I don’t know about you but I get stuck in a real quandary when I’m just out here trying to mind my black owned business and folx wanna dig into the delusion of white supremacy SO DEEPLY that they genuinely try to overthrow the democratic process… on a Wednesday! I have client work to do, a plan for social media posts to get up, calls to take and all manner of back office work to accomplish to keep my business going. So what is one to do??
I had this exact conversation with a client a couple weeks ago and unfortunately it’s STILL relevant so I want to share the couple tips that I’m holding onto to think about how to be an entrepreneur in troubling times.
Start with your humanity
Like I shared in my post about not apologizing so much, your humanity should be your #1 priority. If you are feeling anxious, sad, scared, frustrated, rageful and you can’t see your way out of it — BY ALL MEANS, ignore the social media post that you had planned to finish and get up. We can wait… nothing on the internet will break if you don’t post it as scheduled. Same goes for that client work and that call. Just like they say on airplanes — take care of yourself FIRST.
Share authentically
When you do get back to work, be authentic about how you’re processing what’s going on. No — we don’t want the 3 pages that you wrote in your journal but if you have a call and someone asks how you’re doing, tell the truth. If you’re not fine, that’s okay and telling the truth authentically opens the door for conversation, it connects us all as individuals (cause we ALL have emotions) and it gives others the change to honor your humanity as well.
Make the connection
Once you’re back in the internet/social media sphere, learn how to make the connection between what’s going on in the world and your regular content. One of my favorite food bloggers did this expertly on the day after the Capitol attack. She wrote about how she was feeling, the injustices as she saw them AND what she cooked to feed her family that day. She acknowledged that roasted chicken and cabbage isn’t gonna fix the major issues in our country but that dinner is still necessary and here’s something you can try. To me, it was perfect… you address the reality in front of you, the reality inside of you then connect them both to the content that helps to grow your business.
For now, here’s hoping we will need these tips less and less. Take care of yourselves, friends.