 There's a lot of things that you don't know it's not like you take this handbook and you follow the steps and then you're a successful business owner It's not how it works I'm accustomed to doing one problem at a time and now you have 20 But I love it when you tell me what I can't do. It makes me work harder Like what are the struggles you had you know as an entrepreneur? Druckle. I still feel like I'm in the struggle America has always been associated with making it. But is this opportunity accessible to all? I'm Scott Shigeoka. Go daddy's entrepreneur in 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 I'm for generation Japanese-American my whole family grew up in Hawaii I come from like a line of entrepreneurs I tend to be really positive And see failure or setbacks as an opportunity to grow and I think that's a core part of being an entrepreneur Right, we all have this grit I think there's this way of thinking this perseverance this mindset that entrepreneurs have and they think why not me And yeah, why not you? That's why I'm excited to explore this role as entrepreneur in residence to Think back to my journey and what it was like for me to set up a business and to Share and learn from others who are on that same journey too I think entrepreneurs are creators. They're inventors The majority of entrepreneurs aren't the people that are in suits. They are everyday Americans like you and I who are creating something new The goal of the series is to highlight everyday entrepreneurs I think we have a perception of what an entrepreneur is, but we're trying to expand that definition There are entrepreneurs everywhere in our country and that's why we're here in Memphis Memphis has a thriving ecosystem of entrepreneurs. There's a lot going on here in Memphis There's a lot of talent in Memphis. People look for opportunity hungry growing up in Memphis You can always see a lot of different family owned small business that goes back for so many years Tell me about your upbringing in Memphis. What was that like? Oh, well, I was born and raised in the projects You know what the projects are tell me about it project where a lot of us african americans live My mom was poor, you know, we were poor My grandparents were actual slaves. They lived on a plantation One of the stories my dad always told me about was how he used to kill bullfrogs in the swamp and Go sell them on the corner for a nickel a piece frog legs Um, and he was making more money than his mom and dad was on the farm That kind of started off a psychology of being able to go out and make money a different way He was the first african-american to have a distribution deal with Goodyear mission So I grew up working for him and learning principles values that I was never Gotten anywhere else There's this idea that the generations that came before us we carry their trauma their joy like all the things that they went through We have it in us too Memphis has the blood of dr. Martin the king on our hands no matter how many years past He came here for equal pay for the sanitation workers We know the history, you know, I know I stand on his shoulders among many other african-americans And non-african-americans who were in the fight and those entrepreneurs like ought to be wells Who started a haircare line back then it was like straightening hair Memphis is a place where struggle has been present People have gone through that adversity and have come out on the other side here I mean, this is the epicenter of the civil rights movement This is a place where people have pushed for equality have pushed for something new But we also need to think about Memphis in a national context Local community businesses should be supported because they really are the backbone and the lifeline to this country We have to remember that it's not just Tennessee. It's not just Memphis that's going through this DC is a place where brilliant minds come together to think about these really big problems You mentioned Memphis, Tennessee in communities where job creation has not been robust This is how you bring jobs into those communities But to the everyday American like why does this matter? Like why should I care about supporting small businesses? Right, right figuring out not just how to help them start But really this question of how we help them grow and realize their potential is really really important from a national economic perspective small businesses where innovation happens They are providing over 31 percent of all the jobs in this country Why is it important to serve these, you know underserved groups to become entrepreneurs? One of the challenges we've seen in the last couple decades is that actually rates of entrepreneurship are declining What's interesting is if you look underneath the data the places where we're seeing higher relative rates of small business creation Are among women are among people of color are among immigrants So these are the folks who are starting businesses in a time when we're seeing that generally declining So they're pretty precious and you want to invest in them, but they're also the people we know who've had the biggest barriers Coming from where I come from receiving a business loan of any amount is unheard of my mom didn't finish high school My father didn't finish high school. I'm the only one of my mother's children to graduate college Friends and family are the most widely used source of startup capital So that's not really bootstraps That's not you that's somebody else who you're lucky enough to know People often finance their businesses. They use savings or they use a home equity line of credit African Americans in particular They've been redlined out of neighborhoods where they're seen a lot of housing appreciation If you look at the history of different kinds of predatory lending in the u.s Whether it's things like payday loans or things like subprime mortgages It's often communities of color that are most intensively targeted with those products So you sort of roll all these things together and it's one of the reasons why we see it's really challenging for people of color I didn't come from anyone who Ever thought about starting a business So I didn't have a blueprint to go by and that's why I'm really excited for the class Welcome everybody to our social media marketing bootcamp today So excited to have all of you here. I'm Cynthia Terry with communities unlimited I'm the director of our entrepreneurship program and our goal is for you to be successful In the u.s We have these entities called community development financial institutions And they're particularly targeting people who aren't served by traditional lending banks don't look at people in terms of their character They look for assets and wealth and all of those things What's different about what communities unlimited does for small businesses is The combination of the small business lending as well as the business and management skills training that we provide communities unlimited help me From start to finish to get my product to the shelf I'm telling you everybody told me no the banks lenders Everybody told me no communities unlimited gave me my first yes That's one of the reasons we decided to partner with go daddy was So we could offer this training to help more businesses get their websites built to be exposed to more Customers than they are without the internet What a lot of people don't understand is sometimes your website is your hardest working employee I actually grew up as a child of a self-employed mother When I think about the opportunities now one of the biggest changes To affect business owners. I think it's the internet What is the difference for your business between Instagram to Facebook? My name is consuelo rosales, and I have a cleaning company Few of the struggles that I have in this time. It's a language enrich more customers I want to show my boys that we can have a different kind of life It's the idea like we want to we want to be in every national store we want we want people around the country I would like to leave something for my grandchildren I want them to not have to Struggle like I have had to struggle Whites hold 13 times more wealth than a black family But when we compare average wealth of a black business owner against a white business owner It goes from 13 times more wealth to only three times more wealth I mean just think what that does and what that says by giving people an opportunity to access credit Access capital access markets You're able to shrink the racial wealth gap that allows people to create wealth in their own homes and their families What a small business owner means to me is autonomy being able to make your own way For all y'all that I met like I'm so grateful to be here like seriously you all have inspired me In so many ways and as a fellow entrepreneur. I know the struggle. So I just want to say like keep on going They're really empowering themselves to step into something new for their families and for their future It is their drive. It is who they are that is so inspiring and so contagious And it makes me believe that there is hope We're seeing folks from house cleaners to You know boutique owners using entrepreneurship as a way out into something new To me made in america is bravery. It's courage. It's joy. It's passion. It's Possibility. It's empowerment I'm really excited to dive into some of the stories that we've heard right here in Memphis I'm optimistic that at some point In this country we'll get things right We'll be able to create economic opportunities for all You can be a successful business owner entrepreneur and live the same life or maybe a better life Than some of the images that we see on tv Something has to change the culture I'm really excited to do my business I can do it. Oh my goodness. So can you Stay with me as I cross america sharing the stories of communities Who don't have the same access that others do and I'm going to do my best to support them in every way I can And I know I'm going to learn a ton along the way too My first stop in Memphis will be hanging with new mom and fashion boutique owner sequoia She's shaking up her business model and taking her fashion boutique mobile. I hope you join me