Creating Impact: How To Turn Setbacks Into Entrepreneurial Wins

Melinda Emerson—widely recognized as the SmallBizLady—has dedicated her career to empowering others, especially women, through education and entrepreneurship. 

Realizing that the United States strives to export its education and training resources for women around the world, Melinda has created countless opportunities for aspiring business owners. 

Now, she is taking her passion a step further by launching the Small Biz Lady Academy, a new platform designed to make her expert coaching and materials affordable and accessible. 

Committed to reaching even more people, Melinda is offering her resources in both English and Spanish. To prepare, she’s been diligently studying Spanish for months with two tutors, eager to help entrepreneurs everywhere succeed.

Transcript

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Foreign. Hello. Hello, everyone. Welcome back, welcome back. It is me, Dr. Shauna of Shauna Scott, PR and of Events and welcome back to Event TV. We have today an amazing, amazing individual. I'm so excited that she is here and without further ado, I am going to bring her on. Here we have her. Hello. Hello. The small biz lady, Ms. Melinda Emerson. Hi. How are you, Melinda? Oh, I'm great. I'm great. I'm so excited to be here with you. You still Nancy. I liked your opening and everything. Oh, thank you, thank you. You know, you gotta be a. Brandon's a man, which we talk about that. Talk about that. So tell me, Ms. B, small business lady Melinda Emerson, what's going on in your world right now? Oh, man, lots of good stuff going on. My baby is graduating from high school. So it's like, it's like I can't wait. And I'm like, oh, no, but I can't wait. You know what I mean? It's like he, he is moving on with his life. I'm going to be an empty nester. I'm excited about that. I'm also really excited because one of the things that we have done this year with my business as we have gone global, I participated in an international trade mission earlier this year. And what I found out was that education and training for women is something that the United States wants to export worldwide. And since I'm one small business expert that has created so many amazing opportunities for us. So we are in the process of launching a brand new platform called Small biz Lady Academy. And we're going to make access to my coaching and materials very affordable and reasonable for people. And we're going to be offering that information in English and Spanish and so excited. Girl. I have been studying Spanish for the last four months. I got two tutors, they trying to get me ready. By the end of the year. I want to be able to teach in Spanish. So I'm really excited. And so that's what you know, that's the short news of what's going on. That's amazing. So say first and foremost, say something in Spanish for us all. Como esta? How are you? You should say muy buen. Very good. Very good, Very good. Yes. Awesome. So you know you're going global. I'm so excited to hear about that. And you're the small business lady biz lady. Tell me a little bit more. Well, before we do that, tell us, tell us all just in case there are some people that are new to you. What is it? That you do. And who are you? We know you're going global. We know you killed in the U.S. who are you? Who are you, amazing lady? Well, I am Melinda Emerson, but my nickname is small biz lady. And I am regarded as America's number one small business expert. I have been an entrepreneur, believe it or not, for 25 years. And for the last 16 years, my mission has been to end small business failure. I specialize in training women entrepreneurs to start and grow successful small businesses. I'm the best selling author of this little book, over my shoulder, become your own boss. In 12 months. It's actually for 14 years, we've sold over 100,000 copies worldwide, including in Spanish and Portuguese. So I'm really excited. That was actually part of the impetus for us to look at going global because we have such a following and in foreign countries as well. So, yeah, that. That is. That is me in a nutshell. Awesome. Love it. Love it. You know, that's. That's absolutely amazing in small business failure. But, you know, you come on event tv. I've got to ask you this question. Why are you doing all of this? Why are you not some amazing dancer or, you know, amazing baker or a doctor? Why are you ending small business failure of all things? What? You know what? Yes, in a way. But writing has always been my superpower since I was a little girl. I wanted to be a journalist since I was in eighth grade and I went to college, I went to Virginia Tech undergrad and I got my journalism degree and I became a broadcast journalist out of college. I actually got a job with the NBC station in my hometown, and I worked for NBC in Pittsburgh for one year. And then I got a job at the NBC station in Philadelphia, which is where I have lived for the last 27 years. And what I will tell you is I was very fortunate because I got my dream job when I was really young. I mean, I. I came to market for television in Philadelphia when I 23 years old. And people work their whole careers to get to market, you know, top market tv. And I got there my second job. But what I learned from that experience is that you better be careful what you wish for, because you might get it. Okay, So I got my dream job and I hated it. And I, I literally, I hated murders, I hated fires, I hated that there were, you know, black men were in handcuffs the first five stories every night. Like, I was. This is clinically depressing. Like, this is draining my soul. And then on top of that, I worked with people that weren't Nice. Like I worked with people who were so self important and indulgent, you know, complete narcissist. And then in that environment, that environment required complete assimilation. Like if you did not think like a 30 something white male, you were not going to survive it. Wow. That. You know my soul. Like, like, like I felt like this. I had many talents and I could figure out another one to make a living. It did not have to be this wow. Okay, so let's just take a step back in all of this. Straight out, fresh out of college, you got your dream job, you know, and the land of milk and honey. And then you found out it wasn't right. Yeah, I was making a whole bunch of money and all I did. And all I did was go to work because they worked us to death. I mean, we worked 12, 14 hour days like it was nothing. And then eventually I went from the NBC station in Philadelphia to the ABC station and they didn't have a union, so they didn't even pay us 12 hours. They paid you salary and that was that. So at least when I worked at the NBC station, they paid me for all the hours I worked. But it was a very miserable existence. It was a very toxic work environment. And you know, in newsrooms aren't really run like how other businesses are with like HR rules and things like that. So people would throw dates at people, people would cuss people out. I mean like, it was just like a crazy place to work. And I was like, I said, lord, if I stay here, I'm going, I start, I'm gonna start acting like these people in here. Right, right. So you ended up leaving the job or what? I mean, you know, minutes before the job left me, I kind of left. Right. But I, But I also, while I was working my. I worked every weekend. And so that was one of the other things that got on my nerves was like some, for some reason all the black people could only work on even, you know, early mornings and weekends, which is the shift that I always kind of ended up getting. And I was just like, you know, I want to do something different. So on my off days, which were Mondays and Tuesdays, I actually started freelancing for a video production company, a company like the one I wanted to start. And that's actually how I learned the business, like how I learned. I mean, obviously I knew how to tell great stories and write scripts like that, but I didn't know how to price a job. I didn't know how to negotiate with a client. I didn't know what contracts Even were supposed to look like. And so I learned all of this stuff from the company that I worked for on my freelance days. And I did that for about a year before I left my job. And the other thing I did was I took out a home equity loan from my home. I bought a home at 25. Right, because you had the same job that could pay for it. Exactly, because I was getting killed in Texas because I had no children, husband and stuff back then. And I paid off every, every bill I had. Like, I paid off my car, I paid off my credit card bills, and I was like, I got myself down to like bare bones bills. And. And then my kid brother was coming out of college that year and he got a job in Philly too. So he actually ended up being my tenant and living in my back bedroom and paying half my mortgage. So that helped me too. So, you know, be being somebody that had savings, being somebody that was savvy with, with, with money and credit and, you know, paying down bills and stuff, really set me up well to start my first business, which I did when I was 26 years old. Wow, okay, so you started your first business at 26 after you had enough of your dream job? Because my dream job was a nightmare. So yes. And I, I can relate to that, definitely. So still, that doesn't tell us yet why small business failure. What, what brought you from. To ABC to small biz lady? Well, you know, it was the experience I had running my own business. You know, when I was in my first business was a video production company. And later. Videos look really nice. That's why, because I'm a little anal about it, but. So we started as a video production company. Later we morphed into a web development and video production company. And then in 2007, I read a trade journal that said social media was going to be the next big thing in business. And so we decided to push all our chips in the middle and, you know, become a social media marketing firm. But the thing about that is, is that all of this was in the backdrop of me becoming pregnant with my son, my husband, my then husband. And I became pregnant in 2005 with my son. And at 32 years old, I ended up on bed rest with a high risk pregnancy, which is something I never could have possibly imagined. I was 32 years old, I was a healthy person. Is perfect, right how we envision it, you know? No, it really wasn't. And, and on top of that, if you get in your time machine with me and go back, you know, wi FI wasn't in people's houses in 2005. Wi Fi didn't get people's houses till 2007. And so for me, you know, we still had dial up and stuff. And so it was a thing where I was sent home and I was just at home, right? You know, so I had offices in downtown Philadelphia, eight or nine employees. My husband had quit his full time job and had joined our business full time. So like our whole source of income as a family was coming out of this business. And all of a sudden the number one rainmaker got sent home. Like, like, so like imagine if you're on a basketball team and you know, LeBron gets hurt and LeBron has to sit out the rest of the season, right? That, that's what it was like. And so when I got sent home, you know, I was terrified because we, they didn't know what was wrong with my son, but they thought there was something wrong with my son. They had me at the hospital three times a week getting testing done and they were like, and make sure you come back next week. You know, so that was a very terrifying and unnerving time in my life. And then my, we almost lost my business the same year I had my son. And oh, you know, when I was home on bed rest, I, I, to this day still believe it was God working on my behalf. Because when that happened, I was like the worst workaholic you ever met. Like, I was horrible. I would work six, seven days a week. I would leave church on Sunday and go to the office and work three or four hours before I went home. It was bad. And. Before, before working yourself? I was working myself to death because I thought my secret sauce was we gonna outwork people. I mean, you

could call my office at 9: 14:18

00 at night and people would answer the phone like

it was 3: 14:22

00 in the afternoon. Not only was I a workaholic, I demanded that of my whole team that worked for me. Wow. And so it was, it was a very, very sick culture that I created, you know, and when I got sent home was the first time that I realized it. Like, it, it was like I, I realized a couple of things when I got sent home. One that I had set up a business where you had to come ask mama, right? You know, I had all these people that would do anything I asked, but I had never really empowered anybody to do anything. So when I was, wasn't there, they weren't doing nothing. We were burning through our savings paying people who weren't even checking My email people were sending RFPs to me. They weren't even checking my email because. You had to tell. That is like, oh, okay, I won't even go down that rabbit hole. But I know that feeling. Yeah, so. Yeah, so. So for me, when I was home, it was the first time I had ever stopped long enough to think about my business. You know, every day I had gotten up on go like every, every day, right. You know, so it was the first time I was like, yeah, it was with reason. They told us that if you work hard, that was the secret sauce. That's what they told us. I bought the lie. It was a lie. And so what ended up happening was I could have lost my life. I could have lost my life. I could have lost my son. When I was 30, I came down with diverticulitis, like an elderly person's disease, because I was like, you know, fast food, soda, drinking, never have a glass of water, never eat a salad person. And I almost got. I'll listen my, I had wrecked my health. I was, I was working all the time. I mean, I might as well have been a chain smoker. The stuff I was doing to myself. You know, my point is I was doing the same amount damage to myself. I was operating on four hours of sleep for years. Right. And it was just toxic. And luckily you had a healthy, happy marriage, right? No, no, no. When you're workaholic, your, your, your work is your first love. Not yours, not your sweetie. So. And then, you know, working together. I don't think my ex husband was ever happy working with me. And so. Well, you did say you were running a tight ship. I was. I mean, I think I at one point was accused of being Captain Bly back in the day. So I think for us, like it finished killing our relationship. Like, you know, our relationship was, was shaky. And then after three, four years of working together, it was, it was, it was on life support and it could not be saved. But I also think, you know, I once I stopped like, you know, once we had Jojo and you know, I got JoJo to his first year of life without permanently maiming him in any way. I went back to some notes I had taken when I was pregnant and they were basically all of the expensive lessons I had learned when I was in business. And then I wrote down some lessons that I knew other people had learned. And those lessons eventually became my best selling book, Become your own boss in 12 months, this book right here. But it was in that, it was in the writing of that book that I realized that there was an opportunity. And so, you know, after I had my son, after I realized that my marriage was on life support, I was, I was miserable. You know, I basically had one of those Mariah Carey meltdowns. You know, like, I was like, lord, what is we go do? You know, I really, it was the first time in my life I had ever felt that way because I always have had a plan B and C. Like I always had dude number one and dude number two. Because if dude number one, like if one of my hairdressers act a fool, know that I got another one I can call. Like, I, I've always been that person and I have a consistency plan for anything, right? But, but I got to the point where I had no idea what to do next and it was bad. And I had a brand new baby that wasn't sleeping. That joker didn't sleep till he was seven months old. So he terrorized, he terrorized us. I have a nine month old grandbaby. Oh, yes. You know, you know, when these jokers don't want to sleep. Now, one thing I will say is that, you know, we did have him very early on in his room and that to this day has been helpful because my son will go to bed right now. Like, if I say, jojo, time to go to bed, he'd be like, all right, all right. Like we've never had that. You better go sleep. Better go sleep, better go sleep. Like, like we've never had that. Because, because forced me to evict, to evict my son very early. He said, there's only room for one man in this bed. That boy gotta go right, right down in the bed while my bab. Which was terrible. But, but what I will say is that at that time everything was bad. I really didn't know what to do and I was so low, I couldn't even pray. I want you to appreciate that because I went to church every Sunday and was so low that I could not pray. Like that's how I was. And I remember I went to lunch with my pastor and I kind of told him what was going on. And I was telling about my business and I was telling him about my marriage and, and he was like, whoa, have you, have you been praying about it? And I looked at him sheepishly, shamed to say that I had not prayed about it. And he said to me, try that. He was like, he was like, he said, do me a favor, try that. He was like, prayer works. I, I want you to. He said, I want you to pray. He said, and then I want you to come back and give me the report. And I was like, okay. So I went home and literally that night, fell on my knees and prayed. And I asked God to show me the way, show me the direction. And it took about maybe two and a half months. And then I had the first vision, and I didn't really kind of understand it. So he did it again, Right. And I still was. I was getting clearer, but I still didn't understand the third time. He woke me up in the middle of the night and made me go downstairs and cut on the tv. And I was. And I finally figured out what he was telling me to do, and that was to become America's number one small business expert. But at the time, you know, I had a dollar, 50 cents in the bank. I didn't feel super successful. But my God said, it's not about what you got today. It's where. It's where I can take you. Show you. And. And so. And the first thing he pointed me back to was this book. He was like, yeah. Remember them notes you took? Yeah. Pick that back up. And so, literally, I picked up those notes and I created, like, six, seven chapters. And the first book company I ever spoke to bought my book. I didn't have an agent. I didn't have a book proposal. How about I didn't even know what a book proposal was. And they bought this book and. Wow. And it was just a miracle that you know, because now what I know about all you gotta have to get a book deal, because my book was published by a small publisher in Boston that was later bought by Simon and Schuster. So the sec. The second and third. Excuse me. Published by Simon Schuster. You're going really fast, and I just want to make sure everyone is catching these amazing nuggets of who you are. Small book publisher now bought by who? Simon and Schuster. Schuster. Well, talk about alignment in a life of purpose, Melinda. You know, so just to re. You know, just to redact everything that you were saying you were working, dream job, knocking it out the park, absolutely miserable. Build this amazing business brick by brick, baby in tow, hubby and toe, barely holding on to everything until it all fails. But during that entire journey, God has been giving you what your next steps were, and you thought you had no idea what those steps were. I didn't know. I didn't know until he, like, literally had to clobber me over the head with, like. It's funny because I've talked to other people who, like, been called to ministry. And they've described very similar things to me. You know, like he. He speaks to us different ways. Some people he speaks to us through visions and dreams, which is how he speaks to me. The other thing he does is he has people call me on the phone and tell stuff that he called, that he told them to call me and tell me, which is like really crazy. But. But I have three people that I know talk to God who called me and say, hey, he told me, he gave me a word for you. And it's funny because it happened again last summer, which is how I got to Small Business Lady Academy. So it's funny because it had been 17 years since he talked to me. He sent me a very clear message last summer and that was that I was playing too small. And he told me that he wanted me to create a goal that was so big and so audacious that only he could deliver it. Because when he did, he wanted me to be able to know that he did it. He said, no, no, I don't need something you could do. He said, I need something that I. You need me to do. And so that is, that is, that is what we're doing. And that's why we're going global. That's why we've created Small Business Lady Academy. I'm going to Cambodia in August. Let me tell you something. When he, when he do it for you, we do not serve a little God. We serve a big one with a big G. And so that's what people have to understand, that when you are a believer, there's nothing that is impossible for God to do for you, but you first have to believe he can do it. Right? Because if you don't believe it, he'd be like, tell you what, I'm gonna keep my pockets in my hand because you don't, you don't believe what I'm saying. Okay? Right. Show out, trust. He'll do it. Yeah, right. And it sounds like with you, you know, building your business, being very, very busy, working all those hours he had been communicating. But it took those moments of. Girls, let me sit you down. You are a powerhouse. You are my anointed one. This is what I want you to do. Not the video business. And you have this amazing book that has been feeding so in supporting and consulting with so many different businesses across the globe. Amazing, amazing. And you managed to build multiple seven figure business. Yeah, yeah. Dream job, salary. Look, right now, if you knew how many people that used to work for me have called me and asked me for a Job, girl, please. Right? But I, but I'm blessed because even that job prepared me for what I do now. I mean, we develop content all day, every day. What did I do at the television station? I developed content all day, every day and had zero time to do it in. So now when I get, you know, a month to do a video, it's like, please, that's nothing that, you know, I can do it, you know, so, so, so I don't regret anything because I learned so much. But the amazing thing for me, though, was when I walked away from the news business in, I never thought I would have the opportunity to be a journalist again. I had no idea that I would write this book. I also had no idea the things this book would open, the doors that this book would open for me. And for example, so when we were getting ready for the book to come out, the market crashed in 2008, right when I turned my book into my publisher, and my publisher bump my book by 18 months. And so we were like, what in the world are we supposed to do for 18 months waiting for this book to come out? Well, social media was brand new. I mean, so in 2008, Twitter was only 1 years old. So that's what I need you guys to understand. So we, I, I talked to a woman who was a publicist who knew as much as anybody knew about social media at the time, and she said, oh my gosh, we have 18 months to build your author platform. That's amazing, right? And so we, we, we got on Twitter and I remember saying to her, what is tweeter? Like, I literally didn't know what it was. And tweeter, what is Twitter? And then she said, don't worry about it. We just need to get you an account so I can teach you how to use Twitter. And so I go to twitter.com and I put in my name, Melinda Emerson. And then I got this polite message back. This name is already taken. And I was like, are you kidding me? I've met six other Melinda's older than me my whole life. Like, my name is not common. But thanks to Facebook, I found out there are seven other Melinda Emersons. I'm the only black one, however, and I own Melinda Emerson.com and I'm the first 26 pages on Google. So they all know who I am, including the chick that got my name on Twitter, because I've seen her send people to my other account. She said, no, you mean small business lady. That's who you looking for. You're not looking for Me. And so, so for me, like even, even becoming the small business lady, I mean, it immediately, immediately separated me from all the other so called wannabe maybe so, you know, small business coaches that are out here and it just, it just gave me a lane to drive in. And I was early to it. Right. You know, I was an influencer before it was a job description out here. Everybody was trying to be, but I was an influencer in this small business space. And very quickly, also because of my media background, I became a spokesperson for a lot of corporate brands. I mean, in the last 13, 14 years, I've worked with over 150 corporate brands. Many, many. Oh gosh, who, who I haven't, I work with. I mean, so Visa, you know, Verizon, FedEx, Amazon, Google, HP, Adobe, I mean on and on and on and on. And, and largely was because I had this appeal. I had a great audience, a great following, and mostly because I convene my community live every week on the Internet. It. And so there was nobody that was doing that. So I created small Biz Chat. I was one of the first people to create a live chat on Twitter. And that has just been, that was something that really transitioned my business. Like, I like to tell people all the time I'm a walking, talking social media brand because of Twitter. But once we started on social media, I started my blog and then Entrepreneur called me and said, hey, we've been reading your blog. We want to know if you want to write for us. They had read my blog for one year before they approached me. And I wrote for Entrepreneur for about two, two and a half years. And then after I wrote for Entrepreneur, the New York Times called me and said, hey, we got this year the boss blog. And we're looking for somebody to blog about social media and small business. And so I wrote for the New York Times for two and a half years. And let me tell you something, the first time I got a byline in the New York Times, I, I cried because when I left the news business, you know, people acted like I was finished, like I was washed up. Like, like, you'll never be a journalist again kind of thing. And I'm like, oh, I don't even want to be a journalist again. How about that? But, but God knew better. But I also had a professor in college who was like, listen, one day you will be discovered because of something you write. It will never be for something you do in television. And he was furious that I even wanted to go into television. He was like, you're a Gifted writer. I don't understand why you want to go deal with these idiots in television, but I didn't listen to him. But I did have to track him down when I got my book deal and tell him. Right. Nice, Nice. So with. With all of your accomplishments, this is why you wrote become your own boss and that you are such on a mission to small. To end small business failure. And it's pretty admirable, you know, for you to be on this mission to. For you to take what you have learned, to take your L's and put them into a book to prevent other small businesses from failing, because the stats sometimes are very, very overwhelming. 90 gone in five years. You know, about 20. 20 die by year 19. No, I said 9 0%. 9 0. Gone in five years. Yeah, gone in five years. Yeah. Yeah. So it's. It's not easy. It's not easy. Most. All right, so if anyone wants to grab your book. Book or get in contact with you, how could they do that? If there are any entrepreneurs out there that really wanting some sort of a road map, some insight or to work with you, how could they do that? Well, my book, become your own boss in 12 months is available anywhere books are sold. It's on Audible. It's an ebook. It's a paper book, so you can find it anywhere. But if you want to work with me or just get in touch with me, I am small business lady on most platforms on LinkedIn. I am my government name. Small biz. Excuse me, Melinda Emerson, not small business lady. But if you're interested in, you know, joining my community or getting more information about my online courses, head over to small business lady university. And if you want to know more about the academy, go to smallbiz ladyacademy.com awesome. Awesome. Well, Melinda, you were absolutely amazing today. And I know that we could go on for several more hour more hours about your story and your mission and contribution to this world, especially the entrepreneurial space. But we just got to get people to connect with you, to hear more, you know? So with that being said, I do want, you know, this is event tv, okay? And I do want for people. If you have an upcoming event, can you tell everyone about it or anything. Else that I can tell everyone about it. So brand in demand live this year is going to be September 26th through the 28th in Atlanta, Georgia. So we are moving it down south, folks. So we're going to be the last weekend in September, September 26, 27 and 28. I want you to come and hang out with me in Atlanta, Georgia, for Brand in Demand Live. So we are going to do a live event this fall. Awesome. Awesome. And thank you so much, Melinda, for coming. You all make sure that you have your eyes out. For all of her information, look for her on social media. Small biz lady And Melinda, keep saving small businesses. Oh, Shawna, you are amazing, and I always enjoy working with you. You helped us kick off Brand and Demand Live, and we've become great friends as a result. So I appreciate you. I appreciate you as well. So thank you. So, do you have closing music? I do. I'm fighting with it. I'm gonna have to cut this all out. Oh, okay. I have a. Hold on for a second. Let me pause.