 I was made in America and now I'm a part of making America. These are the things that I needed to be successful. If you don't utilize this time to learn something or do something different, then you're failing yourself. Take these techniques and apply them to your business. I get teary, I hate talking about it. Because I really want the little girls to know that they can do it and they can be just like me. They realize that you're a human and not a computer. Thank you. Can you follow me? What would you tell someone at that very beginning stage? Being an entrepreneur is being able to take nose and build with them like bricks. America has always been associated with making it, but is this opportunity accessible to all? I'm Scott Shigeoka. Go Daddy's Entrepreneurial Residence. And I'm on a journey across the country meeting the people who are building it. They're defying the odds and their stories show us what it means to be made in America. So I became an entrepreneur because I saw the way I wanted to shape this world. But the journey wasn't always easy and didn't always go according to plan. But part of being an entrepreneur is pushing through that and learning from it. Our goal with this series is to highlight the everyday entrepreneurs that are making our communities better with their dedication and with their dreams, despite the challenges they face. We're telling their unique stories because if we celebrate our joy and if we also acknowledge or struggle, we can lean in to the journey of being an entrepreneur. And that's why we're out here in Atlanta. Atlanta is a place where entrepreneurship thrives. It's a place where people make their own way. Growing up in Atlanta was incredible. Our mayor was Black. Our leadership was Black. I knew Black doctors, lawyers, accountants, small business owners. If there was a field of practice to esteem to, there was representation of that here in Atlanta. Here in Atlanta, it seems like the soil is rich here as far as being creative and being able to have a platform to actually grow it. Atlanta is the mecca for rising businesses and it's just, Atlanta is everything. You need to be here. What are you waiting for? But it also has another side to it. Like most places around the country, there is a huge income gap and a lot of it is divided along racial lines. We're not just seeing the haves and have-nots, we're seeing the haves and have-nevers. It's literally this heartening Atlanta politically was built to include everyone, but so many people are still being left behind. We're having some very, very tough conversations about society and about people. We have an opportunity to get it right. Small business ownership is second only to home ownership as a source of building wealth in this country. So we have a tremendous opportunity to unlock societal potential at an accelerated pace. Here in Atlanta, we're working with G-Men, the Georgia Micro Enterprise Network, and they are a partner of Empower by GoDaddy. They provide support, training, resources, tools and community for everyday entrepreneurs here in Atlanta and across the state. Hi! Hi, I'm Scott. I'm Sonia. Welcome to Atlanta. They are truly trying to close the income gap and other forms of racial inequity through the power of entrepreneurship. This is where the magic happens. This is where the magic happens. G-Men in a Whole is an organization that provides the stability and the resources to those that may not have that opportunity. It helps to mold and make entrepreneurs from the conception into implementation. Sonia's going to take me around Atlanta and she's going to show me the small businesses that make Atlanta what it is. Yeah, oh, it smells good. I can smell it. I'm like, hmm, I want some of this. What people usually get. You know, the barbecue chicken. When people come together to build business and to create jobs, man, it feels good. It's falling off the bone. I'm from El Salvador. I grew up in markets selling fruits and vegetables with my grandma. I moved to the States to be independent and create my own business. I miss kids and they never went back. I think if you are an American, by default you are an entrepreneur. You may not know it, you may not realize it, you may not agree with it, but there is an entrepreneurial spirit. And I believe that this is the greatest opportunity because we can make together what we want America to be for ourselves and for future generations. You're part of history. I could be the next Coca-Cola. We can be the next Briar's Ice Cream. When you're your own entrepreneur, you can limit yourself. Of course, systems, once you start being educated on the systems, it's like what can I do to platform myself beyond that? I love that answer. I saw her. She's like, I love you. Going into a classroom, we're in there with businesses that we respect that we already knew before going in. Like, you know, these businesses that we've looked up to, now we're in a room with them, makes us feel good that we're going in the right direction. When you meet people who are on like the same journey, the same path, they relate to you. Some people who work nine to five or, you know, they don't understand like what it means to like put your whole heart into like something and it has to work. I am excited about what we're going to learn today. Your entrepreneur tank should be on full when you leave. Why does this work matter to you? It matters to me because I am a third generation entrepreneur. So my grandfather owned a couple of restaurants around Barbecue. My father owned a restaurant. And I at one point in time had a catering business. So if similar opportunity was afforded to my grandfather and my father, I really feel like they would have been more successful than they were. So that's why this work matters to me. What's up y'all? I'm Scotcha Gioca. I'm the entrepreneur in residence with GoDaddy. I think like one of the things I hear so much is that this feels lonely sometimes, you know? Like it can feel difficult sometimes, right? Like people telling you no. But I think you are here today because you're trying to defy that. You're trying to say no, you know what? You can say that. But I'm going to tell you something else and I'm going to show you something else. I can actually do this. And you got each other is the other thing, right? You have a community here. That's what I'm feeling in Atlanta. You know, like how do we rise up together, right? So rise up, right? We try to rise up. Like you try to rise up. Like there's some amazing trainers here that are going to help you share yourself as authentic beings in this world. And I hope you get what you need from that. One of the things we've noted here at G-Men, we've been around for about 20 years. And one of the first things we noted is that here in the South, we don't have as many of the opportunities that other cities do have. You're from Atlanta? I am from Atlanta, Georgia. I went to a school called Harper High School and it's really in the hood. I'm the first entrepreneur in my family. I bootstrapped my way through. I was in corporate America but I took my 401k and I just made it work. Now I go back to Harper. I go back to Adamsville and I speak to the little brown girls there. And I show them that just because you're from Adamsville, just because you're from the South side, look at me. I get teary-eyed because I really want the little girls to know that they can do it and they can be just like me. So engagement is huge. When you engage with them and you have that conversation and they realize that you're a human and not a computer, thank you. Can you follow me? Okay? So with that being said, pull out your phones at GoDaddy. All right? So the energy in here is amazing. Everyone was so engaged in class. I never saw so many hands up in a workshop before. It was so amazing to see them hungry, to learn, and to want to engage. And I think that's what's required as an entrepreneur. You need to be a lifelong learner. You need to have that growth mindset that allows you to continue to level up. I want to know a little bit about like what's the dream for you? Like what's next for you? Like where are you? Where are you trying to take this journey? Let's legitimize this the way that we need to and like make a commitment to ourselves and to our children that we're going to seek the education that we need to grow our business into something more. You know, I'm excited about having other people like me to own these franchises. So I'm excited to grow my business. I'm well on my way right now, so I already have that traction. I think you're always trying to be better and do more. Because it'll create stability for me in the long term. The time you all came, it felt like the last happy day. It was like that was the cut off of businesses growing and people connecting. And then the next day it all stopped. Like everything shut down. There was a 24 hour quarantine that went into fashion midnight. Yeah, I mean, we were literally in flight. You know, we were opening up, expanding another space. And of course everything is at a standstill. Of all the entrepreneurs that came through the program that we work with, 90% of them are shut down. How are you guys doing? My partner got tested positive for COVID-19. Oh wow. He is doing good though. He's recovered. He hasn't had a fever in a while. We're just completely isolated just really trying to do our part. I think like you, you're feeling a sense of uncertainty. And I think that's definitely in the air. We're trying to think of strategies to make sure that we're staying grounded and we're asking for the help we need. And we're also reaching out to others how we can. You know, it really has forced us to be creative. We're doing catering for frontline workers at hospitals. We did 120 people today. We've transitioned to selling a lot of to-go food. Small businesses are generally very resilient and resourceful because they've had to make things happen with very little. That's resilience. That's great. So entrepreneurship is crucially, crucially important. You know, if we want to get Americans back to work, small businesses need to be ready. They need to be healthy so they can employ them. All I could say is the timing of everything has just been so amazing. For GoDaddy to be a partner with G-Men and with the Atlanta entrepreneurs has kind of made the difference. That is pretty much the thing that everybody is asking for. They all need to know how to do promotions. They all need to know how to take their business from a site to online. That is an immediate solution that's available. If you don't utilize this time to learn something or do something different and you've been complaining about it, then you're failing yourself. They're actually reaching out without having to leave their home, which is important for them to know I can do that. I can still do business from right where I am, you know. I love that. Like what you're talking about is a mindset shift, right? And using this opportunity wisely, I love that reframe of saying, you know, this is a moment for us to better our businesses, to adapt. So next, we're going to learn more about some of these entrepreneurs, get to know who they are, how they got to where they are, and see where they're going next. I was made in America and I wouldn't trade that for anything. The good, the bad, the ugly, like all of it, right? It inspires us to evolve from made to make, right? Like, I was made in America and now I'm a part of making America. So stay with me as we go deeper into the journeys of entrepreneurs and talk about the inequities and the barriers that some of them face. First up, we're going to talk to the Robinsons. They're a family that runs a vegan popsicle business in Atlanta and they're in a moment of real growth. I hope you join us.