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BRX Pro Tip: Creating Process

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BRX Pro Tips
BRX Pro Tip: Creating Process
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BRX Pro Tip: Creating Process

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] And we are back with BRX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, I think you and I have come to really appreciate the power of process. I think most of the folks in the Business RadioX family certainly do as well. And I suspect even folks who are listening who may not be a formal part of the family, but may be listeners or fans of one or more of the shows. Let’s talk a little bit about some key, some things that are really important when it comes to creating process.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:35] Yeah, when you’re putting a process together, especially a new process, I think it’s really important to decide what are the top three most important takeaways you want from this process. And then, kind of rank order them, and just build the steps, and make sure you get those first three steps exactly right. And it’s got to be tight, and it has to be kind of seamless to the best of your ability. And then, you build it out from there. And then, as you get feedback from implementing it, just keep adjusting it because you’re going to get new information, and there’s no way the process is going to be right just from your head to the page. You’re going to have to put it on the page, iterate, put it in practice, iterate, learn, make some adjustments.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:23] And it’s important to hold the process accountable. And if it’s not ultimately giving you the result you desire, then it’s not a good process. So, you’ve got to keep changing it until it becomes a good process or you can say, “Look, this isn’t worth pursuing. The three takeaways that I wanted to get out of this thing is not happening. So, let’s blow this up and start again.” But I think it’s important to, when you create a process, identify what you want out of that process, iterate, and hold it accountable.

Dr. Velma Trayham with ThinkZILLA Consulting Group

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High Velocity Radio
Dr. Velma Trayham with ThinkZILLA Consulting Group
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Dr-Velma-TrayhamDr. Velma Trayham is an award-winning Entrepreneur, sought-after speaker and economic empowerment specialist who believes that inclusive, equitable businesses and communities are what create opportunity and drive prosperity. Through ThinkZILLA Consulting Group Dr. Trayham builds, manages, and helps bring greater awareness to programs and initiatives that are vital to supporting underserved and underrepresented communities around the U.S.

Having been born into poverty, Dr. Trayham understands the realities associated with growing up poor. That’s why she has devoted her life to helping other women achieve success. Her best -selling book titled When God Says Go represents her philosophy on life and her commitment to being of service to others.

To date, Dr. Trayham has mentored more than 5,000 minority women business owners in the past three years. She has also developed programs for notable fortune 500 organizations and enterprises such as University of Phoenix, T.D. Jakes Enterprises, Fiji Water, Country Financial, Atlanta Airlines Terminal Company, Blaylock Van, LLC amongst others and was recently featured in Forbes November 2020 issue as a top business consultant.

Connect with Dr. Trayham on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. You guys are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with ThinkZILLA Consulting Group, Velma Trayham. How are you?

Dr. Velma Trayham: Hi. I’m well, thank you very much for asking and thanks for having me on today.

Stone Payton: Well, we are delighted to have you on the show, Velma. I got a ton of questions. I know we’re not going to get to them all, but I think a great place to start would be if you could share with me and our listeners just mission. Purpose. What are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks?

Dr. Velma Trayham: Our mission is to end poverty through Entrepreneurship. So in that and through the work that we do, I do across the nation, partnering with public and private companies, building, um, entrepreneurial ecosystem so ecosystems to ensure that small businesses, underserved entrepreneurs and people of color has the have the access to information, access to capital, access to contracting opportunities. I truly believe that in order to close the racial wealth gap and to help people to rise above the poverty line, we need the resources. And not only the resources, but the, uh, the intelligence, the intellect, um, in terms of understanding the resources that are available and also being able to, um, just show up and excellence. So that’s what we’ve been doing across the country so far. We’ve helped about 5000 entrepreneurs to rise above the poverty line. Through the programs that we’ve built.

Stone Payton: I got to know the backstory. 5000 women. What a sobering and impressive and encouraging stat. I got to know the backstory. How in the world did you find yourself doing this kind of work, trying to serve these folks?

Dr. Velma Trayham: You know, it’s really interesting. I will I’m happy to share a little bit of the backstory. So I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I was actually raised in poverty. Um, and, you know, I, I realized early on that I could change the trajectory of my life and not only could I change the trajectory of my life, but if I did this very well, then I can I could create a blueprint to where I would be able to help other people to do the same thing. So to fast forward, um, I’ve had two jobs in my entire life. I worked for a Google for nine months and a subrogation firm for a year and a half. And there I started my entrepreneurial journey. My first three companies failed. I decided not to give up. Continue to just go and grow. I didn’t just go through it, but I grew through it. And so, um, my fourth and fifth company was highly successful. I was able to sell those companies and, um, you know, then I started my, uh, consulting company, think Zillow. And I started think Zillow as a marketing and public relations strategy company 11 years ago. Um, and to fast forward today, we are a national company helping government and helping corporations, um, through by way of building programs to support entrepreneurs. And so, um, small businesses, entrepreneurship. I am a serial entrepreneur and business owner. And, um, so just the information that I learned through trial and error, through failing forward fast, through resilience and not giving up, it has truly become a model for entrepreneurs across the country in terms of them seeing not only do I, you know, uh, not only do I empower others, but they’re able to see it, um, through my life and the tangible results through the work that we do. So that’s how it started. Um, and so excited for the work to continue, because I truly believe that poverty is a state of mind.

Stone Payton: Well, you have unquestionable what’s the right term street cred. Right? You actually grew up in poverty. You took a swing at being an entrepreneur, and it wasn’t raging success right out of the box. You’ve got plenty of scar tissue, plenty of lessons learned. Well, now that you’ve been at it a while, what are you these days? What are you finding the most rewarding about the work? What’s the most fun fun about it for you these days?

Dr. Velma Trayham: I’ll say the most rewarding thing and the and what’s fun to me is really being able to, um, empower hope and also be able to share the wisdom. And so in that, the reason why that’s purposeful to me and why and why it’s, um, exciting for me is because, you know, it may have taken me some time to get it right, but I’m helping now, so many people to get it right. We’re helping people to really, um, you know, build proper business models. We’re connecting them to corporate people. We’re connecting them to government and SBA resources. And, you know, and so to see, um, our businesses getting millions of dollars in funding, winning millions of dollars in contracts. And I really to just hear everywhere I go, someone comes up to say, you know, I’m so thankful that we met two years ago or we met three years ago, because the information that you share with me now, I am an employer firm. Um, I was once just a solopreneur. But here, two years later, I am an employer firm creating jobs in our communities, and I have 20 plus employees. That is what brings joy to me. Um, small businesses are the backbone to our economy. And I believe that when you have someone and partners and people that have walked the walk, um, they it really is, is more tangible in terms of the advice and the information that we share. So that’s what keeps me going. And that’s truly what’s pleasing to me, is being able to serve and to also be a contributing, uh, solution to the problems that plague our nation.

Stone Payton: Let’s dive into the work a little bit. Maybe, I don’t know, walk us through a use case or two. That kind of gives us a real picture of what happens when, when someone takes advantage of your specialized expertise and experience and applies it to their journey.

Dr. Velma Trayham: Yes. So that’s a great question. And I have a two pronged approach. I have a two pronged approach. The first approach I want to talk from an entrepreneur and small business side of things. Um, so as a entrepreneur myself, obviously we all know the statistics and the data that shows eight out of ten new businesses fail. Um, and I truly believe that the reason those businesses fail is because a nobody knows the brand exists, so they don’t do a good job with messaging, marketing, and really understanding who their target audience is to be able to, um, fine tune their business model, um, in order to serve their customer. And so, um, what we have, what I’ve been able to do. We and I say we a lot because I have an amazing team that I’ve, you know, been able to lead and that I’ve been able to pour into, that I’ve been able to motivate. I truly believe that you’re only as good as your team and the leader. And so I have an amazing team. Um, and so from that we’ve been able to help entrepreneurs through, um, messaging, helping them to create the proper business strategy, um, helping them to understand who their target audience is, helping them to put in place the proper revenue models and then helping them to understand about their model, not just what you’re selling, but the problem that you’re solving.

Dr. Velma Trayham: So one of the things that I talk about nationally when I’m speaking on stage to five people, 100 people or even 5000 people, you create a business based on the problem that you’re solving. And when you solve the problems. You won’t need money because money follows people who solves problems. Money follows solutions to problems. And so, um, we’ve seen just some case examples. We’ve seen some of our, uh, some of the people that’s gone through some of our programs go from being a single mom with less than $5 in their bank account, um, to now being budding entrepreneurs, whereas two, three years later, they’re at 2.5 million, $3 million in revenue because of the information that we’ve shared, the programs that we’ve that we’ve, um, uh, that I’ve kind of led and also being able to hear I’ve been a boots on the ground individual and really taking the time to hear from entrepreneurs studying data and creating programs that, uh, that is driven by data. So that’s on the entrepreneur standpoint. And the second prong is, uh, corporations and government entities. So corporate people, they congregate with corporate people and they have a lot of resources, government officials, they congregate with government officials. And so oftentimes public and private companies, they their messaging is a little, uh, it doesn’t resonate to the entrepreneur.

Dr. Velma Trayham: And what I mean by that is you have corporations and government entities that that have set asides for minority owned companies, and they have so many resources, um, for entrepreneurs, however, the tone when they’re messaging their, um, resources, the entrepreneurs, it’s not getting to the entrepreneurs because the entrepreneurs don’t even recognize and understand the messaging from a corporate tonality perspective. And so they’re not corporates and governments in Organizations are not meeting their goals. And so what I do is on the on the prong two approach is I help these corporations and government entities fine tune their messaging. I help them through looking at their their diversity infrastructures, their social governance strategies to understand how we can help them to integrate into the into the community. Um, in a in a short time span, I look at everything as being an urgency. It is truly, um, an urgency. And because corporations and government, they are spending a lot of money and they’re not seeing impact on their dollar, they’re not seeing the return on investment from them investing in communities. And so what I do is I make sure that I am bridging the corporate and government gap to entrepreneurs and small business owners across the US.

Stone Payton: And your influence and impact it’s being recognized. You, uh, very recently, uh, received an honor from Arizona Big Media. Tell us about that. Like most influential women, weren’t you, uh, named that in that group?

Dr. Velma Trayham: Yeah. You know what it was? It came to me as a as a surprise. Because, you know, I honestly don’t do this work for accolades. It’s truly my heart. Um, but, yes, I was just named, um, uh, Arizona, uh, most Influential Women in Arizona business in 2024 by AZ Big Media. Um, I have been in Arizona now three and a half years. Again, it really came as a surprise to me, um, along with other women that were honored on this platform, was mayor. I’m sorry. Governor Katie Hobbs was one of the honorees. And I’ll tell you that, um, at the awards recognition dinner on last week, they said that they had received close to Thousand um, uh, nominations, and they narrowed it down to 50 top women in Arizona. And so I don’t take that lightly. Um, it’s truly, I believe, a testament to when you do the work, when you walk it like you talk it, and when you are serving others and when you are a servant leader, then the rewards will come. So I believe that dominion is not a pursuit, but it’s the result, and it’s the result of doing the right thing, being a light in a world of darkness, and really being a conduit to be a part of the solutions and not the problem.

Stone Payton: So you have a lot of different ways of living into your mission, and you bring a lot of tools to bear. One is your professional speaker. In the very early days of doing the speaking, I mean, did that come real easy to you, or was that also a bit of a learning curve for you?

Dr. Velma Trayham: You know what’s so Also interesting stone. Um, so I never wanted to be a speaker. In fact, when I started my entrepreneur journey, I. I was like, you could kill me before I speak. I will not speak in front of people. I just wouldn’t do it. Didn’t desire to do it. In fact, I wanted to just be the person to do the work behind the scenes. I never wanted to be a speaker. And so now to fast forward, when I hear people say how incredible of a speaker I am, when I see when I’m speaking on national platforms and when I’m speaking, um, you know, everywhere I hear you are an amazing speaker and a great thought leader. How did you do this? And I’m thinking, well, you know, I didn’t do it intentionally. It just, you know, happened. So I believe that some things is just a result of. And so I’m grateful and I thank you for the compliment, but it truly was not something that I set forth to do or to be.

Stone Payton: We don’t have time to talk about all of the ways that you are genuinely serving these constituencies. But I gotta mention that this book that you authored, When God says go, and there’s a pretty strong theme in there around the ideas of resilience and faith. Can you speak to that a little bit?

Dr. Velma Trayham: Yeah. So, you know, when I authored When God Says Go, which is a bestseller, we’ve actually sold over a million copies through events and things like that. And so I actually authored that book during a time when I was actually going through hell. I was, you know, I had transitioned from Houston to Atlanta. I had gone through a divorce, and it was just a very tough time. And, um, you know, for me, I will say that my grandmother raised me. And one thing I know about faith, Faith is the substance of the things that we hope for, but it’s the evidence of the things that we don’t see. And so for me, I did not see myself, but I knew that I needed to tell my story. I knew that in order to reap, I had to sow. And so I sowing in terms of sharing with people my journey, sharing with people, how I’ve gone from this little girl in poverty to now a global businesswoman making such a impact in the world. Because. Because here’s the thing. Because if God can do it for me, he can do it for anyone. And so, um, in that, you know, when God says go turning your storms into an unshakable relationship with God, leaving it all behind, um, you know, I think that it’s a it’s really a testament of understanding that sometimes in life we really have to embrace our goal Moment.

Dr. Velma Trayham: Uh, Ago, meaning whether that’s, you know, a relationship, toxic friendships. Um, you know, go from the table from eating toxic foods because our health is our wealth. Um, go from moving from one state to another. Go from leaving a job that’s not adding value or seeing you as an individual who you are or the purpose that you have. And so, um, when God says go, it is it’s actually a book that I continue to read often. I am actually highlighted three incredible entrepreneurs in that book. And it’s really about, uh, transformational thinking. Um, because, again, I believe that poverty is a state of mind, and I believe that most of our society, uh, have they’ve been, um, conformed to they are conformed to, uh, a culture where it’s glitz and glam opposed to really doing the work. There’s no elevator to success. And so that is what when God says go is all about, when recognizing the time of when it’s time to go from whatever that means to elevate your life to a greater disposition.

Stone Payton: You’ve mentored thousands of women business owners of color. I’m interested to know a couple of things. And one is, do you do you see some patterns, like are there some unique challenges among that group of people? And that’s part one. And then part two is what can and should a middle aged white guy who’s pretty comfortable at this point in his career, uh, you know, that has a media platform, what should we be doing to, to to try to serve that constituency?

Dr. Velma Trayham: Great question. Um the first question in terms of what are some of the patterns that I’m seeing are barriers, shall we say, maybe, um, with, you know, this population. Um, well, one barrier is that, um, it’s access to capital. Um, in order for population to grow, there needs to be not only investing in the businesses by way of grants, by way of low interest rate, low interest rate loans. Um, you know, the information, but also, um, you know, as strategic investments into programs like some of the ones that we are, um, overseeing that yields a great reward and a great impact. Um, the other barrier that I’m seeing is that, you know what? This is the really big one here. And I wish this is a huge one here. Um, and I’ll try to articulate this as best as I can. Um, so there are a lot of programs. There’s a lot of accelerators, there’s a lot of business programs, there’s a lot of gurus. There are a lot of people that is, uh, pulling everyone’s, you know, attention grabbing attention. They’re selling, selling, selling. And we are really in a, in a, in a very fast paced environment culture right now. Um, but in that, because there are so many programs and stuff going on, people are getting information overload and also people are not getting the right information. I’ll give an example. There was a lady here a few months back that she was just pouring tears to me, um, and ready to commit suicide. She had taken her last $100,000 savings to give to a guru coach that said that promised that they would help her to get millions of dollars in contracts.

Dr. Velma Trayham: They would help her to build her company, this, that, and the other to find that lady that gave her $100,000. That person, that coach gave this lady wrong information didn’t have no, uh, contacts to connect her. No collaboration, no resources for her. And she lost her $100,000 to this guru. Uh, thankfully, I was, uh, I was able to connect her with one of my, uh, long term banking constituents, one of my banking partners that was able to come in and give her a loan for $500,000. Um, very low interest. And I was able to come on and help her to build the proper infrastructure for her company. This was two and a half months ago, and now this entrepreneur has an amazing and blazing business model, and she’s hitting the ground running with her technology company that she’s already now starting conversations with investors to acquire the software that she built. And so that’s that that’s, you know, barriers. That’s and I know that’s a lot that I just said. But to simplify it, um, too many people giving too many too much advice. People are listening. They’re not discerning right from almost right. And they’re taking big hits by trusting these gurus and social media people. Um, and so what can someone like yourself do to help? Um, Stone, I always say to my, uh, partners across the US, I cannot do this alone. Um and.

Speaker4: So.

Dr. Velma Trayham: Invest in me so that I can continue investing in our communities. And so, um, you know, I have allies. Amazing. I have Jewish friends. I have, you know, white friends. I have Hispanic friends. I love everyone. And again, um, I don’t look at the color of skin. I look at impact. And how can we collectively, how can we work collectively to make sure that we are creating big, big impact as one?

Stone Payton: So what’s new and next for you? The balance of this year, but maybe 18 to 24 month horizon. You got any kind of new initiatives you’re really excited about and are and are willing to let us in on new initiatives?

Dr. Velma Trayham: Um, we have um, a couple of, uh, things that we’re launching to solve the housing crisis. Um, I can’t say too much on that. Still in the, uh, stages, legal stages and stuff like that. Um, looking at an economic empowerment tour for 2025. I will be touring and taking this information across the US, connecting entrepreneurs to resources to scale and take their business to the next level and helping more people get out of poverty. Um, and you know what? I think the other thing is really just creating more leaders. We need to create more leaders. I have a lot of followers that I’m so very grateful and thankful for, but really what I want to do is create some sort of leader ship, um, uh, program or something to help more leaders to become agents of change. So that’s kind of where I am and what, what I’m kind of up to.

Stone Payton: Well, I have no doubt you’re going to accomplish that. And it’s going to be fun to, to continue to, to follow your story. I mean, this is an invigorating, inspiring conversation outside the scope of this work, and I don’t know when you’d find the time, but I’m going to ask anyway about passions, interests, hobbies outside the scope of your work. Most of my listeners know that I like to hunt, fish, and travel. Anything like that that you nerd out about to kind of get away from it and recharge.

Dr. Velma Trayham: Yeah, so I love to hike. Um, I love rodeo. I like horses, I like going to, like rodeos. And I like the bull. I like looking at bull rides I like. Um, so that’s fun to me. Oh, and I have a 13 year old son. Um, who is an entrepreneur, and he’s also an athlete, so I love to go to his games. I love children, I love to spend time with our children, especially at risk youth. I like to empower them. I like to just listen to them. I like to hear their bravery and hear their ideas for their own vision for the future. So those are some of the ways that I really just, um, kind of unplug. Oh, and I can’t leave church out. Um, I am a member of a revival, um, church in Arizona that just continues to light a fire in me. And so those are the things that allows me to recharge.

Stone Payton: And don’t you find that I call it white space, but I find that not only do I enjoy these activities, but I really think it gives me a chance to do what you said, recharge, and allows me to be that much more effective when I clock back in and try to live into to what we’re trying to do here at Business Radio. It’s important for entrepreneurs to, to to make time and energy to do that, isn’t it?

Dr. Velma Trayham: Yeah it is. It really is. Because here’s the thing. Your health is your wealth. And if you’re not taking care of your physical body and your.

Speaker4: Mind.

Dr. Velma Trayham: Then you’re gonna you’re gonna burn out. And, you know, it’s really nothing you could do when you burn out. And you can’t pour from an empty cup. You cannot help anyone if you yourself is not at a capacity level, um, to where you can actually, um, thrive in the area or the lane that you are in. I was asked a question a couple of days ago, um, about work life balance. How do you balance it? How do you do this? We see that you’re a mom. We see that you own multiple companies. We see that you’re the president of the Black Chamber. How do you balance? And my question and my response to them was I personally, in my humble opinion, do not believe in work life balance. I believe in work life integration. So integrating my life, my personal life into my business and integrating a little bit of my business into my personal life, and so I take time when time is needed. I meditate every day, um, and I rest. I get at least eight hours of sleep every night. Um, and so that is truly, I think, the importance of unplugging so that you can show up in excellence and so that you can show up as the very best version of yourself at all times.

Stone Payton: Well, I love the way that you’ve reframed that or reframed it for me anyway, from balance to integration, that sounds like a much more sustainable, productive way to lens to to view it through. All right, before we wrap, I’d love to leave our listeners, if we could, with a couple of actionable pro tips. And look, guys, the number one pro tip here is reach out, have a conversation with Doctor Velma or somebody on her team. Tap into her work, and we’re going to make sure you have some coordinates to do that in just a moment. But let’s leave them with a with a couple pro tips. If we could.

Dr. Velma Trayham: A couple of pro tips.

Speaker4: Um.

Dr. Velma Trayham: Pro tip number one. Become the light. Become the light because only light drives out darkness. The world does not need any more pessimistic, angry, hostile, uh, people that are, uh, filled and flamed up with anger, hate and all of the other stuff. So become the light because you are everywhere that you will go. Um, and so the only thing that drives out darkness is light. And so if you want happiness and you want peace in your life, you need to become the light from the inside out. Change some things about you at your core. Maybe some things that you learned when you were a kid. Maybe some things you learned from a culture that you need to release yourself of. You need to become more cognizant of what you’re putting out and also what you are allowing in, because whatever you allow in is going to come out in some way. So work on you. The second thing I would say is, um, the second thing I would say is build a community of destiny helpers. You need people that are that’s going to pour into you and then you pour into them. You need mutual beneficial relationships and partnerships. And this leads me to my last thing is you can’t do everything alone. You need a team. You need allies. Um, and you need strategy. And collaboration is very important. So those are the things that I would leave.

Stone Payton: Thank you. All right. Best way for us to tap into your work. Maybe have a more substantive conversation with you or someone on your team. Let’s leave them with some coordinates to do that.

Dr. Velma Trayham: Yes. Um, so I am on LinkedIn. My personal LinkedIn is Doctor Velma Trahan, t r a y.

Speaker4: H a.

Dr. Velma Trayham: M. I’m also on Instagram. Velma Graham I am on Facebook as well. Velma Graham um, I you can keep up with the work that I’m doing nationally on my personal platforms, but if it’s market related, we have the Arizona Black Chamber. Um, which black chamber of Arizona? I’m sorry, across all platforms. Um, and then if you want to connect through some of our programs in Atlanta, Houston and some of these other markets, connect through our nonprofit organization called Millionaire Mastermind Academy, and the mission to millions of Millionaire Mastermind Academy is to end poverty through entrepreneurship. And so Millionaire Mastermind Academy is also on, um, across all social media. So join the mailing list, stay connected to us and show up. I believe that 98% of success is showing up.

Stone Payton: Well, Doctor Velma, it has been an absolute delight having you on the broadcast today. Thank you for your insight, your perspective, your enthusiasm and quite sincerely, this has been an inspiring, invigorating conversation for me. I know it has been for our listeners. You are doing such important work and we sure appreciate you.

Dr. Velma Trayham: Thank you very much, Don. I appreciate you too, for having me and the great work that you’re doing with High Velocity Radio Show. So thank you.

Stone Payton: My pleasure. Alright, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Doctor Velma Trahan with Think Zilla Consulting Group and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you in the fast lane.

 

Tiffany Hamlin with World Gym

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Franchise Marketing Radio
Tiffany Hamlin with World Gym
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Tiffany-HamlinTiffany Hamlin is the VP of Fitness Operations & Strategic Development at World Gym, bringing over 18 years of expertise to the role. Her passion for “Changing Lives Through Fitness” has driven her success in business operations, program development, and strategic vendor relationships.

Tiffany co-created STUDIOX and its specialized formats, including INCINER8 BOX and INCINER8 STRENGTH, and previously served as Program Director for World Gym Athletics and Youth Sports Performance. She has managed large-scale Group Fitness Programs, overseen networks of over 1,000 instructors, and driven operational efficiency and profitability. World-Gym-logo

With over 15 fitness certifications, Tiffany is a recognized consultant and speaker at international fitness conventions. Her leadership in enhancing member experience and developing new programs underscores her significant impact on the fitness industry.

Connect with Tiffany on LinkedIn.

Porscha Jackson with City of Houston Office of Business Opportunity

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Houston Business Radio
Houston Business Radio
Porscha Jackson with City of Houston Office of Business Opportunity
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Porscha-JacksonPorscha Jackson, PhD is a powerhouse in Houston’s small business ecosystem! As the Business Development Manager at the City of Houston Office of Business Opportunity (OBO), she’s not just managing programs; she’s the secret sauce for small businesses hungry for success.

Picture her as a go-to mentor, helping entrepreneurs navigate the business labyrinth and representing OBO with flair at community events. Beyond her city role, Dr. PJ is an author, penning two books “Pursuing Legacy” and “It’s Me, Not You” as well as contributing to academic texts and anthologies.

With a heart for the underdog, she’s not just a professional rockstar but a community champion, fighting for inclusivity and brighter futures. COHOBO-Logo

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. It is my pleasure. And I am so excited to have this amazing guest on with us today. Porscha Jackson, the Business Development Manager for City of Houston Office of Business Opportunity. She is a powerhouse in Houston small business ecosystem and as the business development manager at the City of Houston Office of Business Opportunity, which we’re going to call OBO. We’ll talk about that later. She’s not just managing the programs, she’s the secret sauce for small businesses hungry for success. Besides that, she’s also an author and she’s written two books, Pursuing Legacy and It’s Me, Not You, with a heart for the underdog. She’s not just a professional rock star, but a community champion fighting for inclusivity and brighter futures. Porscha, welcome to the show.

Porscha Jackson: Thank you. Thanks for having me. Glad to be here.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m so excited that you’re on with us. And, you know, you and I have had the opportunity to have some conversations around what you’re doing in the city of Houston, and it made me realize, and you probably get this all the time, that people just don’t know what’s going on with the City of Houston Office of Business Opportunity, we’ll call it OBO for short today. Um, so why don’t we start there? I’d love if I missed anything, Portia, about you. I’d love for you to add that. And then let’s jump into what in the world is the OBO, and how might we be able to utilize it or get the word out about it?

Porscha Jackson: Absolutely. So oboe is what I tell people. We are the advocate for small businesses on behalf of the city of Houston, where one of the 22 departments at the city of Houston, and we are charged with advocating for small businesses, especially those businesses that have been historically marginalized and that are owned and operated by historically marginalized individuals. So what that means is that we’re one of us. We’re about, I would say, maybe between 35 and 40 people in our office. So we’re a small but mighty office. We do certifications that are used widely by other government agencies as well as we have our Oboe Solutions center for folks who say, hey, I need mentorship or I want to start my business, what do we ask for? You know, where do we go for permits? What’s going on? You know, as far as business, we can provide the solution to you and then we also have our contracts compliance division, which ensures that any certified firms, the folks that we certify that are working on our contracts, that everything is going correctly as towards that contract. And then the last aspect that we have is kind of the space where I live, and that’s the business development programing. So we have a plethora of programs, whether it’s just maybe a couple hour workshop all the way up to programs that last up to six months. So that’s in a nutshell, what our office does.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s bigger than just a nutshell. Porsche. I think you guys are doing a lot for this city. And one of the things that you and I have talked offline about, in particular, these programs where you are out negotiating these programs and bringing them to business owners, and you’re finding that people aren’t taking advantage of the programs because it sounds like it’s too good to be true. So can we talk a little bit about these These particular programs that you have out there that you’ve worked so hard to bring back to the business community?

Porscha Jackson: Absolutely. And one of the reasons people think it’s too good to be true is because all the resources and services, including the programs that we offer, is at no financial cost to our business owners. So when people hear free, they always have that that eyebrow lifted like, huh? What? Yeah. No, it’s totally free. We want you to take advantage of it, because we understand the significance that our small business play businesses play in our ecosystem. You guys are the backbone. So we have to make sure that you have the resources and the services that you need in our programs do just that. We have a program all the way from folks who are just in the ideation stage like, hey, I want to do a business. I got this idea. How do I make it come into fruition? And we have our lift off Houston business plan competition that satisfies that. So it’s really targeted for folks who just, again, are in the ideation stage or have been in business for less than a year, and they get to compete for funding for their for their business. And one of the things that I really like about it is that on the pitch day. Right? So I guess leading up to the pitch day, you go through a series of classes, then you are paired with a financial mentor as well as a mentor who’s going to help you develop that idea and create that business plan.

Porscha Jackson: And then you can go and pitch to the finalist will pitch in front of a Facebook audience. And so the audience gets to vote on the best, the fan favorites, what we call it. So it’s always an engaging experience with that business plan competition. So that’s kind of like the first level of our business development programing. And then we go all the way up to what I call as our capstone pillars for success. That runs on the blue wave supplier development program. And that’s for folks who’ve been in business, been making a pretty good amount. Like just say about 350 a year. And they’re saying, you know what, I want to take it higher. I want to go to the next level. How do I do that? And so this program really gives in place the policies that they need to establish. How can they expand and add in more new employees, consider other markets with their business. So that’s the range of the programs that we have available.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Just so exciting. And yes, at no cost. And it’s not too good to be true. It is true. And you guys have worked so hard to be able to bring these programs to the business community. Um, I’d like to focus just for a few minutes, Porsha, on how do we get people more involved. You and I had this conversation before about these business owners are so stuck working in their businesses that they feel like they can’t step away and participate in these programs where they’re actually working on their business. So what advice could you give to these business owners who are struggling when they think about stepping away from their business to actually work on it, instead of in it?

Porscha Jackson: I say my best advice would be is that you have to know your goal, right? So if your goal is, hey, I’m fine with this revenue. I don’t want to grow, then that’s totally fine. But if you really want to grow, then you know, in order to grow, there’s going to be some stretching involved, right? There’s going to be some different ways that you have to maneuver in order to fit into those new sets of clothes, right, to. And so and think of the business program as the new sets of clothes that you are growing into. And so you have to just really rely on that and say, you know what? This is my goal. I’m going to get to it regardless. And so if I’m out there, especially because it’s no financial cost, right? So we know that businesses Access to capital and having the capital to invest in your business, and you’re doing all that, but you’re not going to grow if you can’t step away from the business to work on it. If you’re always in it, you’re always going to get those same results. And so we are there for you. We understand that that is hard to do, and sometimes we want to have our fingers and toes in everything. And sometimes you gotta say, you know what? I’m going to trust the process. I’ve set that good foundation for it. So let me step out of it and and learn how to work on it, and let me figure out the folks I can hire so that I feel I can breathe at night. That when I’m gone, when I’m out networking, that everything is being run accordingly. So just really have that goal set in mind and just know, like, hey, whatever it takes, I’m going to put my mind to it and accomplish my goal.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, that’s very sound advice. So this capstone program you all run, I believe, once a year. Do you want to give kind of the timing around that when when you open up registration and what that might look like and, and even who qualifies? I know you mentioned that there’s a revenue qualification, but is there also a qualification around, you know, what part of town they work in or live in and those sorts of things. So give me more details.

Porscha Jackson: Sure. So our pillars for success, again, it runs on our on the Blue Wave supplier development program. And so the requirements are $350,000 in annual revenue. And keep in mind we’re going to be kind of soft on that. So if you’re at two 5300, you know we’ll we’ll have some leniency there. But the other requirements is that you don’t have to be certified by us, but we would like you to be certified because of the opportunities that’s going to come from it. But the main requirement is that you have to be open to learning. So this is where we’re talking about that growing and having those goals, you’re going to have to be open to learning and open, because we’re going to do an assessment from the beginning and the end, and we’re looking at where you’re at. So even if where you’re at is not where you want to be, that’s okay. We got to start somewhere so that we can get you to where you want to be. And so just having that open mind and saying, yes, I’m willing to take in the information. Yes, I’m willing to learn. And guess what? We got homework. So yes, I’m willing to do the homework. Then you will be a great candidate. It’s open for all industries and all industries. We love that because what we find out is that you learn from each other, the other folks that are in your cohort, you learn from each other.

Porscha Jackson: You can do business with each other, but open to all industries. Of course, you must be the owner of that company, uh, to participate in it and just have that willingness to to commit to the time frame. So all the classes except for two. So the first class where we come, we call it the kickoff and then the graduation. Those are the only two that are in person. All of the other classes are virtual, and we meet pretty much every other week for about six months. So right now the applications are open on our website which is Houston, tx.gov/o b o. You can click on business development programs and you’ll see pillars for success right there. We’ll also have informational sessions at the first Wednesday of each month. So that’s September, October, November. You can come in and find out more information. We’ll break down those seven pillars that we talk about. And so you can can kind of get more information, ask questions and see if this really is the right fit for you. And so the program will start January 25th of 2025 and will complete it by June of 2025.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay. That’s amazing. And listen, all of you out there have thought at one point or another, gosh, I wish I had some help with. And you fill in the blank. This is your opportunity to take advantage of the hard work that portion her team have put into bringing these types of resources and programs to you, specifically as a business owner, to help you learn how to scale. If we stay, if we’re the only person working in our business, then we’re only going to be able to get so big in our businesses. So in order to be scalable, we’ve got to be able to step away and focus on working on it at least some of the time, which is what Porsche is offering her and her team are offering through this program. You did say something about certification. So tell me, can you give me a quick, um, overview of what that certification is and what it will get the business owner?

Porscha Jackson: Sure. So we have the certifying agency for the city of Houston, which means we certify folks in six different areas as minority, business owned, woman owned, small business, persons with disabilities, airport concessions, disadvantaged disadvantaged business enterprise, as well as disadvantaged business enterprise. And we can also get you certified for the hub, which is historically underutilized business certification. And that’s typically used for when you want to work on state contracts. So my my ongoing joke that I like, but I don’t know if anybody else laughs at it, but it’s six in a possible. So if you play spades you know exactly what I’m talking about. So those are the certifications that we have and those certifications open the door for you to participate on these larger contracts and sort of put it in perspective. The city of Houston, keep in mind that our spend is over $2 billion a year. Right? So when we’re talking about contracts we’re And honestly, I was just counseling somebody today and we were looking at security contracts, and there was a security contract out there for $86 million. So if you’re a small business, $86 million contract might not be there yet for you. Right? Because you’re just starting off and you’re you’re gaining that. But the entryway towards that 86 million is to work as a subcontractor for that $86 million contract. And to do that, the certification helps you to do that. So those that $86 million contract had a 25%, uh, mWBE goal minority woman owned business enterprise goal, which means saying whoever has this 86 million has to subcontract 25% to a minority woman owned firm. And that’s your way, your gateway into working on these large contracts, a great way to build the capacity of your business so that one day you will have the 86 million, and then you’ll be subcontracting it out because you have built that capacity and grown your business. So that’s what that certification comes into play.

Trisha Stetzel: Wow, that is amazing. There are so many resources out there. That and again, the reason why I wanted to have you on the show so that we could talk about that because there’s this this I think space of unknown and people just don’t know. So we, we’ve got to get the word out. So if you’re listening and you’re interested, please reach out. Uh, you can go to Houston tx.gov/o b o to get more information. And if it’s not for you, maybe it’s for someone that you know and you can share that information as well. So as we get to the back end of our conversation, I’d be really curious, you know, your idea or your opinion on the small business ecosystem here in Houston and maybe some business trends that you see going on?

Porscha Jackson: Yeah, I would say one is interesting about our small business ecosystem that I hear from a lot of people who move here or who visit here. Um, is that wow, you guys get along and I’m like, what? Doesn’t everybody get along? But apparently that’s not the true the truth in every city. And so our small business ecosystem is really a tight connection. We see each other at various different events. When we have our own individual events, we invite each other out. So we work and collaborate very well because it’s like a net, right? We talk about net net worth or net work. We’re building that net for our small businesses. And so if there’s programs that maybe we can’t admit you into the program, we’re definitely going to refer you to somebody else in that ecosystem because we truly understand the importance of our small businesses. And so that ecosystem consists of other government agencies who have a supplier diversity component of their of their, uh agency, as well as straight out business support organizations, which are organizations that are solely created to support businesses, to provide counseling, to provide ways for you to access funding. And so we all work together, whether they’re funders, they’re counselors or they’re advisors, they’re program. We all work together. And to make sure that we are putting on some programs to help our small businesses. And again, that whole ecosystem, some folks charge, but when they do charge, it’s little amount compared to some of the feedback that I get from some folks from other states where they have to pay for all this business development programing and these services and all that here in Houston is not only an abundance, but it’s offered at little to no cost.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Well, and, you know, talking about organizations coming together and really serving and helping each other, you and I met through the Houston Regional Veterans Chamber of Commerce at one of our the roundtables that we host with other organizations. So thank you for being a part of that as well and keeping those communication lines open. So any business trends that you see happening right now, I know you’re doing a lot of counseling in your office as well as running these programs. So you have the opportunity to talk to local business owners real time. So what are you seeing?

Porscha Jackson: What I’m seeing is two things is I is definitely a trend. And I think right now it’s like the baby part of it. The introduction is that folks are getting introduced to it, and we’re kind of seeing how it could really help businesses, especially in some areas that might take us personally some time to, to, to cultivate or create. And we can just once we understand I it can get it done in like 20s and we can be spending time over here. So just really how to incorporate AI into your business to help you to be a tool to assist, not to do, but to assist you is one. And then another trend that I’m seeing is more folks trying to really figure out and solidify this whole social media thing. And so word of mouth still is the main venue of or the main vein of how to communicate information. But that word of mouth looks a little bit different because it might be in the form of Instagram or Facebook or LinkedIn. So we’re seeing a lot of businesses trying to find their niche where they might have disregarded social media before, but now they’re seeing like, I must have this. So how do I figure out which platform is best for me and how can I use it to do it, but also realizing that sometimes it’s almost a full time job.

Porscha Jackson: So how can I find someone to do this for me? Um, even if I don’t get it? And that really kind of touches back to what we talked about earlier of working on the business instead of working in it, and there’s so many ways that if you’re working in the business, you’re not going to have time to keep up with that social media. But there are folks that you can hire. So again, releasing some of that control that you pretty much have to do, you know, to make sure that your business is surviving, because that website is going to be like your brick and mortar, and then your social media accounts are, you know, the things that go out and blast out and keep folks engaged and knowing about your business, even on the contract level. Because think about it. If you’re thinking about doing contracts with government agencies, one of the ways they might figure out, okay, we have these folks who are bidding on something. How can we tell who they are? They’re immediately going to your website. And when people want to patronize your business or go to your social media and see what other people are saying about your business. So those are the trends that I’m seeing.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, that’s that’s huge. You’re such a plethora of information. I can’t imagine why anyone, why anyone, would not take the opportunity to reach out to you and reach out to the OBO and really start to understand some of these things that they may be reluctant to get into because they just don’t know, and you’re able to provide those resources. And I think that’s so important to all of our small business owners as we continue to grow the business economy in Houston. It’s huge. Lots of small business owners. I love that you said that. They all people are surprised that we all get along. It’s because we’re Texans, that’s why. Yeah. Uh, if you could give our audience today one piece of advice, what would it be? For sure.

Porscha Jackson: My one piece of advice would be to have the end in mind, know why you’re in the business, what your goal is and what. Why are you doing this? So that you always have that picture and it keeps you moving and you know what direction you’re going in because you’re trying to reach that particular goal.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. That is fantastic advice. Doctor Jackson, thank you so much for being with me today. I have really enjoyed our conversation. I look forward to having more conversations, maybe about your books next time we can spend some time there. That would be a ton of fun. And, uh, it was a pleasure having you on today and thank you again. I appreciate your time.

Porscha Jackson: Yes, thanks for having me. It’s been great.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s all the time we have for today’s show. Join us next time for another exciting episode of Houston Business Radio. Until then, stay tuned, stay inspired, and keep thriving in the Houston business community.

 

David Doss with CKC.Fund

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High Velocity Radio
David Doss with CKC.Fund
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In this episode of High Velocity Radio, host Stone Payton interviews David Doss with CKC.Fund. David discusses the growing importance of digital assets in investment portfolios, emphasizing the need for education in this emerging field. He shares his personal journey into the industry and highlights the significance of a balanced investment approach. David also underscores the value of community and expertise in navigating the complexities of digital assets. The episode offers valuable insights for investors looking to understand and incorporate digital assets into their strategies.

David-DossWith a 15-year track record as a marketing, growth, and investing professional, David Doss has led teams of 10+ and managed 7+ figure budgets, working across technology, media, financial services, real estate, and cryptocurrency to expand monetization opportunities.

He holds an MBA with a focus on marketing, strategy, and innovation, and has served a wide array of organizations including Citibank and Saks 5th Avenue.

Continuing to build on his 6+ year track record in the blockchain space, David currently serves as chairman of CKC.Studio (a blockchain growth consultancy studio) and managing director of CKC.Fund (a manager of crypto investment funds). CKC-Fund-logo

Connect with David on LinkedIn and X.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Blockchain & Crypto in Wealth Management
  • Diversifying Portfolios with Digital Assets
  • Navigating Crypto Regulations
  • Growth and Marketing in Blockchain
  • Blockchain’s Impact on Real Estate & Other Alternative Investments

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with CKC.Fund, Mr. David Doss. How are you, man?

David Doss: Doing well. Thanks, Tony. I appreciate you having me on the show.

Stone Payton: Well, I’ve really been looking forward to the conversation I shared with you before we went on air. Uh Lee Kantor. And I just spent a full day at the Fintech South 2024 conference, and we did a ton of interviews and we caught up with some old friends, made some new ones. It’s a very timely conversation. I got a ton of questions. David, I know we’re not going to get to them all, but but I think a great place to start would be if you could paint a picture for me and our listeners of mission, purpose. What are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks, man.

David Doss: Yeah. No, it’s it’s a good question. So I mean, ultimately what we’re looking to do is to mobilize systems that work better for a wider group of people. So the way that we see blockchain, digital assets, Web3, the way we see that kind of broader sector is an ability to to create more value for for more kinds of businesses, more kinds of groups and more people. And that’s, you know, ranging from investment and wealth building perspective to a more kind of a product and service functionality perspective on the business side.

Stone Payton: If you could, would you try to give us laypeople a simple definition or a way to think about a blockchain, and b maybe even digital assets.

David Doss: A key set of factors around blockchain is that it is a decentralized ledger. So it’s essentially as a database, a database with multiple different copies. And there’s consensus that’s needed or agreement that’s needed in order to make sure what data is correct. So thinking through that on a more functional level, I like I like the analogy that that a friend in literature used. They were saying, oh, you know, before, before we had kind of ultra standardized literature, let’s say we had oral tradition and there were multiple different people out there that had memorized different, different texts. And so an advantage of that is that when you do have that memorization happening. You know, if you destroy one copy of the text you still have, you know, you still have access to the source text. It’s not not a perfect analogy, but I think that that’s that’s one of the things where this is, is resistant to tampering, resistant to theft, resistant to censorship. Basically, what I would call more of an anti-fragile system where when it’s when it’s put under stress, it actually, uh, actually not only stays resilient, but actually can even grow under that stress.

Stone Payton: I think it’s a marvelous analogy for somebody like me that’s very helpful and is digital assets. Is this like crypto? Is that what we’re talking about here?

David Doss: Yeah. So and that’s I think an important, important point to make is we prefer to use the term digital assets, because I think a lot of people will will say crypto or cryptocurrency. Uh, but the. What’s important to bear in mind is that there are multiple different types of digital assets. So when I say digital assets, I’m specifically referring to tokens of value that are, you know, usually on a blockchain. But those those tokens can represent different things. So they can represent they can represent real world value like tokenized real estate or tokenized, let’s say gold. Right. They can they can include though also, you know what a lot of people conventionally think of as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Or they could also be completely separate around solving for a particular utility, like an access token to to a digital space or a physical a physical space. So the broader point there being that there’s more to to blockchain and there’s more to assets on the blockchain than just the, you know, the Bitcoin or Ethereum that we read about in the news.

Stone Payton: So what’s the backstory, man? How did you find yourself in this line of work?

David Doss: Well, I think it’s a it’s been a it’s been a journey. Um, I’d say a couple of the key points along the way are, uh, firstly, I grew up in a pretty international environment and pretty mission driven environment. So I was raised Orthodox Christian. And so that’s there’s a lot of these different, different communities around the world, you know, in different countries, different cultures. So in that sense, also kind of a bit, uh, decentralized, uh, approach to, uh, to community spirituality. Um, and I mean, with that background, I, I was always interested in doing something that was, uh, basically had the ability to make some sort of impact um, Across different communities around the world, and in university I studied. Languages, social movements. Um, I got involved in non-profits. Uh, other. You know, basically impact initiatives. And I became really interested in the ability. For small groups in the private sector to impact change from the bottom up. So it’s really, again, kind of interested in that decentralization before I knew what it was really. So after after university, gravitating back to Silicon Valley where I grew up, um, you know, being involved in, uh, in security, privacy, uh, digital economy, commerce, these sorts of things. Once I found out about blockchain, digital currencies, it really was kind of the next evolution of that journey that, uh, like I was saying at the beginning, this is one way where we can create more inclusive and more um. More beneficial systems for a broader group of people around the world.

Stone Payton: So yeah, I want to dive into the work because I’m operating under the impression that your assertion is there is a place in my portfolio for digital assets. Yeah.

David Doss: That’s correct. So the the thing about, I guess, any, any new innovation is, you know, you’ve got kind of maximalists who say, oh, this is going to completely replace. And then you’ve got the naysayers who are saying, oh, what are you talking about? You know, this stuff is is useless, right? And I mean, generally speaking, the truth tends to be somewhere in the middle. And and so to that point, I like that you said a place in your portfolio. So, you know, you do have the people that are are saying, oh, this is going to, you know, replace anything and everything under the sun. I’m not one of those people, but where I do think that the use case is, is rounding out the broader, the broader picture of a portfolio that digital assets can provide a asymmetric upside opportunity in a portfolio that’s basically just a fancy way of saying that the reward far outweighs the risk when a small percentage of the portfolio is is allocated into digital assets. And that’s that’s the case. That level, that type of strategy is something that a lot of, uh, very, uh, wealthy and or very savvy individuals have tended to indicate preference for. So if you look at analysis from a modern portfolio theory framework or surveys of high net worth individuals, uh, family offices, uh Forbes, even Ark invest. Various have indicated that a percentage ranging from 2 to 20% of a portfolio depends on who you ask. And and you know and what the what the person’s kind of goals are for their portfolio. But that general kind of smaller position of a bigger portfolio is something where this can act as a hedge against uncertainties and and vulnerabilities in other markets. Um, you know, that might make up the portfolio. So positions like stocks or bonds or real estate and where it can also, um, is still large enough that that it that the upside is significant. So kind of finding that sweet spot between the risk and the reward is the point there.

Stone Payton: So your work your business, is it focused on working with individual investors like me, or is it working with wealth management professionals to help bring this as uh, as something that they can bring to their clients. What’s your role in all this?

David Doss: Yeah. So we, my team and I, we are a fund management team. So we manage a we manage vehicles that that focus on optimizing returns in the crypto space. And generally, uh, the, the folks involved in those vehicles can range from, uh, you know, uh, individuals specifically, uh, you know, uh, accredited investors or kind of higher net worth individuals can also include, um, businesses and can also include wealth management groups, investment advisors who are, who are allocating on behalf of their clients.

Stone Payton: So now that you’ve been at this a while, what what are you finding the most rewarding? What’s the most fun about it for you?

David Doss: Yeah. So I think that I think that, um, it really feels like being at the center of everything, I guess the kind of the, the, the node connecting to, to all these other interesting worlds. And what I mean by that is, uh, a couple of things. So firstly, just in general, I think that, you know, the, uh, the financial services sector touches everything, you know, from, from, you know, every everyone’s day to day lives. Right? But also so does technology. So when you look at the intersection of finance and technology, it’s just really very connected to just about everything that that we do in our day to day lives. And so to me, that’s that’s a really exciting way to be, uh, kind of that expert generalist where this one thing that I’m focused on touches all of these amazing areas and where I get to to see an impact that ripples out across other, um, other, uh, you know, use cases, other, other sectors. So as an example of that, you know, we are working on providing liquidity for other, uh, other groups, for example, investment groups that are looking to build businesses or buildings in emerging markets, um, or in, uh, basically new opportunity sectors like, uh, to develop new opportunity sectors like AI or, um, intellectual property. And through what we’re doing on the, on the liquidity, uh, providing the, the, the, uh, asset management and the due diligence, we’re able to support those initiatives. Uh, and so I think that that’s really exciting, where you don’t have to do everything, but can partner with people who are doing all these other cool things.

Speaker4: Well, yeah.

Stone Payton: How does the whole sales and marketing thing work in your world? I would think it might be a little bit different than a than a lot of us and what we find ourselves doing to get the business.

David Doss: Yeah. I mean, there’s, uh, that’s a good point. There are a couple of different aspects to that. So firstly, just that, uh, emerging emerging asset classes tend to have a certain level of, uh, you know, education needed in them. So, you know, I think people are largely just, you know, maybe they’re suspicious or maybe they just need to need to know more, you know, and that’s fairly, fairly frequent. So, um, so kind of that, uh, education component is huge. And then another part of it is as a as an emerging fund as well. So, um, you know, essentially like a startup. Uh, there’s a need for people to, to get more comfortable with who we are as a team. Um, so not just educating them on what we’re doing, but on who’s who’s doing it and why we’re doing it, is is another important part of things. And then also certainly just, you know, working within a regulated industry. So, you know, the, um, asset management, but also, uh, dealing with regulations that are constantly changing because it is an emerging asset class. That means that, you know, I think at the end of the day, developing relationships and giving people information and tools to make the right decisions for them is really what it comes down to, which is a is definitely a process. So this is not something where you know, it’s The, uh, throwing up a bunch of Facebook ads and, uh, kind of, you know, having people click through and buy.

Speaker4: Well, no, your.

Stone Payton: Focus on education makes all the sense in the world to me, because I’ve got to believe, because I think this is true in most every industry. It certainly is in ours, in the digital media industry, that there are often some myths, some, uh, preconceptions, sometimes just flat out wrong ideas about how and why things, uh, work. I bet you probably run into some of the same kind of myths. Misconceptions, uh, over and over from time to time, don’t you?

David Doss: Absolutely, absolutely.

Stone Payton: Uh, and this the other thing I’m thinking, and again, it’s true in our business, too, but the level of trust that you and your team must have to cultivate with the people you’re intending to to serve, it’s a it’s as transactional, I guess, as my initial talk about misconceptions initially, I’m thinking, well, this is a very transactional kind of business. It’s not. Your work is extremely rooted in relationship, isn’t it?

David Doss: 100%.

Stone Payton: So as you were kind of finding your way into this new world, um, this, this whole new class of, of asset, did you have the the benefit of one or more mentors along the way that kind of helped you navigate the terrain, or did you just have to kind of figure it out yourself and get a lot of scar tissue?

David Doss: A bit of both. I think there’s, you know, certainly there it’s a, it’s a it’s been a team sport, but definitely also one that’s uh, had a few, uh, you know, uh, few collisions along the way. Right. So, um, I think that, uh, yeah, as far as that’s one thing that I really find so, um, inspiring about, uh, about an emerging asset class like this is that the community is so passionate and also so tight knit in a lot of ways that, you know, a lot of people know a lot of other people and, and, you know, are pretty collaborative and just, you know, looking to, to learn from each other and build together. Um, but yeah, I think learning is kind of a double learning curve that there’s, you know, basically alternative investment, uh, funds and alternative investment management is a bit of a, uh, kind of under, uh, I guess, uh, under represented niche, let’s say that’s, that’s that’s fast growing. So it’s there it’s certainly not something where, you know, you can kind of just go and, and, uh, you know, find info on YouTube that’s necessarily, you know, 100% what’s right for, for what you need. So knowing people who’ve, you know, done this sort of thing before is, I think, very important. But then also same thing with the asset class of of in particular with crypto. I think there’s, there’s plenty of information but a lot of it is noise. So, you know, knowing people who can kind of confirm or deny a lot of the kinds of stuff that, you know, that you might read on the internet has, has been very important. So yeah, certainly it’s a, it’s a performance sport rather than a knowledge sport. So I think, you know, learning by by doing rather than by, by reading has been important. But also learning from a community has been important as well.

Stone Payton: So passions, pursuits, hobbies outside the scope of this work. I most of my listeners know that I like to hunt, fish and travel. What do you do when you’re not doing this and want to get away a little bit?

David Doss: Yeah. So let’s see a couple of things. I mean, firstly, I think just really, um, prioritizing um, you know, spiritual, emotional, physical health has been really, really important in, you know, I think the investment management space things are, you know, there’s a lot of stressors. And then when you add in a 24 over seven market like crypto, it can really just get quite crazy. So just really focusing on, you know, staying, uh, staying happy and healthy is, I think, really, really important for me. You know, I think I benefit a lot from kind of this biohacking trend going on. So really kind of just working on, you know, things ranging from measuring and optimizing, you know, my various health metrics to, you know, just taking the time to, to go for a run or to sit in the steam room and just kind of clear my head. I think these are really important things. And then like, like you had mentioned, sports and travel, I think are are huge as well of, uh, for me. You know, I’ve, uh, loved to travel, especially internationally. Um, and it’s something I get to do for. For work as well as personal travel. And then, uh, uh, fencing, competitive fencing is something that has been, um, you know, a long time, uh, avocation for me as well, which is, I think also something that that helps kind of build, reinforce the right concepts of, you know, building out strategies, but then also just kind of, uh, just kind of going with the flow when you need to go with the flow. I think sports can teach us a lot about life and business.

Stone Payton: I am so glad I asked David. I’ve been doing this for 21 years and you are my first fencer.

David Doss: All right.

Speaker4: Is that what you call him? The one.

Stone Payton: Who fences. A fencer?

David Doss: Yes. A fencer. You got it.

Speaker4: That is.

Stone Payton: Fantastic. All right, man. Before we wrap up, um let’s leave our listeners, if we could, with a couple of actionable pro tips, maybe something they should be reading, questions they should be prepared to ask, some things to look for a do or don’t. But let’s leave them and look gang. The number one pro tip if you want to learn more about this and you seriously want to to to get your arms around this, this emerging asset class, I think I think those were the words you used. Uh, the number one pro tip is reach out and have a conversation with David or somebody on his team. But let’s leave them with a couple of ideas, David.

David Doss: Yeah for sure. So in general, like you said, you know, I think, uh, just having the right people in your court is, is a really important part of life, right? I mean, we’ve all we’ve got our, our our guy or our lady, you know, for, for specific things ranging from, you know, uh, insights on, you know, the markets to, uh, to sports to, to business all of this stuff. So develop a good, uh, good community that can help, um, you know, community of experts that can help support you is, I think, an important one. Another is, you know, if you are thinking of, uh, of allocating into a, an asset class such as, you know, crypto or digital assets, consider the tried and true frameworks that, you know, that would apply to to other asset classes. So one thing we see with, uh, with the digital asset space is that, you know, people, a lot of people will either just park, uh, all their, uh, capital into Bitcoin, for example, or they’ll be just, uh, putting all their money into these very low market cap meme coins. And there’s some, some weird, uh, sense in which, uh, you know, people most people would never do similar things with their stock portfolio, but yet they do them with, you know, with another asset class. So, you know, the the analogy for what that would mean. And with stocks would be, oh, well, you know, Microsoft is, you know, ultra high cap stock. So I’m just going to put all my money into Microsoft or oh these you know these penny stocks could a thousand x. So you know I’m only going to go into those at the end of it. You know building out a a resilient portfolio that’s you know that’s balanced that and that also needs to adjust depending on on market conditions is something that you know, it can be a path to success, whether it be in real estate or stocks or crypto or what have you.

Speaker4: Yeah.

Stone Payton: All right, man, what’s the best way for our listeners to tap into your work? Maybe get some of this initial education, whatever, uh, coordinates or appropriate website. But let’s make sure they can they can connect if they’d like to.

David Doss: Yeah, absolutely. So there’s there’s a couple of different ways I’m pretty active on LinkedIn. Like we were saying, you know, education has been really key, um, for for what we’re doing. So on my personal LinkedIn as well as, as well as our company LinkedIn, we put out a lot of educational content, you know, videos, articles, market reports and, you know, market commentary, those sorts of things. So I would encourage you to check out the Casey Fund, LinkedIn. We have a newsletter on there you can subscribe to. There’s also my my personal LinkedIn. The URL is, uh, David Ambrose Doss. So LinkedIn, uh, what is that LinkedIn.com slash in slash uh, David Ambrose Doss and then, yeah, you can also feel free to reach out to me and my team, uh, via email if you like. Um, we’re at info at Casey Dot Refund.

Stone Payton: Well, David, it has been an absolute delight having you on the broadcast. Thank you for your insight, your perspective. Uh, it’s an exciting time for you, man. Congratulations on the momentum that what you’re doing. It really is important work. And we sure appreciate you, man.

Speaker4: Well, I.

David Doss: Appreciate you having me on the show. And yeah, especially after tackling 19 interviews yesterday, I’m, uh, honored to be honored to be on the show.

Stone Payton: My pleasure. Man. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, David Doss with Casey Fund and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you in the fast lane.

 

BRX Pro Tip: 4 Step Content Strategy

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BRX Pro Tips
BRX Pro Tip: 4 Step Content Strategy
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BRX Pro Tip: 4 Step Content Strategy

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, today let’s talk a little bit about content strategy.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:08] Yeah. We’re fortunate to have at our disposal a means and methodology to create as much content as we want on demand, just like we’re doing right now with this Pro Tips. But when you’re thinking about creating content for your client or for yourself, just understand that there’s kind of four parts to a customer journey that you should be creating content around.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:37] The first part is going from unknown to known in the minds of your prospect. So, the vast majority of the planet don’t know you exist. Even if you’re the most famous person on the planet, the vast majority of planet Earth don’t know that you exist. And that goes even more so for small to midsize business owners. So, your first bit of content has to be a way to introduce yourself to people who don’t know you exist. So, that’s number one.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:05] The second bit of information is you’ve got to move a person that now just kind of superficially knows about you. Like, call them an acquaintance and move them to somebody that knows a little bit more about you. They’ve heard about you and they kind of know what your superpower is, and let’s call that a friend. So, number one, is going from unknown to known. Number two, is going from acquaintance to friend.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:29] And then, the third bit of content you should be creating is to move somebody from a friend so they know what your superpower is to them actually buying something from you. So, now, they’re going from a friend to a client. And that content is different, obviously, than the other two chunks of content. And then, once a person is a client, then you’ve got to move them to being a client referrer where they feel so much goodwill about your relationship that they’re happily telling other people in their network about you and recommending you as a service provider to them. So, that’s another chunk of content that you have to create.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:13] So, if you think about those four buckets of content, then you know that you have to kind of customize educational, entertaining, informational content in each of those buckets to move people through that four step content strategy funnel. So, if you kind of look at it this way, it makes it easier to create content for you because you know that your content has to land in one of those buckets. So, just invest some time in creating content for each of those buckets and you will find that you’re much more successful when it comes to your content marketing.

BRX Pro Tip: Don’t Follow Your Passion. Do This Instead

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BRX Pro Tip: Don't Follow Your Passion. Do This Instead
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BRX Pro Tip: Don’t Follow Your Passion. Do This Instead

Stone Payton: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. So, here’s an interesting perspective. I’m interested to hear you talk about it a little bit more, but you’re saying, don’t follow your passion.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:16] Yeah. I don’t think that following your passion’s enough. I think following your passion is an element of what you should be doing, but you need also a check on, does your passion match up with a market need. And I think that’s where most people make a mistake.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:31] You know, if your passion is eating Snickers bars all day, it’s going to be very difficult for you to kind of find a career that involves eating Snickers bars all day even though that’s the thing you want to be doing every single day of your life and that’s what your life’s work in your head should be. I think a better strategy is one I read about in a Scott Adams book that was called How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:53] He says that he was a mediocre cartoonist. He was a mediocre humorist and a mediocre businessperson. But the combination of all those three skills made him unique. And because of those three skills all overlapping, he was kind of one of a kind in being a cartoonist, humorist, and businessperson. So because of that, he created Dilbert, which was an extremely successful cartoon that has been around for decades now.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:22] So, I think a better strategy, rather than just following your passion, is find three qualities that only you possess and see if there’s a market fit around those three qualities that only you possess. And then, if there is a market fit, then you might have an idea that you could build a business around.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:42] So, your passion might be around one of those three skills that make you unique, but it may not be. So, I would kind of invest time in kind of sorting through what your strengths are. Find three of them that only you possess, and then see if you can build a business around the intersection of all three of those qualities.

How Melanie Cristol is Revolutionizing Women’s Intimacy with Lorals

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Women in Motion
How Melanie Cristol is Revolutionizing Women's Intimacy with Lorals
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In this episode of Women in Motion, Lee Kantor interviews Melanie Cristol, founder of Lorals, a company creating latex lingerie to enhance women’s intimacy. Melanie shares her transition from corporate litigator to entrepreneur, driven by a passion for sexual wellness. She discusses the challenges of product development, the importance of market research, and leveraging social media for brand growth. Melanie also emphasizes the value of community and certifications for women-owned businesses. The episode highlights themes of empowerment, innovation, and the entrepreneurial journey, showcasing Melanie’s dedication to improving women’s intimate experiences.

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Melanie-CristolMelanie Cristol is an entrepreneur and lawyer based in Los Angeles, California.

Melanie is the founder and CEO of Lorals, an award-winning manufacturer of STI-protective intimate wear. With customers in over 80 countries and educational videos amassing over 100 Million views, Lorals strives to reinvent intimacy and to help everyone feel comfortable, confident, and protected.

Named among Entrepreneur Magazine’s “100 Women” honorees, Melanie has been interviewed by The New York Times, Fast Company, Cosmopolitan, and The American Lawyer. She has spoken about tech, manufacturing, and sexual health at SXSW, Lesbians Who Tech, and at various colleges and universities nationwide. Melanie also holds five US and international patents for Lorals’ unique function, design, and manufacturing process.

Melanie founded Lorals after working as an attorney at an international law firm. There, she conducted internal investigations of multi-billion-dollar corporations, represented corporate executives in civil and criminal proceedings, and litigated mass actions on behalf of companies in the healthcare, consumer products, pharmaceutical, and technology industries. Melanie also played a role in securing gay marriage rights in the Western United States.

Melanie has also worked at MTV Networks, Lambda Legal, and the National LGBTQ Task Force. She attended school in New York City and graduated with honors from Columbia College and Columbia Law School.

Connect with Melanie on LinkedIn and follow Lorals on Instagram.

Music Provided by M PATH MUSIC

Transcript-iconThis transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women In Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women In Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women In Motion, we have Melanie Cristol with Lorals. Welcome.

Melanie Cristol: Thank you so much. Happy to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Lorals. How are you serving folks?

Melanie Cristol: Yeah. So, Lorals are a sexual wellness product that I had been basically dreaming up for several years. What I was realizing is that so many women were able to experience a variety of forms of intimacy, but often a lot of that intimacy was tailored to what felt great for their partner and what led their partner to be able to climax.

Melanie Cristol: And what I realized through being a sex educator during college and through being involved with sex education for, basically, about 15 years after that point, I realized that what we generally think of as foreplay is the activity that will often lead women to be able to experience all of the joy of intimacy and to be able to have as many climaxes as possible. And yet there were so many products that were designed for intercourse rather than foreplay, and so I realized that I really wanted to dedicate a company to the activities during intimacy that helped women experience so much joy and excitement and led them to climax.

Melanie Cristol: And so, my company is called Lorals, it is short for our tagline Love Oral Always. And we essentially make latex lingerie that is ultra thin, incredibly stretchy, and it allows women to be able to experience the full sensations of oral, but then it blocks anything that might be holding them back from fully enjoying the experience.

Melanie Cristol: So, for example, our products are FDA cleared to protect against STIs. People will also use Lorals as a way to experience intimacy if they or their partner are overstimulated by scents, taste, or textures. They will be able to use our products to experience joy and satisfaction during menstruation. They’ll be able to use our products to experiment and have fun maybe in a way that’s sort of informed by 50 Shades of Gray. And basically be able to pull these on as sexy latex lingerie and say, yes, every single time.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you talk about going from the idea to actually a product, what were kind of some of the challenges or some of the things you ran into when you were trying to get it out of your head and actually onto a person?

Melanie Cristol: Yeah. So, this was a very involved product to bring to market, probably much more so than I anticipated when I came up with the idea for the company. So, there is a product called dental dams or oral dams that has been on the market for about 30 years. As you might guess from the name dental dam, it actually is a product that was originally derived from dentistry. Basically a 10 inch by 6 inch sheet that was designed to isolate a tooth during a dental procedure. But then over time, it became the go-to product for STI protection during oral sex on a woman.

Melanie Cristol: And when I was a sex educator and teaching about dental dams, I really felt like they had a lot left to be desired. You had to hold them in place. You had to ensure that they didn’t flip over to the other side and potentially pass STIs onto the person that you’re deliberately trying to prevent them from being transmitted to. You also have this product that didn’t really have any marketing behind it and certainly didn’t have a lot of design work done towards it.

Melanie Cristol: So, I really wanted to reinvent that product and create something that was hands-free, that was beautifully designed, that really felt like fun lingerie. And so, I spent some time initially figuring out what type of manufacturer would make this product. Would it be a clothing manufacturer or would it be somebody who has a lot of experience making latex products like condoms and gloves? And it quickly became clear that the condom and glove experience and knowledge and expertise of being able to create multiple of these products using sophisticated machinery and ensure that they are ultra thin, that they’re incredibly stretchy, that they don’t have holes, that they can be stretched without breaking, those kinds of things, that that experience really existed in the condom and glove manufacturers.

Melanie Cristol: And so, after I realized that, I learned that the brain center for condom and glove manufacturing is located in Malaysia. Basically, the world’s largest number of condoms and gloves is produced in Malaysia. So, although Malaysia was very far to me – I had never been to that country before. I hadn’t even been to Asia at that point before – it also was convenient to know that, really, if I wanted to get more involved in this industry, there was one country that I could explore that would lead me to a lot of knowledge regarding this particular kind of product manufacturing.

Melanie Cristol: And so, I started networking from afar and I connected with several factories, probably about a dozen factories in Malaysia, started speaking with them generally about the type of product I was making. And then, I arranged several appointments with factories out in Malaysia. And so, several years ago, I had my first trip out to Malaysia, and I met with, probably at that point, eight or nine different factories to figure out who was the best partner to work on with this.

Melanie Cristol: And, you know, so many trials and tribulations through meeting with different factories, figuring out which one was the right one, then doing a ton of prototyping, a lot of product development. You know, there were plenty of ups and downs that entire time, but we eventually got this incredible product and we were able to bring it to market.

Lee Kantor: So, how long did it take from kind of idea to a product?

Melanie Cristol: Yeah. It was about three years, from the time that I started working on this to the time that we were in the market and selling the product. And I initially was maybe a little bit disappointed in myself. Like, you know, why didn’t it happen faster? And then, I learned that one of the most recent condom innovations, which was basically to take the existing structure of a condom and turn it into a whole bunch of small little hexagons, that innovation was created by an entire team at a large company, and it took them seven years to get to market. So, I was pretty proud after I learned of that transition time. And now we’re just so proud and excited to be able to provide our products to people worldwide.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you had the idea, was this something that you got investors and you went all in on or was this something you were doing while doing something else?

Melanie Cristol: So, before I started Lorals, I was a corporate litigator at a large international law firm, and I had done that for several years and had saved quite a bit of money. As I watched all of my friends buying houses and investing in real estate, which was probably a very smart thing to do as well, but that wasn’t really my dream. And I was trying to figure out what am I going to do with this money that I’ve saved up and how am I going to use it to make the impact on the world that I want to be able to do? And so, having that money saved definitely helped tremendously in being able to bring Lorals to market. We also did bring in several different investors and raised some money in addition to the money that I invested in the company.

Lee Kantor: So, you didn’t do this as kind of a side hustle. You kind of stopped lawyering and then went all in to being an entrepreneur?

Melanie Cristol: Yeah. It just felt at the time like this was a really big idea. And I felt as though if I were lawyering, that I wasn’t going to be able to give it the time and attention that it deserved. And that I just really felt like I needed to go all in completely or perhaps it would just kind of get left on the wayside and, you know, turn into another hobby that I had started.

Melanie Cristol: And so, looking back, I’m really glad that I made that decision because, I mean, honestly, it was so much harder than I anticipated it being, and I think that there would have been so many opportunities to just let it go and quit along the way, quit Lorals, that is. And I’m so glad that that was not an easy decision to make, to quit it and to have to try to find a new career again or to go back to law, but kind of, you know, start from scratch. So, not having a very strong and secured backup plan, I think, kept me from giving up at the various times that things got really tough. And I’m really glad that I didn’t because I’m so happy about where we are today.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you maybe share some advice for other people that are maybe in corporate jobs that appear secure and that are financially rewarding, but they have this itch that they’d like to scratch of a dream or an entrepreneurial path, but they haven’t kind of taken the leap yet. Any advice for going through that decision-making process?

Melanie Cristol: Yes, absolutely. So, I would spend a lot of time thinking about what are your values in life. What is important to you overall? How do you want to spend your day-to-day? And also what kinds of resources you need to have at your disposal in order to feel secure and comfortable and happy? I think that varies tremendously from person to person. And I think that a lot of things that entrepreneurs during the early years go without are comforts that many folks in corporate jobs just would not be interested in giving up, and rightfully so. It really just depends on who the person is.

Melanie Cristol: So, I love putting together charts when making hard decisions like this. So, personally, what I would probably do is kind of list all of the things that are important to me in my daily life and goals and values, and then probably assign weight to each of those things, and then go through and look at my plan for what would it mean to continue in my corporate job, what would it mean to continue or to go off and do this venture.

Melanie Cristol: And then, I don’t know, maybe a third option of something, you know, in between that’s still within the corporate realm, but maybe utilizes different skills or passions that the person has. And then, I would kind of do this like weighted analysis of each of those options and figure out numerically how awesome for you each of these particular routes could be. And then, use that to gauge your decision moving forward. You know, like if you find that you score 80 points out of 85 with moving forward with some kind of awesome venture like this, then that’s telling you a lot of good information, especially if you’re comparing it to, you know, 40 points from continuing in your career.

Melanie Cristol: But if you’re analysis ends up making you realize that you’re getting a lot of what you need out of life from staying in this corporate job, then that’s fantastic for you. And maybe you can find a way to do something like this as more of a hobby, you know, create an Etsy page and sell things here and there, or talk about your interest on social media or something like that.

Melanie Cristol: There’s plenty of outlets to do creative pursuits that do not involve quitting your corporate job and throwing everything at this one particular passion and interest of yours. So, yeah, I would say figure out what is important to you and what is going to get you to that point.

Melanie Cristol: And there’s a couple of books that I recommend for that. One of them is What Color Is Your Parachute?, which is a really awesome career change book that helps you really evaluate what you’re looking for in a workplace and in a career. I also read and enjoyed 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. I learned through that book that I don’t necessarily need or desire a four-hour workweek. But what I thought was really valuable about that book was it really helps you think about what you would like about life on a day-to-day basis and how much money it’s going to cost to support that lifestyle.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned that it took three years from idea to actually having a product in your hands. Were you getting clues that the market was receptive to this along the way or was this kind of, you know, build it and they will come until the very end when you actually had a product and you’re like, “Okay. Now, we’ll see if anyone’s actually going to buy this”?

Melanie Cristol: Oh. That’s such a great question. And absolutely, I think that, you know, to modify my advice from the last question, I do think that if you have a product that you are personally excited about, you really do want to test the market and figure out whether there is interest. That’s actually a component of the 4-Hour Workweek book. It goes into some detail about how to test the market and figure out whether there is interest out there. And, yeah, I engaged in a variety of surveys and tests to ensure that this wasn’t just something that I wanted, but that it was something that a wide variety of people wanted.

Melanie Cristol: And one of the things that I learned through that is I think that oral dams have, like I mentioned, existed for, like, about three decades and it’s a relatively large market. I don’t know, millions of units are sold per year. It’s not tens of millions, so it’s not a huge market. And it felt like I knew and our surveys reiterated the fact that we were going to be making a really notable improvement to dental dams and oral dams when they’re used in an intimate context. But is improving on a product that sells several million units a year, is that a large enough market?

Melanie Cristol: But what I learned through all of these customer interviews and surveys and all of those kinds of ways of assessing the market was that the oral dam was not serving the full range of interests people potentially had in a product that facilitated intimacy in this way. If you are feeling shy about intimacy, like for example, a lot of folks would tell me I really love the sensations of oral, but then when it comes to the reality of it, I don’t want somebody up close and personal like that. Those folks are not going to utilize an oral dam in their activities. They’re already feeling shy and uncomfortable. They’re certainly not going to want to hold up this bright colored sheet of latex in front of them. But the idea of incorporating lingerie into that activity is suddenly really exciting and erotic.

Melanie Cristol: And then, there’s a variety of other use cases that wouldn’t have worked for an oral dam, but then when you are talking about ultra thin, sexy lingerie, then the market suddenly becomes so much larger than millions of units per year. And so, that was an important thing that I learned during this surveying research process, that the interest of the market in a product that does what Lorals do was not being adequately served by oral dams, and thus our market for Lorals could be basically seven to eight times larger than the existing oral dam market. Plus, if we turn oral dams into something that is easy to use and fun to use, that massively increases the potential size of the oral dam market as well.

Lee Kantor: Right. That becomes the floor, not the ceiling.

Melanie Cristol: Exactly.

Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for you to become part of the WBEC-West community?

Melanie Cristol: Yeah. So, that was one of the recommendations by a mentor that I have at JP Morgan. She was talking about all of the awesome small and medium-sized businesses that she works with that are in a growth stage, and was saying that so many of them are able to benefit from basically having their diversity related credentials certified by these independent agencies like WBENC. And that was leading them to be able to work with large buyers who have so many choices of potential vendors and will often provide additional support for folks that fit within the diversity spectrum. And then, often sometimes we’ll have quota programs that require them to purchase a certain number or a certain volume of product from companies that fit this diversity criteria.

Melanie Cristol: So, recently we got our certification as a woman-owned business, also as a woman-owned small business, also as an LGBT business enterprise, and also as a disability-owned business enterprise. And as somebody who has been impacted by being a woman, by being LGBT, by having a disability throughout the time of creating these products, it feels really special to be part of these different organizations that acknowledge the fact that because of those things, it can often be a lot harder to start a business and to grow it.

Melanie Cristol: And so, it’s really exciting that utilizing these certifications, we will be able to partner with more vendors over the coming months and grow our business and be able to take advantage of these awesome programs that are out there that are created by buyers.

Lee Kantor: So, what does Lorals need more of? How can we help you?

Melanie Cristol: We always love new forms of being able to get out to the market and let people know about our products. Social media has been a really huge gift for us, particularly TikTok. We are now at about 160,000 followers and I think we’re at about 7 million likes on that platform. And then, also, really big followings on Instagram and YouTube as well. But, you know, those are only portions of the potential market out there. Not everybody is on social media. And not everybody who is on social media is able to come across our content. So, it’s really exciting to be able to reach new audiences through things like podcasts and through things like WBEC-West.

Melanie Cristol: And also to meet folks who either are potential partners or are connected to potential partners. Over the course of the next few months, we’re definitely looking to expand in terms of our retail relationships. At this point, we just got a couple of new big accounts, so I think we’re in over 300 doors and e-commerce stores throughout the U.S. and the world, and we certainly want to be growing that substantially. And so, we’re making a lot of efforts to connect with retail partners. We also are sprucing up our packaging so that it flies off the shelf and is able to explain really clearly and in a fun and exciting way what these products are.

Melanie Cristol: Yet, you know, we recognize that we are making intimacy products and it’s something that a lot of folks are shy about. And so, we have figured out how to talk about our products in a way that is inviting and helps people feel comfortable bringing this product up to the register and purchasing it and going home and having a wonderful, exciting time.

Melanie Cristol: So, yeah, looking for new ways to reach new markets, new retail partnerships, and we just welcome any kind of exchange and connections that are out there.

Lee Kantor: So, if somebody wants to learn more, is there a website or you mentioned several social channels, like what’s the best way to connect? Where can they look?

Melanie Cristol: Sure. So, our website is mylorals.com, and that’s spelled M-Y-L-ORAL-S, so M-Y-L-O-R-A-L-S-.com. And then, our handle on all of the socials is @mylorals. Also, you are welcome to reach out to us at hello@mylorals.com.

Lee Kantor: Well, Melanie, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Melanie Cristol: Thanks so much. I really appreciate that. And thanks for providing this podcast for founders and CEOs and for having me on it.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women In Motion.

 

BRX Pro Tip: Add Storytelling to Your Next B2B Sales Pitch

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BRX Pro Tips
BRX Pro Tip: Add Storytelling to Your Next B2B Sales Pitch
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BRX Pro Tip: Add Storytelling to Your Next B2B Sales Pitch

Stone Payton : And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, I’ve said it a lot. I genuinely believe it, that B2B sales are just different. There are a lot of commonalities between all kinds of sales activity, but there are some very distinct aspects of being successful in a B2B sales environment. What have you learned over the years in terms of selling B2B?

Lee Kantor: I think that when you’re selling B2B, you really should add storytelling to the mix of how you’re doing your sales pitches. Because I think that a lot of times B2B, we think, oh, that’s boring. They just want facts, they just want numbers, they just want the dollars. And that’s not what people want. That’s not what people remember. That’s not what’s going to persuade someone to take any type of action.

Lee Kantor: So the next time you’re meeting with a prospect, highlight a customer challenge and solution that resembles a challenge that your prospect’s going through, and describe that challenge your client was having, and share how your service solved their problem and helped them get to a new level.

Lee Kantor: Focus on the emotions of the problem, not just the nuts and bolts, not just the facts. Paint a picture with your words. Don’t just throw a bunch of numbers and PowerPoint slides at somebody. Make sure your enthusiasm shines through when you’re telling those stories. Your passion and your belief should be contagious. But leverage stories to help you sell more, faster.

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