 Each year, the SBA recognizes the first week of May as Small Business Week. So at the City of Columbia, we have issued a proclamation recognizing this week as Small Business Week. So we started the week with a kickoff at a local Small Business Craft Acts, where we announced the proclamation designating this week as Small Business Week. And then at City Council on Tuesday, the mayor and city council members acknowledged that Small Business Week proclamation. And today is the culmination of all the activities this week, where we recognize the successes of our local small businesses. And then we have an opportunity to kind of invest in them and share with different strategies to help them grow and sustain their business. We're going to call one of the people that I just mentioned that is responsible for this event that we are a part of today to our front. We ask that you give her a big round of applause, ladies and gentlemen, for the Director of Office of Business Opportunities. None other than Aisha Dreggers. Thank you, Dion. Thank you all for attending today. I know you could be anywhere this Friday morning, but you decided to spend it with us. So we appreciate that. On behalf of the Office of Business Opportunities, I'd like to welcome you to our 10th annual Small Business Week conference. And I'm so excited that we've been doing this 10 years and we're still going strong just to show our small businesses how much we appreciate what they mean to our local economy. Isn't it good to know that there are innovative ideas that are in this room this morning? Ideas that create a kind of environment within our city so that we continue to grow. And I think all of us want to grow. All of us want to be those entrepreneurs that will increase the kind of action within our city where economic drivers began to swell and to mushroom and grow. But you all help us create that sense of place that attracts tourists, young people, and empty nesters alike. We are trying to increase both of those numbers. We want these young people to stay in the city of Columbia and develop and grow your businesses as well. We want people to live downtown. We want a talented workforce and, yes, more businesses and other investors to drive further growth in the city of Columbia. So as an existing, new, or aspiring business owner, you are always in our thoughts. We want to, like I said earlier, acquire new knowledge. We want you to network. We want to adjust a pivot to the ever-changing world that requires things. And as we all know since the pandemic, sometimes requires us to do things differently now. During National Small Business Week, the City of Columbia and the Office of Business Opportunities recognizes a local business owner who successfully grew their business in the past year. This year, we recognize Azalea Coffee Bar located on Divine Street in Columbia, South Carolina. And the City of Columbia recognizes Azalea Coffee Bar as a 2023 business spotlight honoring and congratulating on their years of service and success. On behalf of Daniel Rickerman, Mayor of the City of Columbia, South Carolina, I want the members of Columbia City Council to hear about and proclaim that this city honors and recognizes Azalea Coffee Bar. Congratulations. I'm Brittany Koster, and I support women through coffee. So I am the owner of Azalea Coffee Bar here on Divine Street. And we source all of our coffee and tea from female-owned farms. So everything that you get in our shop, I like to say, is powered by women. So down to the tables where you sit when you visit, they were built by women. And so we're very excited to be a part of the Columbia Business Community. I can't thank the Office of Business Opportunities enough for their help, and hopefully be working with them soon to expand. Thank y'all very much. So one of our functions at the city is to promote, boost, offer resources to small businesses. And we have an Office of Small Business Opportunities, the Office of Business Opportunities that focuses on that every day. And one of our things that we've done now for 10 years is celebrate these wonderful entrepreneurs in our city and uplift them through Small Business Week, which is this week, with a conference. As I was preparing for my message today, I was thinking about what does success look like? Because for me, my mentor, Inky Johnson, he said that the worst thing a person can become is a public success, but a private failure. I don't think y'all heard that one. A public success, but a private failure. So we have to be successful before we ever get successful. Be the person that deserves that success. Be ready for the opportunity. That's so important. If we're ready for the opportunity, it's a blessing. If we get the opportunity too soon, we might squander it. We might not even know what we're supposed to do with this order. I don't even know if I'm able to take an order like this. I don't even know. I remember when I first started off speaking, I would send out a bunch of emails trying to market myself. And if you don't believe in your message, or you don't believe in what you do, then nobody else is going to believe in it. So I went through all my contacts in my phone, told everybody what I was doing, and always encouraged people. Put it out there. If you want to start something you want to run a business, put it out there. Don't be shy thinking it'll come to you because it won't. You have to put it out there. And people won't buy what they don't know about. And so for somebody that's just starting out as an entrepreneur, please know that hard work is important. But you have to market it and put it and share it with everybody. Everybody should know exactly what you offer at all times. And that's something that I've been able to do.