US Black Chambers is an advocacy organization comprised of 145 black chambers and represents over 330,000 black owned businesses. Ron Busy, CEO of US Black Chambers said, in a recent interview, that while most business are seeking access to capital, black owned businesses number one priority is access to affordable credit. Ron shared that 20 – 30 years ago there was a focus on diversity and inclusion, however today, especially for black businesses, that focus must shift to the inclusion of black businesses in the conversation, not just “minorities”. Working with Facebook, US Black Chambers is facilitating a process where […]

So you’ve got a customer (or a potential customer) who has a question and they’re on your website. How fast you respond to them could be the different between a sale or not. Chat is a powerful way to quickly respond to customer queries. Today Messenger from Facebook is announcing an upgrade to it’s Chat Plugin, which helps businesses reach more people than ever before, even customers not logged into Facebook. This is a big deal. Although just about everyone on the planet has Facebook, many people do not or are not logged in to it. “Having an open line […]

This year has shown just how important it is to be able to connect remotely. Effective communication and collaboration are crucial during this trying time and outside of it to keep businesses and education running smoothly. Webinars and video conferencing help companies, universities and colleges stay connected with global employees, students and customers. Keep reading to discover everything you need to know about webinars and video conferencing. The benefits of Webinar and Video Conferencing  There are some benefits of using webinars and video conferencing in education and business. Easy remote communication This is especially advantageous at the current time when […]

How to get millions (billions, zillions) of people to your next event? Hire Shaq and Gronk, said a recent headline in Entrepreneur.com. The article was referring to an online event that attracted millions of viewers, raised money for a good cause and had sponsors. They articles was focused on the “hype” that many large brands want to attract millions of people to their brands. However, we’re small business owners, we’re not large brands. We don’t need millions of “anybody” clicking to our website or even buying our products. We just need a small number of the right people to know about […]

  A family owned and operated business is nothing new, but a family business managed by two parents and eight and children is pretty unique. Goat Milk Stuff. The business started with making soap, as it is a low barrier (much less difficult than food products) and the whole family could easily be involved in making and selling it. With eight kids, it was really important to get them all working within the business early on.  The kids were homeschooled so that their education could also focus on practical instruction as well, such as how to run a business, life […]

Small business owners are no stranger to challenging situations, and as cases of COVID-19 rise throughout the U.S., these savvy entrepreneurs continue to rise to the occasion and tackle these stressors in familiar ways. In our third annual Inside Small Business Survey, fielded in February before the pandemic with more than 1,000 respondents, we found that the top three most-stressful aspects of owning and working at a small business are heavy workloads (15%), long work hours (12%) and tight deadlines (11%). In order to combat these stressors, small business owners adopt three approaches: just working through it (60%), prioritizing tasks/responsibilities […]

So many businesses have email newsletters. Most are lack luster organs of dribble being pushed out like stale tooth paste every so often. Email marketing is a powerful way to connect and engage with your customers and potential customers. Mailchimp and Constant Contact have vitalized their respective platforms and continue to evolve them for the better. But how should the basics of good email be? At the very least your email should come out on a regular basis. Weekly if not every other week. It should have a powerful, descriptive and captivating subject line. Finally, inside should not be content […]

WSJ reports that hackers “broke” into Twitter’s security by some simple, but effective, social engineering. Sometimes people call one person, “sweet talk them” and get a bit of information. They use that information to get to the next person and get high level access. When you get a phone call asking for information, any information, be wary, be cautious, verify who is speaking with you. The WSJ article reads ““This attack relied on a significant and concerted attempt to mislead certain employees and exploit human vulnerabilities to gain access to our internal systems,” Twitter said Thursday via tweet.” A few […]

In a talk with Eddie Turner, Ramon Ray talks about two crucial tasks leaders must do, taking businesses to the next level, the importance of being ready, and why leaders must focus on community building Ramon Ray knows success, but even he is still learning all the time. On a recent chat on Keep Leading Live, he tells Eddie Turner that only recently has he realized his leadership journey and had thought more deeply about discovering what it truly means to be a leader. That’s after his successes so far in his career. In business, he started four enterprises and […]

Allison Garret has been working with women who experience life setbacks to help them break out of whatever is holding them back. She understands their struggles deeply, as she was once in a mental & physical prison herself, but found ways to clear her blockages and thrive. Her story is inspiring and inspirational, to say the least. Allison spent some time in prison and when she came up on her release she understood the challenges she might face trying to find work. So she asked herself, “What can I do with what I already have?” Her goal was to find […]