Community Love
By Key Kessens
FWIS Contributing Writer
A community is more than an environment, it unites people with similar interests. A common example of a community is a church. Believers of all different backgrounds come together to form the body of Jesus. The shared interest being their belief & love of Christ. While a church is a magnificent community, there are other types of communities that can be formed.
I have wanted to start my own business since I was a little girl, but I never had the support or resources to do so. Now that I am 19, I acknowledge that I have more opportunities to succeed. During my journey in the business world, there is a particular type of community that I find beneficial to black business owners. With the lack of support, guidance, & amount of resources available to us aspiring African American entrepreneurs, I have found that there are 3 hidden values in creating an online business community.
Supporting African American Entrepreneurship
Before I start, I want to emphasize the importance of these values. All 3 of these combined help support African American entrepreneurship. Creating an online business community would bring us together with a shared delight in entrepreneurship.
Of course, there is more to a community than making money, but in the black community there are a lot of financial struggles. Take me for example, I have experienced poverty, and it didn’t help shape my relationship with money. The unhealthy money relationship stemmed from a lack of education on money. I first had to learn how to renew my financial mindset in order to build a strong foundation for myself financially and to start my business.
On my 19th birthday, I was gifted the book, “Get Good with Money,” by Tiffany Aliche. She introduced me to the idea of financial wholeness. There are 10 steps that Aliche lays out in this book that can help anyone reshape their financial situation. Aliche’s first chapter is called “Before We Begin: Get to Know Financial Wholeness,” where she mentions the right mindset to have around money. She highlights key values in this chapter that assist in reshaping our money mindset.
These same values are also beneficial to an online business community. Gratitude, joy, & an uplifting environment bring an advantage to African American entrepreneurs because these values are the heart of this online business community.
With these values shaping our online business community, we can easily support each other’s businesses. Together, we can promote new black-owned businesses, raise black brand awareness, and get more African Americans off the streets and into the business world by using our different talents to support each other.
Grateful Together
The first value I want to talk about is gratitude. As humans, we can all admit we are not perfect & life can be extremely difficult sometimes. Aliche advises us that, “sometimes things are difficult because they’re meant to teach you lasting lessons,” (Aliche 23). The bright side to these hardships is that something beautiful can be born through the pain. Always remember that, “The hard is preparing you for the better,” (Aliche 24). After the lessons you can find the hidden opportunity.
I’m grateful for the lessons I’ve learned because they led me to take risks outside of my comfort zone. The truth is that discomfort is a sign of growth. If the pain I endured during my life never happened, I would not have pushed myself into the unknown. I’m thankful for my personal growth because I would not be here writing this story for you today if God never pushed me to uncomfortable places.
There’s always something to be grateful for. Even when your life seems to be falling apart and nothing is going in your favor, find just one thing to be thankful for. If anything, be grateful that God woke us up another day to try again. Building our online business community based on gratitude can unite us to continue forward. There is strength in numbers.
The bad times are another part of your story. Everyone has their own story, so find a way to share yours through passion & talent. I share mine on my personal blog. We are all unique, so everyone is not going to have the same way to tell their story. Every person deserves to have their voice heard. You never know what you can learn by listening to someone else tell their story.
Find Joy in Unity
In this technological age, many people live on their phones. The problem with overusing our phones is when we choose technology over human connections. We emotionally attach to our phones instead of creating meaningful connections with others.
Don’t worry, I’m not judging anyone. I used to be one of those people too. I thought I found joy in material things. I spent too much time on my phone longing for material items instead of spending quality time with my loved ones. Aliche also had this revelation when she realized her “family in Nigeria spent quality time together. They were a happy & connected group,” (Aliche 25). Money can make your life easier, but it cannot buy you happiness. I used to believe that the best name brand items would complete me in life but I was wrong. I lost sight of the joy in unity.
With an online business community, we can unite into a family that shares our gratitude and joy with one another. Even though there is a technological aspect, we can still create meaningful connections with others online. Plus there’s always the option to meet up in person at local areas & events. The meaningful connections we create from this community can bring us joy.
Uplifting Environment
Without an online business community, African Americans that desire to start their own business may be too fearful because there is no support system for us. I put off launching a business for 7 months because I was afraid I didn’t have the correct resources or support. Aliche points out that, “the people you spend the most time around likely have a heavy influencer on you & your habits,” (Aliche 25). My environment was my biggest setback for a while, and I wished so badly that I had an uplifting support group.
I learned to not accept other people’s negativity and take it personal because it was never about me, it’s a reflection of themselves. Negative people that partake in gossip, project their doubts onto you, and are secretly jealous of you are going to bring you down every time. Their influence is toxic, so they will hold you back from going where you want to grow.
We must recognize the importance of who we surround ourselves with, especially when we are trying to grow. Choose to be around people who lift your spirit. Seek out peers that like to see you win. Embrace the love of a community where everyone pitches in to help. Enjoy a supportive online business community that embraces important values.
Black Magic
We can turn our online business community into a family. Since our community is established on the values of gratitude, joy, & an uplifting environment we can come together & do what Aliche calls “accountability partnering,” (Aliche 27). We can keep each other in line by sharing our ideas, networking with one another, & cheering each other on.
Black businesses will be able to prosper as well. With multiple successful black-owned businesses, we will be able to give back to the community. There are so many projects we can launch with this community. For example, hosting a local event that brings all black business owners together to network and share their talents. We could also inspire others around the world to do something similar.
The community will also improve our mindset around money because everyone is eager to help. We would not have to worry about anything since we are all one united family. We can share our knowledge and skills with one another to help each person grow. Not only will we reshape our money mindset, but also our perspective on real meaningful connections.
With those qualities, there’s always something or somebody to be grateful for. Of course we would be centered in Christ & we can easily share the gospel along with our businesses. A relationship with Jesus is something we should forever cherish. The Lord is the one who gave me this idea in the first place, so I feel obligated to share my new insight on communities. With an online business community, we can help change the world for the better.