What Black Female Entrepreneurs Need To Know About Scaling Their Company Successfully
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When Target decided to test the market on natural hair care products, they added four brands to their shelves. Among them was Mahisha Dellinger’s, Curls. At the time, Dellinger was still a new entrepreneur, with her products in just 100 retail stores. A year and half later, she had hit six figures. Now, seventeen years since launching, Curls is a multi-million-dollar brand on the shelves of 100,000 stores.
It’s a success story that defies the odds. Eighty percent of businesses fail before year five, and less than 4% of Black women entrepreneurs make it to the million-dollar mark. Chelsea Crowder, a private wealth advisor with Goldman Sachs noted that, “Last year, only 2% of venture capital investment dollars went to women-owned enterprises. That number goes down to 0.2% when looking at women of color, and basically 0% for Black women.”
Dellinger says it’s statistics like these that inspire her to support other Black women entrepreneurs in the journey towards the million-dollar mark. From coaching the Furlough Cheesecake sisters to a six-figure business in just three weeks to mentoring Black female business owners on her OWN show, Mind Your Business with Mahisha, Dellinger has proven she is genuinely committed to this cause.
Eager to take her support large scale, in July Dellinger launched the Black Women Making Millions Academy, a conference that brought together 100 Black businesswomen and key experts to help them execute, grow, and fund their business ideas. The four-day event included masterclasses, one-on-one sessions, wellness activities, and a private yacht cruise.
The conference is the kind of thing Dellinger wouldn’t have even been able to imagine in her youth. The success and financial security she knows today was not something she grew up with. “[At home], there weren’t conversations about careers, ambition, women ‘making it.’ They were just trying to survive day-to-day, paycheck-to-paycheck. It was very hard where we grew up.” For Dellinger, her past is both a reminder of why she works as hard as she does and an incentive to empower other Black women.
For those who didn’t get the chance to attend the inaugural Black Girls Making Millions Academy, I recently spoke with Dellinger who shared six tips for Black female entrepreneurs ready to take their businesses across the million-dollar threshold.
Nail Down Your Millionaire Mindset
Social media has made ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ a bigger problem than ever, and Dellinger notes that consumption-driven thinking is a stumbling block for aspiring millionaires. She explains, “To really create wealth, you have to live below your means. We are in a society of spending, consumers and not creators. The millionaire mindset requires a shift from spend and buy to save and invest.”
‘There’s Wisdom in Planning’
Dellinger’s ambitions have always been paired with a careful and calculated approach to business, always being patient enough to plan before leaping. She recalled trading in her office job for a pharma sales rep role that allowed her to wrap up her workday by noon so she could go home and work on Curls. “Keep your day job so you can re-invest into your business. I did that until I knew the business could sustain itself.”
Don’t Let Your Confidence Waiver
Dellinger’s endorsement of caution should not be confused for a criticism of confidence. In fact, she notes that, especially for Black women who are often discouraged by repeated rejection, it’s important to show up to business meetings certain of your value. “You are selling yourself when you go into those meetings,” she advised. “They are seeing how passionate you are about your product, how well you know your product, how well it is presented. They are buying into you. So, if you come in down on yourself, they are going to feel it.”
Know Your Audience, and Surpass Their Expectations
With Black businesswomen largely underrepresented in many of the rooms and spaces they pitch to, she suggests that they find other ways to foster rapport with investors. “Google the person, get some information so you can have small talk at the beginning…Then from there, you have to be really professional. Know your numbers. I think it’s always about impressing them and giving them more than they expected.”
Be Your Own Greatest Advocate
While Dellinger is frustrated by the challenge Black women entrepreneurs face in accessing necessary resources for their business growth, she doesn’t believe that means they should give up. She argues that daring to ask for the things you need is a must. “You have to speak up. That is one thing you have to know we can do. It’s okay to ask for help. It’s okay to ask for assistance. And it’s okay to negotiate. If someone gives you something, you don’t have to take that first offer. You can go and negotiate.”
Never Be an Empty-Handed Mentee
Like nearly every successful entrepreneur, Dellinger has surrounded herself with like-minded people who support her goals. In addition to a circle of women who share her millionaire mindset, faith, and generosity, she also relies on a financial advisor, life coach, and business mentor to foster her financial, personal, and professional growth. For entrepreneurs in search of mentors, she warns that making yourself valuable, even in a small way, is key. “Come to me where I am and then add value. That means bring me something. I’m busy. Buy me lunch. It’s that easy.”
Source: Forbes
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