All That and a Bag of Chips: 31 Days of Black Business Reflections

Hey, friends, welcome. And welcome back to nosey AF conversations about art, activism and social change. I'm your host and friend, Stephanie Graham. And y', all, we made it.We made it. 31 Days, 31 black business owners. Every single day in August, there was a new conversation. And here we are on the other side of it.And actually we went past August, August and two days, and here we are on the other side of it. If you are just joining us, I want to tell you a quick little beat about how this all started. So I had a conversation with Denzel Turner.Denzel kicked off the. He was at the top of this series. And Denzel runs Black Friday's, a podcast out of Detroit, Michigan.And with his show, he talks to black entrepreneurs and he's interviewed over 200. And he's also has, like, a black business bus tour that's moved thousands of dollars into black own businesses in Detroit.And when we were talking, I had a strategy session with him. Denzel is a marketing strategist. He believes all business owners should have a podcast. He is the person to go to if that is of interest to you.So talking about that, he put me on to Black Business Month. And I thought, you know what? I think I want to do something like that. I think I want to celebrate Black Business Month.I also had this thought of doing a daily podcast challenge. I had heard of those in the past, and, you know, I'm like, that is what we can do. August will be here. I could take August off.I will get all of these interviews organized and set up, and we are off to the races. And I will be at the pool. We will all listen at the pool. The Black business series. And this will all be wonderful.But in hindsight, omg, I gotta tell you, wow. Let me tell you what this project actually was. It was interviews and scheduling intake forms, follow up emails, rescheduling.When Chicago decided to have several days of storms and we were all without power, it was editing captions, show notes, cover art, and getting everybody's business name spelled correctly, which. Which is all so tough. And then I edited all of these episodes myself, every last one of them.And there were days when I was working and I would come home to edit, and I felt like, oh, my gosh, there's still more to do.I'm just telling y' all, the business side, by the way, I'm just telling you the behind the scenes, all of this, every single last bit of this was truly a honor and my pleasure. And I wanted to do it. And I'm excited that I have done it.But I would wake up mornings just like looking at my day and I'm like, who assigned me these activities? And it's like I gave myself this project, all of these tasks. This is all me.But you know, there is something that I did realize when I was doing this. And like it sort of happened about halfway through when I realized that I've been doing this kind of work sort of my whole practice.So like years ago I made this project called so this One Guy where women were telling dating stories. All of these terrible, stupid, silly whack situations that we all could find ourselves in on the search to finding that perfect person. Right?So that was, that was a project. And then I also did a project called Black Kid Table which was really about black folks talking about being the only black person in a room.I grew up in a predominantly white suburb. I, you know, know this lifestyle all too well. And so I was curious about others perspectives and how they handled it in their situations as well.And for both of these projects, I invited folks into my home or I had like a studio to my studio space and then some of them recorded themselves and then sent me their files.So, you know, there's always been the same instinct, like every single time to find people who share some sort of common trait, gather them, have them talk about it, you know, batch up our interviews, cut them up, edit them and put it out. And so I've been making these oral archives this whole time.But this black business series, you know, this was my first time doing it for the podcast in podcast form, audio. And so that really like changed something. I'm like, oh, okay, you know, check me out. I've been doing this. It's not that foreign to me, you know.Yeah, it's foreign. Working in the audio only format. I'm used to doing video, but still those earlier projects live in a gallery or an archive.You know, I bring them out for screenings, things like that. And that kind of work, you know, it works slowly over the years, but this project is totally different because I feel it. It's like work in real time.You know, these are real businesses, you know, in a real month in a very real economy. And I feel like that's a different kind of gathering. And I'm still sitting with how it means for just how I work.You know, it's not as if like these businesses are over now because August is complet like, no, this is, this is real stuff going on. These are real services, real products that are available to everybody. In the world.And they deserve support, you know, and, you know, and, and I'm glad they were there so that we could learn about some of these things.So many people are doing so many amazing things that I'm so glad that I was able to learn about all of these wonderful resources and products that are available. And I gotta say a few other things some of these conversations reminded me of too. So real quick, you know, people say yes when you ask.You know, half of these folks, you know, came through because I asked someone who asked someone. I just love that that's how Christy came. You know, they tagged her on threads like, yo, talk to Christy. It's like, okay, perfect.But you gotta ask, you know, if you don't ask, the answer is always no. Closed mouths don't get fed. It is a gentle reminder.And also telling people about stuff over and over again, you know, like reminding people, hey, I need this. I need this. I'm looking for this, I'm looking for this.Another thought is that every single story I feel throughout this series had a moment where the thing almost didn't happen. Somebody got denied, folks got laid off.You know, Jennifer Kelly, who we just spoke to, you know, was too scared to sign a lease, and so they bought a school bus instead. You know, just trying to just, you know, putting their feet in the water to see how this goes.And all of these businesses existed because they did the work scared anyway. And so I feel like these are all general reminders, like, we're always going to be scared.And usually when you're afraid of something, you are like, on the right track. When something has you outta your comfort zone, you're on the right track.I don't know who told me that, but I found that to be true even in my own work. I remember when I was doing this one performance piece, I'll talk about another day just for sake of time.But I remember I was afraid because I've never did performance before and I was so nervous, but it all went well, you know, and it's like, if I would have been scared, been like, you know what, y', all, that's okay, let's pack it up and go home. I would never have had the experience to know how it went. So, you know, do it scared. It is such a good reminder to do it scared.And the last thing I will bring to this is that we all need friends who see us. Several of these businesses. Rosemary Sanders Price, Rosa Bloom Therapy had a homie that was like, look, when are you gonna do this again?Christy Bishop had a friend who was like, when are you gonna do this? You know, Sierra from the credit school had friends. It's like, you need to do this. Have good friends that are serious and that see you.And when folks tell you something over and over again, maybe it is something to look into. You know, just try it. You don't know. You could do this and be like, I shouldn't have did that. Yeah, I was wrong. But at least you tried it.But also, it seems like usually folks aren't wrong. You know, folks are not wrong. So I think it's a brave and courageous thing to take into account somebody's perception of you and give it a shot.And so I really, really love that. And listen, if you don't have a good friend, please get in touch. I would love to be your good friend. We are good friends. So think about that.And yeah, y', all. The last thing is that I really am all that in a bag of chips. I did that. I'm so proud of myself.I'm so proud of myself mainly at the editing and getting down on them edits. I mean, getting up, getting my coffee, getting in the studio, and getting to editing. Honey. Okay, I am proud of that. I am proud of that.That was probably the most energy filling. But once I got started, I was good because I remembered all of our conversations, you know, and I laughed.And, you know, a lot of times you do these interviews, my process is you have to tell a story or ask a question to get to the actual question. And so even listening to that to, like, cut it out or whatever to form the conversation, it was just so enjoyable.You know, I felt like this time was really, you know, getting to hang out with strangers who I really adore and have really happy to have a part of the archive of nosey AF and also to be a part of their archive of the business as them, you know, having been a part of this show. So I love it all so much. So, yeah, man, this was. This was really wonderful.You know, off the Grid came through and, you know, partnered with the series, believing in it before it even existed. You know, that's. That's a whole other kind of generosity that I really, really admire. I'm inspired by and I do not take lightly.So thank you so much off the Grid for, you know, being a part of this. And, you know what, y' all shout out to relationship marketing, too. That turned out to be a whole other thread of the series.You know, the business owners who got all their clients through word of mouth. So Impressive. You know, Sharita golden was like that because you just spoke with, you know, Sean Armstead. Phenomenal fitness like that.You know, folks trying to think of, like, other ways to market because the relationship marketing, the word of mouth referrals is too great. They're like, what else can we do where I feel like me, you know, I feel like that's the other side.You know, it's like doing all the other things to get to the word of mouth. So I just love it. I love it so much. It is a dream. I am just taking all of these deep breaths, y'. All. I am really thawing out.I might have mentioned, you know, I've been, you know, I had this other film project going alongside of getting the editing and preparing for this.So I feel like as it's all wrapping itself up, I am just super, super grateful for every single business owner who gave me their time, their story, and their trust. I am so grateful.Thank you, you know, to the listeners, to you for listening, you know, and patronizing these businesses, hitting them up, following them. I love it. Keep doing it, you know, please keep. Keep doing it, listener. I adore you. Thank you so much for being a part of this series.If you listen to even one of these shared one bought something, booked, someone sent an episode to a friend. I'm just so, so grateful. I cannot say that enough. That's the whole point, really.These are real businesses you can hire and buy from, and they don't stop being real just because, you know, at the time of this recording, it is September. They are forever.I am going to go for a walk and catch my breath, catch up on emails and everything that I let slide this month and still reflect on this whole experience to figure out more about what I learned, what I learned in my own process, what I learned about how I want to make my show. All the episodes are not going anywhere. So, you know, find the ones that match what you need. There's a therapist in here in this series.There's a credit expert, a handyman, a woman who will take you to Kana, a woman who will make a swimsuit that fits a bookstore. For all the fantasy girlies, man, go be somebody's first customer or their second customer, their third, their 5,000th.Oh, my gosh, y', all, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And yeah, talk to you soon. Stay curious and take care. Bye.