Mogul Moments with CDJ S3E4 "Lessons Learned" with Guest CEO's Dominic Irvin & Katrina Mitchell

Hello everybody, I am Camille D. Jamerson. I am the host of Mobile Moments, to which you have tuned in, and I'm also the CEO of C.E.M® and Associates and also The Camille Company, which is sponsoring Mobile Moments. This week's episode is absolutely amazing, and I can say that in advance because of who we have coming up. Um, we're going to talk about I'm doing business in this brand new world. As we know, March 13th-ish, this nation changed. And it's never going back to what it was. Be that right, wrong, good, bad, indifferent, what have you, it's never going back. And so now we find ourselves thrust into this new way of, of doing business, new way of working, new way of communicating. And eventually we might get back to a different sense of normalcy, but what we used to do in that world, that's changed forever. Some businesses were absolutely devastated by COVID. Some will never reopen, and some have had to make adjustments and changes because of it. So we're going to talk today about— we're going to have 3 business owners, one including myself, that we're going to share with you what happened to our businesses because of COVID-19, what shifts and adjustments we had to make in order to navigate this season, if we had to close altogether, to tell you what that's been like. And then we're going to talk about if, if and when we revamp, what that looks like. And then we're going to talk about the lessons learned, what we learned in this season that we want to share with you so you can prepare your business for the next emergency, whatever that looks like, and you can be better prepared overall. So it's always a good time to sit down and think and strategize based on what you've gone through, what you've been through, and the lessons that you've learned because of it. So we're going to take the time to do that today. So with that being said, I am bringing into, um, this amazing mogul moment two, um, business owners. The first being Dominique Irvin. Dominique is a realtor, um, with Real Estate One, I believe, and he has his own, um, business entitled Homes by Dominique, and he'll tell you more about that when he joins. Um, we also have Katrina Mitchell. Who, in addition to being on my personal board of advisors, Katrina is a coach, um, and she is the founder and CEO of Katrina Michelle Creative as well as The Excellence Factor. And Katrina is the owner of Fundamental Spa, which is in Pleasant Ridge, Michigan. Would you guys help me welcome them to today's mogul moment? And this is the part where you've got to clap until I get them in the meeting, okay? So clap, clap, clap. They'll be here in a second. Hello, hello, you guys. Hey, hey, hey, hey, I got them in. All right. I'm good, I'm good. I was just telling these guys that you guys were getting ready to jump in. We're going to share kind of what happened to our businesses during COVID What doing business in this brand new world looks like, what revamp or vamping back up looks like, and then what kind of— what were the lessons that we learned from this so we can be better prepared for the next emergency, whatever that looks like. So before we jump into all of that, I gave people just kind of your names and your businesses, but I want you guys to give people a better idea of, um, who you are and, and what you do. So we'll start with you, Katrina.

Okay, so hello everyone, my name is Katrina Mitchell and I am the owner of Fundamentals Relaxation Spa. We are a boutique quaint day spa here in Pleasant Ridge, Michigan. And then I'm also the CEO and lead strategic coach for Katrina Michelle Creative, and, um, at KMC we help startups, particularly creatives, build businesses and build brands.

Awesome. And I'm putting this in the chat, guys, so you'll be able to, um, get both of their business Facebook pages, um, right there in the chat.

So Dominic, again, my name is Dominic Irvin. I am the founder and CEO of Homes by Dominic. I assist everyday consumers to purchase, sell, and invest in real estate. I service the Wayne, Oakland, Macomb tri-county area, so if you're looking to purchase, buy, or sell in those areas, I'm available to assist your real estate needs. Awesome!

And I'm putting yours in there too. Awesome. Great. So guys, if you look in the chat, you'll see both Dominick's page and Katrina's pages. So you make certain that you connect with them when this is over. So guys, why don't you— let's start here. Tell me how COVID-19 affected you. As I was just saying in the opening, March 13th-ish, I guess it was, the world as we know changed forever. And it's not going back.

That's just real talk.

Exactly.

Not going back to what it was. So, you know, it's one of those things like I can always remember where I was and what I was doing when, you know, the world shut down. So tell me what happened with you in that season. What happened and what decisions you had to make? This time we'll start with you, Dominick.

Um, well, as you said, March 13th, it was like the world just stopped. Um, I was in my office and we were all surrounded by the television waiting for the governor to announce, you know, what direction we were headed in. And when she announced that we were shutting down, it was pretty much that, um, because we didn't know what exactly was going on and where we were headed. So we did pretty much shut down for a small period of time We were able to operate virtually as much as possible. Being in real estate, that's very difficult, but we were still able to at least, you know, stay in the eye of the public as much as possible, being cautious, what was being sensitive as to what was going on.

What about you, Katrina?

Um, so we shut down the week before everyone else was mandated to shut down. So I had a discussion with my team when I saw it coming. My spidey senses said, okay, if it's over here, if it's in Ohio, it's on its way. And so not knowing the level of expanse and devastation and what was going to happen, I just had a conversation with, okay, so if we stay open, then how are we going to deal with clients coming in and that type of thing? So then, so we decided that we will push through as we could. And then that following Monday, she was like, push all you want, but you can't push here. So we shut down.

Right.

You made the decision for us. Yeah.

Yeah. So again, being in a hands-on business, we can't do business virtually. So we just had to just, we had to shut it off, shut it down and cancel all of our clients, which was one of the most painful things I'd ever had to do was just, you know, tick off money, watch it go away, you know? Um, so yeah. Yeah.

So Dom, you said that you were able though to shift some of your business virtually. So what did that look like? Were you like showing homes online or? Just finishing the projects that were already in motion. What did that look like?

It was pretty much just what you said, finishing projects that were already in motion. I was still able to hold seller, uh, consultations. I was still able to consult with buyers and things of that nature, but showing homes was pretty much at a standstill. That is very difficult to do virtually, at least without me being present in that particular property, right? Um, so it was just pretty much wrapping up the transactions and keeping um, that funnel open, continuously putting sellers and buyers in that funnel so that when we did open up, I could, you know, just bounce back as if nothing ever happened. I mean, being in real estate, it's already a roller coaster. So COVID hit, it was just like, okay, let's stop, figure this out, how do we adjust, and let's keep on ticking.

So, okay, so here's the real question. How were you— how are you, because we're still in the midst of it, able to keep your businesses afloat given either the total secession in Katrina's case, or in your case, um, a total ramp down of normal business structure? For me, I could move 80% of my business virtual. Um, there's still a a bit of it that where I go on to go to clients, really get, um, a feel of their culture and their vibe or what have you, and that helps. Um, I do their photo shoots and stuff for their branding, but I've been able to do quite a bit of what I do, um, virtually. But every business hasn't been that lucky. So what does that look like for you? How have you been able to maintain, business up until this point? Either of you, whichever one of you want to start.

Um, again, like I said, I mean, it was pretty much just wrapping up deals that were already in. Realtors, we were not able to show properties, let's just say like that. But the other side, title companies, uh, mortgage lenders, um, inspectors, they were still able to work. They were still deemed essential. Essential. So as they were still able to proceed with the transactions, we were still able to close deals. But once those deals that were in the pipeline were done, that we— so it was pretty much, you know, living on those deals, reserves, and, you know, just the grace of God.

Yeah, how about that?

Yeah, well, fortunately or unfortunately, I bought my business in the middle of an economic downturn. In 2008. So when this happened, I was like, oh, I've been here before. I got this.

Yeah.

Well, I thought I had it, but this is totally different.

Different.

Yeah. Now I have to figure out what the next step is because I have to touch people for a living. And so that really has shifted things for me. So what I really— I did have some money in reserve that I was able to float through. For a good little while. And so that was a blessing. And then I have multiple streams of income coming into the spa, even though it's brick and mortar. I still have online gift certificates and, um, and coupons that people actually were buying in the middle of the pandemic. So they were anticipating coming back.

Wow.

Yeah. So that, so having those additional streams of income, it hasn't been sizable, but it's still good to know that there are people who were looking at the other side of this. So once things started to open up, my phone immediately started ringing. So I've been able to adjust because of the reserves. And then I called my landlord and called utility companies and said, hey, I can't pay, or how much will you take?

I'm fine.

Yes. So I made sure I was proactive instead of reactive because at first I didn't want to make any of the calls because no one likes calling someone telling them I can't meet my obligation. But I felt it was a responsible thing to do to say this is where we are and I need my business to be open because we're not going to be here forever. So help a sister out in the meantime. And so that was an immediate step that I took to make sure that I was proactive versus being reactive.

I think a key with that, Katrina, with this particular disaster, for lack of a better word, it affected everybody. So it wasn't just like, you know, you really had to explain to people what was going on in your particular case because it was like they're feeling it too. So that, I guess that's a positive. Everybody understood, you know, they may not have wanted to, you know, but everybody got it because they were feeling the pinch too. So when, for example, we're all in the same state. So when our governor says, when she finally lets us off punishment and says, okay, state can reopen, things look safe, blah, blah, blah. What does that look like for you? What are you going to do, or are you going to do anything differently than you did before?

Well, go ahead, Katrina.

I was just saying, in what respect is overall?

Just overall, and how— and how you are going to ramp back up, how you're going to service clients. Are there still precautions and safety measures that you're going to put in place whether or not the state does? I guess that's, that's more or less the question.

Okay, I think of my answer.

Okay, um, well, she let us lose real estate. We were deemed essential back, uh, I want to say it was May 17th, so May 17th, we have been pretty much back open to operate as if nothing happened. But of course, we are following the CDC guidelines and guidelines that have been put in place by my brokerage, Real Estate One, and things of that nature. So, you know, hand sanitizer, we're Lysoling down, we're making sure that sellers are following protocols, we're making sure that buyers are following protocol while we're out showing properties. We've got gloves, we've got masks, so we're doing as much as we can to, you know, keep ourselves safe, keep our clients safe while we conduct business. I mean, real estate is never going to stop, 100%. So we just have to adapt and keep it ticking. Katrina had mentioned my background is mortgage lending before I transitioned into real estate over almost 10 years ago. And when the economy hit in 2008, I was on the other side. So again, like I said, real estate is already a roller coaster. So this was nothing out of the norm except we just had— it affected everybody. So we just had to kind of pull back, put a strategy in place how we're going to navigate through this. And here we are. I mean, we haven't had any issues or anything like that.

So Dom, has business pretty much been the same? Because in the back of my head, I'm like, who's looking for a house in the middle of a pandemic? That's what I'm saying.

You'd be surprised.

I am, because then I had to retract that thought because my husband's son and his wife just recently closed on their house. So I don't know how long that process had been going on prior to COVID, but I suppose people are still looking to sell and buy. So has business been pretty much the same? Have you noticed a little drop? What, what's been kind of—

because like I said, there was like a 2-month period where we couldn't really show property. We can't show properties virtually, um, so we were unable to move about unless it was for essential reasons, and real estate was not deemed essential. 2 months, we were pretty much done. So it was, like I said, continuously, uh, staying in contact with sellers and buyers because their interest and the demand was was still there. It was just how can we get back out into the public to, you know, to buy and sell. And the good thing, the confidence of the consumer never failed. Although unemployment rates skyrocketed, everyone was not unemployed, and those are the ones that were still making business happen.

That's good. That's good. Okay, Katrina. Okay.

Well, I believe our date for— we were given the date of June 15th to reopen, and I made the decision not to reopen. I thought it was too soon. So I went against the grain, and I was a little concerned about it in a way, but I had to make sure that my team stayed safe and my clients stayed safe. So, um, yeah, so I had to make that hard call. Of course I want to go back to work and I want to be able to service my clients and my clients are ready, but really based on what we do and the type of service that we provide, we could potentially cause more harm than good. So that's why I made the decision to just wait. So I believe that we may be closer to opening at the end of August. Perhaps.

Ish. Ish.

You know, I anticipated what would happen. I just, my thought at the beginning, I said, okay, let's get through all the summer holidays to make sure things don't, because they're going to go up because people are excited to go out, and let's see how we level off. So now from, as we prepare to go back, we will have to go back at 50% capacity. One thing that's great about Fundamentals being a smaller boutique-style spa is that we are not— we don't have 15, 20 massage rooms. Oftentimes you're in the spa by yourself, right? So it's really given us the opportunity to amp up our personalized service so people can come in and they can have their services. Now the issue, of course, is that you can't be 6 feet away from a person and give them a spa treatment, right? You can't. Can't do it. So the ongoing question and my ongoing dilemma is when will it ever be safe to touch a stranger again, you know? And in the instance that is someone that I know, I still don't know if I have been infected. Because if I wear a mask and all those things, but I'm, you know, careless or something happens and I get infected, then I have the possibility of passing it on to someone who no longer had, who didn't have it. So yeah, so I'm working through some protocols. I know that my team will be tested before they come in and then they'll have a regular testing schedule to make sure that we're always infection-free. And then as far as the facility, we're gonna have a deep clean at the beginning, you know, before we open and have a regular schedule of deep cleaning and we'll also have air purifiers in the room and then we'll make sure that we're, wearing masks and face shields and those things that have been mandated by the state. However, the client at some point in theory will have to remove their mask for service, right? And that makes me extremely uncomfortable. So, because there's too many unknowns with COVID-19, so I don't honestly know when I will personally feel safe. I don't know, same with my with my team, they're, they're, they're not feeling it, you know, and it's a very hard pill to swallow when you make your living in this type of industry. It's not as a massage therapist. Again, it's different than a nail tech or a hairstylist. Everyone is still at risk when you're close to the public, but massage therapy is totally different. So business model-wise, it's really caused me to step back and say, okay, So what does this mean? Do we shut down the brick and mortar forever? You can't— yeah, you can't take massage online. However, there's opportunity for wellness services and coaching and other things that I can incorporate. However, it won't be the same. It won't be the same. So it's still a big, huge question mark, you know. Realistically, we can't stay closed until they find a vaccine. So at some point, I have to make the hard call and determine what the future looks like. And it's, it's been a challenge.

And you talk about business model, and that's a good transition to kind of my next question. Is there— and I know this, um, this pandemic kind of came out of the clear blue sky, but of course, as we're finding out information, some people knew about it significantly longer than they have let on. And has caused this thing to be a lot larger than it needed to be here in the States. But be that as it may, by the time the general public really got their arms around what was going on, it was too late. COVID was already running rampant, so it kind of sideswiped us. Um, so even that notwithstanding, is there anything that you wish you had done or wish was in place when this pandemic happened that you're going to fix or adjust or change so you're prepared for the next, whatever that looks like?

It gave me, it honestly gave me the opportunity to really work on my business rather than work in my business.

That's good.

To, you know, up my marketing and things of that nature because we don't know how long this thing is going to be going on. It seems as if people are going to be home more, a lot longer. So I'm transitioning a lot of my marketing pieces to kind of gear toward, you know, direct mail, social media with people being home more, they're on social media more, that nature. So just pulling, you know, marketing dollars from certain avenues and putting, replacing them to others to kind of, again, stay in the face of the public. I don't know how long this is going to be going on, but again, like I said, the good thing is the consumer demand for real estate is still there. People always need places to live. It's again with these spikes and then we're flat, we're spiking, we're flat. It makes all of us nervous because, as she said, when are we going to really be able to kind of interact with public without that fear, oh, you might have something, or not knowing if I have something. It's just, you know, we're still taking it one day at a time, but again, like I said, practicing all of the precautions that have been set forth.

That's good.

What about you, Katrina? Any, um, I wish I would have had for you?

Um, I wish that I would have built a stronger online community with my clients. So I primarily speak with my clients through emails for the most part, of course, face to face. However, I wish I would have had a stronger online community so I could have touched them differently. So I did send some emails out throughout, but I stayed a little bit quiet because when COVID hit, you were getting an email from everybody, from the shoeshine. I mean, everybody. I'm like, I'm not going to say anything because it's going to get lost. Yeah. So I stayed pretty quiet. So I realized that by me doing that, when I do speak, people are like, oh, what she said?

You know, because that was Katrina. That was Katrina. Wait, what?

Right. It disrupts it. You know, so I tried not to get caught in the fray because there wasn't enough to say. Like, what am I going to say? The same thing everybody else said? Like, we don't know what's happening. We got to shut down. I don't even know, you know, so, but with that being said, if I had a stronger online community, a way to communicate with people through Facebook, had more activity on my Facebook page interaction, then I would have been able to touch them in a more personal way faster. So that was one thing. And I agree with Dom, it was a, when I thought about when it first happened, I said, okay, what, What am I supposed to do? Like, why is this happening now to me in my business? Like, what does this mean? And for me, it wasn't really a pivot. It was a reset. It was okay, sit down. And all those things that you said you were going to do, you need to do those things now. Um, the things that financially and strategic planning and all those things that you never had time to do, do those things now. So you'll be better prepared because I did, I guess I had some things in place, but they weren't as strong as they should have been. And then you discover that when government starts giving out money, you're not ready because your taxes aren't done, or, you know, so little things like that where you're so busy again working in your business, you don't have the opportunity to work on it. So I, I appreciated the time of reset and just to settle for a minute and breathe, you know. And I was only able to do that because I had prepared prior to this con. So good.

That's good. Because for my business, I think that, um, like, like you, Dom, working on my business, it's like I rarely have time to do that because I'm a part of what I do is working in other people's businesses.

Exactly.

So I give all of my creative juice to them, um, building the things that I build for them that I don't necessarily take the time to do the things that I need to do for my business. So I really appreciate that point. And someone in the chat, Gwen, she also said that, you know, she appreciated that comment that it's time to work on our businesses versus in our businesses. And Whitney says on here that it taught— this season has taught her to save better and for a longer period of time.

Yeah.

And I can attest. That was, that was, that was one of the things that I said, um, for my business. I mean, my, my personal resources are one thing, but I want to make certain that I have a certain amount in my business reserves. So should something ever jump off like this again, I don't have to start leaping in, right, leaping into, you know, my piggy bank in order to keep the business afloat or wear Mr. Jamerson out, one or the other. Um, so that, that was, um, a good takeaway. And the other thing, um, that I wish I had was that I really wish I had more online resources that I could have sold during this time. Stuff that's evergreen, um, courses and classes and, and workshops and webinars taped already, um, that I could have been promoting during this time. Stuff that's evergreen, you know, that, that is relevant all the time. And I could have used that as an additional stream of income during this time. But that's something I've been planning, been planning, been planning, been planning, and didn't do. So now, with this lull, I've had the time to really start working on that piece. So I appreciate all of those comments on that. So how are you communicating your new norms to the client? You guys talked about email. Is there anything that you're going to do differently going forward because everybody's at home now? Are we doing more social media? Are you looking at new ways to communicate frequency? What, what are you thinking going forward?

Like Katrina said, I mean, every time you turn on the news, I mean, every other news feed on social media you're getting the COVID information. So, um, still being careful and sensitive to the information that I assimilate to my audience and things of that nature. But, um, again, like I said, I'm spending more dollars on direct mail. I'm in the process of creating a newsletter to start sending out to my farm, um, database, things of that nature. Repping up my social media presence, all of my platforms, forms have done an overhaul of their interfaces and things of that nature, which allows me to, you know, give cleaner and better marketing to the public and things of that nature. So again, this COVID, it was a complete reset, not just for my business but for the industry itself. It was, it was literally, literally that, a reset, because I mean we kind of shifted how we did business for about 90 days. You know, we were only able to do virtually. Now, while there were some brokerages that, you know, continue to show properties and things of that nature, you know, most of us tried to, you know what I'm saying, abide by the rules. You know, as a realtor, we are held to higher ethical standards, so people follow our leadership. So it was important that you know, we follow the guidelines that was set forth from the governor and things of that nature. So keep that presence in the community.

I love it. What about you, Trina?

Yeah, I think I'm going to continue, of course, with emailing. I'm at about a once-a-month frequency. It may double up to twice a month. I want to make sure that they know that we are working towards coming back. Oddly enough, again, the clients are super excited about coming back. They, they haven't missed a beat. Now, I do believe that there will be—

that's a good thing.

Yeah, you know, and I'm so grateful for that. I believe there will be some who are going to be hesitant about coming back, but I'm so encouraged that there are people that are waiting to see it.

That consumer confidence.

Yes, yes. You know, one thing, right? And one thing, um, Camille, when you mentioned your evergreen products, I was thinking that even in the midst of this, our clients want to hear our voice. They want to hear a voice that they trust. They want to hear a voice that they know, um, will give them sound advice in, in the industry and in our area of expertise. And so for me, I am really working on positioning myself more as an authority in the wellness in the wellness arena. A lot of people just think I'm just a massage therapist, but they don't understand that I have studied health for 20+ years and I really have a keen understanding of, of wellness. And so I have just kind of dismissed that and not really seen the— Camille, you on the camera with the world can see you.

You right, I'm so sorry.

Everybody, um, so yeah, I have, I have dismissed that. And so, um, but now more than ever I see it's important for that voice to be heard because people don't know what to believe, they don't understand. And again, I am not a doctor, however, I can encourage you to be well. We are dealing with so many, so many issues that affect the physical body outside of COVID you know. And so the stress of not having, having a job or your family member being sick, all those things affect your health. And so just infusing a little bit of more of that into my marketing, what I do, because no one wants to hear any more COVID news. There's nothing more else, nothing really else to say. But how do we, how do we all begin to adjust post-COVID in the event that fundamentals has to shut down until January, then what are we going to do? Because I don't want to lose all of my clients, of course, but they want to hear from us and they want to know that we're here and we're okay. And I think that's important because they don't have a lifeline to know, okay, are they ever going to open or what it is. So the clients that have called me, I said, okay, I'm coming back. I'm good. I'll let you know when. They're like, okay, good. As long as you coming back. You know, so I think if we stay in the forefront, because we've all worked really hard to build our businesses, and so we don't, we cannot allow something like this, it's just a hiccup, you know, to take over. It's just that it came so much out of nowhere, we were just blindsided by it, but it's been 90 days of our life, it hasn't been 6 years, so we can adjust to 90 days, you know, 120 days, we'll be alright, but we just have to make that, you know, make those necessary adjustments. Adjustments. Yeah.

So what's the biggest lesson that you guys learned about yourself during this time? Not necessarily about the business, but about yourself. What did you learn about you during this season?

I'm resilient. Again, like I said, I mean, real estate in itself is a roller coaster. So I mean it's not for the faint of heart. So I mean, being able to bounce back and bounce back quick has really, really helped.

Yeah, yeah. So resilience, I like that. Trina?

Um, I think I learned that I'm a leader and, um, because a lot of my decisions that I've had to make have gone against the grain. And at a time when most of your colleagues and in the industry want to do— they want to go back to work, but I made the decision to say no for my company. I'm going against the grain. And I didn't really look at that as leadership skills. It's just something that I, that I do. But as people began to give me feedback. They recognize that as leadership, and I'm like, oh, okay, I receive that, you know. And the first person that you have to lead is yourself. And I, I realized in the midst of this, when everything began to go down, that I first had to lead me and say, okay, Katrina, what are you going to do in this crisis? And like, like Dom said, resilience, you know. I, I feel that I was born born to be an entrepreneur. So it really wasn't— it was just like, okay, so what's the next gig over here that you're going to do? You know? Um, and so it's different when you, when you're, when you have entrepreneurial blood running through your veins. Like, it was nothing for me to think of what money can I make on the side. So, but it was also, again, I stepped back to say, okay, well, let's use wisdom in this and lead yourself down the right path as you So that's good.

Yeah. Um, and just some of the comments I've got, um, Renee called you a trendsetter, um, Katrina. Um, uh, Whitney says on here that all of this has helped her appreciate her family and friends more. Um, which is also something else that I can attest to as well because, um, when everything shook out, I didn't care about Camille D. Jamerson, CDJ and Associates, nothing. I want to know if my mama was okay and if my husband had food in the house, because when this all jumped off, I was in Canada. And yeah, so, um, all of a sudden I started appreciating that American flag a little bit more. I'm like, I want to go home, I need to go home. And then Canada so politely, um, said, you know, You ain't got to go home, but you got to get out of here. They were kind of urging people who were not Canadian-born or there on visa to go back to your place of residence. So the conference that I was at cut short. And I have never driven across that tunnel as fast as I did that particular night.

Right.

I was getting it.

You hear me? Because just because there were so many unknowns, I just didn't know. I'm like, are they going to shut me down? I'm going to be safe in Canada? I mean, I just didn't know. And then come to find out, you know, it was probably safer where I was at. But yeah, all I could think about was getting to my family, you know, and making sure that, you know, we did the things that were necessary to protect us. And, you know, I'm bleach queen anyway. So I was like, let's get it. Let's sanitize this house and then we are shutting it down. So yeah, I got a real, real new appreciation for the things and people that were important. And it also helped me discern what wasn't important and the people and things that weren't important. Stuff that I thought I just had to do, I'm not pressed. I'm not, I just got, I'm just not pressed anymore. And so much has changed. It would be very difficult for me to go back got to life the way that it was. And I, I appreciate that because if you don't change, you die. Exactly. Um, let's see. Um, oh, we got another, um, awesome comment from Orlando. It says, to hear the positive testimonies is pleasing to the ear while we have so much negativity hitting us daily. This talk has made a huge impact. I appreciate that, Orlando. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh, thank you. That's one of the points of, um, Mogul Moments is to share kind of life behind what we call it, life behind the velvet rope of entrepreneurs, so people can really hear, um, what kind of goes on in building and creating businesses. Because sometimes they just think we're just footloose and fancy-free and we got all the time in the world to do whatever we want, we work half-heartedly, or or whatever, and they don't really know, um, what goes into building businesses and the decisions like you guys have talked about today that have to be made, um, in order to protect those that work for you and to protect the people that entrust you. So, um, I'm glad that we've been able to share and enlighten people as to what entrepreneurship is all about. So make this quick, this quick shift. Um, And this isn't something we pre-talked about, so just go with me here for a second. With all of this current civil unrest, um, that, that we're seeing in our country right now, um, for me it has kind of solidified how important, um, it is for African Americans to own and create businesses.. And, um, one of the things that I, I've been trying to do, um, in this season of Mogul Moments is highlight African American businesses and African American business owners for that reason, um, because I want to encourage more of us, um, whether it starts off as a side hustle while you continue to work your 9 to 5 or not, um, I want to encourage more of us um, to get our own stuff. Um, so that, that's just, that's just me. That's just me. And I know that that isn't for everybody.

Bingo.

And that's okay. But you guys tell me what you think. What do you— what is, what is this season, um, con— what is this season showing you as it relates to businesses? I mean, I know we've been talking a lot about, um, support Black businesses and buy Black. And I think that's important too, that, that should be, um, that should, should be something we talk about. But I think what it also shows us is how many areas we aren't in, because you're trying to buy Black in a certain area and you, I mean, you looking at like, we at— Takisha ain't nowhere, you know, we are nowhere. So, okay, you guys, you talk to me, you tell Tell me.

I mean, those are my sentiments exactly. I mean, you just hit the nail on the head when you mentioned this Black Lives Matter movement and how they want all of Black people to stop patronizing, you know, white businesses and things of that nature. But we're not present to take that spot.

Yeah.

So again, like I said, I mean, this has shown us where our deficiencies are and where we as a community need to come together to fill those voids if we're going to see a progressive and successful Black Lives Matter movement.

That's good.

I mean, it hurts because, again, I mean, in times like this, we'll want to support our own, but we can't. Because again, like I said, we're not there. It's very difficult for us to shift, just shift everything and stop patronizing, you know, what we're used to, what's affordable to us. Example, they said stop patronizing Walmart. Where are we going to go? There's nowhere to go where we can get the quality for the price that we get at Walmart. If we go to Target, we're going to pay $2 more.

Yes.

There's no Black business where we can go and get the same products. You see what I'm saying? So it's the same thing with grocery stores.

It's like, I would love to go to a Black-owned grocer.

Yeah.

But where?

You know, we don't have them. Gas stations, banks. You know, we have one, one bank here.

One bank here.

You know, we don't have any Black gas stations, or we may have one or two that's sporadic, that's difficult to locate. We have a few businesses, but we're not in prominent locations. Like I said, it showed us our deficiencies and where we need to come together to really, you know, spark change in the Black community.

I agree.

Because we can't continue to wait on them, you know, to help us and to give us handouts.

We got to help ourselves, right? Yeah, I'm in complete agreement. I, I've just recently been on a personal quest to make sure that every Black entrepreneur is actually legit. Like, can you make sure that you are legit? That's why we can't find you, because you doing business under the table. Like, stop it. I said it out loud.

And that's another thing, because they think this is easy, and it's right.

They think it's a game. It's not.

This is not easy. Entrepreneurship is not easy. And if you're going to do it, you're going to have to see it through when it gets hard, when it's easy, when it works, when it don't, when you got support, when you don't. In you, it's in you. And again, like, I mean, COVID, it was not you know, I mean, a gut punch. It was just kind of like a maneuver.

Yes. Yes.

How do we adjust? How do we keep this thing moving?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Now, that's a good point as far as legitimacy, because there may be people in the African American community who do what we need, but we can't find them because they in a basement operating under the table. And I'm here for the side hustle. That's how most entrepreneurial ventures start. However, at some point you do need to legitimize your business and really, as we say, do what you gonna do. And I think that— okay, so we've got comments. Stop using Cash App with your business. That's a red flag for me. Somebody else says no professional email. Um, that they think that— oh, Dom, I agree, facts. So, um, there are, there are things that, um, business owners need to do to really tighten up. Um, so that's something, um, African American businesses can definitely look to do. Um, as Whitney said on here, buy your domain, that sort of thing. Um, I think that it I agree, Don, that it did open the door to shine a light on where we're deficient and where we have just overkill. We got a kazillion of these, but none of these. And I think that for some of the things that we're gonna need to do going forward, it's gonna take collaborative efforts. And lone rangers, I don't think are gonna make it. I think it's going to take it's going to take just collab, you know, people coming together and getting things done, whether it's in real estate where people come together and start buying homes. And I've seen story after story with people doing that, whether it's people coming together and buying a grocery store, people coming together, purchasing a gas station and then another, et cetera. So I think collaborative efforts are going to be important. Important in order for African American businesses to grow and for some of— and to fill some of those gaps that we see in our community. Let's see, we have a couple of comments. Working under the table, but you can't expand beyond that if you're hiding in the shadows. Another comment from Gwen says that the other issue is that Black-owned businesses start without any capital. So it's harder to get out of the basement. And I, I agree with that. Um, so I, I, I think, um, that the key to that too is that we need to fund our own stuff.

Correct.

Um, but in order to do that, somebody's gotta have some money. Um, and create, um, kind of our own pools of support, um, for our businesses because otherwise it's if you don't qualify— and Katrina and I had kind of a text message battle about this earlier— you'll just kind of assume that you're not going to get the loan or you're not going to get the grant and what have you, so you, you won't even apply. But if we have our own pool of resources for Black businesses to draw from, we may see an uptick there. Okay, we have A question for you guys. What advice or suggestions can you provide to consumers who have supported Black businesses but have been burnt, hurt, or not done right? I got an answer to that, but I'm gonna see what y'all got.

I mean, that's such a, that's such a touchy, touchy area. Because it depends upon the business itself. Can you find that product somewhere else? Or, I mean, is that a specific place that you can only find that? And, you know, you're constantly getting, you know, horrible service. I mean, it's, it's so—

Yeah, it's just so—

Okay, I think it's unfair for to make the assumption that just because you've had a problem with one Black business, that there's a problem with Black businesses in general. Our, um, our white counterparts don't do that. They don't stop patronizing white businesses because they have a bad experience at one. So it has to do with the business owner, and I think it's an opportunity to help you— for you to help that particular business owner, because sometimes we make the mistakes, but we don't know that it's a mistake. We don't know that we've offended you, or we don't know that it's something to the extent that you're not gonna come back at all. But you don't take the time to say, hey, well, when I visited your establishment, I didn't like the way you did this, or I think the policy would be better if you did so and so. And so those are the adjustments I've had to make as a business owner. Has nothing to do with me being a Black woman. It's the fact that I want to be an excellent business owner. And so I believe that as a people, we need to love more and encourage. Don't just lump us all together. So I'm not doing business with Black folk. Well, we'll never get ahead that way. And we're the only, only race of people that will pull our own people down and then complain that we're not— we don't exist. Like, it just doesn't make any sense. So let's really try to come together and say, okay, sis, how can I help you? Because I see this and that person, I guarantee you that the struggle of a Black business owner is nothing like the struggle of a white business owner. I mean, we coming in just with so many different things.

At a deficit, already at a deficit.

And we want to serve our people. And so we, we're doing the best that we can with what we have. And then for people who turn their backs on you because you make one mistake, Now you go back to Walmart over and over and over again.

Exactly.

They can treat you, you know, horrible, you're still going back and still going back. You don't stop buying.

Harder on our, on our own people than we are on our white counterparts.

I agree, I agree.

And the other thing, the point that I was going to make, Renee touched on it in the comments, um, is that you have to also remember that a lot of Black business owners, um, have never been in corporate America before, have never really been exposed to what business excellence should look like. So they don't have a business model to follow. They're just in the kitchen frying their chicken, doing their thing, and serving, um, you know, your food as best they know. They don't know that they have to also be excellent in how they package and how they treat you and how the girl at the cash register is. They don't understand that all of that is a part of service. They just think, you know, if the food is good, you gonna be back. Not necessarily. And because they have not been exposed to business excellence, be it in corporate America or just being taught, they don't have a model to follow. The other point that you made, Katrina, that I think is really important too, is that as Black people, we need to take the time to call those businesses and let them know why we feel the way that we do. Because like you said, in some cases they may not know. Some cases they might just be trifling, I'll give you that. But in other— but there are white trifling business owners too, so twisted not. But I think if we do better as a people at, you know, Writing that letter, sending that email. None, you don't even necessarily have to blast them in a review, but just get the information to them to let them know, hey, thankfully, you know, I'm here to support you, bro. I wanna, you know, look out for you, but these are the things I saw in your, um, business while I was there. You really, really need to tighten that up, you know, and then call them to the carpet on it. Hold them accountable to changing and come back. And see if they've made the changes that you suggested, you know. And if, if not, call them on it again, because the, the goal is, um, for, for iron to sharpen iron. You, I mean, you know what I'm saying, is for iron to sharpen iron. So, um, we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard. We already know the rule when it comes to us: we have to be twice as good to get half as much. We know the right And so we have to keep reiterating that in our community so our businesses can step up to another level. I personally would love to see us have a Black standard to where we rate Black businesses, um, and like they do in the hotel system, 5-star, 4-star, 3-star, whatever, um, and rate our businesses so, um, we can set some parameters and guidelines and goalposts in place So businesses will know what things they need to do in order to reach a 5-star level, what, um, classes they need to take, or what, um, I don't know, what, what processes they need to tighten up on or fix or what have you. So that, that's just my, my rant concerning Black businesses, but I wanted to make certain that we got that in, um, on this mobile moment because in this last season, like I said, I've been highlighting African African American businesses intentionally. And I wanted to make sure that we injected that into the conversation because it's really important that we do our part. And this is just my little part, which is spotlighting other Black business owners, but everybody's got a part in our community to play to make certain that we take our community to the next level. So with that, we're almost done. If you guys got any more questions, drop them in the comments because we are, we are at time. And we are almost done. So, question I ask everybody, what books are you reading or what do you recommend?

I recommend Extreme Ownership. It is a book about Navy SEALs, how they implement leadership tactics and skills and help them to win battles and things of that nature and how you can implement those skills into entrepreneurship and business. There's also, um, what is the other book? Uh, Who Moved My Cheese?

Yeah, yep.

All right, Trina, I just started reading, um, Tools of the Titans by Tim Ferriss.

Oh my God, that one.

Yeah, write that one down.

Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. It's like about this thick. It's like a Bible.

Is it? Yeah, I gotta go. I got it on, um, Audible.

But you haven't listened in a long time. For the rest of this year, because there's 24 hours. I was like, oh, I, I have that book. I'm gonna show you. Hopefully real close.

The subtitle is, uh, Tactics and Habits of Billionaires, Icons.

Oh yeah, that's an encyclopedia. Oh my God.

Oh, I'm so glad. I'm so glad I got it.

It's no joke though. But yeah, you're gonna be listening a long time, so God bless you. Yeah, you're not just listening to Tim Ferriss that long. Um, but it's in them.

I—

that's why I have it really close by because, um, I still refer to it. It has some really good interviews in it. So if you guys haven't read that, I would highly recommend that as well. And I just put both of you guys' book recommendations in there. I want to make sure I didn't forget anything. Oh, Jonine talked about— just going back to our previous conversation, she was talking about looking at Rosewood and Tulsa Black Wall Street. Kind of as a template for what we need to do going forward. And I think people have definitely been looking back at those historical movements to learn from them and to use it as a blueprint as to how we can move forward. So I appreciate that comment, Joni. So with that, I'm going to close up this episode. Episode of Mogul Moments. But before I let our guests go, um, please let our folks know how they can find you, um, and, um, online or otherwise. So let's— Dominique, let folks know.

Um, you can find me on my website, www.homesbydominique.info. Um, my Facebook handle is Homes by Dominique. You can find me on Twitter @SoldByDominic. You can either write me on email, dirvin@realestateone.com, or you can connect with me via phone, 248-982-0815.

All right. And Miss Katrina.

I can be found for the spa at fundamentalsspa.com. And on Facebook and Instagram at Fundamental Spa. And then for my coaching and consulting business, I would love to help, um, our startups, and particularly our African American startups, get, get, um, legit. And, um, so we can be found. I need us to be found. And I do that through Katrina Michelle Creative, and I can be found on Facebook at Katrina Michelle Creative and on Instagram at Katrina.Michelle.

Awesome. Hopefully you guys caught all that. I put, um, some of it in our comments as well. If you're watching this later on YouTube, um, all of this will be down in the description, so you'll be able to find, um, both of our guests with just a click of a button. So I'm going to say goodbye to our guests. Thank you so much. I held you a little bit over, I apologize, but this conversation was so good, and I knew that it would be Um, so if I happen to invite you guys back, you'd be game?

Absolutely.

Yay!

Absolutely. Because I'm thinking about having a big, um, business roundtable, um, but I don't know, we'll see.

We—

because we've got some more discussions to be had, um, so we, we can help one another. So I appreciate you guys— appreciate you guys tuning in to Mogul Moments.

Thanks for having me.

My pleasure, my pleasure. You guys can go ahead and log off, and I am going to share with you all, um, kind of what's, uh, coming up in our, um, next episode. Hopefully, um, I'm thinking that, uh, next week, because of the holiday, um, I am going to, um, either I don't know, I'm going to either tape something, um, this week. I might not do it live, um, or I might do some Muggle Minutes or something. Um, but I have an episode brewing that I was trying to pull together by next week, but it won't happen by next week. So the week following, um, we're going to be talking about, um, health and wellness, because there's one thing that I know for certain that there is no wealth without health. And, um, I just recently read an article that, um, talked about how particularly in the African American community that so many of us were infected by COVID and, um, we had so many fatalities in our community because of COVID due to other underlying health conditions and because of some of our preexisting conditions. And our lack of access to solid healthcare, we were more susceptible than some others. So there are some things that we can do as a community better. That's just the bottom line. We can do better. Regardless to what happens with healthcare, it's being gutted as we speak. But regardless to what happens with that, We can do better simply by eating better and, um, watching what we're putting in our mouths and making adjustments. And that goes from everything to what you're eating on a daily basis, to what you're feeding your kids, to what they cook at your church, to what you cook at the cookout, everything. There, there's just a better way, guys. And so we're going to have the hard conversation, um, because it's time to really take our health um, into our own hands and make it our own responsibility because nobody else is going to do it for us. Um, they would love to keep feeding us garbage, um, because that's how they make money. They make money off of our illnesses. And, um, if we start down that path of wellness, um, we can circumvent, um, a lot of the issues that we see in our community. So we're going to have the hard discussions and talk about just some simple things. That you can do to make the shift towards health and wellness. We'll probably have Katrina back. I'm going to have some others back that specialize in this particular area, but I haven't confirmed them yet. So that's why I can't say for sure, for sure. They're working out their schedule and some other things. So, but I'm going to have a nutritionist here, somebody that is very well-versed in plant-based diet as well. So we're going to just have the conversation. So I hope you guys come back. And if you're watching this on YouTube, thanks so much for joining us. It's been a pleasure being with you today. Those of you that are watching live on Facebook, thank you, thank you, thank you. You guys are what make Mogul Moment so much fun, watching your comments come through, watching you get engaged, you guys talking to each other, sharing notes. Questions and comments. You guys make it all worth it. So again, this is Camille D. Jamerson. Thank you so much for tuning into Mogul Moments. It's been my pleasure to be your host. I look forward to coming to you again soon. In the meantime, go back and watch some of the old, old Mogul Moments episodes and leave a comment down in YouTube. Share those with your friends and family. Particularly, um, those that are looking to build a business. And for those of you who have not started your business yet, let's get it going. There is no time like the present to start becoming the mogul that you want to be. I know you can do it, so let's get it started. Talk to you guys later. Bye!