Building a Field of Hopes and Dreams

Building a field of hopes and dreams. This is the Elevate Polk Podcast, and I'm your host, Chrissanne Long. And with me today, again as my co-pilot, Nate the Great Kendrick.

Hey, we're on, uh, it's round, uh, 3, right?

Round 3, session 3. Here we go, episode 3. And we have an amazing guest with us today. I'm so excited to introduce the Elevate Polk Podcast audience. To my friend Latrice Moore. Welcome, Latrice.

Thank you for having me.

Absolutely. So thrilled that you're here. So let's talk about you. I know that's your favorite topic, right? Aside from entrepreneurship.

I'm very modest. I don't really like to talk about myself, but we'll go ahead and I'll indulge today.

That's awesome. So I want to know kind of your role. No, no, I don't want to talk about your role first. We're going to get to that. First is your how you got to Polk County. So I know that you were not born here, so give us your— give us a little bit of your background.

Correct. I am from Kansas City, Missouri, and yes, I will still say go Chiefs. Um, I am a hometown team girl. Um, I graduated from undergrad from Kansas State University, and I guess I've always been an explorer. I moved to Florida 12 days after undergrad in 2001, knowing actually 2 people. And so, um, I first moved to Clearwater, and I have gradually moved east. And when When I took the job at Polk State in 2007, that's how I got to Polk County.

So you have this desire to be in the sun and in the heat, or what brought you to Florida other than those two friends?

So actually, warm weather. Today, matter of fact, this weekend, the polar vortex is coming through Missouri, and my friend posted a picture on Facebook and her phone says negative zero.

Whoa.

So that is why I'm here. And I was actually supposed to go to Kansas City this weekend and saw the the temperature, the forecast, and was like, yeah, we're gonna wait. We're just gonna celebrate my grandmother's birthday via Zoom.

Oh boy.

Yeah. Good choice. Good choice.

I'm just curious, like, how vastly different is where you're from to Polk County as far as like the culture and the weather?

And weather is probably the biggest difference. Um, it's funny because I grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, which is a metropolitan area. My family is from rural parts of Missouri, and then I went to school at Kansas State. And, um, I would never admit to this. So Someone ever came up and asked me, I would say no, but actually in college I went cow tipping.

Oh, so there's cow tipping in Kansas?

There's cow tipping in Kansas. So a lot of the agricultural knowledge I learned when I was in undergrad, even though that was not my major, it was just because I had friends that majored in different type— different majors of agriculture. So I was around them, so I got to do those fun things and then do those mischievous things too. Um, the one thing I had to learn moving to Florida was the melting pot of cultures, even though we're here in Central Florida and it's not South Florida, there's still a melting pot of different cultures, people from different islands, different countries. So that was one of the first things that I really took a priority to learn about.

Mm.

I still don't eat plantains, though.

Really?

But I do eat grits now.

But bananas— do you eat bananas?

I do eat bananas.

Okay.

And I only eat grits with cheese, and I do not put sugar in them. If someone wants to know, I do put salt. So I did learn well.

That's funny, 'cause I'm not a grits person either. My mom's Cuban and that was just not a thing. Either is iced tea or any kind of tea at all, really. Like there was just no tea in my life.

Wow. See, Missouri still had tea, so I didn't have to make that adjustment, but I still have to switch when I go home. We say pop. So I have to say pop when I go home and down here I say soda. And it's funny 'cause if I slip and say soda up there, my friends and family will tease me and say, you've been in Florida too long.

I just have one question. Do you say y'all yet?

I always—

she's definitely a girl.

I am very twangy. Now, that's the one thing most people don't say. I'm from Missouri. Most of the time people think I'm from the South South. So Mississippi, Alabama, you'll hear it more as I talk. But I am very twangy.

So you got the job at Polk State in 2007. Was that the same job that you have now, or have there been some role changes along the way?

So I wear multiple hats. So the original position I was hired '04 was full-time business administration professor. And as time has went on, I'm still a full-time business administration professor and I'm tenured. I'm also the program coordinator for entrepreneurship.

There you go. That's why you're here.

That's why I'm here.

Everybody's like, why do we have somebody who's a professor at Polk State on the show? Well, there you go. She is teaching. She is actually the person who helps with the certificates for people who want to get a certificate in entrepreneurship at Polk State. And that's a relatively new program. And you I understand, are pretty much the one who brought the program to life, right?

That's awesome.

Correct. So when I was hired at Polk State, I was working on my doctorate, but I didn't have a dissertation topic yet. And at the time, Dr. Holden, who was our former president, had went on a high-skill, high-wage trip with some other local leaders in the community. And she came back and I was fairly still new at Polk State, and she had spoke to my departmental director at the time and said she wanted to start up program in entrepreneurship. So then I was sent to a symposium in Springfield, Massachusetts, uh, with NACE, which is the National Association of Community Colleges for Entrepreneurship. And once I left that symposium, I had, um, it was eye-opening. I had a better understanding of how a certificate in entrepreneurship should work. So I said I agreed to it, but I said I have to figure out how to turn this into a dissertation topic. Um, that's too many, too many major projects to take on at one time, trying to finish your doctorate dissertation and then start a new program. So my doctoral work was actually, my dissertation topic was, are entrepreneurial characteristics and attitudes present in millennials at a Central Florida Community College? And so what I looked at was the SLS 1100 class, which is kind of what we would consider introductory class. At a university, it might be considered a freshman experience class. I looked at students in the classes on the Lakeland campus and the Winter Haven campus, and they took surveys that looked at entrepreneurial characteristics and entrepreneurial attitudes. And one of the things about entrepreneurship is it's normally housed in a university in the school of business. In order to be admitted in the school of business, those, um, schools have a higher GPA. Most of your entrepreneurs come from other backgrounds. They come from your arts and sciences. They're your psychology majors. They're your, um, nursing majors who may be out in the field and see something that needs to be different. They're your music majors that have that talent. Um, you hear Beyoncé and Pharrell say that they see music in color. So those type of individuals normally are your entrepreneurs. So I wanted to make sure that we started a program that was open to everyone. And so the certificate in entrepreneurship is open to anyone enrolled Polk State that has that dream either now or later down the line, whether they're going on a business track or not. Correct.

Got it.

That's amazing. Wow.

And it's so cool, like culinary, you know, like you just think of all the different reasons that people become entrepreneurs and it isn't because they wake up one day and decide, I'm gonna open a business. They really decide they wanna do a thing that they're passionate about and then figure out how to turn that into a business. I mean, that's usually the trajectory. Has that kind of been the research or is that something you found as well?

Correct. So a lot of times people, I'll give a good example, something that's been in the news now. The young lady put Gorilla Glue in her hair, and so she went to a, um, um, a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, and he had some type of solution. Well, a lot of times doctors know how to run their practice, but do they know how to, you know, because they have that knowledge of the medical aspect, but a lot of times doctors go get an MBA to run their practice or if they come up with some type of idea. Apparently he used some type of solution. Now I don't know if he is going to patent this solution or not, but if he did, it's that innovative and that entrepreneurship qualities that he has that allowed him to be able to help her. And he was able to get it out of her hair without her losing her hair. I thought she was going to eventually have to probably shave her head, um, or that was how they were going to get it out. But the pictures that have been shown here recently, he was able to get it all out of her, out of her hair. And so I think about those things. A lot of times beauticians, they get a cosmetology license, but then they develop some type of conditioner or some type of process or different things. And so how do they get that to mass market, or how do they get awareness out of it? And to me, those are the entrepreneurs that people don't necessarily think about as entrepreneurs. You think about Elon Musk or Bill Gates or those big tech entrepreneurs, but a lot of times it is the smaller entrepreneurs in those industries that we use every day that revolutionize our daily lives.

Absolutely.

It makes so much sense too, because they're in it, right? They're in it and they, and they see things and they're just providing more value for just trying to solve a problem that their everyday customers are dealing with, right?

And so I even market our program that way. I say a nursing student needs to have that nursing degree. You got to be a registered nurse in order to stick me in my arm. But if you are out in the field or you eventually want to start your own in-home healthcare business, or maybe you see that a process or procedure can can be modified to make it easier or safer to use. Those are the skills. That's why I want to introduce you to entrepreneurship. You don't necessarily have to be ready to start your business in 6 months to take the certificate in entrepreneurship at Polk State, but it will give you an eye-opening experience to what entrepreneurs go through, even how franchisees go into being in business too. That is actually one of the questions my students had this week, where our franchisees considered entrepreneurs.

And that's a question. And, you know, I think that's the debate depending on who you ask. Entrepreneurship is one thing or it's another thing or it's another thing. And so for me, the accessibility to entrepreneurship is at the base level, right? It's, it's, it is what I believe. Like if you were using a cosmetologist who was, or somebody comes in to ask me to solve a problem and that might not be something that I readily have on the shelf, but I I want to solve the problem. Some people are going to say, nope, I'm sorry, I can't solve the problem. Other people are going to find a solution and they're going to find a way to make that problem go away. Or— and then if they're, if they're innovative and they want to turn that into something like a patent or something. And so it's the, it's the ability to start a conversation that isn't necessarily like, I'm going to create this new tech tool and have this app and I'm going to go get all the seed funding and all this capital and I'm going to start this, this startup. No, it's just some of that is just the basic. And I think that is where communities tend to forget that these entrepreneurs rent commercial property. They, you know, pay taxes. They do so many things inside of our communities to make them flourish and thrive that it's not just these big tech startups that we are needing to focus on. It's really at that ground level so that we can get a groundswell. And some of those ideas may take off, some of them might, but they're, The taxpayers and the idea makers, the idea creators, the problem solvers need to have a voice, you know, and I think it starts at that place where we're in an educational environment. It's a safe place they can go and they can ask the professor questions, they can iterate, they can try things, and they can have conversations around, you know, problem solving that lead to, man, I really want to start a business instead of the other way around.

Yeah, because I feel like now more than ever, it's all about the flash and, oh, I have to start something that's cool, like Elon Musk starting a franchise. Isn't cool, but it's not about that. It's about, again, solving problems and being passionate. I mean, if they're in the food industry and they're passionate about that, maybe they should pursue that as opposed to what society deems is cool in entrepreneurship is trying to start the new tech startup, but they don't have a tech background. So I think that's awesome what you guys are doing.

Right. So it makes me think about years ago there was a— I had to call a plumber and he had this tool and I could tell that he had rigged two things together and I asked him, I said, well, is Is there nothing else that could work? And he said, not really. And I said, have you ever thought about patenting that? I mean, you put these two things together and it gets the job done. And he kind of looked at me like, no, no, I never thought about it. Putting those two things together to solve a problem is entrepreneurship.

Exactly.

Yeah.

So good. So good. Yes, absolutely. And so, you know, I'm, I'm quoting something. So when you, when you, created the program, the entrepreneurship program, and NACE kind of— there was some recognition around that. There was a NACE award, I think, right? That was in 2011.

Yes. God, that seems so long ago.

It's a little bit ago.

Yeah.

And this was a quote from that article. You said, entrepreneurship helps rebuild the hopes and dreams that have been knocked or torn down and helps individuals understand that their past doesn't shape their future. And Please talk about how you're, how you're finding that in these students that you're molding and, and, and helping them go after dreams. But what is, what's behind some of that? Where are those thoughts coming from?

So it actually comes from my background, and this is what, um, it's funny because one of the questions was, I think you asked about the type of entrepreneur I am, and I, I find myself, I said, a research entrepreneur, but educators are also— they inspire their students. And so part of my— Nate asked how did I get here and my background. One of the things that I think makes me an effective educator and to inspire people is I actually taught— well, when I first moved down here, I was a manager, and then I woke up one morning and said, I want to be a teacher. And my mom said, you don't even know if you like kids like that. And I said, no, I think I want I'm going to teach. And so for 3 years, I taught middle school. And for anyone who's an educator, the middle school years is like basic training. Um, it's, it's, it's war. It's like those— they're getting ready to go through puberty, and I— and you're in the trenches with anywhere from 11-year-olds to 14 and sometimes 15-year-olds. So 6th through 7th, 6th through 8th grade. And I actually taught middle school in Plant City. Which has a high level of migrant students that comes through. And so it was very eye-opening to see these students in my class. Some were just— I remember one young lady, she couldn't even speak Spanish. She was from some small village in Central America that spoke some Indian dialect. So before she was going to learn English, she had to learn Spanish. But she always came to my classroom with a smile on her face. She couldn't understand anything I said. So that positivity and inspiration helped me transition into teaching at the community college level. A lot of times my students are coming in, they've been knocked down, they may have been kicked out of a 4-year university because either financial aid or grades. They may have had life experiences that have made them, deferred things in life where they didn't go on a straight path, or, you know, or a job, they may have gotten laid off and now they're coming back to school to learn a new skill set. And so I want to be the, the professor or the instructor that allows them to say it doesn't matter if you're 18, it doesn't matter if you're 48, you can still achieve whatever you want to achieve. And if you want to start your own business start your own business. I have a student now, I still keep in touch with her. She has a food truck, and when she was in my class, she was just known as the Slushie Lady. Well, now she has a food truck.

Mm-hmm.

And I— she doesn't realize how proud I am of her, and I follow her on Facebook. Her name is Beverly West, and she's known as the Slushie Lady, and that's all I ever called her, is the Slushie Lady. But let me see if her— if she has her food truck, um, Her Soul City Catering is her business.

So she deserves a shout out.

She deserves a shout out. And so if you are, if you see her out and I know she was in off of Memorial here recently, but, and she still, she still calls me professor to this day, even on Facebook, she still calls me professor.

That's awesome.

But she, that's one of the inspirational stories that I admire. One of the questions was, what do you think your influence is? Sometimes I never, I'm not even aware of that. The influence I had. I had a student once, and this doesn't have to do with entrepreneurship, but these are things that we never know how we touch someone. She wasn't even a student of mine, her friend was, and she told me that her friend said that I taught her how to look professional on a regular basis. The student never said anything to me, but this is something that she had conversation with her friend about, and then her friend said something to me and this was like 2 years later. So I never really truly know the full impact that I have on my students, but I would like to believe that I do have some type of impact.

Yeah, I absolutely— I know that you do. My mom and you know this, my mom teaches at Polk State. And so I have like story after story after story of similar things where it's like those impacts. And of course, I taught for 10 years before I became an entrepreneur. And so kids have come Actually, one of my employees, I will give her a shout out, Tanya. She was one of my students and now she works for me.

Oh, wow.

And it's all of those, those molding moments that you have. And entrepreneurship is fragile unless you've got all that capital and you have nothing to worry about, right? So there's this, there's this vast difference between the two. And it's still fragile. Even if you have all the capital, it's not like you're going to win, but you don't have some of those really vulnerable times of that startup, like fear and concern and doubt. And sometimes what what an entrepreneur needs is just that encouragement to start something, to go and do and test that idea out, or to take this thing, this tool that you've created between, you know, melding two ideas together or two tools together to make something, to say, why don't you patent that? And it's, it's simple little things like that that are the difference makers. And I know that you're making a huge difference every single day with those entrepreneurs or those aspiring entrepreneurs that you're touching in those classes, in the classroom. Nate, can you talk a little bit from your perspective on that fragility on, on just what your experience is with that. Because, you know, we're talking about building field of hopes and dreams, right?

Yeah.

And so you've got a hope, you've got a dream, but you don't have anybody in your network or anybody who's ever been an entrepreneur around you. You haven't taken a class. You don't really know what to do. You can speak to that a little bit because although you had a network of friends and family, you didn't have that entrepreneurial culture surrounding you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's, I think it's important to when you're starting off to really surround yourself. And like our previous guest said, she said, hey, I gotta learn from somebody. And so to be willing to step out in good faith and to step outside of your comfort zone, which I'll just do a quick plug, we talk about that all the time in our Clubhouse group, right, that Chrissanne Long co-hosts and that she's over and moderating. It's It's about being willing to step outside of your comfort zone, which is uncomfortable, and a lot of times it's nerve-wracking, but it's huge because when you have people in your corner that are teachers or mentors that are helping you, that you've stepped out of your comfort zone and reached out to, in those moments and times when you are doubting yourself and when you are challenged or when you don't even think about that you've made something that you've melded together that could potentially be patented and you don't even know what that you have somebody that speaks into your life and says, "You should probably pursue that idea." And you feel empowered and you feel like you have the ability to do it. It's life-changing and it's game-changing. And I think these conversations should happen more. 'Cause I, until today, I didn't even realize that that was happening at Polk State. And I think that's massive.

It is.

For Polk County.

That's why she's here.

That's massive for the city because I know that there's students and there's people, and not just students, there's people that are in 40, 50, 60 years old, years old that have ideas and they just need the right people in their corner that they can go to.

Yes.

That they can pull from and have the ability to start their food truck.

Yeah.

To start their catering business, to start their, their whatever it may be.

Right.

You know, I think that's awesome.

And business education, you know, isn't something you can, it's tangible, but it's not something that you can just get a clear path to sometimes. You know, it's like you ask 5 different people where to start and they'll probably give you 5 different answers because everybody started it in a different place. And if that trajectory can be maybe a little bit more systematized or simplified or more accessible, even in some ways, I think that starts to change where people start to think, well, maybe I could be an entrepreneur, you know? I mean, we talk about kids growing up and I want to be a doctor, I want to be a pilot, I want to be this, I want— and, you know, granted, your parents can say you can be whatever you want to be. You're going to have to do a lot of hard work. You're going to have to do a lot of hustle. But wouldn't it be great if kids at like 7, 8, 9 years old knew what being an entrepreneur was and they started to aspire to, I wanna run my own business. And I don't know that that was ever a thought in my brain as a kid.

Yeah. I think it, again, it's fostering, it's building it, it's having people in your corner that are saying, hey, I'm here for you. And I, you know, yeah, it's different. It's different and it's okay that it's different. But I really love what Latrice was talking about and the perspective that you're coming from and you're coming from the perspective that it doesn't matter that you're, uh, you know, a barber or you're, um, a hairstylist or whatever. You can be innovative in your own right just by naturally working in the systems within your business and realizing, man, okay, this process sucks, there has to be a better way, and just naturally come up with it. Because it's fascinating that you say that. I've heard stories about that all the time, but people, again, they don't think that for some reason it's tangible for them to start a business, but to have those people in your corner to say, you know what, you should probably do that. You should probably license it. Because that's what happens with entrepreneurs all the time. They, they're working throughout their day, just minding their own business and they're solving a problem and they just have the bright idea and they're like, you know what, maybe I should pursue this. And then that's what happens.

And just the opposite happens probably more so than the encouragement is the person who has this brilliant idea and there isn't anyone to say, correct, you should pursue that. That's a great idea. There's something there to that. And, you know, I always— my dad is an idea generator. And so I know exactly where I get my personality from. But he had all these great ideas that he said, wouldn't it be great if you could go to Publix? Or this was when they lived up in Indianapolis. But wouldn't it be great if you could go to the grocery store and have prepackaged, like, the recipe of the items that you wanted to order and you wanted to eat that night? Because, you know, maybe my mom was teaching and he had to cook for us, you know, and he didn't know what— what was he going to cook? So now you have aprons and you have those little menus at Publix where you can go and just all the items are just sitting right there and they tell you exactly what to get. They're kind of on the end cap and you just go, you know, and so these were ideas that he never took action on, but then eventually somebody else had the same idea and took action on it.

Took action on it. Exactly.

It's funny you say that because I think it was, I was working on my doctorate, but it was before we all had camera phones and it was a marketing class I was in and I was in a group project and we had to come up with an innovative product. And I actually said a phone should have a real time camera. And I said, as a parent, wouldn't you love for— to be able to tell your child, turn the camera on and turn it around so I can see where you're at?

Boom.

And then look what we can do now.

Somebody was listening and they said, Latrice's idea, I'm gonna go do that.

So, um, I think we all— I think it's just tapping into those things. And I really try to focus on changing the mindset of you can be an entrepreneur in, in every— like in an industry that typically people don't think is entrepreneurial because it's outside of tech. I think we get in this tech, tech, tech mindset. And like, like I've said, a plumber can be an entrepreneur, an electrician can be an entrepreneur. Heck, a ditch digger could be an entrepreneur if they figure out how to do it, you know, more efficiently and quicker. And I think about when I was in elementary school, I had a friend and we were making bookmarks. Bookmarks. I was an entrepreneur in fourth grade.

Yeah, yeah, now that you say that, I used to make bookmarks. I wasn't very artistic and they weren't the prettiest, but—

and so we sold them for like a nickel. And so, um, I remember we got in trouble. The teacher was like, um, you're not supposed to be doing that.

Well, Nate has a similar story.

Yeah, yeah. So when I— growing up, I, I was— and I've told Chrissanne this before— I just I don't know, I just was naturally just a different kid. And being good in church, they would give you candy. And so I was always good and they'd give me candy, but I didn't eat the candy. And so I was like, you know what? I feel like I could actually like do something with the candy. So I ended up selling it to my friends. And I was like, I'm not buying the candy.

100% profit margin.

100%, yeah, 100% profit. And it was just fascinating. And that sparked something within me to say, Hey, there's a different way to do things. Even though I didn't know what that different way was, I just kind of naturally progressed over time. So one thing I did want to ask you though is, 'cause I feel like because entrepreneurship is still evolving and people are still getting used to that, 'cause it used to be, oh, you're an entrepreneur, oh, that just means you're broken, you're not doing anything. That used to be that analogy, but now it's becoming more common. But what is some of the biggest things that you as an educator deal with with your students that are coming in that you say, oh, you have an idea, but they, they don't necessarily feel like they have the confidence to pursue? What are some of the things that they say?

I will say the two things that I'm not going to say drive me crazy, but that is repetitive is I don't want to work for someone else. I want to be an entrepreneur. And so I'm always like, you may not work for someone else, but you're going to work real, real hard for yourself.

You're going to work a lot harder.

So that's how I answer that question. And then I actually teach a small business management class. And so, and now with the, I'm very, I use a lot of memes in my online classes. And I know it probably drives my students crazy because they'll probably be like, I cannot believe she just put this meme in here. Like, I'll use a skeleton, like I'm waiting on you to start using the title page or something. Like, so I try to make it humorous because a lot of times personality's taken out of an online class. But one of the memes that I've started using is, um, I think it might be, um, Jordan Peele, and it's him sweating. And a lot of times students have a hard time putting their vision of the type of business that they want to start in their business plan. And mind you, this is a modified business plan that they work on. Basically, the class is 16 weeks. They work on it for about 12 weeks. And a lot of times they— I don't know if they are— they don't take it serious at this point because they're not going to start their business. But then I say to them in the class, like, in a meme, like, this is your idea, not mine. This is something you should be passionate about. So you should be able to format some of the things that I've asked for because this is something you're passionate about. And a lot of times students have a hard time with that. That's the one area that I wish my students would I don't know if it's— I've tried to divide it up over, like, I've tried to do different things to make it easier, to simplify it, even with more videos, more interactive things, so that it's easier for them to jot down those answers. But those are the two things that I really still struggle with, with my students. It's not so much the idea aspect of it. The one thing that I do have is a lot of times students that aren't in my class will say, hey, I have this idea, what do you think? Hey, take my class. So that, that, that, those would be the things that I would say, um, concern me. But I have some students that their ideas, um, are, are, are— once they— a lot of times they're working somewhere else or they're not close to finishing their degree, and I'll say to them, you know, keep, keep, keep, keep pushing forward. Make a diary, make a journal, collect things, and, and do what you can at this point in life because we know that a lot of times to start your own business, the capital, you can't just stop your full-time job, especially if you have a family and you need insurance and benefits and that. So I try to help them be able to maneuver the same things at the same time because again, a lot of our students at Polk State are either your traditional students or they are students who do have a full-time job and they're, and they, and they're coming back to school.

Well, what would you say you would like to see, you know, as a result of the work that you're doing, as a result of all the other entrepreneurial-related work going on in the community in Polk County 5 years from now? If we could all like project ourselves to 5 years from now, what would be like some great wins to see in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Polk County? And then do 10 years too. Like 5 years is not a lot of time, but maybe we can make some advancements. And then what does a 10-year trajectory look like to you?

So I would like to see more entrepreneurs entrepreneurial hubs. And what I mean by that are, um, kind of industry-specific businesses in one centralized or general area. And so that way you all can build that clientele. We see this a lot, especially here in Lakeland now, with restaurants all in one location. But what if you had all of your beauty, um, in one location? For example, we know Ulta's business model is they sell, uh, makeup, hair, and all that, and then they have a Salon in the back. Well, instead of it being a big box retailer, what if you had your barber, your beautician, your nail, and then you did have your mom and pop supply stores all in one location, all in one hub. And so you build upon what the other entrepreneurs in your area are doing. We see this with car lots. They're normally all on one street.

Correct.

Why are not? Why don't other industries take a page out of those books? Because normally if you don't find a car on one lot, you go to another lot, right? So what stops other industries from doing things like that?

That's a great question. I would love to explore that. And even, do you know of any examples around the country that have explored something similar?

A lot of times it's more on a bigger scale. And so we know now that with industry changing, with the US being more of a service industry, it will be different. So if you think about your Research Triangle in North Carolina, or if you think about how in Detroit it used to be your auto manufacturers, so you had your auto manufacturers, your tire companies, and anything that supported a car being manufactured. So I would like to see what if we had local farm farming, and then you were able to take the fruits and vegetables to a smoothie shop next doors, or they were able to have some type of partnership where everyone is helping everyone in that, that hub area, right? So, um, I, I would like to see that. I think probably in your— probably more so in your Northeast areas, probably Brooklyn, I think, might have something like that, or maybe Seattle may have something like that. But I really haven't seen anything like that in this area.

Okay, well, that's something that we can write down and look at and explore. I think you're, you're spot on. I think one of the challenges— the first thing The first thing that comes to mind is competition and the idea that collaboration is an insanely wildly amazing opportunity. But some people just can't get over the idea of, well, that's my competitor and I don't want to collaborate because they're going to steal something from me. And we were— I was listening to Austin Kleon, who wrote Steal Like an Artist, and the concept— I've said this for years. I was a writing major in college and I've said this, you know, one of my professors probably told me, Nothing since Shakespeare has been a unique or original idea. So no one's going to steal your idea. It's just really about the abundance mindset of knowing that your idea could just sit in your head and never get anywhere, or it could be shared and someone might take action and turn it into something. And the idea that you were able to share something that turned into something is— could, should be— I hate to should on people, but could be a feeling of, wow, I contributed something to the greater good. You know, this became a real thing because I was willing to be generous with my idea instead of hoarding my idea.

I was going to say, or people are worried about competition. So if you don't create that collaboration locally, someone may fulfill that need online.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I really love that concept a lot because Chrissanne Long and I go back and forth and I, I'm all about innovative ideas, especially the things that are so vastly different than what we're seeing here locally.

What do you call that? You call that white space?

White space. I love white spaces. And again, what's fascinating is, like you said, it's a timing thing because it's like this, this, there's an opportunity to create something like that. But if it's not fulfilled, e-commerce will, and therefore that opportunity is lost. But then to the point of businesses have an opportunity to say, I'm going to make a part, essentially a partnership versus I'm not going to. I think it's, I think it's, it's one of those things where people have to really kind of get over that. Like what Chrissanne Long is saying and saying, I'm not your competition. We're working together. And instead of going from a lack mentality to an abundance mentality that we, we all have the same opportunity to make the same amount of money. It's not, we're not limiting each other. If anything, we're an extension of each other and there's more opportunity for growth.

Yeah. Yeah.

I think it's huge.

And we're not, we're not good at staying in our lane as entrepreneurs. Sometimes we, we jump around a little bit. So sometimes we think, oh, well, I could do that later. I could do that later. I can do that later. And instead of feeling like, well, no, somebody else could probably do that now and better and serve the community and serve the people.

Yeah.

Because ultimately it's the service mindset that is going to make an entrepreneurial win as opposed to a financial mindset. You know, I'm all about the money. Okay, well, as soon as the money comes, the money's going to go. But as far as serving your clients, that goes on and on and on and on. Okay, here's the thing. As busy entrepreneurs, we're always looking for a more efficient way to get things done, right? We attend meetings, take notes in our notepads, and then we move on to the next thing, leaving all those great takeaways. All the good stuff we need to take action on gets forgotten. I recently found a better way to take notes with an AI-powered app that does an excellent job of accurately transcribing conversations with literally just a click of a button. Meet Otter, my new AI-powered assistant. With Otter, you can be more attentive at meetings and relax knowing all of the key points of the conversation are being gathered and tagged and available within minutes. So the things that you need to take action on or delegate to a team member can be taken care of quickly and effectively without worrying that you missed an important detail. We even started using Otter for all of our podcast recordings, and it's now so much easier to pinpoint sections of our shows that need to be edited. This is really reducing our production time. So if you're like me, trying to be more efficient and effective in the many things you do, try Otter for free for 1 month by visiting the show notes on this episode, or go to go.start.cc. I have a couple of other questions I wanted to go through as we wrapped up. But I want to know your thoughts. Since this is Black History Month, I also want to know your thoughts about where we as does a county kind of stand in your opinion from an inclusion and diversity standpoint as it relates to entrepreneurship?

I think we still— I think because of the demographics of the county, I still think that we have a ways to go. I think that the ability for e-commerce has allowed more diverse products into the area, but in terms of local entrepreneurship and the opportunities for minority businesses, I that if we are running a mile and a mile is the finish line, I think that we are at the— or we're doing a 4x4, we're on the first runner. I think we still have a long way to go in the county. And that's not a bad thing. No one's saying that you got to be first. This isn't Talladega Night, so it's not if you're first, you're last. This is if you really are serious about doing it, what opportunities are you going to develop develop to help those minorities? What partnership are you going to help to create to help those minorities? Or what avenues do minorities have? And I think it's about having a serious conversation and bringing people to the table that realize that we have— it's not a problem, we have an opportunity to change the area because of where we're located. People are moving into the state at a higher rate. We're located in between two metropolitan areas. And so it is about changing the mindset to allow us to grow in this area. We cannot see change unless the mindset changes and how people can see how beneficial it is to the area. So that's where I think we are with that. And so I will be perfectly honest, we have a lot of room for opportunity in our area. And I say that coming from as an outsider looking in, but being in Florida 20 years at this point.

Right, right. And also being from Kansas Kansas City.

Correct.

And Kansas City is a hotbed for entrepreneurship and inclusion. And so when you go back home and you see all the programs and the activity and the progress that's being made, you know that it's possible. I don't think you— I don't think— and I think I agree with you on this— I don't think we're resistant to being more inclusive. I think we don't have enough information. I think we're lacking data and we're lacking systems that will allow us to move forward with anything we want to. But we're not connected. We don't have the relationships. We're not having the conversations. We're not all at the table. And so it makes the want a wish, you know, we wish we could do that, but are we actually doing anything to, to turn that into a dream or a plan?

Um, so like you said, I'm from Kansas City, so even 18th and Vine, which is the jazz district, when I was growing up in Kansas City, that was a blighted area. And now it is an area that people flock to. It has minority businesses, restaurants, entertainment, and it is something that is actually a tourist destination now. So what can we create here, starting probably here in the Lakeland area, and I'm just saying that because of the diversity of the population outside of other areas in the county, to be more inclusive, to capitalize on the human capital that we have here because there's so much untapped human capital here in the area. And that's one of the reasons why 7 years ago, even though I was working at Polk State, I decided to move into the county because I was becoming more involved in the community as a whole. So I wanted to actually live in the county. So if you have more individuals that are innovative, inspirational in the area, we have the possibilities are endless, right?

Yeah. And I think this is the prime time. You know, I think conversations have started. You know, they haven't moved very far yet. Like you said, we're on the first leg of that relay race. And I think that, you know, it's the next— who are we going to— we've got to be prepared to hand that baton off to the next generation. Baton, right? And I hope that we can advance the discussion when the generation is here and ready to take the baton instead of holding the baton and running the entire race by ourselves, you know, because I think that's kind of where we are in some ways. It's like the leadership is kind of guarded and it's not ready to trust that the next generation can do things. And we're ready. We're ready. I think we're ready to take some action, but we're not really being given the empowerment behind taking that action yet.

And I think it's all in how we say it. Like, I love how you, you said it's not a problem, it's an opportunity. So changing the verbiage, and by changing the verbiage, maybe we can change the way that we're approaching it, right? And then understanding that it's not going to happen overnight, it's going to take 5 to 10 years of progressive change.

Absolutely. So I want to know, as we, as we get to the end here, some fun facts about you that you— maybe not everybody knows. I know you have this awesome role at Polk State, but you also have a, a side hustle, a side gig that you do as well. So why don't you talk about that?

Yeah. So I have my own consulting company and it's Purple Line Consulting. And a lot of times people don't tend to ask me on that end because I work at Polk State. And so they're more asking about the entrepreneurship program and the classes. And so a lot of the work I do in my consultant business is either with connections that I still have in Kansas City. My main project over the last year has been, I have a cousin and it's Yes, it's, I'll say it's one of those things. Yes, she's my family, so I'm going to be more apt to help, but I believe in her product, her product. And I've told her that over and over, I will do whatever I can to help you because I believe in your product. And she's, it's funny, she's in Houston, she's in Dallas, she's in Dallas, Texas. And her company is Little Muffin Cakes.

And so what it is, is, uh-oh, you're making me hungry, but it's not food.

Oh, so, so she's a grandmother. And so So when her daughter was pregnant about 5 years ago and she was trying to help her daughter buy baby stuff, she couldn't find any baby stuff that had minority characters on it.

Mm.

So my cousin created this company called Little Muffin Cakes, and it's— she sells baby blankets and diapers and backpacks and swaddling cloths and all kind of bed accessories. Accessories, and the characters are, uh, um, Ashton is actually the, the boy character's after her grandson, so it's so cute. Um, and so the characters are minority, and I've had friends that have bought her stuff, and I've seen pictures on social media. They didn't know that it was my cousin. Wow. And so then I'll say something, I'm like, you know, that's my cousin, or, and, and it And it's, and I've seen how it's grown or I bought my friend something and then somebody else has bought the same thing from my cousin. And before COVID she was actually in talks of carrying her stuff online in Target. So the first thing Target does is they want her to try to sell it online. And so I'm always, you know, trying to help her refine something, trying to find other opportunities because I believe in her product.

Yeah, that is a beautiful concept.

I love it. And I would love to just plug myself in if you ever need to help collect, 'cause that's the space that I live in. As well. If you ever want to talk about that, I'd love to, because that is— that's powerful. I love that.

That's awesome.

That's huge.

Yeah. So, um, that's where I spent a lot of the time that I don't have, is trying to help her, um, grow her business. Because, um, I just— I don't know what else to say. I just believe in what she's doing, and I want to see her be successful. And she actually told me the other day, she's like, you've been consistent. And I'm like, because I believe in what you're doing, right? Um, but I Um, some of the things I've done, I've helped, um, here establish a 501 for my, um, sorority. Just those little projects like that are things that I do on the back end. One of the things that I would like to do more is management consulting through my small business and help entrepreneurs also navigate what's going on with COVID because they're going to have to make changes. We're all going to have to see changes made on how we do business, even after we don't— we're not even thinking about COVID anymore. It is definitely going to reshape everything that we touch, right? Um, one of the things that we've seen, and I, you know, I saw my cousin deal with firsthand, is shipping, because of the amount of stuff that was being shipped. And a lot of people are going to get comfortable with buying things that they normally wouldn't have bought online before COVID online. And so shipping and, and those changes that companies and entrepreneurs are going to have to deal to it, right?

Right. And taking things to a digital place is essential for sustainability at this point in time. If we're not thinking digital, if we're not thinking online e-commerce, figuring out all those steps. And I'm going to tell you, we have clients, you know, at Maximize, we have clients that are trying to figure that out, right? And they come and they say, okay, well, I want to sell online. And so we ask them, you know, a litany of questions. And then it's like, okay, well, we're not ready yet. And so it's like, okay, well, what are you going to do to get ready? Because it's not like It's a stopper. It's like, can we get one product online? Can we just get one? Because then you can work the systems out, then you can work the processes out, you can understand how the shipping's going to flow and go. And then you can get some data too. When you run some ads and start, you know, selling some things online, you start to understand the process a lot better. And we're so comfortable in the, you know, come to my store, buy my thing, take it home that, you know, as store owners, we aren't thinking like consumers, you know? And I think that's a big challenge for a lot of entrepreneurs. And that was what really caught them off guard with COVID Supply chain, and a lot of supplies were coming from overseas.

And when that gets shut down, what do you do? And how do you pivot? And how do you not lose your customer base? What can you do in the interim until, you know, you can start getting those supplies back in to make the products that you sell or to help in the services that you offer?

Yeah.

So, um, I think that, that is one of the things that, um, I think those are the contingency plans that we didn't think that an entrepreneur wasn't thinking about this time last year, right?

Right. And had to think about it fast.

Yes. Yeah. Because to the point about e-commerce and the importance of really getting on that, you know, I think about the fact that people were forced because of COVID to order things online and they figured it out. So a lot of the consumers that were going into stores were like, wait a second, this is easier. Which is like, to your point, Chrissanne Long, where you're saying, Okay, some of your customers that used to come in may not come in anymore because now they understand how to order online.

Right.

And then to your point, figuring out the logistics, understanding the dynamics, understanding the shipping times. When you tell your customers it's going to be 7 days, you better be right.

You better be 7 days.

Yes.

So, and also just the customer service side changes, you know, chatbots and email communication and all of those things which, which we do in the agency that I work in. But I also know that I'm not the only one. And so it's just going out and finding somebody who can answer questions and help you iterate because it's the problem sometimes is another thing for me. I know I'm an— I'm a DIYer, you know, if I can figure it out and I can fiddle with it to get it to work myself, I'm probably not going to call somebody for help. But I also know that when I need help, it's time to call somebody and you save more. Like I was just having a conversation about what's your value of your time? And I think most entrepreneurs don't understand the value of their time. And so So it's the program, the equation was how much money do you want to make this year? You know, so if you say, I'm just going to use round numbers, $100,000, I want to make $100,000 this year. How many weeks out of the year do you want to work? Don't say 52, you know, because you're going to need a vacation. So, you know, let's say you say 45 and then you say how many hours a week do you want to work? Well, then you figure all of that out and based on what you want to make, then that's your hourly value, right? That's how much you are worth. And so if you're saying if your equation comes out to saying $200 an hour and you're doing that yourself, you're paying somebody $200 an hour to do the thing. Could you pay somebody a fraction of that to do the same thing? Yeah. You get the pride of doing it. You know how you want it done. Yeah, it's done your way. But is it done slower? Is it done effectively? Is it sometimes just getting it done is, is more important than getting it done perfectly, right? I think we all agree. Wow.

Absolutely.

Absolutely. And so one of the things that I'm big about, um, that I'm learning is how, uh, cryptocurrency will affect small businesses.

Definitely a conversation to have. Yeah.

So that's one of the things that I'm trying to educate myself in now, as if I don't have 12 other books and subjects that I'm reading about. But that is one of the— my focuses now is to understand the future of how cryptocurrency— it's not just going to affect Tesla when they start allowing people to buy a Tesla with with Bitcoin in 10, 5 to 10 years, it's gonna affect, you know, each small business, salons, the barbers and everything. Yes.

Yeah.

So how do they pivot to that too?

Yeah. Oh man. Yeah. You, you just opened up a whole can of worms there.

Well, I just, to, to real quick, I just love the fact that you are always thinking ahead and not just thinking in the now. 'Cause that, that's where I feel like entrepreneurship in general where people can sometimes get get stuck is, oh, I've, I've made this money, I'm comfortable, and that's it. As soon as you say that, that's the, that's the biggest mistake that you could ever say.

We are in a, we are in an era of disruption. The next thing is going to come along and disrupt. There's going to be another Amazon, there's going to be Bitcoin, there's going to be another thing, and it's just going to be— we've got to get used to that, or we better not even show up for the game, right? Um, and so the last thing I want to ask you today, Latrice, is so if people are interested, is the entrepreneurial class an auditable class, meaning could they go pay for the class and it's not, it's not a credit course, or how does that work? Could somebody listening to the show go to Polk State and say, I want to take Latrice's class?

So the, we at one point we did have a non-credit version and I don't know, depending on the interest, if we'll bring that back, but it is a credit program, but you don't have to be a degree-seeking student.

Okay.

So you could just take to pay, pay the tuition, which we know our tuition is very, very reasonable in terms of if you want to take a workshop or anything. The certificate is 4 classes, and so that's 12 credit hours. And I believe like a 3-credit-hour course at Polk State's like $300-some. So you could take the whole certificate for less than $1,500. With books and supplies, it'd probably be right around $1,500. That's a seminar.

Yeah, that's, that's a, that's a traveling to Orlando or Tampa or somewhere else and taking a seminar for a weekend.

And the biggest thing in entrepreneurship, you have to invest in yourself. So if For people that are listening right now, that's an investment in yourself.

Correct.

For sure.

And so even, and then so say you take those classes and then you decide, hey, I, I want to get a degree now. Those classes fill into our business program. So you already now have a head start. And if you're a student, if you're listening, you're a student at Polk State and you're majoring in something else, it's kind of like a minor. One of the things I was passionate about was the classes had to be offered online so that if you're in another major and you have um, you have to have lab time, it doesn't affect your ability to complete those classes that are required for your major.

Okay.

And so, um, that, that's why any student, no matter what your major, can get the certificate in entrepreneurship.

So that's awesome. And then as far as following up with you, if do you want to give your website?

So I can give my email address. Um, my email address is, um, for my personal business is purplelionconsultant@gmail.com.

@gmail.com.

And so the line is like the animal. And so people say, how did you come up with Purple Line? So I went to Kansas State, and so we're Wildcats. And so when I was trying to think of my business, like, what's something that's different but I love the color purple, but connected? So it's purplelineconsulting@gmail.com. And, um, so they can reach me there if they're interested in the certificate in entrepreneurship. My email address at Polk State is L as in Latrice More. So it's altogether@polk.edu. And you— we— the Polk State Entrepreneurship Program has a page on Facebook, so you could like us on Facebook. And trying to think how else— I'm— you can Google me.

I'm— that's what I did. That's where I found the quote.

And I was going to ask too, for those that are listening that are interested, when would the next class be? Introduce entrepreneurship.

Summer semester. I had to think, 'cause we just started our 12-week class. We do have one class that starts later, but it just started February 3rd. So the summer semester, they could take Intro to Entrepreneurship and the summer semester starts in May.

Got it.

I think May 4th or something like that.

So that's for someone out there listening right there. May, there you go.

May.

Yes.

May. Put it on your calendars. And then there's also conversations that you and I, Latrice and I have and have been having and Nate and I have been having as far as collaborative discussions about entrepreneurial business education programs. So if you've got to keep listening to the show, so as we work through those things, as we, as we process how we can do that, and maybe have a connection with Polk State College, you know, we will definitely keep that dialogue going because we all three, I think, know that there's a need for business education that's accessible, that's consistent. I love what your cousin was saying, you're just consistent. And that is required in any entrepreneurial endeavor. So we're just going to continue chipping away at this conversation a little bit bit at a time. Hopefully in, in 5 or 10 years we'll see some innovations and some, some changes and some shifts in mindset. I think that's going to be a huge part of the game that we're going to watch as this conversation unfolds. But because we're not going anywhere, I know I'm not. I've been, I've been at this for 10 years, you've been at it for 20, and Nate, you're still kind of young and up and coming, but I can tell that the passion is there.

Absolutely, absolutely. And back to what Latrice was saying, it's building that ecosystem. Yes, the ecosystem is, is everything because you you can have somewhat of a, of a foundation, but if there's not an ecosystem within where they can work and work around and collaborate and lean on and know that there's partnerships around as they're growing their business, then there's nothing really there.

So absolutely. Well, this has been great. I'm so glad that we had this conversation and you are welcome to come back whenever there's any other new ideas you want to share with us.

Thank you.

All right, everybody. Thanks for listening. And remember, we have a new episode each week, so be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen and remember to to leave us a review. We promise to read every one. You can always find all of our episodes at elevatepolk.com. And if there's something you want to hear about on an upcoming episode, an entrepreneur you want us to interview, reach out to us on Facebook at Elevate Polk.