from Illinois public media this is a special edition of news brews and beats.

Well, hello everyone listening on the radio watching on YouTube, or joining us right here on the Collins studio of Illinois public media.

I'm Reginald Hardwick news and public affairs director at Illinois public media and welcome to News brews and beats.

And I'm joined as usual, our co host, Tracy Parsons, community relations manager and facilitator of the community coalition and champagne.

Good evening, Tracy.

Good evening, Reginald.

Some pleasure to be here for the next round of news brews and beats.

I always love when we start off and talk about Emmy award winning, Reginald Hardwick.

I just I'm so proud of you for that and proud that we bring that to the station to the show.

And so we've got a great panel again tonight.

I'm really excited about it.

I'm excited about our setting here.

I was joking, we were looked like the black anchor team.

So we're definitely going to be delivering some news and information tonight.

Well, according to the US Census, black people make up 14% of the Illinois population.

There are 141,000 black owned businesses in our state, but a tiny percentage actually have more than one employee.

And the reasons are vast, from redlining to a lack of financial and emotional resources.

And we're discussing all of it in today's news, Bruce, and beets.

Joining us on stage here is Matthew J. Simpson with the Illinois Office of Minority and economic empowerment.

And to his right Danville Alderwoman Tricia Teague, she founded the Soar Space Business Center, which assist new entrepreneurs and existing business owners grow their businesses.

Thank you both for joining us tonight.

Everybody here.

And for those of you in the audience, we definitely want to get your questions if you have them.

And you can text those questions to 217-803-0730.

I have a digital team will let me know about him.

And I'll pass along our questions to Matthew and Tricia Tracy as the first question.

So I attend a lot of meetings daily.

Earlier in the year, I've attended probably one of the most impactful, I had a chance to go up to Chicago and get a chance to see Matthew and his colleagues from Chicago State University in Chicago Urban League, presenting the black survey black business survey conducted by DCEO.

The presentation itself was off the hook, the way you presented it.

And your presentation on the survey is also just as impactful as you dissect this really critical information and thinking about, you know, most communities have initiatives where they're doing black business development, Minority Business Development, women on business development.

And what I found is that the information is just each organization is kind of doing their own thing.

What I really loved about this survey, is it gives us something to center on, it really dissects the information about black owned business.

Talk to us, Matthew about the survey, and really some of the major tech takeaways that you've shared about it.

So and, and 2021 2022, my office, the Office of Minority economic empowerment, we decided to embark on this research journey.

And the intention was to get a better understanding of the state of black business and Illinois.

Instead of using our education, you know, I got a degree so I know what's right.

We decided to do some research.

And we had to do some empirical study, we had to do the Institutional Review Review Board approval, we had to get the questions bedded.

We had a couple of different research agencies involved.

And we were able to launch this survey.

In February of this year, we released the findings.

And especially because it's the first of its kind because the state of Illinois government partnered with the historic civil rights organization in the Chicago Urban League, and a higher education institution in Chicago State College of Business to reach out specifically to the black business community.

The first step is Chi.

I've been saying that for a while nobody has corrected me so until I hear otherwise.

Nobody has ever done this.

And it's very significant such an important part of the state's economy being reached out to specifically to get a better understand anything of the unique challenges the the industries, that we tend to work in the way in which we're funded on the front end, the opportunities that we see for additional training and development, that was the point of it.

And instead of using hunches, and good intentions, we use data to inform our strategies.

And on the back end, we got some recommendations.

And it's like, best practices.

And so that was the whole point of it, you know, to really be serious, and approach our community with more respect.

You know, there's this, there's this phrase that kind of went viral recently put some respect on my name.

I felt like we needed some more respect.

And the time that we invested in a resources in this research demonstrates how much that we really respect the power of the black business community in our state.

Share with us a couple of I mean, there are multiple, many findings, but some of the real key Yeah, I would say one of the big ones is two thirds of black businesses identify as micro enterprises or solo printers, meaning that they have no other employees full time other than themselves.

So you know, that means that you're doing customer service, you're doing accounting, you're doing inventory management, you're dealing with a bathroom, plumbing issues, you're doing everything by yourself.

So that's the nature of black business, oftentimes, we're fighting alone.

So those of us that intended to provide services, we need to keep that in mind.

That's a unique situation to be in.

We also learned that of the 34% of black businesses that do have employees 85% of their employees were black.

So that means that when a black business grows, they tend to hire people from their own community.

It's not unique, necessarily, to the black community as a cultural thing, you tend to grow in the way in proximity.

But now we have a metric.

We have a data point that says that if we can help these businesses become employer firms, what they're going to do is hire people in the neighborhood.

What they're going to do is invest resources in the neighborhoods where it's often needed the most.

So that was a really significant takeaway.

When black businesses grow, they hire black people, however, so many of them are very, very small solopreneurs.

That's one of the biggest takeaways.

Trisha, let's turn to you, what is the Trump school?

And how does it help sustain black businesses.

The Trump school is a black business that where we endeavor to uplift, educate, uplift, and help other businesses take off, get started, take off and soar.

At the end of the day, we want to see other people succeed.

And so we provide education, we provide coaching, we have a state funded program.

Now we also provide cash.

So we provide some of the things that businesses need to be able to get going because the truth of the matter is, especially in Danville, because it is an underserved community, it is a disinvested community, people need a leg up, and they don't know they don't always know what they need.

And just education, by itself is not enough.

So if we don't provide capital, and we don't provide tools, and we don't provide connections, then then that then it's like sowing seeds into cracks in the ground, it's just not gonna work.

So we want to help businesses grow.

That's basically what we do.

And we also have recently opened the source space business center, which is basically an incubator spaces a co working space where businesses could come in to work and get themselves going, have a professional location to, to work from have a professional location to meet from have a professional location to receive their mail and use as their business address.

Have a professional location to have workshops and events.

So we provide everything that they need, basically all of the tools that they need and the support system that they need to be able to move on to the next level.

How does an incubator help in the solopreneur Arias as we've talked about, part of it is having the space in the environment that you didn't have to resource yourself.

We provide internet service we provide copying.

We provide offices we provide desk we provide a receptionist A, we provide lots of other ancillary things that they won't have to provide for themselves so that they can focus on the things that are most important in their business, which is getting customers.

If you spend a day having to deal with whomever your internet service provider is, that is a day that you do not spend on talking to somebody who's going to give you money.

Right?

If I can add to that, there's a piece in the survey where we learned over half of black businesses are home based, which is another unique circumstance to try to overcome as you're operating a business.

So when you have a facility, like SR T has, with so many of the amenities that will allow for you to professionalize and really polish your services.

It's a game changer.

And I think it's powerful that it's a, it's a for us by us facility that she's operating, that can help us do it.

So Matthew, you touched on another key point and findings from the survey.

Talk a little bit more about the home base idea versus facility idea.

But also think about another key finding that you want to share as it relates and connects to Black Business Startup black business.

Operating we we were we always have our prep meetings to talk about right, yeah, so we talked a little bit about, you know, getting started in business.

So kind of talk about that idea, as we talk about black people starting business, from the homes or wherever it might be.

But yeah, one of the biggest things is we talked about money.

You know, we know how important money is to a business, money is a major issue.

And the research taught us that black businesses that were capitalized appropriately on a front end tend to earn more revenues over the life of a business.

So if you start out with the right amount of money, you're in a better position to thrive.

The challenge is, so many of us aren't able to do that.

Research told us 71% of black businesses leverage their personal finances to start to business, which is not abnormal, most of us have to dig into our pockets and bet on ourselves.

That's what you call owner's equity, you have to use your own money to start the business.

The difference comes in owner's equity, or personal finances representing your wealth position.

If your wealth position as a black individual, on average is about $24,000, in comparison to our white counterparts, which is about $188,000.

And you're trying to start a business, when $24,000 is everything you have to your name, it's gonna be a different experience, gonna be a different struggle for you.

So that's the the circumstance that we're coming from.

We're trying to capitalize appropriately, when we have a fraction of the resources to start out with.

So when you can go to a facility like this, and tap in to some, you know, internet, computers, and then the network, the the voices that can help you guide your decision making.

It makes all the difference in the world.

I want to piggyback on that, because years ago, when I first relocated back to Danville and had a different business had the progressive black news, and I decided to go get an office.

I had some very difficult decisions to me.

And so I remember going, wanting to furnish my office and I said, Okay, well, I'm gonna go buy a desk and I'm gonna buy a chair and I'm gonna do all these things.

And then I thought, Okay, well, maybe not.

And so I went and I bought a shell of a desk.

Yeah, it didn't have any drawers.

I didn't buy the drawers about the shell of the desk.

And I bought some guest chairs for people to sit at.

And then I bought myself a chair that anybody that came into my office knew it looked very professional.

But what they did not know is that there was just a shell there were no drawers.

I later added the drawers.

And then after that I took another step and then added the return.

And then I added a bigger return.

And now I have whole facility.

But I remember what it was like to try to furnish that office knowing that I had just signed a three year lease.

Right.

So one of the things that happens is you're going into business, your your whole wealth is is spent investing in this business, and you're spending time and resources and you're having to juggle and decide it, okay, what am I going to invest in, I need to, I need to have internet service, I need to have a desk, I need to have these things, I need to have computer.

But I also need to have some marketing, and also need to have, you know, a phone and I also need to have a website and I have a lot of different things and who's on first.

Mm hmm.

And so it's one of the things that I had in mind.

When I created my space, we provide the desks, we provide the chairs, you just show up with a computer?

Yeah, all you got to do is just show up and work and do your best work.

So you can focus on growing?

Yes.

Because if you spend all your time and resources on all these operational expenses, you will have a bit of business eventually.

Yeah.

Yeah, so one of the things that came out of the survey, too, is this, some of the environmental challenges related to operating a business, one of them was this notion of a stalled or stagnant business environment.

And part of that, so you know, there's these aspirations to get into a brick and mortar.

In a stalled and stagnant business environment, you know, we have to really be focused on the right things, we can't put the, the cart before the horse.

So sometimes, you know, we have a vision for business, and we want it to look a certain way.

And because what we understand it to be is about that aesthetic, you know, you need to have a sign in the window, you need to have a desk with some drawers on it, you know, but what we need, most importantly, is customers.

You know, if you don't have customers, you don't have a business, you have a hobby.

And I'm wrong, we haven't happy, as cool.

But we talking about business is not as important, especially nowadays, all of us have computers in our pocket is not as important nowadays, to jump out into a brick and mortar.

There is a way to scale.

And we really want our business community to understand that the business environment isn't always stagnant so much as it is.

It's it's dynamic, and digital.

So the new challenge is chasing down that customer when they don't even have to leave the house to shop and creating experiences.

Those are the things that you know, the survey is intended to do shine a light on data and empower leaders to make informed decisions.

For those of you joining us here in the studio, a reminder you can text a question 217-803-0730.

Trisha, what is the difference between hustling and owning hustling to me is just about chasing dollars.

And there are a lot of people who go into business, expecting for it to be this panacea, this gold rush this, whatever you want to call it, oh, I'm just going to make all this money.

And what happens is they go in, they think is going to be all these great things, they don't anticipate any obstacles or hurdles.

And obstacles or hurdles happen all the time every day.

And then it doesn't work out.

And then they get out of that business.

And then they jump into another business and then jump into another business and then they jump into another business and then they get up to another business.

And it just keeps snowballing because I didn't focus or be consistent at anything.

Focusing on business is not just about chasing dollars, it's also about making sure that your operations aren't order about having your taxes in order having your EIN exercising good corporate hygiene.

Yes.

So when you are a business owner, you have to be mindful of everything.

I have to be mindful of my hiring practices and whether or not I do something illegal or not, the conversations that my employees might have at work, I have to be mindful of all of the things and not just chasing the almighty dollar.

And sometimes in our community, especially we have a lot of people who have hustle mentality.

And they don't have enough business mentality.

And one of the things that we do is we try to help them channel that hustle mentality because the truth of the matter is, it takes hustle mentality to to make money a bit well, it can't be discounted, yes, people who have hustle mentality will always have money, but their business will hit a plateau.

They will hit a ceiling and they won't be able to go beyond it when You apply business to hustle, now you can expand and grow and create a network and franchise and do a number of things.

And so it's something that we have to in our community, especially I think, cultivate is the business mentality, understanding what it means to really be in business.

I remember having a conversation with someone in my first cohort.

And this person asked me what I needed.

And I was like, Yeah, I need help.

I'm about to hire somebody.

And he said, Well, I know somebody, and you know, they work in such a such and they can help you in evenings.

I'm like, No, I need to hire someone.

He's like, Oh, you're doing business for real?

Yeah.

I'm doing business for real.

I want to hire a 40 hour, a week employee, I'm going to pay taxes on this employer Sunday, like, I'm gonna do all of the things.

And when you have business mentality, you're always looking at ways in which you do things the right way.

Yeah, I would just add to that, we have this thing that we've said amongst each other, that paperwork makes the paperwork.

You know what I mean?

formalizing your business paperwork, makes the paper work.

So when you talk about those taxes, you know, you can't be running from that, you know, you have to file your taxes, it's just a fact.

Because that's how you demonstrate that there's money coming in going after baby to account for the dollars that you make, and the dollars that you spend, it's the nature of the beast.

And when you are formalized, and you out of the shadows, you can really stand up on two feet and fight for yourself, instead of sneaking in high and and trying to pinch money and tuck it away.

So that's how you become a truly independent institution.

You know, I think our community is stronger.

When we have more independent institutions, a business is one of those, those institutions that we need, but when you hide your money, and you can, like you're not there a pan under the table pan under the table, you know, paperwork, makes the paperwork, don't be afraid of it, you know, stand up in that light, and you're gonna shine bright.

And we saw this during COVID.

Right, there's all these programs that were out there that help businesses continue to move forward to uplift businesses that were impacted by COVID.

And what happened is you have a lot of businesses who did not have to have their paperwork in order, who did not exercise good corporate hygiene, and couldn't take advantage of the programs that were out there.

Yeah, so as millions of dollars, you know, emergency funding during the global health pandemic, millions of dollars flowed from the federal government to the state, there were a number of programs that were stood up to connect businesses that were in need of emergency funding to ballers, all you needed to do is demonstrate you had at least three years of taxes, your employee identification number, make accounts, you got to show that you suffered a loss due to the pandemic.

Very simple.

And, you know, we still getting calls people looking for grants, you know, a lot of that money is gone.

But if you're ready, if you stay ready, you don't have to get ready.

That's right.

You know what I mean?

And you're absolutely right, I think that was a really big lesson for our businesses, you got to iron and wrinkles out now.

You know, preparation meets opportunity, and then you when we don't want to wait for those for those moments, we got to be ready for when they come.

So Trisha, talk a little bit about the trip, school someone comes in to you and says, Hey, I have a business or I want to start a business.

What's the advice you give them?

How do you process where they are in bringing them in to your organization and your business?

So one of the wonderful things that we have right now is a program called the trip on track business boot camp.

And all of our participants do not have to pay we offer for free because it is funded by the state.

And so what we do is we have an interview at intake process, where I talk to them about what their business idea is, what research they've done.

If they've already been in business, how long they've been in business, what their goals are, and then they'll come into the program.

And so the way that the program operates is we have two courses we have an introductory course I call trip prep.

And what prep prep does is it helps them to vet their business because it kind of goes back to the exercise you all deal with the survey which is we're gonna get data and not just I think this is a good idea because Pookie and them told me it was or I told myself it will was.

And so they're required to go out and talk to potential customers to understand what problem their business solves, and understand what their customers needs and pain point is, so that they know they actually would have customers once they move forward in this business.

So that's a nine week course.

And then we have the advanced course, which is called Fast Track, it's a 13 week course.

And if trip prep is about vetting the business, or vetting the idea, Fast Track is about turning that idea into a viable business.

So it's going to help you with your business plan and your business model and your financial forecast and your pitch.

And we also provide them with one on one coaching.

So I actually give one on one sessions to every single person in the program, they get 12 sessions.

And so we talk about their goals, we talk about their ideas, we also talk about fears, uncertainties and doubts, because the truth of the matter is, your business cannot grow beyond your personal capacity.

And if you don't fix what's going on up here in your head, or what's going on in your heart, you're not gonna move forward.

And so I work with them just depends on what it is that they want to talk about and deal with, we work on those things.

And then the last piece is we offer cash, so we give all of our graduates $3,000, up to $3,000 to use in their business.

So they use those dollars to purchase goods and services.

And then we also have a pitch Contest, which shameless plug we're having our third one next month on November 18, at 10:30am, in Danville area community.

And we'll be giving out $10,000 On that day, so all of our graduates get an opportunity to participate, but you don't have to be a graduate of our program to compete for that $10,000.

And so all of those monies can be put together.

So usually, the last 2 million winners have been graduates.

So they've taken the $5,000 from being first place winner, put that with their $3,000 that they got as a program graduate, and really lifted their businesses up.

So So let's, let's talk a little bit about that.

Right.

So as, as I'm talking with entrepreneurs and business folks, or folks trying to get their businesses going, nine weeks, 12 weeks, 13 weeks, um, I gotta make money, I gotta, I gotta survive.

Okay, you trying to hustle, you know, you don't have to come be in my program, you don't.

And there are people who who, who have come in and you know, didn't stay.

But if you want to grow, if you want to take your business to the next level, if you want to elevate, if you want to scale, then you want to grow something that's going to be sustainable, and long lasting.

And there are a lot of people who do complain about the time I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna lie about that.

I'm not gonna lie about that.

I've heard it.

They don't know, I've heard it, but I've heard it.

But the truth of the matter is, it's an investment.

It's an investment in you, it's an investment in your business.

I am constantly learning because if you're not learning, and if you you're not growing, and if you're not growing, you're dying yesterday.

So you have to put yourself in a position to continue to grow.

I learned something every single day.

Well, no, I've been.

I've been at this since 2018.

And I remember asking myself, What do I need to do to become the person who does this for everybody else, I need to grow.

And I need to be committed to growth.

And I need to be committed to growing myself, every place that my every person has been through my organization, I've been where they are, but I gotta go someplace that they haven't been so I can tell them how to get there.

We know we were at 1.5 million in state contracts.

So I know a lot that I know a few things I can help people with.

I love it.

I have a follow up on the pitch process.

And it's three minutes pitch.

Tell us why that time limit is important.

I borrowed from other people, I don't believe in reinventing the wheel.

So I went out and found other pitch contests and looked at what's best practices and what other people are doing.

And I said, Oh, this makes sense.

Because you should be able to talk about your business in three minutes.

You should be able to tell everything there is to know, especially when you come in and ask for 1000s of dollars.

You should know your numbers inside and out.

You should be able to say what you're going to use the money for.

You should know who your target market is.

Those are it can be done really quickly.

So I think that's the we talked about nine weeks and 13 weeks.

That's it that is a real question to have.

To confront when your neck deep, you know, trying to operate trying to, you know, move and shake.

But I think we also understand that this is a marathon that we run, this is not a sprint, and you have to be able to endure, and nobody's coming to save us.

There's nobody coming to sweep us off our feet.

And, you know, give us a check for nothing, you know, the opportunity that we have, as entrepreneurs, you're really talking about a mindset.

You know, when you committed to growth, you're talking about a mindset.

And it's, it's very simple, but it's not easy.

We have to understand that you are, you are grabbing ahold of responsibility.

And on the other side of that responsibility, is the money.

And that's what was happening, you're solving somebody's problem, you're making somebody's life easier, you're facilitating an issue for for a customer.

And the the nature of that action dictates the funding that you get, if you can solve a bigger problem, you're getting the bigger check.

But what's happening is you're owning it for somebody, you're being responsible.

And that takes a special person to raise their hand and say, You know what, I can do something about this, I can make it happen.

And, you know, the data, going back to the survey, it tells us that black businesses are often motivated to solve problems in their community.

We asked them, what is the motivation for you started your business said, I want to make a difference.

In my community, I want to solve a problem.

I want to bring resources to my community.

So I think that, you know, we have it in us to be the solution.

But what we need is a trip school, what we need is a Tracee Parsons, what we need is a community of people who can help us challenge us at times, can we you know, sometimes we get a little off track.

But we are intending we're motivated to solve problems in our community.

And that's unique.

By way of a private business, I'm trying to make a difference in my community.

Now, what we got to do is help them tighten up their mindset.

So they understand that it's on me, and that's a powerful position to be in, I can do it.

And that's not scary.

That's, that's a powerful position to be in.

And I think that getting to a place of entrepreneurial mindset is is really about having sustainability to the and the capacity and the ability to weather any storm and anything that comes up.

Because if you're just chasing dollars, the moment something bad happens.

Your Business topples.

And we saw it during COVID.

Think about all the businesses that are not hearing as a result of COVID because nobody had shut down on their bingo card.

Nobody was prepared for that.

But the people who were able to pivot are those who are the real entrepreneurs, because they are the ones who are going Oh, okay.

This is what's happening.

Okay, now know what I'm gonna do.

I had a client at the time, she eventually did join the program, but the program didn't start till after COVID started.

And I remember saying to her, Well, are you gonna do deliveries?

She said, No.

And I said, Well, why not?

So I challenged her to do, she started doing deliveries.

She was the only game in town, she cleaned up, she cleaned up because she pivot and the end entrepreneurial.

And that's the difference between, oh, I'm just, I'm just a business owner.

I'm a hustler.

Or I'm an entrepreneur, because a business owner is I created a job for myself.

And as soon as something happens, I don't know what to do entrepreneurs like, Okay, I see this.

And here's what I'm gonna do now.

Okay, now this came up.

Now see, this is what I'm gonna do now.

And I'm gonna keep pivoting and I'm gonna keep pivoting and I'm gonna keep pivoting.

And I'm gonna always be in business.

So I love this.

So Rich, I hope you you know, I do some time.

So I love this conversation, right?

But we don't grow up as people and I'm gonna use this as an excuse, but we don't grow up in the business environment in the business world, right.

So we're not at the dinner table as kids, parents coming home talking about the business day.

What was going on?

All these things that we have to teach folks about?

We don't naturally have that because again the condition and economic state for for the black community, right.

So how do we where do we need to build this fundamental understanding belief, knowledge base from how Are we?

How do we do that?

Isn't what I say?

I love that question.

I think that we talk about culture.

Now we talk about standards, norms, values, traditions, heroes, a culture is a beautiful thing.

But in some instances, a culture can be a cage.

And it can restrict you.

So we got to acknowledge the beauty of our culture, the dynamics, the creativity, the swag, the flair, resilience, the resilience as beautiful.

We don't want to change that we want to grow it, you know, as you would do with agriculture, you want to grow your culture.

So that's the opportunity we have.

And you one of the biggest way that you grow a culture is through models, role models, and a champion has to hold on to it and say, I'm going to move this, nobody can move this for us.

I'm going to move this, and, and that's where all of us have an opportunity.

I said it was anybody coming to save us.

But we love this so much that we need to be willing to stand up for it and help grow it.

You grow through models, when you can demonstrate what good customer service is.

I know a lot of our businesses were notorious for having soft customer service, I'm using that term and being light and generous.

Who's going to make it different can we can get on our social media and complain.

Or we can stand up and demonstrate the skills that it takes to win.

And then we can go to our brothers and say, hey, you know, I came here at 1015.

And this is a 10.

You know what I mean?

And I know that's not unique to us.

But that's what I think that's what the opportunity is, we can grow this thing, we can make it what we want it to be, but it's not going to be an accident, you have to be very intentional about it and very deliberate about it.

And it's happening.

That's the beautiful thing.

We've got a system like Trisha, who's doing world class work in central Illinois, you know, I covered the whole state, and you don't see this happening in Chicago in some places.

So that's what gives me hope, to know that you have a champion like this, that can provide the platform for us to grow this culture.

And it is a dogfight, you know, we you know, we wake up every day thinking about this.

But we're not, we never stop it because we see how important it is and how impactful we can be.

I'm glad you brought up models, because the truth of the matter is the program that I created, and I put together, I looked around and saw what other people were doing.

And I also looked at the research and the data.

So there was research done by the Federal Reserve.

And a brother name, I believe his name is Dale Grimes put out a study about what it takes.

What was in the new school of economic development and what it takes to grow a culture and an entrepreneurial ecosystem.

And I looked at his study, I read it, I looked at all of the details in it.

And then I went and I looked at the data for the city of Danville and for vermillion County.

I looked at all of that information.

And I used all of that in the program that I wrote.

So it's not just because I'm doing this because Oh, I think it's a good idea.

Or this is what I think we need No, I did the same thing that I tell the entrepreneurs do.

Same thing that you did.

I went got data.

I went got information, I educated myself.

So I know that what I'm doing is a world class program, not because I think is world class.

But because the data shows me that these are the elements and the pieces that need to be in place.

If you're just joining us, this is News brews and beats and we're talking about black businesses and how to sustain and grow them in Illinois.

And with us as Matthew J. Simpson with the Illinois Office of Minority economic empowerment.

And Danville Alderwoman Tricia Teague, she founded the Trump school which assists new entrepreneurs and existing business owners grow, want to get to some of the questions that we have been sent.

And one says when looking at the massive service gaps in the minority community, how would you suggest how African Americans internalize their economic opportunities?

So first, looking at the service gaps.

Looking at the service gaps, what you know, I think one thing that you said a little bit earlier, Trisha, you need to be able to recognize opportunities when you see challenges.

You know, I think that's the, the entrepreneurship the problem solver to creative in you.

service gaps can be daunting, and it can be a new niche to be filled.

So I will say if you approach it in that way, as an entrepreneur, I'm not sure it's certain if that's the perspective of the question, but you know, when you see a gap in the market, there's an opportunity through business to solve a problem.

And again, on the other side of that responsibility for solving a problem is the bag.

So go get yours.

Another question, what are some quick strategies for home based businesses to scale efficiently, efficiently?

I think one of them is using technology.

Because if you use technology appropriately, you can appear much larger than you really are.

There was a long period of time where my business was just me.

And but we operate it with a lot of efficiency, because I use technology to my benefit.

So for example, people want to schedule an appointment with me.

They don't pick up cell phone calls.

No, they go online, they book an appointment, they see my schedule, they see my openings.

And I don't even know who's gonna be on my calendar, day by day, I look on them in the morning, who do I have today?

Because we use technology to handle that for us.

We use technology to do people registering for all of our events, we use technology to send out surveys, there's so much that technology can help you doing your business.

And so I think that that's probably the biggest one is identifying what your what your needs are, and how how you can leverage technology to help you grow and scale.

I'll just add to that, no, we got a data point from the survey, the top challenges that black businesses face.

Number one was implementing technology in their business.

And that's really daunting, because we know that the businesses that were able to implement technology survived the pandemic, the ones that didn't, probably don't exist.

So when we talk about helping black businesses, that's one of the first things we need to help them do.

Figure out how to leverage technology to create marketing materials, to capture their accounting activity.

All of that is crucial to help us survive.

Let's talk about black women and black women owned businesses, how prevalent are they?

And how prevalent is the support for them?

Well, I believe data shows that black women businesses are their fastest growing segment of businesses that there's more black women starting businesses than any other segment of society.

support their support out there, is there enough?

Probably no, I don't think they'll ever will, as a black woman, I don't think that there ever will be I think we we face a number of challenges that others don't face, you know, it's it can be extremely daunting and frustrating to walk in a room and not be taken seriously, or be the only person that looks like you sitting there.

So I think there's always more that can be done to support black women in their in their business of ventures.

I'll add to that, you know, in the survey, 64% of respondents were women.

So we put this survey out to black businesses statewide 64% of respondents were women.

And that's in line with the metric that you just referenced, the fastest growing business segment is black women.

And the challenge is the the highest failure rate is also black women.

So what we need to do is work to mitigate that, since we see where the activity is, we need to do something unique to address it.

Because you don't want that to go away.

Well build on that, Matthew, because the survey really talks about some of the unique challenges for black women that I think would be great to bring out from the audience.

Today on so many of the black women were also managing familial obligations, and ways that men didn't have to.

Also, the funds from the business constituted more of their main income as black women, those were the two principal things.

So it's not that when we talk about the failure rate is not that male owned businesses are better is that female owned businesses are more constrained.

And we have to do more to address those constraints to make sure they can fly.

And I imagine and I don't know if your survey touched on this or not.

That if the starting point is 24,000 for the average black household, that the starting point is even less if it's a Single Woman, single mother household, because we know that let's say, for example, a black man and a black woman, both have worked, maybe a corporate America or maybe not, and then decided to go into business.

We know that black women statistically bring in less income than black men.

So that means that wealth piece that they started with, it's probably not even 2424.

Right?

It might be half of that.

So say 12 to 18.

So you have even less to start with, and try to build off of.

So it's a huge thing.

And then I think the other thing that we're seeing right now, for all of us, but even more so for black women, is that any initiative that anybody has, that they try to put out to support us is under attack.

Yes, indeed.

Yeah.

Fearless spa, for example.

basically had to stop giving grants to black women businesses, because of lawsuits.

So all all the work that we've done, or that is trying to be done to bridge this wealth gap, and to and to uplift people who are already starting behind everybody else.

They're still we're still having to fight against Absolutely.

Another question, are there any programs that the CEO that can assist black owned businesses that gross under $50,000?

With and without, with and without a match needed?

And are there any protege mentor protege programs available?

The short answer is yes.

So I will speak to something that we have, if you're talking about funding, there's something that we have called Omi, Grant, O M. e, our office called the Office of Minority economic empowerment.

So the Omi grant, we don't have a timeline for his release.

But we anticipate next year, that will be fun specifically for buying property, or renovating property.

Now, that's a grant.

So are you talking about FY $2,000, that's not an issue, talking about matching, it's not an issue.

So that's the only grant.

Now I just gotta be candid, that we should kind of broaden our scope.

And we looking for dollars to start a business above and beyond grants.

It's like chasing a unicorn.

And we all looking for the unicorn.

We talked about it a few more times, the most important money that's gonna come through your business is going to come from customers.

Because if you're solving a problem, so that's what we need to be chasing, chase the customer, who you will, you can solve their problem, we'd never raise our nose at a grant.

I mean, if some come up, work out, that's all good.

But we're in the business of solving problems for people and the, to a greater degree to which we can do that we can grow our business, can I add to what you just said, since we've given out a little bit of advice, if we're gonna go after grants, make sure you use it in a way that's going to help you scale your business.

Because if you're just using these grant dollars to just pay your rent, or, you know, whatever, then you got to be in the same boat in the same position just in just a few months.

But if you use grant dollars, and I'm not against applying for grants, I've applied for a few grants, and I've used them, but every single one that I've applied for helped me do something that I could not do before I got the grant that we're still doing now.

So for example, as a result of going to the online Omi sessions, I became aware of a grant with the US Hispanic Chamber and AARP.

I am not Hispanic.

I'm not eligible for AARP.

And but they had a grant that if you hired someone who was 50 or above, I'm sorry, if you had someone who was 50 or above, and you sent them to a training and the training was going to result in their promotion, and a pay increase that you can apply for this grant.

I became aware of it at a session that Omi does and it was with Matt and we applied I had an employee who decided I wanted her to become our community manager.

I sent her to Community Manager Training.

She completed that she got promoted.

She's community manager now.

And that put us in a position so that when we opened the incubator space, she She can apply Community Manager skills and things that she learned in the space.

Awesome.

So they helped us grow the business, I just applied for another grant recently, it was four or $5,000, I forget who was with, I think it might be us blood chambers.

And I apply to be able to hire another person to do to scale to do a specific type of project, I'm not going to give you all my secrets.

But to be able to scale to be able to bring in residual income.

And so so I'm waiting to hear back from that.

But I said, Okay, this $5,000 will help fund this position.

And I will either hire a freelancer or hire an employee to do this.

So I will add, you know, I mentioned the Omi grant, and so to speak, just shine a light on it.

Every month, our office hosts a webinar called online with Omi The only thing we talk about is money.

The only thing we talk about federal, state, local private money online with Omi every month out of the Illinois Office of Minority economic empowerment, it's a webinar is a virtual platform.

So it's something we do is for the minority business community across the state.

So in a massive, let me just say thank you.

I know you're responsible for black business in your role for the state, but I participated in a call that you hosted with communities from across the state, I thought it was another one of the more powerful conversations and discussions to find out what was happening in Peoria in Springfield, in Southern Illinois, in Champaign, and Rockford, and you know, all of those, so talk about that work force that you're doing and bringing the communities outside Chicago.

So the beautiful thing is, we did this research, we did this survey, and we got the data.

But we didn't want to have it be collecting dust on the shelf.

So much of my work is connecting with leaders like brother Parsons to tea, and helping to empower the efforts that are taking place in communities all over the state.

It's it's so important that the people who are in the trenches, getting support, you know, can scale up the right way.

So this data was to me, intended to empower those individuals.

So what we did was, we took that data all over the state, we connected with a sister in Peoria, she saw the data she said, I want to do a financial empowerment event.

So she did a Black Business Financing fair.

After getting his data.

As a group in Rockford where I'm from, it's called Think Big entrepreneurship organization.

They implemented the Think Big School of Business, leveraging the data.

Tracy, he did an amazing thing, taking these pop up events, which is a response to the stagnant business environment, when you take the business environment to the neighborhood.

You know, it's a platform that's so much more accessible.

That's what Tracy did, you know, leveraging these these pieces of data in Southern Illinois, and some sisters has the Black Chamber of Commerce of Southern Illinois in Carbondale, they partner with their higher education institution, si UC, to host the black to business expo to connect them with the students and the black business community, creating these commercial opportunities.

And what we did was we leveraged the data to help these leaders and communities all over the state figure out what piece can you pull to make some happen in your community?

That's what the point is.

We are the solution.

We're not the problem.

But with the right support, we can make some special things happen.

That's what my intent is.

Got a little under 15 minutes to go.

So say our future questions here, just short but substantive.

One question that we received is what are the current resources for black owned businesses?

Startup Funding business credit, successful bookkeeping, do we have a directory?

One thing I'll reference is online, we have this thing called the Business Resource Library.

On the Illinois Office of Minority economic empowerment webpage, is the Business Resource Library is a collection of brief videos that cover the foundational topics that needed that are needed to help start up a business, like marketing, you know, how do you identify your customer and go pursue that customer?

How to the five keys to formalizing your business, how and why it's important to file your taxes in pursuing this idea of becoming a minority on certified Business, a woman owns certified business, and then how to go after grants.

These are really foundational videos, we got the slides up as well, 30 minutes at a time, you can do it while you're washing the dishes, doing laundry.

These are one of the really entry level resources we intend to provide to entrepreneurs, because so much of the gap is in that knowledge base and an understanding base.

So that's the knowledge piece, I do want to mention a loan program that we have called advantage Illinois, it's a what we call a participation loan.

And for black businesses, you can lock in to a 2% interest rate on the state's portion of the debt as significant now is a blended rate.

So you get half of your project market rate, half of it will be locked in at 2%.

So it's called advantage Illinois.

Something that you want to consider as a startup business, because we do extend those dollars to startups as well.

Another question, I really love this, what was the hardest time on your business?

And how did you handle it?

Last year, the state Oh my business over $100,000.

And they had nothing to do with me.

And I, we continue to move on.

I didn't have to furlough thank God for that.

And I also called on resources.

I didn't take it just lie down.

I you know, I was making phone calls, I was calling my state rep and state senator like, Hey, can you make phone call.

Because I needed them to know what was going on.

And I needed them to work on my behalf.

So that probably was the hardest time financially, because you don't know when the issue is gonna get resolved.

So you know, had to be a little bit of a bulldog in that situation.

But I think that I think one of the things that you have to keep in mind is that it doesn't kill, you will only make you stronger.

It wasn't the first time to stay owed us money.

It won't be the last as long as we keep doing business with the state.

And so I know that I think what it really boils down to is the whole mindset piece, and knowing that whatever comes, I'm gonna deal with it, I don't know how I'm gonna deal with it, I'm gonna lean on my faith, I'm gonna be resilient, and I'm gonna keep moving.

And, and that's what I think that's a difference between entrepreneurial mindset, and business owner, entrepreneurial mindset, and Hustler.

Because if I'm focused on the long range, long term goal, my vision, my mission, all of these things is going to work out.

If I could just add to that, I love what you said about if it doesn't kill me makes me stronger.

And that resilience, which is part of our culture.

And there's sometimes you know, the notion of self care right now is very, very, I want to say trendy, but you know, it's great to me that has been elevated to a more visible platform, we need to learn how to take care of ourselves, unplug, you know, in whatever way that you like to sometimes you want to cook yourself a meal, sometimes you want to take United several nice bath, like some candles.

But other times, you know, you're gonna have to bawl your fists up and be resilient.

Because in some instances, there's not enough candles that you can light, you're gonna have to stand up and fight back.

And that's what you did.

You know, you said, I didn't take it lying down, you advocate it for yourself, you know, that's what we have to do.

We have to be our own advocate, that's part of that resilience, and you just have to know that you can do it, you can do it.

How important is having a support system, and you encourage people really, you know, more than just saying, you know, I have my friends, I just want a band, but really having a support system that you can really count on.

It's huge.

Every entrepreneur needs a support system.

I'm a person who believes in obviously, I'm a coach.

So I coach other entrepreneurs, so of course I support them, but I also have a coach.

I have blind spots.

I have things I need to talk through with someone else.

Now I'm easy to coach because I'm a coach.

So I'll do stuff I'm like before you give me homework, this is what I'm gonna do next time.

So, it it's, it's important to be able to have a circle of like minded individuals and people that you deal with.

And the truth of the matter is we as entrepreneurs do crazy Things.

Entrepreneurship is crazy.

It's not for the faint of heart.

Come on.

No.

And you got to be able to find other people who are like you who are like minded who not gonna poopoo on your idea, or look at you, like you lost your mind and say, Yeah, you know what?

I think they can work.

And you know what else I think you can do, you can do this, this and this, too.

You want people who are going to add to you?

Yes.

And when you get when you when your circle is other entrepreneurs, that's what happens.

That iron sharpens iron.

Those people add to you, they make you better.

And so that's one of the reasons why I do what I do.

Because truth of the matter is, I wanted to be around people just like me.

I wanted to be able to have conversations with other crazy people talking about crazy things we go and do.

Because who would have told me five years ago that I would have done 100?

You know, 1.5 million?

Or did that stay owe me $100,000?

And I didn't, you know, shut down and lose the beautiful resume?

Well, here we are.

So that people know, okay, well, if that Crazy Chicken do it?

Well, I can be just as crazy and do it too.

So I want to add to that.

I want to reference the data real quick.

We asked black businesses, where do you turn for support?

Where do you turn for additional support when you need it and your business, it was a list of options for people to choose from the top two selections, and one was my immediate network, friends, mentors or industry connections.

Number two was my gut.

My immediate network, the people who I already know, and if I can't reach them, my gut.

So you know, when we talk about having people in your circle, who you who are like minded, like you who can push you who maybe can help you find some money, who maybe who can help you connect to a contract opportunity, introduce you to a new client, that social capital.

And a lot of times that's going to be outside of people we already know in our phone.

And it's going to be bigger than our gut.

So that social capital piece is important.

This is what Trish is saying, you know, you have to surround yourself with people who can sharpen you who can push you.

And sometimes it's hard to do when we feel like we're trying to fight to make a difference.

We're in the business by ourselves, we feel excluded.

It can be scary and daunting.

But we have to do that we have to grow our network.

Because that's how you grow your net worth.

You have to go there social capital, tracing, wrapping up, but can be the last few questions.

Well, yeah, no, I just really want to thank the panel, you've been outstanding as I knew you would be.

And what's the one thing we haven't asked you that you want to make sure we get out?

I say that to both of you?

Well, yeah, I would just say that.

I've said it once.

But black businesses are not the problem.

Black businesses are the solution.

And what I mean is we can talk about statistics, we can talk about failure rates, we can talk about the scale being less than $50,000, being solopreneurs, focused on certain industries, as if that's, you know, a limiting description.

But what's also true is that we're the fastest growing business segment and black women, we motivated to solve problems by way of our product or service, that's black business.

And then we want to learn technology, we want to learn marketing, you want to learn those things.

So empowered the right way networked and connected the right way.

We are the solution to our community's problems.

We are not the problem.

I think I will just add always be learning.

Always be learning.

Always be learning.

become the expert in your own industry.

Become an expert in your own business.

Become speak speak life over yourself and over the things that you think are your shortcomings and make them work for you.

You know, retrain your mind, on on everything so that you can continue to move forward and push yourself forward because your business will only grow to the level of your personal capacity.

Any issue that you have in your personal life is gonna show up in your business is gonna show up in spades and it will take your business down so Take the time and opportunity to figure out how to fix those things so that you can succeed despite Joseph.

We've been talking about black businesses in Illinois and how to sustain them with Matthew J. Simpson with the Illinois Office of Minority economic empowerment.

And Danville Alderwoman Trisha Teague is founder of the Trump school, which assists new entrepreneurs and existing business owners as well.

Thank you both for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

Of course, tracing fantastic cohost.

Any thoughts as we close?

Well, I think as Matthew just said, this is really one of the key issues that we have to address as a community as a people, right?

We've, it's critical that we improve and and strengthen our economic base, right?

Because we nobody's gonna save us, as Matthew has said a couple different times, it's on us to do.

This is the one way that one of the ways that we really can grow, strengthen, connect.

And we've talked about hiring, I mean, all the different ways that this makes a difference for our community.

So it's imperative that we do this and do this well, and build sustainable models, right.

So not just the quick, feel good types of things.

I'm talking about long term economic sustainability.

And that wraps up to that.

And that wraps up this edition of newspapers and beats.

We'll release this latest episode on the Illinois public media YouTube channel, the week of November 6, and you can also hear the segment on our new black focused audio service, debuting in early next year 2024.

Before we go, I want to thank Jill Clements, the producer of news, brews and beats and the associate director of corporate support.

I also want to thank our crew, DJ Roach or Video Manager back in the control room and all of our crews here in the studio and the control room as well.

Lillie Duncanson, our director of broadcast operations and loss Bresnahan, our executive director newsperson beats is a production of Illinois public media and good night from the Colin studio on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.