California Dreamin'

"When you face your fears, they aren't as big as you thought they were. What makes them big is when you don't turn around and face them head-on.  The longer you avoid your fears, the bigger they grow in your mind." -Steve Harvey

This weekend was all about facing my fear.  Although I'd made up in my mind about 15 months ago that CHOP CHOP Mobile Salon & Barber was something I wanted to bring to Chicago, the thought of actually living out this dream was causing some major anxiety.  No lie, my doctor bills have piled up in the last two months.  I've gotten neck and back X-rays, acupuncture, a sleep test and had a couple of panic attacks. Now that I know I'm not dying I'm just stressed, I can laugh about it LOL.

Luckily, a pure image of stress is hard to capture in a Facebook post, otherwise, my Facebook friends would've seen the "not so sexy" side of entrepreneurship a while ago.  I will say I have a damn good poker face, but on the flip side my body has been showing my hand, exposing all my cards - I'm straight up terrified of failure!

With that being said, my resilience will not allow a panic attack to be the thing that stops my progress, so I say - let's get it crackin'!  This weekend was about facing my fears head-on.  On paper my business concept looked great but will it actually work, can I actually pull this off? 

Now chances are you'll find someone somewhere with the same business idea as you. In my quest to start the mobile salon of course the first thing I did was Googled "mobile salon" to see if the concept already existed. There were a few here and there, but only one that embodied the quality and presence I wanted for my own business.  Although the inspiration behind it was slightly different the overall concept was similar and you'll find that's just life. Very few entrepreneurs really create something brand new and quite frankly if you do happen to stumble across a completely new concept I wish you much luck because the journey is even harder when you don't have a baseline.  Anyway, I digress, that's a whole different post!

As I wrote my business plan and identified competitors I knew if I was going to do this I wanted to compete with the best but with this concept being so new I would need some help if I wanted to execute it flawlessly.  I remember drafting an email to the owner of STERLINGS Mobile Salon and Barber in San Diego, California.  I must have read it over about five times, debating if I should send it or not.  I was scared to death, thinking how could I email my potential competition and ask him for help! That's insane, right! But I did it anyway, I hit that send button and the rest was history.

Kush, the owner responded with such kindness and a genuine interest to help me get started. I couldn't believe it, and for the last 5 months we've been pen pals. This weekend I went to visit him and see his mobile salon first hand and it completely blew my mind.  Not only that I was actually there in the mobile salon but the fact that I got to eat dinner with such a stand up guy. Before meeting him I had read so much about his story and his plight to get his mobile salon and barbershop off the ground. So much so, that I made him to be a celebrity in my mind. This weekend trip dismissed so many fears I had.  Had I not faced them head on, I'd never know that these fears are the same ones Kush had, the same ones most entrepreneurs have before they launch their business.

Key takeaways:

1) Convince yourself that the possibilities that come from facing your fears are greater than you doing nothing. You don't want to go through life saying "What if?" Or "I have this great idea."

2) Reach out to people that are doing what you aspire to do! Pride will either get you killed or stunt your growth.  You can't be too arrogant to ask for help. What's the worst that could've happened, my email would've gone unanswered LOL, so what?!?! Instead, look what happened, the owner of the best mobile salon in the country decided to help me achieve my dream!

3) Believe in people. This crazy world we live in will sometimes make us think that everyone is out to hurt us or get over on us. Sometimes you have to trust in people and trust in the process. For me trust is much easier because of my faith in God. You have to trust that if you put forth the effort and leave it in God's hands, blessings will come.

Mix Your Passion With Purpose and Find Your Next Great Biz Idea!

So my dad is super old school. He doesn't understand why I share so much on social media. We have pretty heated debates but all those conversations do is push me to share more lol. I never set out on this entrepreneurial journey to make money. I don't share my successes to get attention, nor do I share my stress to gain sympathy. I share my business because I hope that it shows people that we all have to start somewhere, usually at the bottom, with very little resources but with an idea. In my journey, whether I successfully get this mobile salon up and running or valiant attempts go unrewarded, I hope that people will see that it's not easy, it f*cking scary, it's time consuming, it's stressful and anxiety is inevitable. But at the end of each day, I feel full. I feel like I have purpose and I feel like I can't wait to be on the cover of Forbes smiling next to a trailer with my arms crossed with a big ass smile under the title "From Entry-Level to CEO."

In the black community we don't do a great job with sharing how we accomplished certain things. I really wish I had a mentor (outside of my parents) that shared with me mistakes they made so I could avoid them. Or, things they did and resources they used that could make my journey a bit easier. So my intention to share is simply to do just that. I'm happy to tell people where I went to network and find my partners. I'm happy to tell you how to write your business plan or create projections. I'm happy to advise you on a marketing strategy. I'm no guru and I know my business hasn't even launched yet, but what I do know is if more of us shared our knowledge we'd be much better off. So with that and with this long ass post, I've decided to do somewhat of a documentary to share the highs, the lows and what I learn along the way. The term success is relative...each step you take closer to realizing your vision is worth a badge of honor.

Follow your dreams...

Do you have The Will To Win?

Okay, so I'm going to be extremely candid with this post.  For those not familiar with the corporate jargon, candid basically means keeping it 100! Or 8 more than 92 wit it, one hunnid!

 (sorry, too much Drake! lol)

The further I get in the pursuit of owning my own business the more conversations I end up having with people that claim they also want to start their own business or find a new job or company to work for because their current situation isn't working out the way they had hoped.

I can totally dig that, because all of those reasons are in part what's motivated me to pursue my dream of opening a salon and barbershop.  However, what I can't dig, is 5 to 12 months later those same people are saying the exact same thing with no progress.

Now, I get it, we all complain. Real talk, I've started paying more attention to how much I complain and I'm starting to get on my own damn nerves.  There's nothing wrong with talking to people about your problems and the obstacles you face, that's natural. It does become a problem if you're constantly making excuses for yourself and not willing to put in the work to make a change.

In my opinion, to win in life, there are 4 Keys to Success!  This is applicable to success in life, period. Even if you don't want to own your own business, or you're happy with your job, these are keys that will take you far in life to achieve and acquire whatever it is you want out of life.

1.  FEARLESS

To achieve any type of success in your life you cannot embody the spirit of fear.  

• You cannot be afraid of what people will think of you. 
• You cannot be afraid to talk to people outside of your circle.  
• You cannot be afraid to share your vision.
• You cannot be afraid to hear the word, "no."
• You cannot be afraid to ask for help.

Venture Connects - Networking Event 

Let's face it, if you're a minority trying to go into business or find a job you need to talk to people outside of your immediate network.  It's natural that we tend to mingle with people that are like ourselves because it's comfortable and it's familiar.  The reality is, not many of our family or friends are CEO's or executives of companies.  A lot of us don't have colleagues that can invest thousands of dollars in our business ventures, as brilliant as the idea might be. Now, if you allow this to stop you then you're not really a boss! By that I mean that hashtag, #boss, that everybody wants to put on their Facebook and IG posts.  No, you're not a boss or a hustler! You're not grinding and you sure as hell ain't on "beast mode," because if you were you'd find a way to meet people that could help you.

Perfect example, my GoFundMe campaign has been up for 4 months.  To date, I've raised $2,565 from the donations of 35 family members and friends.  My goal is $50,000 so clearly I have a ways to go.  Now, I could give up and say there's no way I'm going to hit $50K at this rate, and truth be told most of my Facebook friends and family are not in the position to donate large sums of cash to me because they have their own financial situations they have to deal with. 

I spy Kesia King working the room in her red blazer! LOL.

So, it would be naive of me to depend on just this one resource, right? Of course!  I have to go sniff out the big money, the investors, the people that do this for a living.  So what does that mean?  That means doing all the things I said you can't be afraid to do. I've been to at least six different networking events, by myself, sharing my vision and telling people how much money I need to raise and why they should help me.  Not only am I typically one of very few females in the room, but I'm generally the only black woman in attendance.  Talk about out of your comfort zone!  But if you want something bad enough, you'll do whatever it takes! 

Please believe, God helps those that help themselves. At the last event in August, I met an investor interested in my business concept.  We've now met on two different occasions and we're getting closer and closer to finalizing a deal.

2.  PASSIONATE

Plain and simple, passion shows through your actions.  You can't just tell someone your passionate about something, they should be able to see your passion.  Some might look at my social media profiles and blog and say, "she thinks she's cute all those damn selfies." Hahaha! I know that's what some of y'all think!  But honest to God, I love showing off the different styles I create with my hair.  I didn't go to hair school so sometimes I amaze myself at some of the hairstyles I'm capable of pulling off.  One things for sure, no one will ever doubt my passion for hair and no one would ever wonder why I decided to own a business in the beauty industry, because I share my passion with people everyday.

3. AMBITIOUS

Everyone can dream and have dreams but not everyone has ambition. According to Dictionary.com, ambition is, "the desire and determination to achieve success."  What you have to ask yourself is, how far are you willing to go to achieve success?  Are you the type of person to hear "no" once, and then give up?  Are you the type of person to say, "well I don't have the money, so I can't do that"?  Have you ever said, "so and so doesn't think this is possible, so it really doesn't make sense for me to try?" If you've ever said these things, sorry, you're not going to achieve the success you've dreamed for because you're not truly ambitious (and if you let me tell you you're not going to achieve success then you completely just missed my point lol). Ambitious people find a way.  If you're ambitious you kick, scratch, crawl and pull your way to the top. If you're ambitious you create opportunities, you don't sit back waiting for opportunities to come to you.  

4. RELENTLESS

If you're not physically and mentally drained every night while in pursuit to make your dream a reality then you are not relentless in your attempt to reach success.

• "But Kesia, I have kids" 
• "But Kesia, I have family members to take care of" 
• "But Kesia, I work full-time"
• "But Kesia, I don't have a car"
• "But Kesia, I'm not as outgoing as you are"

"Yaddy, yaddy, yaddy" as Tyrone Bigsby, Dave Chapelle's crackhead character on "The Chappelle Show" would often say. We all have responsibilities, that's life.  It's those that carve-out time to focus on themselves and their dreams that will be successful. If you're not going to be persistent than don't even think about changing your situation because the only way that's going to happen is if you say to yourself, "Self, I will not stop until I make this happen!" If you can't say that, then learn to get comfortable in the position you're currently in, because you're going to be there for awhile.

Substantiate your hashtag #boss, by getting in tune with the four keys to success! Help yourself and our community by living your dream and being an example for generations to follow.  What will your legacy be? And will they say, you had the will to win?

Beauty & Brunch: My Version of Reality

"Don't believe what your eyes are telling you.  All they show is limitation.  Look with your understanding, find out what you already know, and you'll see the way to fly.'" - Richard Bach

Left: Nikki Goodnight | Right: China Panion

Founders of Beauty and Brunch, Chicago

What you define as real life is an accumulation of your beliefs.  Let's dig into this a bit:  If you grew up in the hood and all you saw was gang violence, drugs being sold, poverty and teen pregnancy... chances are you're going to believe that's what the world is, because that's your specific lense on life.  That is how you view the world because it's what you live everyday.  On the flipside, if you come from a diverse town, where people that look like you are educators, business professionals and everyone around you is going to school, owning businesses, married and traveling, well that's where you'd envision yourself to be too, right?

It only makes sense that you have the tendency to believe more of what you see, and act in a way that aligns with your reality.  So I'm not one to debate what people should or should not watch on t.v. because at one point or another, I watched it all!  Now my argument, or how I defended my poor taste in "quality" t.v. is that I watched television purely for entertainment but in no way do I believe I was influenced by it. Quite frankly, even if you hate this genre, you could never convince me that these reality t.v. shows are not entertaining.  I wouldn't go as far as say I was addicted (although I'm sure my husband would beg to differ), but I will say my go to shows were, let me see...

Love & Hip Hop....check

Basketball Wives....check

Mob Wives...check

Housewives of Atlanta....check

R&B Divas....check

Black Ink....check

Jersey Shore...check

I'll even take it as far back as Flavor of Love...smh.  Network t.v.?!? Ummm...ahhh... what's that?

Okay, so what's changed?!?  Why is it that I can now barely stomach a full episode of Love & Hip Hop? Why won't I even think twice about turning on Black Ink?  Let me try to think back to see where it all went downhill...

Oh yeah! That's right! Everything is a HOT RATCHET MESS! I finally realized that what I was watching was getting further and further from my reality.  Let me try to put this in perspective, I've been in one physical fight and maybe 3 (give or take lol) verbal altercations in my life! Thinking back to those situations, I might have said a couple choice words and maybe stared a chick down to let her know that I have just enough crazy in me, to NOT be messed with, hahahaha! But really in the 20+ years I've been on this earth, I've stayed pretty far away from drama.  Plus, I would expect a few mishaps in highschool and maybe college but as an adult, ummm no - physically fighting, is so not
cute!  Imagine me walking into my corporate job with a black eye or scratches on my face after
coming off the weekend, where they do that at?!?!?

So how could I be sitting up watching "grown women" loose their temper, cursing like professional athletes and physically attacking other women? Well, in my world, the  majority of us (black women) DO NOT act this way and actually would much rather prefer a girls night out or brunch with absolutely no drama but instead laughs, music, great food, mimosas and thought provoking conversation.

Nikki Goodnight and China Panion must have felt the same way because they took a conversation over coffee at Starbucks and turned it into an annual sold out Beauty and Brunch event in Chicago.  Nikki identified that there was a need for women but especially women of color to come together and network.  Nikki, who has always been a lover for beauty and fashion but also women's empowerment, wanted to combine both passions to fulfill her vision of pulling together an intimate group of women to discuss everything from hair and makeup to careers and the state of our social enviornment.

During their conversation, China, who has an extensive background in Marketing, helped mold Nikki's vision into something actionable.  The two loved the idea of bringing women together over brunch and creating a memorable experience for the women of Chicago, and in a nutshell, that's how Beauty & Brunch was created.  China revved up the concept by utilizing multiple marketing channels, the most impactful of course, social media, to create an exciting buzz. Then from there, used her network and connects to secure panelist, bloggers and vloggers to get involved and help increase the reach and engagement around their event.

So just remember, when these cable networks are trying to persuade us that these t.v. shows are "reality" keep in mind  that the true day to day reality that we live in can easily look more like this:

Beauty & Brunch 2014

Be sure to buy tickets for their upcoming brunch before they sell out!

Don't Be Afraid to Share Your Vision!

"If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go with others" - African Proverb

A business idea came to me while I was sitting on the couch watching the Steve Harvey Show, eight months ago while on maternity leave. It was a great idea that mixed my passion with what I truly believe is my purpose: encouraging people to feel good about themselves and happy with who they are. In order to do that, one must feel good about their exterior presentation, among other things of course, but in my opinion a makeover of some sort is the easiest transformation and can help jumpstart healing and self-acceptance.

Back to the business, I inundated myself with books like 32 Ways to Be a Champion in Business by Earvin "Magic Johnson" (a total must read whether you want to own your own business or just looking for a great motivational book), A Marketer's Toolkit  (Harvard Business Essentials) and of course, article after article from Entrepreneur.com.  Now, all that is good and dandy but nothing beats speaking to someone who's been there and done that. Fortunately, my brother-in-law's father owned his own salon for years and was completely open to sharing some words of wisdom with me.  He spoke candidly about things like financing and startup costs, topics that scare the hell out of me and prevent so many from actually executing their vision. I took away some great pointers, mistakes to avoid and much needed encouragement.

After I hung up the phone I felt some type of way, this is when I realized networking, is really what makes people successful! I feel like in the black community we make everything so hard and sometimes painful. What I mean is, we work our asses off! Our parents worked two and three jobs sometimes to support us or spent long grueling hours working overtime to make sure the bills were paid. This isn't to say that our Caucasian brothas and sistas don't work as hard, but what I'm noticing now as an adult, is that White people work in much different ways, they network! A lot!

"If you want to go somewhere, it is best to find someone who has already been there" 

-Robert Kiyosaki

Nick Arrojo (Celebrity Stylist) and the beautiful ladies from Trio Salon, Chicago

In the black community we don't do a great job of sharing knowledge. Part of me thinks because there are so few of us "at the top" we hold on to information and advice, not wanting to compete or share the thin slice of "wealthy" pie designated for the select few that manage to float to the top. On the flip side, some of us are so prideful we can't stand the thought of asking our cousin or friend how they managed to purchase such a beautiful home or how they landed that great job, or raised capital to launch their business. Pride is nothing but the Devil, if you don't know already lol. So much anguish can be avoided in your pursuit to be successful if you would just take the time to speak to those around you making things happen. If you don't know people within your immediate circle go out and meet new people and mingle at different networking events.

I called up Sharie (next to me on the right) to talk about my business endeavors because she's a great stylist that works in the city and services a diverse clientele. I wanted her thoughts on my proposal and after talking to her I ended up reevaluating the target audience for my business.  She provided such great insight that I wouldn't have otherwise discovered unless I actually worked in a salon, which I don't.  At the end of the convo she told me she had an extra ticket for the American Beauty Show at the McCormick Place Convention Center and invited me to tag along.  It was a great experience and the timing couldn't have been better. I was able to network and toss ideas around with people in the industry that I would never come across under normal circumstances. 

Yes, education is important and so is hard work, but take a look at the people on top, most of them had doors opened because of someone they knew. Never forget, it's not what you know, it's definitely who you know. If you're interested in networking and don't know how or where to start and live in the Chicagoland area "Network After Work" is a great organization that throws awesome events every month, each time at a new fancy location (nightclub). Professionals in every industry imaginable 

come out to have a few cocktails and get to know one another while building and growing their

network. I've been to several and each time I've made significant connections. Make it a priority to 

checkout at least one of these in 2015. If you don't want to go alone hit me up, I'll be your right hand Diva lol.

November 'Trep of the Month

If you don't know, now you know! 'Trep is the new "it" term used to describe the entrepreneurs of our generation. Thank God! Because I'm tired of bending my head inches to the screen, squinting my eyes and phonetically sounding out the word, En-tre-pre-ne-ur, damn that "u" and "e" get me every time!

As an aspiring stylist, blogger and business owner I thought it would only make since to acknowledge some of my favorite 'Treps. These aren't just any business owners, these are the best in the game at what they do AND have the nerve to look fly doing it.  My 'Treps don't let the hustle and bustle of owning a small business put a damper on their fashion sense, I'd say it increases their level of detail.

Terrance Campbell, freelance graphic artist and owner of Tre' Club Designs, illustrates his creativeness not only in his logo, album and apparel designs but also in his own personal style.  Terrance graduated from Ball State's Graphic Arts Management Program and currently resides in Indianapolis, Indiana and is a BOSS when it comes to everything graphic design, print production, typography and photography. If you need more convincing checkout his work: Tre' Club Designs.

Ya boy isn't afraid to remix his style.  This year has been all about patterns: stripes, plaid, camouflage and animal prints to name a few and as you can see he's slaying the fashion game.  So where does Mr. Campbell find these statement pieces you ask? He's digging stores like Urban Outfitters, H&M, Macy's and Pac Sun.

If you dig like iDigg, Terrance's fashion sense or in need of some design work, be sure to follow Mr. Campbell on IG @russell_midwest and follow him on Twitter.