Branding with Brittany: Why Did You Start Your Business? | Ebon Business Services

Black women, why did/do you want to create a business? What’s your ultimate desire? Let’s be honest with women of culture starting businesses faster than anyone else this is a valid question. It’s also a loaded one.

Five years ago I was the Coordinator of Career Services at a small religious liberal arts college. I was trying my hardest to be heard, to make a change, to do my job. When I had first started in this position my boss said something to me that has always stuck with me.

"Brittany, you're so far ahead of them. You're running and they are barely crawling, and they don't even want to walk."

I heard her words, but they didn’t change the way I operated. I was determined to make a difference as long as I was in the position, but when the Career Services office was eliminated two and a half years later it was just the proof of what had been foreshadowed to me when I started my career there.

I was better then they were ready for.

And have I finally made peace with that. So to be honest. My jump into being a full-time entrepreneur was born out of survival.

I learned if I wanted to be true to myself, wanted my input heard, my impact felt or heck even to be seen, I had to be more determined, more perfect, more EVERYTHING than my counterparts. And what I didn't want is the metric of "perfect" or "success" to be determined by anyone but me.

It meant that I was done with dealing with people who loved to see me at "the table," but are very unconcerned and unwelcoming once I was there. Especially if I was right.

When my job as a career services coordinator ended, all I knew was I exhausted. I felt like I was fighting so hard and had a "not worth it" sign slapped on my head. They wanted more education, more experience, more, more, and more… but only pay me enough to barely covering the cost of daycare for my kids. This resulted in me running my own photography business for five years.

Doing so helped me fulfill my need to be creative AND strategic. I relished the challenge of creating service from scratch, figuring out how to gain clients from marketing and networking and then delivering a great experience for them. By my terms I was successful and I love it.

But I still wasn't satisfied. Because though I had hit goals and built a business that helped keep my family fed, the hurdles I encountered had still limited me and I saw it limiting other business owners who looked like me.

I started doing my research on why this was and what I found was appalling. When it comes to funding and various forms of business support for black-owned businesses in southern MN there was next to nothing.  Having one business under my belt I launched my second business that solely focuses on helping businesses of culture brand their businesses through success.  In short, I am a brand strategist and photographer that is passionate about helping brands empower their ideal clients.

Launching Ebon Business Services & Photography has been nothing short of rewarding, exhausting, frustrating and eye-opening. But I love it because I know that little by little I am changing how black people do business and view their brands. While I always wanted to leave a legacy for my own kids, the desire to define my own success, I have begun to realize while what drives me to do this work is my sense of community and willingness to build a community when and where one is needed.

Tips for Surviving Entrepreneurship:

Align your purpose and goals. You define your success. Make sure these balance well with your life. Being mentally ready for the rigors of entrepreneurship is understanding that work-life balance and self-care are necessary.

Pace Yourself: My phone screensaver is a graphic that has the phrase “Things Take Time” its a reminder to myself not to judge my progress when doing a task right may mean taking your time and thinking it through. I am not a business owner who loves to burn the midnight oil so I love pacing myself through all the projects and collaborations I have going on.

Accountability is better than being a “Boss Lady” This one may be hard for some to grasp. We live in a culture that glorifies being the boss. But being the boss means you HAVE to be accountable for the services/products/experiences you are building your business around. Find an accountability partner, surround yourself with people who will be honest with you.