The category is #BetOnBlackWomen. 

At the beginning of 2021 I set a big hairy and audacious goal of hitting $500k in revenue for this year. To be honest the goal scared me so much that I was nervous to speak it aloud for a few months. But if you know me, you know that once I set a goal it’s game over. 

Scaling a business to a half a million in revenue is not for the faint of heart. And did I also mention that I was a full-time doctoral student writing a dissertation during the first half of the year? Yeah God covered me. 

Scaling requires strategic business investments that position you as the CEO to keep the main thing the main thing….and the main thing is generating revenue...not the admin stuff like sending invoices and going back and forth via email with a client to find a time to meet. Don’t get me wrong, these things definitely have to get done but as you’re scaling your business to multiple six-figures, it becomes more critical that YOU ARE NOT the one who is doing it. 

This year there were a number of black women-owned businesses that I invested in that helped me grow my business and keep the main thing the main thing. I am so excited to share them with you to elevate just a few of the many black women entrepreneurs killin’ the game! I have linked their IGs below. Be sure to give them a follow! 

1. Self Writeously - Self Writeously provides copy services and is owned by the copy godmother Jaqueline Paumier. Self Writeously supports us in all our crazy copy needs!

2. Ari Hale - Ari helped me and my team get our backend together and take our automations to the next level. She runs a dope program called Allergic to Hourly for online business owners looking to scale to consistent $10k months.

3. Renee Bull - Renee is the Facebook Ad guru. She helped us refine our Facebook Ad strategy to increase our brand awareness. She provides courses to entrepreneurs to help them learn about Facebook Ads. 

4. Mecca Gamble Photography - Mecca Gamble has a gift of not just photography but ushering you to the next level through your brand photos. I hired Mecca to take my new brand photos and honey…she understood the assignment!

5. Kimone Shadel Consulting - I have hired 100s of times has a school leader but hiring in my business felt a little overwhelming when I no longer had the HR department to lean on. Kimone and her team helped me make my first full time hire, and completely removed the fear from hiring!

6. Cutting Edge Ops - Danielle McGinnis is the owner of Cutting Edge Ops and she is my lifesaver. She is my Online Business Manager. She also happens to be a certified Dubsado specialist so if you are looking for something to build your Dubsado, hit her up! 

7. GG & Co Styling - I hired GG & Co Styling to style me for my branding photoshoot and hon-tea they had me snacked for the GAWDS! Their CEO Germanee took the time to understand me, my style and my brand and delivered way beyond my wildest dreams!  

8. Exceptional Tax Services - We work with Nacondra Moran and her team at Exceptional Tax services for our bookkeeping and tax needs. They have literally saved us thousands of dollars! 

9. Lilacs on York - Lilacs on York was the branding mastermind behind our rebrand. They designed our new logos and developed our new brand kit. They were so good we partnered with them to design my personal website and Get LaunchED Consulting’s website. 

10. Natural Annie’s Essentials - Natural Annie’s makes amazing candles that make the perfect client gifts!