It may be possible to grow and navigate an industry with greater ease by maintaining a full-time job. This decision has proved favorable for some Black entrepreneurs who often don’t see the same investment dollars as their counterparts. And sometimes, keeping the vision afloat means carrying forward with your financial resources. Ultimately, you can lean on what route will be most beneficial for the longevity of your business. However, we have compiled some tips from Black women small business owners who have scaled their brands and attribute their growth to their 9-5.

Sometimes small businesses face the challenge of learning how to develop effective bookkeeping practices. This obstacle could lead to disrupted cash flow and a failure to meet the financial obligations of one’s business. Looking to resolve this issue in Nigeria is the startup Kippa, which markets itself as the country’s simplest accounting software. Founded by Kennedy Ekezie alongside Duke Ekezie and Jephthah Uche in February 2021, the application is designed to help small business owners create a bookkeeping system that will help them “recover debts 3x faster,” TechCrunch reports. According to Kippa, a stand-out feature on its application is customers who have not made payments can not only be tracked, but they will receive an automated reminder message for the business owner to recover debts. In addition, businesses can manage inventory, track daily cash flow and expenses, create invoices and generate receipts. “For us, what we do is we have such a unique opportunity to provide...

Visa is piloting its Tap to Phone technology in Washington, D.C., with hopes of aiding in the close of the digital divide for small Black-owned businesses and communities. This is the first time the multinational financial services corporation is bringing its new tech to the U.S. after piloting it in 30 other countries, Visa shared in a press release. Visa is also looking to provide resources and education through Visa Street Teams , an initiative it created to digitally-enable 50 million small businesses. Following this launch in D.C., Visa will be taking its tech to Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and Miami as part of its small business revitalization initiative. “The way we shop and pay has forever changed. During the pandemic, tapping to pay and contactless checkout became more commonplace – and are now expected,“ Mary Kay Bowman, Visa’s global head of buyer, seller, core and platform products, said in a press release. “With our technology, networking and community...

Vanessa Jean-Baptiste opened the first Black woman-owned dispensary on the East Coast this past weekend, WPRI reported. Baptiste welcomed customers to Legal Greens for the first time on Sunday, March 28. The new dispensary is located in Brockton, Massachusetts, and WPRI reported that the historic cannabis store has been in the works for three years. “It means a lot to me because we worked really hard to get to where we are at,” Jean-Baptiste told WPRI. There was a line of people waiting to support Jean-Baptiste and Brockton’s newest local Black-owned business on Sunday before the doors opened at 8 a.m. Jean-Baptiste was born and raised in Brockton and she opened this new dispensary with the hopes of bringing a positive impact to the community.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Legal Greens (@legal_greens) “This is the first woman Black-owned business in the legal market on the East Coast which is as exciting as the first stores that opened in November of 2018,” Davide...

At Drexell & Honeybee’s in Brewton, Alabama, restaurant owners Freddie and Lisa Thomas-McMillan display classic Southern hospitality. With their business philosophy, “Feed the Need,” they operate on a donation-based system without turning anyone away reports Good News Network . Guests from all walks of life can come in and enjoy southern cuisine served family style. After their meal, tucked in the corner of the mom and pop soul food establishment, is a donation box where guests can leave a donation that fits their needs. These donations go right back into running the restaurant meaning the owners get virtually no profit, says Black Business . In a video by It’s a Southern Thing , Lisa explains that she learned the lesson of giving back to others as a young girl which has carried on into her adult life. “We don’t have any suggested prices, everybody gets treated the same,” she said in the video . “If you go to the box and don’t have one red cent— no one will ever know. And we won’t...

The coronavirus pandemic has crashed the U.S. economy and brought certain industries to a near standstill —  including retail, entertainment, food and accommodations. Cities that have traditionally relied on these sectors to employ their citizens may be particularly vulnerable. A new LendingTree study ranks the 100 U.S. metro areas with the most retail establishments to see which ones stand to feel the biggest pinch. Researchers found that mid-sized cities are at greatest risk. Six of the top 10 cities are in the Sunbelt. Key findings Myrtle Beach, S.C. ,  has the highest concentration — 35.4% — of local businesses in the retail , entertainment, and food and accommodations sectors (the U.S. Census Bureau groups food services and accommodations as one sector). Salisbury, Md., is in second place . Nearly one-third of all businesses here (32.3%) are in one of the affected industries. Scranton, Pa., comes in third with 28.8% of establishments in vulnerable industries . Larger cities...

At some point during your entrepreneurial journey, second-guessing yourself, procrastinating and feelings of not being good enough will take control of the thoughts in your mind. Welcome to the world of self-doubt. But believe it or not, self-doubt is natural. Self-doubt doesn’t mean you’re incompetent. It doesn’t mean you should stop what you’re doing. A lot of times self-doubt and feelings of anxiety comes from our desire to want to control everything.  Friendly reminder, you can’t control outcomes, you can only control your effort. It’s only when you allow self-doubt to push you into hiding from marketing yourself or sharing your work, resolving a conflict between team members or making business decisions that it becomes problematic. Even over-researching an idea and not asking for help is a sign self-doubt is getting in your way. Here’s the thing.  Sometimes when you have a desire to do something new, your thoughts of “What if?” paralyzes you from taking action. The reality is...

Social media platforms have become a bit of a double-edged sword for businesses. In one sense, they’re essential for marketing your business and driving new traffic to your website and services. Alternatively, any bad press or bad reviews on social media can turn online crowds against you and cause significant reputational damage to your business. Just last year, the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, VA, received thousands of negative online reviews within days after the owner asked press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave . It also resulted in a ripple effect on the town’s local economy, forcing the city government to spend money on digital marketing to boost tourism in the wake of the controversy. The damage went even further. Multiple restaurants by the same name and unconnected to the event also received negative social media attention as a result. Small businesses have some major watch-outs when it comes to social media: Not only can negative attention spread quickly on...