a worser financial
[4:33] Speaker 2: position has been really really difficult to communicate to people
[4:38] Speaker 2: who are like, we support you and we love you,
[4:41] Speaker 2: and people mad at us because you're not open, and
[4:43] Speaker 2: I'm like, I have to be closed because I have
[4:45] Speaker 2: to satisfy contracts that actually make us money because I'm
[4:52] Speaker 2: basically breaking even in this retail space. So it's just
[4:57] Speaker 2: it's led us to really, really really pay it attention
[5:00] Speaker 2: to how we need to shift the model and do
[5:04] Speaker 2: the thing that I was afraid to do in the
[5:06] Speaker 2: first place, which is go after what we truly needed,
[5:10] Speaker 2: which was a larger production space and satisfying larger clients
[5:16] Speaker 2: and larger contracts.
[5:19] Speaker 3: When you say larger clients, larger contracts, that's inside of
[5:22] Speaker 3: the new model. I'm assuming what else is entailing inside
[5:25] Speaker 3: the new model? Because this is interesting, right, people would
[5:27] Speaker 3: think if I bring in more revenue that would help
[5:30] Speaker 3: the business. But I'm like, you're saying, like, hold on,
[5:32] Speaker 3: we have to catch up. To our obligations to actually
[5:35] Speaker 3: make sure this makes sense. So what have you done
[5:38] Speaker 3: internally to design the new model?
[5:41] Speaker 2: So what we did is we I identified key partnerships
[5:46] Speaker 2: that would allow us to scale out. So we have
[5:51] Speaker 2: to reach a specific price point in a specific volume
[5:56] Speaker 2: to have the profitability to grow the rest of the
[5:59] Speaker 2: day business. Right Like, it's a it's a different model
[6:02] Speaker 2: because now our terms are net sixty net thirty. I mean,
[6:07] Speaker 2: I'll be trying to get due on receipt for certain
[6:09] Speaker 2: certain partnerships, but identifying people that had enough growth for
[6:16] Speaker 2: us to start at this smaller level, but then also
[6:19] Speaker 2: scale with them, so we have I cannot mention I
[6:23] Speaker 2: asked for permission to mention it today, but I cannot
[6:25] Speaker 2: mention it today. But it rhymes with all Star. You'll
[6:30] Speaker 2: be seeing a new partnership this week that we're that
[6:36] Speaker 2: we're launching. That again just allows us to open up
[6:39] Speaker 2: doors to larger volumes, because especially for chocolate, this is
[6:44] Speaker 2: not like any other CpG business. The CpG business. The
[6:48] Speaker 2: next you know, breakpoint might be twenty five hundred and
[6:52] Speaker 2: then I can go to a cod packer. I'm competing
[6:56] Speaker 2: at the co packers. I'm competing with grocery stores. I'm
[6:59] Speaker 2: competing with big brands. So my little oh, I got
[7:02] Speaker 2: a twenty five hundred bar order, They're like, baby, that's
[7:06] Speaker 2: going to cost us eight dollars a bar to make
[7:08] Speaker 2: for you. And so we're not really seeing a break
[7:13] Speaker 2: point until we're in the high you know, we're in
[7:16] Speaker 2: a six six figure kind of like unit number. So
[7:21] Speaker 2: by having these partnerships, that allows us to like really
[7:24] Speaker 2: negotiate with co packers or even if we're taking on
[7:27] Speaker 2: production ourselves to increase our volume because now I have
[7:31] Speaker 2: something to kind of like bet against with it. When
[7:34] Speaker 2: it comes to funding, I just thought that I have
[7:36] Speaker 2: all these eyes on my business. I can get funding,
[7:39] Speaker 2: and it's not when I talk to venture When I
[7:42] Speaker 2: talk to investors, they're like, you not going to grocery
[7:46] Speaker 2: And I'm like, no, that's where our business would go
[7:48] Speaker 2: to die because that's what everybody else did and that's
[7:50] Speaker 2: where their businesses are closing. But it's a non traditional
[7:54] Speaker 2: model and so they're like, well, prove that it works
[7:57] Speaker 2: first and come back. So the parts are just at
[8:00] Speaker 2: a larger scale for us to say like, hey, over
[8:03] Speaker 2: the course of this year, we're going to do one
[8:06] Speaker 2: hundred thousand bars with this one company, or we're going
[8:09] Speaker 2: to do fifty thousand bars with this one company, And
[8:12] Speaker 2: that gives us a little bit more leverage when it
[8:14] Speaker 2: comes to proving that this has scalability versus I'm going
[8:18] Speaker 2: to try to convince fifty more people to come in
[8:20] Speaker 2: here per.
[8:21] Speaker 4: Day, knowing everything that you know. Now, for the entrepreneurs
[8:26] Speaker 4: watching tonight, how would you identify what's the perfect business
[8:30] Speaker 4: model for your business?
[8:36] Speaker 1: Because we always are taught.
[8:38] Speaker 4: More is better, right scaling. I even seen a comment
[8:41] Speaker 4: as someone's a water why not start a venture fund?
[8:44] Speaker 4: More is not always better, right? So how if you
[8:48] Speaker 4: can go back? I know you said your your business
[8:51] Speaker 4: model is different, but often times a different business model
[8:55] Speaker 4: is the one that's going to lead the way.
[8:57] Speaker 1: How would you identify what your perfect business model is?
[9:00] Speaker 2: I think that if I was able to restart, I
[9:03] Speaker 2: would start with the equations that I've created now, right,
[9:06] Speaker 2: Like what's the volume of products that I need to
[9:12] Speaker 2: make in order to sustain at a specific margin for
[9:17] Speaker 2: not only operation, but for my own life. Like there's
[9:21] Speaker 2: all the statistics black women where the fastest group of entrepreneurs,
[9:25] Speaker 2: where the you know, most educated, most everything but the
[9:28] Speaker 2: reality is we make the least amount of revenue out
[9:32] Speaker 2: of every group. We are over educated in degrees that
[9:36] Speaker 2: don't actually make money, like we have the lowest our
[9:41] Speaker 2: degrees are the lowest income generating degrees. So there's the
[9:45] Speaker 2: other side. We're in a lot of the marketing around it.
[9:48] Speaker 2: And I know for myself my face was used as
[9:51] Speaker 2: a part of many, many, many campaigns to show love
[9:54] Speaker 2: and support for black women. But I think that when
[9:57] Speaker 2: I get back to the forefront of it, that I
[10:01] Speaker 2: would really make sure that my business had me in
[10:04] Speaker 2: it and was and whatever model I was choosing, made
[10:08] Speaker 2: sure that there was some version of salary for me,
[10:11] Speaker 2: maybe not a big ticket item, maybe not whatever, so
[10:14] Speaker 2: that I can make these decisions more clearly. A lot
[10:16] Speaker 2: of this business model shifting is out of a place
[10:20] Speaker 2: of no for no better words, but desperation, like right,
[10:25] Speaker 2: like I need cash in here now, this contract. They
[10:29] Speaker 2: love us and everything, but they're not going to pay
[10:31] Speaker 2: me for sixty days. And that's after I get all
[10:35] Speaker 2: of my paperwork uploaded for them to even process the ach.
[10:38] Speaker 2: And then what happens when Sheila go have a baby
[10:41] Speaker 2: and then my invoice don't get processed you know, like
[10:44] Speaker 2: there are real life things that can, you know, derail you.
[10:48] Speaker 2: So when you're choosing a business model and when you're
[10:51] Speaker 2: choosing a price point, I think that we have this
[10:54] Speaker 2: idea that we want to be these like mega billionaires,
[10:58] Speaker 2: But you might be more profitable at a at a
[11:00] Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year, you know,
[11:03] Speaker 2: like price point, you might be able to take more
[11:06] Speaker 2: margin out of that than if you was trying to
[11:10] Speaker 2: I feel like sclare globally like I from myself, I
[11:15] Speaker 2: realize we've been really boxing above our weight class trying
[11:19] Speaker 2: to do this direct to consumer model and reach all
[11:24] Speaker 2: these individuals. That takes money, like you know, and it
[11:29] Speaker 2: takes dedicated staff, human capital. There was a real benefit
[11:34] Speaker 2: to not having to pay for staffing For some other businesses,
[11:38] Speaker 2: you know, they had five hundred years of free labor.
[11:41] Speaker 2: I don't have that. My cousin want to come work
[11:44] Speaker 2: for me. My cousin bills ain't gonna go nowhere. I
[11:46] Speaker 2: have to pay her for the day. She can't volunteer.
[11:49] Speaker 2: She might volunteer at night after work, but I need
[11:52] Speaker 2: somebody during the day. I need somebody to answer the phone.
[11:55] Speaker 2: And AI is doing a lot to help and assist,
[11:58] Speaker 2: but they're a real physical human capital needs that I
[12:01] Speaker 2: would consider and incorporate into whatever model I was choosing.
[12:06] Speaker 2: And I think we confuse models with sales channels and
[12:10] Speaker 2: thinking that like, oh, we're just adding another sales line,
[12:14] Speaker 2: and you're really shifting your entire model. If it requires
[12:18] Speaker 2: you to operate differently, then it's a different model and
[12:21] Speaker 2: it's not an additional sales channel.
[12:24] Speaker 1: Yeah, I wanted to bring you on. I want just
[12:26] Speaker 1: to put it in perspective for people. So, yeah, you've
[12:30] Speaker 1: become a staple in the community as far as hall
[12:32] Speaker 1: them chocolate factory. But I thought it was is important.
[12:35] Speaker 1: It's like a real life case study because we bring
[12:37] Speaker 1: a lot of entrepreneurs on and a lot of times
[12:40] Speaker 1: the stories are extremely success story your success story also,
[12:43] Speaker 1: but you're facing hard times right now, right like, so
[12:48] Speaker 1: I think that this is real education that people can
[12:51] Speaker 1: actually learn from because it's ups and downs entrepreneurship. It's
[12:55] Speaker 1: not always somebody making a million dollars a month and
[12:58] Speaker 1: somebody that's killing it and stuff like that. Like we've
[13:00] Speaker 1: highlighted that story a lot, but I think it's also
[13:03] Speaker 1: important to highlight people that may have currently been going
[13:06] Speaker 1: through rough patches right now, So talk specifically about where
[13:11] Speaker 1: the business is right now. I know that you're in
[13:14] Speaker 1: a business, you're currently closing the physical location, right and
[13:18] Speaker 1: then also talk about how like the access to capital
[13:20] Speaker 1: conversation and how you were actually on New York City's website. Yes,
[13:27] Speaker 1: explain that, explain that part of it, right.
[13:30] Speaker 2: Like, I do a lot of like behind the scenes
[13:33] Speaker 2: work because I mean I literally needed money for myself.
[13:37] Speaker 2: Because there's also a reality, right, Like I don't want
[13:41] Speaker 2: to even participate in my own gas lighting where I
[13:44] Speaker 2: pretend like there wasn't a sacrifice that went into scaling this,
[13:48] Speaker 2: right Like the original SWAT analysis said that this was
[13:51] Speaker 2: capital intensive and it was going to be hard, and
[13:53] Speaker 2: the market is saturated and all these things, and then
[13:56] Speaker 2: the only way in was through this niche. But the
[14:01] Speaker 2: what I did is I built like a platform for
[14:04] Speaker 2: myself because I am extremely I find myself to be
[14:07] Speaker 2: honest about what it really takes to build a business.
[14:10] Speaker 2: I'm not gonna front for you. I'm not going to
[14:12] Speaker 2: pretend like you know, like oh whatever, I've been on
[14:15] Speaker 2: Oprah's Favorite Things. I did and they called me twice
[14:18] Speaker 2: and all of that, and I could do all of that,
[14:20] Speaker 2: not the swing. But what does that do for anyone
[14:22] Speaker 2: if the reality is when I go for funding, I
[14:25] Speaker 2: get turned down. When I've tried to raise money for
[14:28] Speaker 2: for for contracts, they shift the goalposts. And so I
[14:33] Speaker 2: think I just got to a place of frustration because
[14:35] Speaker 2: my face was on the New York City's fund Finder.
[14:39] Speaker 2: I'd launched this GoFundMe campaign after I got rejected for
[14:43] Speaker 2: accounts receivable funding. I don't want to close our store.
[14:48] Speaker 2: The goal is to.
[14:51] Speaker 1: Let's load down a little bit. Let's let's take that
[14:53] Speaker 1: your face was on New York City's golain that.
[14:58] Speaker 2: It's called the It's called the funds Finder, right like.
[15:02] Speaker 1: From New York City. It's where you go to get
[15:05] Speaker 1: money for your business.
[15:06] Speaker 2: Yes, where you find funds. It's literally the funds Finder.
[15:09] Speaker 1: So you were essentially to post a ch out for that.
[15:13] Speaker 1: Your face was on there, Yes, but you couldn't get funding.
[15:19] Speaker 2: Zero funding options available is what it said to me.
[15:23] Speaker 2: And that becomes the thing, right Like people are like, oh, well,
[15:26] Speaker 2: you have all these connections, like you're good, like you
[15:28] Speaker 2: could get funding whenever, and I'm like, yeah, you know
[15:31] Speaker 2: where the funding comes from me, I keep my salary
[15:34] Speaker 2: in that business every year, like we are still here
[15:37] Speaker 2: at my sacrifice. And so people were like responding to
[15:41] Speaker 2: our go fundme by saying like, well, you're on funds
[15:44] Speaker 2: finder or there's like hey, I found a link to
[15:47] Speaker 2: the New York City funds finder. Go on there, like
[15:49] Speaker 2: oh wait, your face is on there. So I kept
[15:51] Speaker 2: getting it and kept getting it, so I literally made
[15:53] Speaker 2: the video to show like there are no there were
[15:56] Speaker 2: no funds, like it was zero from one hundred and
[16:00] Speaker 2: fifty k plus to less than ten thousand, there was
[16:03] Speaker 2: no funds.
[16:05] Speaker 3: So how did they respond to have they responded to this?
[16:08] Speaker 1: Like what, what's the update? Obviously you brought this to
[16:11] Speaker 1: their attention.
[16:12] Speaker 3: Obviously you're getting hit up, and it's like, yo, this
[16:14] Speaker 3: is this press is actually working negative for me because
[16:17] Speaker 3: people think I got it. They're not likely to help
[16:19] Speaker 3: if they think I got it. It's just unfortunately, how
[16:21] Speaker 3: have they responded since you brought it to their attention?
[16:24] Speaker 1: Obviously they put you there, they know it.
[16:27] Speaker 2: They called me to told me that they took the
[16:30] Speaker 2: picture down and that I should find some grants to apply.
[16:34] Speaker 4: For, which grants are not the easiest thing, just for
[16:38] Speaker 4: those who don't know, they just don't fall off the sky.
[16:42] Speaker 1: Why do they put the picture up there? To begin with?
[16:45] Speaker 2: I think that I think that black women are the marketing.
[16:52] Speaker 2: I think that it's very very easy. I think that's
[16:55] Speaker 2: the way and to prove that you like, show support
[16:57] Speaker 2: for the community. And I think black women sometimes are
[17:00] Speaker 2: very very and and I can't let me not talk
[17:02] Speaker 2: for all black women. I think that there are times
[17:05] Speaker 2: that I've approached entrepreneurship happy to be invited, and it's
[17:11] Speaker 2: encouraged an air that I'm easy to take advantage of.
[17:15] Speaker 2: And so I snapped and I went online and I
[17:18] Speaker 2: told the whole world that there was no funds. Because
[17:20] Speaker 2: normally I'm quiet and I don't say nothing because maybe
[17:24] Speaker 2: it can help someone else. And black women are very
[17:26] Speaker 2: very amenable, and you know that we get this rap
[17:29] Speaker 2: about our attitudes, but I've seen women cry after haircuts
[17:33] Speaker 2: and when they nails was messed up, So we don't
[17:37] Speaker 2: say anything. And I said something this time. So they
[17:39] Speaker 2: took the picture down. Still no funds. They connected me
[17:43] Speaker 2: to another funder who had already rejected funding me. But
[17:49] Speaker 2: I guess people are moving now. But it's like a
[17:53] Speaker 2: eight to twelve week process, and I'm like, I needed
[17:58] Speaker 2: money years ago, and so it's just literally like I
[18:04] Speaker 2: would never want to turn to my community that I
[18:06] Speaker 2: already know is facing things to like beg for money.
[18:10] Speaker 2: But this where we're at in this and especially on
[18:14] Speaker 2: the precipice of these partnerships, I'm like, nah, I've taken.
[18:19] Speaker 2: I've taken all the l's that I'm going to take,
[18:21] Speaker 2: and I can only come to people and be transparent
[18:24] Speaker 2: about where we are and what we have going on
[18:27] Speaker 2: and ask for some assistance because my goal ultimately is
[18:31] Speaker 2: to help my community. Like this ain't Jessica Spaulding's chocolate factory.
[18:35] Speaker 2: This is Harlem's and so I feel like I'm just
[18:38] Speaker 2: a steward of the opportunity. And so it's worth the
[18:41] Speaker 2: fight and the embarrassment. Because somebody just left a comment
[18:45] Speaker 2: before I came on here telling me I should stop
[18:47] Speaker 2: begging and all different type of losers and whatever. I
[18:50] Speaker 2: took a screenshot of you and you and my file
[18:53] Speaker 2: of all the people who ever talked about me because
[18:55] Speaker 2: I plan to come back around the block. But no, no, no,
[19:03] Speaker 2: I go up on one of level between fifth lndaes.
[19:05] Speaker 2: I've lived in home of my whole life. Stop playing
[19:07] Speaker 2: with me. Y'all be talking very crazy on this internet
[19:10] Speaker 2: and I'm trying.
[19:11] Speaker 3: To be then stop playing on the internet.
[19:14] Speaker 2: Please please When you never see nothing.
[19:19] Speaker 4: Yeah, but a lot of people are going through pain
[19:21] Speaker 4: and take it out on others to have a successful business.
[19:26] Speaker 4: What pushback were they giving you for not giving funding
[19:29] Speaker 4: for those who are looking to pitch? What what roadblocks
[19:33] Speaker 4: were they putting in front of you?
[19:34] Speaker 2: To tell you know, uh, I will tell you that
[19:39] Speaker 2: the amount of goalposting that I have faced during this.
[19:42] Speaker 2: So it's like when I first started and I was
[19:45] Speaker 2: in there was money at the bottom. When I had
[19:48] Speaker 2: the sad story, the single mom that you know, I
[19:53] Speaker 2: have my two kids and and and I don't have
[19:57] Speaker 2: my life together and I'm going to who you know,
[20:00] Speaker 2: try to find a job, they was throwing money at me.
[20:04] Speaker 2: I got a micro loan when I had no job,
[20:07] Speaker 2: so it built in me that like, okay, well if
[20:10] Speaker 2: I prove that I have whatever, I'm gonna get it.
[20:13] Speaker 2: Then they gave me ten thousand and I paid it back,
[20:15] Speaker 2: and then they gave me twenty thousand. I paid it
[20:17] Speaker 2: back and then it was time to like put your
[20:19] Speaker 2: money where your mouth is and I'm like, yo, I
[20:21] Speaker 2: want to build out this facility. I think that we
[20:24] Speaker 2: can really like grow contracts. I found a way in
[20:27] Speaker 2: into this industry. Then it was like, ooh, to risk
[20:31] Speaker 2: you don't know if you're too risky, Like ooh, what
[20:35] Speaker 2: if you're gonna do? What? What do you everything? I
[20:39] Speaker 2: just said I was gonna do the things that I
[20:41] Speaker 2: did them and and so the goalpost moves. It was
[20:45] Speaker 2: get a contract and come back. Come with a contract. Yeah,
[20:49] Speaker 2: but how do we know it sells? Like airports? Like
[20:53] Speaker 2: people don't even spend money in airports? Huh? Okay? Hotels?
[20:59] Speaker 2: I mean are people even staying at hotels anymore? Is
[21:02] Speaker 2: there any like what? Then I'm like, all right, let
[21:06] Speaker 2: me come back with the invoice. I'm gonna come back
[21:08] Speaker 2: with the invoice. Yeah, but you didn't ship the product yet,
[21:11] Speaker 2: so you know this doesn't really funder, you know, fall
[21:15] Speaker 2: under accounts receivable. You need growth capital. Okay, well you
[21:19] Speaker 2: look at the growth give me the capital, yes, but
[21:22] Speaker 2: you know what we would really want is the is
[21:25] Speaker 2: the contract. I can't get the contract until I give
[21:29] Speaker 2: them the product and they that they see that it sells. Yeah,
[21:32] Speaker 2: so after it sells then we'll do it. But we
[21:35] Speaker 2: know it sells cause it's been selling, because I got
[21:38] Speaker 2: ten years of historical data that it sells. What. And
[21:42] Speaker 2: that's when I realized, like, oh, everybody's lying to me.
[21:45] Speaker 2: Y'all hate me, and let me just stop. And I
[21:48] Speaker 2: just did the goalfundme and I was like here boom, like,
[21:52] Speaker 2: let me do this, and then I'm gonna double back
[21:55] Speaker 2: and charge everybody twice. And I have a list. I
[21:59] Speaker 2: want you to know. You're in my little black book.
[22:03] Speaker 2: We're just trying not to make that way, but just
[22:07] Speaker 2: like yo, you know because these same people when the
[22:10] Speaker 2: cameras come out, I know what y'all are gonna do.
[22:13] Speaker 2: Y'all want to pull up, y'all want to oh, let
[22:15] Speaker 2: me take a picture.
[22:16] Speaker 1: I'm so proud of you.
[22:18] Speaker 2: I'm so proud, and we knew you was gonna make it.
[22:20] Speaker 2: I want you to know I know who all you
[22:23] Speaker 2: are and I am it's me and Fifthy. You will
[22:27] Speaker 2: not get in. You will be standing outside. You will
[22:30] Speaker 2: not get in. I am very nice, I'm very sweet.
[22:33] Speaker 2: I don't have I no no, but.
[22:37] Speaker 3: Pray for them now we're gonna pray.
[22:40] Speaker 1: Chocolate factory definitely a staple in the community. Explain the
[22:44] Speaker 1: go fund me. Explain the GoFundMe, what's it for? What's
[22:48] Speaker 1: the goal? Yeah, and uh yeah, explain that.
[22:54] Speaker 2: So it's yeah, So what we're what we're trying to
[22:57] Speaker 2: do is we have like some specific the debts that
[23:00] Speaker 2: we need to clear in order to just free up
[23:03] Speaker 2: cash flow. Then on the other side, there are deposits
[23:08] Speaker 2: that we need to make immediately in order to fulfill
[23:11] Speaker 2: these contracts. And the if we wait, we're gonna be
[23:16] Speaker 2: outside the window and we're not gonna be able to
[23:19] Speaker 2: fully take advantage of them. And so the GoFundMe, we're
[23:22] Speaker 2: trying to raise fifty K. If we could get to
[23:25] Speaker 2: a hunt it, y'all would literally be saving my little life.
[23:29] Speaker 2: But fifty is what we need to, like you know,
[23:32] Speaker 2: like really make these specific investments to have that leverage
[23:37] Speaker 2: the way that we need to for our cash flow
[23:40] Speaker 2: and really not be waiting for sixty days for the
[23:43] Speaker 2: invoices to clear and be able to go out after
[23:47] Speaker 2: even more contracts.
[23:49] Speaker 1: And what's the what's the what's the website or what's
[23:51] Speaker 1: the Instagram? How can people if they're interested.
[23:55] Speaker 2: You can go to Harlem Chocolate Factory Dot com and
[23:58] Speaker 2: we have the link there and then on our Instagram
[24:01] Speaker 2: it's Harlem Chocolate Factory. The link is in our bio. Ultimately,
[24:07] Speaker 2: I want to create an entity with like with community
[24:11] Speaker 2: shares like. I'm still researching on how to do that
[24:15] Speaker 2: and how to set up the structure because I want
[24:17] Speaker 2: the community to have shares in it. This is the
[24:20] Speaker 2: temporary need that we have that will help us bridge.
[24:25] Speaker 1: And yeah, well thank you for coming on, just having
[24:32] Speaker 1: really appreciate your story. And I'm going to encourage everybody
[24:36] Speaker 1: to to try to give what they can because it's important.
[24:39] Speaker 1: You know, we got we can do it. Trying to
[24:42] Speaker 1: save a black business a vital part of our community.
[24:47] Speaker 1: We understand that entrepreneurship is a real gateway and you
[24:51] Speaker 1: talk about businesses, you know, it employs people, it gives
[24:55] Speaker 1: level of inspiration, hope, and is the whole economic system
[24:59] Speaker 1: that done. And when you think of Harlem, you think
[25:02] Speaker 1: of the mecca of black culture, going back from you know,
[25:06] Speaker 1: nineteen twenties Hallam Renaissance and sugar Hill and all of that.
[25:09] Speaker 1: So you know, it's the it's this season of giving.
[25:14] Speaker 1: Some people say Christmas is the season of given, but
[25:16] Speaker 1: it's Black history months. So I feel like February is
[25:18] Speaker 1: the season of given and we wanted to highlight you
[25:21] Speaker 1: just to you know, for educational purposes, but also you know,
[25:24] Speaker 1: we have a platform, so we try to try to
[25:28] Speaker 1: do good with our platform when we can, as far
[25:30] Speaker 1: as to help people that are haveing some level of need,
[25:34] Speaker 1: because we're all going to need help at some point
[25:35] Speaker 1: in time. And it's a good story as far as
[25:40] Speaker 1: what you've been able to accomplish and would love to see,
[25:44] Speaker 1: you know, the trajectory, you know, change on the situation.
[25:49] Speaker 1: So yes, go to Halem Chocolate Factory dot com if
[25:54] Speaker 1: you're interested, and we will definitely stay in contact with
[25:59] Speaker 1: you all best and thank you for coming and telling
[26:02] Speaker 1: your story. Greatly appreciate it.
[26:03] Speaker 3: Appreciate you so much.
[26:06] Speaker 1: Thank you for sharing.
[26:07] Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you guys,

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