Happy National Small Business Week!
Happy National Small Business Week!
We're celebrating your hard work, creativity, and innovation.
Hey honeys and hustlers,
A quick crowdfund update before we jump in. We’ve raised $3,000, reaching 75% of our goal! 🤯🥳 Thank you to the 47 people who have donated and everyone who has shared or engaged with my posts online! With your help, I think we can reach 55 supporters by the end of this week. We may even be able to get the whole thing funded?! If you’d like to donate or share the link to our campaign, I’d be grateful for your support. We have reward tiers starting at $5, and no donation is too small! In addition to the rewards you’ll receive for donating, I have
a special podcast episode
community spotlight
creator economy news from Riverside, ConvertKit, and Beehiiv
so stay until the end!
Thank you to our wonderful supporters! Kathy S. Greene, Marit Digital, Rhonda Hicks, Shirley J, Belinda P. Williams, Alice Daniel-Turner, G. A. Lockhart, Elizabeth Mack, Head Heart Hands Consulting, ReShockie Furnace, Stephanie Holley Bowser, Lucas Brugh, Aquaris Anderson, Alex (Lex) Wilson, Danae Edmonds, Marion Dillahunt
The 5th Tuesday Special
That sounds like something fun to order on a menu. Unfortunately, I’m not talking about food (unless you consider learning a form of consuming?). It’s only right to celebrate National Small Business with a podcast episode that discusses one of the challenges I hear from many creative entrepreneurs in this community - business funding.
I sat down with Andrea Inoken of Cadence Cash and Corey Barbour of Barbour Companies who brought their expertise to the table, discussing everything from grant funding to securing commercial loans. Andrea, alongside her husband and co-founder Charles Inoken, runs Cadence Cash, a company that offers diverse funding options for small businesses, including micro-loans and grants. She emphasized the importance of aligning your mission with grant providers and angel investors when seeking funding. Andrea also highlighted the need for businesses to be prepared for the reporting requirements that come with grants. Paperwork can be unnecessarily complicated, in my humble opinion, but it’s one way that funders can translate impact.
Corey, with a rich background in banking, shared his journey from being fired to finding his purpose in helping businesses navigate the complex world of commercial real estate investing. He stressed the significance of education, empowerment, and the right mindset towards money and debt.
When I brought these two together, I had no idea how similar they would be. They both agreed that being let go from their previous jobs was a blessing in disguise, propelling them toward their true callings. I’m not telling you to go get fired, but I’m also saying that sometimes when something doesn’t work out for you it REALLY works out for you in the long run.
You can watch or listen to the episode below.
You can also check it out on Apple Podcasts (and leave a review if you enjoyed it).
This is a new format on the show and one I’d like to do again. Let me know if you enjoyed it! I have a few other formats I want to try that I think will be valuable, so let me know if there are other specific topics you’d like to hear about as well!
It’s an honor to share Andrea and Corey’s expertise and stories with you — may it help you along your creative and entrepreneurship journey (or when applying for your next grant or business loan).
Community Spotlight
🚀 Erica Williams is the founder of A Red Circle and a fellow member of the PLACE Builders Fellowship, a cohort co-created by EcoMap and Forward Cities. We’ve been in the fellowship for a month, so I was happy to hear more of her entrepreneurship origin story on the Mortgage and Real Estate Podcast by Pinnacle. You can check it out on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts!
In Readworthy News
ConvertKit releases State of the Creator Economy Report
Want to know how the creator economy is growing? Want to know how creators earn income? ConvertKit has you covered. They recently released their State of the Creator Economy Report, likely surveying users of their email newsletter platform. There were some things I was encouraged by, some things I expected, and some things I learned. I’m interested to hear what sticks out to you!
Audiograms are now available on Riverside
Audio-only podcasters now have a new option for audiograms from a familiar place - Riverside. You can now turn your audio-only content into videos your audience will love and add backgrounds, captions, logos, and images. Try it now in the Riverside editor!
*Disclaimer: this is an affiliate link. If you sign up for Riverside, I get a small percentage at no extra cost to you.
Beehiiv raised $33M Series B, then did a $1M community round
Newsletter companies have been busy, but not as busy as Beehiiv. Beehiiv recently finished its Series B funding round with $33M in investment. As a newsletter community founded on helping creators form deeper relationships with their communities, it was only right for them to embody that spirit. They reserved $1M in equity for their community gave them the opportunity to invest at the same rate per share as other investors. They were oversubscribed 2 hours after the announcement on Twitter 🤯. Shares started at $100; now, many people can say they are angel investors. I saw the post soon after Tyler Denk’s tweet and now I’m curious if Substack will follow suit. 👀
If April showers bring May flowers, I hope you bloom this month just as nature does. Be colorful, be bold, be the truest version of you.
Please Hustle Responsibly,
🤙🏾✨
Here are some next steps if you'd like to implement what I shared today.
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