Making a Way: Economics

Make a way out of no way

Over the next few years, we are going to have to do and be very different. The seasons have changed and we must make ready for winter.

I've seen one too many ridiculous memes about who and whose grandpappy made it through Jim Crow so we can too. While I understand the impetus to make such supposedly supportive utterances, I can't really say that they're helpful. I say if we want to be helpful to each other, we need to offer up some insights on what we might do to move ourselves forward economically, politically and socially.

If there is one thing that I am sure of, it is that the ingenuity and hard work that built the first Black Wall Street, can, and will, build us another if we make a concerted effort. This time around, with focus, effective use of social media and digital marketing tools, we can create and hopefully sustain an entire parallel universe.

1. Dreams matter

I've had various dreams over the last several years. One of those things involved abandoned houses in Detroit.  I recognize that my dream of rebuilding communities that have fallen on desperately hard times is a crazy one, especially since I'm neither a multi-millionaire nor am I especially handy with construction, but that doesn't make it any less of a great dream. I have visions of entirely self-sufficient communities, a central farm surrounded by homes, schools and every possible business needed by a community. Ain't nothing wrong with dreaming.

The next step after having the dream though, is taking action. What I probably should have done and I certainly encourage others to do, is find funding for your ideas and programs. There are grants. Go look. Network with non-profit professionals (if your dream is a non-profit) and find ways to make your dreams a reality. This isn't necessarily about becoming wealthy, although that would be lovely. It is about providing a needed service and making a way for yourself and those around you. 

Look into non-profits that received federal money to support entrepreneurs here. Start thinking about that thing that you think the world, your street or your community needs and begin the process of creating that. If a for profit enterprise is your thing, find incubator programs and reach out to the SBA and Score for support and guidance. 

I'm not for a minute saying, "Quit your day job!" but I am saying that we need to see what else we can do to build something with our sweat and ingenuity. 

2. Make a plan

I am under no illusions that this is going to be easy. Lord knows, 'easy' does not reside in our neighborhoods and even if it's just passing through, when it hears us coming, it runs like hell. We will have to work hard and fight tooth and nail for every inch of ground we can gain but how is that different from what obtains today?

Many in the urban centers, particularly in poorer neighborhoods, live in food deserts. Can you deliver healthful food in your neighborhood? Can you make 'real food' available? Can you and a few friends make something like this happen? Then do. There are communities aplenty in need of this kind of support. Do the research. Go to the neighborhood library. Get the help you need and try your hand.

Don't have money start a food desert supply service? Then what about creating an urban garden? Check out the guerilla gardener! Allow yourself to dream and be inspired to imagine some new thing that only you can do.

3. Use social media

Look, I'm no expert on social media. If I were, I might writing fake shite and laughing all the way to the bank. That's not me, that's not how I want to roll. Still, there are those of you who have your finger on the pulse of social media. Use it. You know how to drive traffic? Drive it in the general direction of up and coming Black and POC businesses, especially your own!

These are going to be trying times. Have you seen who's being tapped for Cabinet posts? Good Lordt! We better get our shite together! Use your vast social networks to create and sustain interest in your business and those of your friends.

4. Get the help you need
There are people out there who can help you. Everybody's got a computer in their pocket. Use it! Spend less time matching three cropsies or whatever and more time building yourself up for the days ahead. Trump and Bannon  are gonna be running the store for a minute. We'd better make sure we are ready for what that is likely to mean.

5. Support each other
We will need to rely on each other and we will need to support each other. One of the great things about the original Black Wall Street was that there were so many complementary businesses there, that a dollar circulated between 36 and 100 times before it left the community. Where do we do anything even close to that today? *Hint: nowhere

Do you have a friend who's a painter? Hire her/him to paint your house. Have a friend who's a caterer? Hire him/her to cater some part of your next shindig. Have a friend who's a writer (psst! lol)? Share their work. We are really going to have to do a new thing in this Brave New Trumpet World. Let me remind you that during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, thousands and thousands of Black men, women and children walked for months (13 to be exact, 381 days) to make themselves heard on the issue of desegregation. We need to 'make a point' (and to both ourselves and the majority) about self-determination. 

6. Network
Networking is critical to success in this society, it's also a significant part of why people of color do not thrive in the professional world the way others do. We don't create networks and we don't do the glad-handing and socializing that's required to maintain them. I understand it completely. So much of our lives in the professional world requires performance of Black acceptability that it gets wearying. We just want to go home and switch it off. I hear you. I feel you and I tell you "Not today". Stay plugged in and turned on. We can rest later; maybe four years out when Elizabeth Warren or Tulsi Gabbard is president-elect.  

There are Black Entrepreneurs Meetups and networking events. There are also Hispanic entrepreneurs meetups. Find a group that meets your needs or interest. Can't find one? Start one. Find a mentor. Become one. Join something that will uplift and encourage you. Get help and support. Ask questions. Be vulnerable. Be brave but don't immediately give up your day job!

I dream of the day when super wealthy POC's foundations create opportunities for fledgling micro-enterprises, but that may not soon come to pass. In the interim, we have to find other ways. Hopefully, one or two of the six ideas above will give us places to start. 

Ultimately, we must have faith....in ourselves and our circles and our circle's circles. We are going to have to have each others' backs. We are going to have to support each others' endeavors and network like our very lives depend on it because they just might. Prayer is good and all, but Jesus ain't buying your services, the people in your neighborhood are. So talk to Jesus, but talk to Jesús next door too.

We are going to have to imagine and work our way to independence. Whether we have a burning desire to be 'job creators' or we simply want to offer a good or service as a side hustle, we're going to have to hustle. A lot.

Whether ours is a brilliant massive idea or a simple small one, whatever our gift(s) are, use it (them). Seek out the help needed to make something out of nothing, a way out of no way, a bridge out of thin air. We don't have much choice.

When candidate Trump asked what we have to lose by voting for him, we had an inkling of what might be at stake. As time passes and his Cabinet starts to take shape though, the 'what' we might lose looks to be every damb thing. 

Trying times are ahead, be the change. 

And while we're out there doing our thing, join the Injustice Boycott because social justice activism and political action are just as critical as economic independence.