Welcome to the sixth edition for The secret, the Significant, the Successful. Each newsletter is broken down into three parts:

• The Secret – I’m afraid to apply to the COVID-19 Loan & Grant Programs
• The Significant – How My Inner Voice Saved My Life
• The Successful – Top Women-Led Business to Support During COVID-19

Read one section or read them all.

***

 

1. The Secret

I’m Afraid to Apply to the Loan Programs

By: Roshawnna Novellus • Newsletter: The secret, the significant, the successful: profiles of women entrepreneurs

Before founding EnrichHER, I served as an Enrolled Agent, which means I represented people in front of the IRS. Many people reached out to me this week for my advice; find some of that advice below.

• Founder 1: I’m afraid of applying to these Rona Loan Programs. I’m not sure if these programs have tested to ensure that my personal data won’t be compromised. I’m not sure what to do.
• Me: Well, it is true that these programs have popped up very quickly. So, there will probably be gaps in the process no matter where you look at it. Regardless, make sure you are working with a trusted entity when providing any of your personal banking and/or tax information.
• Founder 1: Well, I haven’t filed all my tax returns; can I still get access to the program capital?
• Me: Well, it depends. The tax returns are used to verify that you have a legitimate business and that your financial request is in alignment with forecasts based on previous returns. However, if you have any tax liens or debt due that is not on a payment plan, you’d have to most likely take care of that before you could qualify for any program.
• Founder 1: I’m afraid that the government will have access to my bank account if I submit my routing and account information.
• Me: Yes, it’s a two-way street. When you agree to receive funds from the SBA, you also agree to allow your account to be audited and potentially used in the future for any amount owed to the IRS.
• Founder 1: I think I’m just going to wait to see what happens.
• Me: I applied on Monday morning and was in the first 100,000 applications. By the same time the next day, the number of submitted applications was already 500,000. The funding is first come first serve, so if you wait too long, you’ll miss out.

Do you have any questions about the process? We at EnrichHER host Ask Me Anything (AMA) Sessions weekly, and want to help.

Contact us here if you’d like to be invited to our next AMA.

***

 

2. The Significant

How My Inner Voice Saved My Life

By: Tiara Zolnierz • Newsletter: The Secret, the Significant, the Successful: Profiles of Women-led Businesses | Originally Published in Thrive Global

 

The funny thing about life is that it has a strange way of showing us warning signs.

I’ve been in various situations that served as warnings, like almost having my car completely totaled. My first real encounter with this invisible life coach was at 17. I had driven the same route to school twice a day for the past twelve months. However, this day was different. I was driving and suddenly all the hairs on my arms stood up and my body started to panic like I had been kicked in the stomach; my breath started leaving me. An internal alert rushed through my brain and instantly I turned right, which was the opposite of my normal route to school. My life flashed before me! A car going 70mph literally smashed into another car, which would have been me if I didn’t turn right. That car was completely totaled. What I couldn’t wrap my head around later that night as I laid in bed was who or what whispered in my ear and told me to turn right. As you would imagine, that event shifted my perspective of life.

 

Listening to Intuition.

I became more self-aware and started listening to my inner voice aka my invisible life coach. Little did I know at the time, I was saving myself years of pain and suffering by staying in tune with my intuition, inner voice, invisible life coach, or whatever you want to call it. My life began to flourish. This went on for years until I second-guessed myself and took the wrong job.

 

Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems!

I sold myself out. Let me elaborate; I was interviewing, and after speaking to a recruiter about this particular position, I hung up the phone and my invisible life coach spoke to me and was promoting me. I felt bad vibes about going in for a face-to-face interview. I didn’t listen and went to the interview anyway. Long story short, the hiring manager was a narcissist, A-type personality with extreme anxiety who was also in the middle of a nasty divorce.

 

The Face-To-Face Interview

I was picking up on the bad vibes that this lady was crazy. I guess she knew I was about to cut the interview short and leave. The conversation instantly switched and she said: “Whatever your last salary was, I can triple it and give you an offer letter today.” Like a fool, I abandoned my inner warnings. I signed the offer letter, submitted my documents to HR and a week later started my job from hell. I’m not a movie buff but the way this actually occurred felt like a scene in a movie. My new manager immediately started treating me like her BFF–telling me every detail of her life, who she hooked up with, about her kid’s complete family history. All of this on the first day of work.

 

Yes, I felt uncomfortable! As an Outside Sales Territory Manager, I was not required to work in the office, but my manager wanted me to work closely with her and attend 6 am morning meetings which were super strange! Instead of talking about work, she talked to me about her life and all her problems. I mean soul-draining, Debbie Downer, energy vampire to the fullest extent type of conversations. Fast forward, since she was going through a nasty divorce she completely stopped working and made up excuses to dump all her work on me. I was overworked from eleven-hour days and stressed out, and to top it off, she would call me on the weekends to ask me to hang out with her!

 

My happiness took a turn for the worst when she stabbed me in the back and tried to sabotage me. I landed the largest deal in the Southeast region, which resulted in her becoming extremely jealous. Our corporate office was excited and I was requested to teach a sales training class. My manager would not approve my expenses and blocked my corporate card so I could not attend. You guessed it; I reported her crazy behavior to HR and quit! Looking back at the situation, I can definitely say this: peace of mind and happiness are more important than a job title and an increase in salary. You should not have to sacrifice your mental well-being for any company. In my opinion, true wealth is manifested in being happy in your current state of mind. You must safeguard your happiness at all costs. Certain diseases are created by negative energy and stress is detrimental to our health.

 

Energy is real

The emotional transfer of our life force is depleted when we engage with crazy people at work or any situation that steals your joy, so you must set boundaries and listen to your invisible life coach. I wish I would have listened but instead, I re-learned what I already knew at 17. If this voice saved my life once, then it would save me again. A few months later, I landed a better opportunity working with people I loved and my happiness returned times ten!

***

 

3. The Successful

Top Women-Led Business to Support During COVID-19

By: Roshawnna Novellus • Newsletter: The secret, the significant, the successful: profiles of women entrepreneurs | Originally on EnrichHER.com

1. Gwen Taylor founded Wind and Soul eco-lodge in 2018. Wind and Soul aspires to be the Southeast’s first zero-waste eco-resort specializing in world-class yoga + wellness retreats. Gwen was inspired to found her business out of a desire to align her work with whom she wanted to be in the world. She says, “My organization represents for me an embodiment of the power and potency of love – the practice of love for self, love for others and love for the precious planet. At Wind and Soul, we believe doing good is for business.” Wind and Soul’s first location is opening soon in the North Georgia Mountains and will offer seasonal, farm-to-table local food and use sustainable materials in all its retreats. If you agree that “It’s time to disconnect in order to connect more meaningfully,” you can learn how to support Wind and Soul here.
2. April Smith is a breast cancer warrior and the Founder of The Survivor’s Nest, Inc., a nonprofit organization whose goal is to “to inspire, uplift, and provide support to individuals impacted by cancer.” The Survivor’s Nest is a holistic service focusing on nutrition, fitness, and overall well-being. Some of their programs include: peer-to-peer support, health & wellness scholarships, beauty make-overs, and holistic care packages. If you or someone you know is dealing with cancer, you can apply for The Survivor’s Nest’s services here.
3. Farah Allen, CEO cofounded The Labz in 2018 with CTO Nael Alismail. The Labz is an ecosystem of tools specially designed to support varying types of creative roles in one workspace. Along with collaboration and cloud storage, The Labz supports the business process of tracking and preserving collaboration activity, establishing agreements and protecting access to users’ content. Their platform serves content creators in the music and film industry. Now more than ever, remote collaboration tools are the life-blood for these professionals. The Labz will release its biggest set of features next month. If you have questions for Farah or Nael you can reach out at [email protected].
4. Quyionah Wingfield, mother of two daughters, fitness professional and co-founder of Cool Moms Dance Too, launched the company with her two daughters Jaira and Serenity-Marie. Cool Moms Dance Too provides classes, programs and pop-up events to help mothers and their children utilize dance fitness and movement therapy for mental and physical well being. Cool Moms Dance Too’s goal is to “provide a coping and support mechanism out of dance to strengthen the well-being of the family.” CMDToo! is set to take their classes online in April 2020, hosting classes for moms and children at home via their Family Happy Hour Wellness challenges. You can learn more about Cool Moms Dance Too by contacting Quyionah Wingfield, [email protected] @coolmomsdancetoo on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
5. Tracy Taylor co-founded Yoni V-Steam Stools with partner T.H. Thomas in August 2019. Tracy was motivated to found her company when she noticed an increased level of tension and unhappiness in the world around her. “I just felt like a large part of it was that women stopped taking care of themselves and stopped loving themselves, and I wanted to do something to help that. We rely on hair and nails and lashes but we’re not cleansing our souls and our bodies. If you have a clean body and soul, it offers a clear mind,” Tracy said. If you are interested in learning more about Yoni V-Steam Stools, you can reach out to Tracy at [email protected] or call at 617-291-6445.
6. Samia Bingham, a self-described “commercial real estate enthusiast and government contracts nerd,” founded Flavors, a safe, health-inspected, and licensed shared commercial kitchen space community whose grand opening is scheduled for late Summer 2020. The space will host separate savory and confectionary kitchens, a private demo kitchen for private events, classes, podcasting, photography, or any food-based social event hosted by its members, open coworking space, virtual receptionist services, and business development workshops. Flavors is the epicenter for culinary entrepreneurs to create, cook, and serve creative, flavorful, and healthy cuisine to local communities, government, commercial, retail and private contract clients. Samia notes that she started her business to solve a problem common to the culinary industry: “Winning my first subcontract supporting the Department of State and in 2019 winning my first prime contract with the Department of Defense had me on a mission to find amazing culinary entrepreneurs to work with in support of the food service management contracts we were performing. Many of the culinary entrepreneurs did not have access to a dedicated and licensed commercial kitchen, which is required to participate in most government contracts. I knew we had to figure out a way to support our culinary community and help them enter this financially lucrative government contracts lane; therefore I decided to expand our operations to include the launch of a shared culinary kitchen community for emerging food and beverage entrepreneurs.” You can contact Samia at [email protected] or by phone at 202-729-0206.

***

 

If you enjoyed this newsletter, subscribe; after you do, here are a few other ways to stay in touch:

1. Apply for Funding – EnrichHER offers growth capital for established businesses. If you or someone you know is looking for $50k – $250k in working capital and have been in business over 1 year and have generated $100,000 in annual revenue, apply.
2. Nominate a Founder for up to $250,000 in small business financing. We deployed $3million to qualified women-led businesses in 2019, and our goal is to deploy $50 Million in 2020.
3. Join EnrichHER Society – EnrichHER Society is a deeply engaged network of women-led business owners. Our rapidly growing community provides tactical support and guidance, while we provide unique access to business financing. With over 1k members, you’ll connect with like-minded business owners, apply for up to $250k in business financing, access grant opportunities, and get the resources that you need to grow.