Hola Todos. I love my blog because it allows me to speak frankly, directly to my people. Today I wanna talk to you about something near and dear to my heart- Minority Owned Business. You know, I just recently found out that there is a Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce in AZ. I'm excited to know this because it means that there are enough viable Hispanic owned businesses within my community to warrant a club! I love to work with and know of other minority owned businesses, not just Hispanic owned, but Black as well. Throughout the years I have seen many Blacks and not so many Hispanics start businesses. Nearly all are no longer standing. Con la gracia de Dios, mine is still here! But one thing that always plagues me about our businesses is how little thought, time and money we invest in making them strong companies that are respected by the community. Many average people just don't take us owning a business seriously and we perpetuate the stigma by making these "ghetto fabulous" little stores, salons, barber shops and restaurants that no one, other than people of the hood would truly want to visit. Our appearance is everything! It is the key to having a successful company. If you want to walk the walk, you must talk it first!
Just recently a friend of a friend- my friend to the second power, asked me to help her with her salon. She is seeking to attract a slightly more upscale clientele and want them to feel welcome and take her business seriously. The locale of her place is in the midst of moderate income, but she does have the occasional higher end client in to get a cut or style. Her place had become the typical shop where people come and wanna hang all day watching TV and chillin. Having people occupying that space for hours on end does not make her money and she knows that. The problem came when she asked for my help to upgrade her space. Now I don't say this to diss or call her out in any way, because I like her- she's a hard working, strong black woman making her way with two businesses. I want to see her do well and would love to help her get there; but after spending nearly two hours with her going over her visions and perception of her future space, she looked at me and told me she could devote around $500 a month to fixing up her place. My heart sunk when she said this. I first wanted to say "seriously?", but I can't blame her. If you have never done any real renovation work, you might have no idea whatsoever how much it can cost. The mistake usually comes from a situation very similar to hers. What mainly needs to be done is cosmetic, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't cost, it just doesn't cost AS MUCH as it would if you did a full blown remodel. Many of our people buy full living room sets for $599, so when you explain that an average waiting room chair can cost $300 or more, they can't compute. Spending $300 on one waiting room chair might sound crazy, but it is on the lower end of the spectrum. The average is between $400- $700.
The appearance of high quality in your place of business greets customers with the comfort of a "stable company worthy of their patronage". Just think, for a second. You're looking for a home in a great neighborhood and are hiring a real estate agent. Two agents come to your home. One pulls up in a beat up 89' Corolla, dressed in jeans and a wrinkled t-shirt. The second drives up in a 2010 Nissan Maxima with nice rims and steps out of the car wearing nice work attire. She's not stepping out of a Mercedes with a power suit that says "I cost a million dollars to hire, but she's also not stepping out of a piece of crap that says "I'm not very successful at what I do because if I was I'd have a way better car!" Who would you trust to find your dream home? Our business' earning potential is directly affected by the face that we put on to the public.
I take a long time and use these examples because BRANDING is such an important part of making people "believe" our business. So many minorities try the do-it-yourself approach to opening up their store. They underestimate the start-up costs. They say- "I can pick some colors, throw up some hanging racks and open up a clothing store and they will come if I have fly gear" or "if I throw up a few flat screens I will look more upscale". They never think that certain colors will attract more buyers within their target market. Perhaps cramming ten cheap looking plastic tables and used chairs into their restaurant might not be the best floor plan for the ease of your customers and traffic flow. Yes, being proud of Puerto Rico is great, but throwing up murals of palm trees and tacky flowers and the flag might not be the best decorating choices to attract a more universal customer. Sometimes we think so much about ourselves that we don't understand who our customer is or SHOULD be.
Why can't we have beautiful, successful businesses? Why can't we invest the money it truly takes to show our best face to others? Last year I had a NFL football player and his wife come to me wanting me to design and build a fabulous space with a "rock star" feel. They wanted it head to toe extravagant because they would have mostly "baller" clientele and wanted a high end look to go with what they would charge their clients. The place was a former salon that already had it's own distinctive look. When it came down to investment- they wouldn't spend any more than the cheesy $20,000 they got for build out money from their property owner. Just a new floor alone in that amount of space was going to run $13,000. In the end they settled for a low end remodeling company who did nothing to make the place look any different than what it did originally. Such a shame that money wouldn't even spend money to make money!
My bottom lines are many. Let's stop giving others a reason to talk about us as lower class business owners. There is nothing wrong with trying to go it alone when planning your business hub to a certain extent, but a truly successful commercial space involves many "tricks" that are known only to true Interior Designers that deal with this type of design. This doesn't necessarily mean that you will have to drop $30,000 to remodel your business interior, but perhaps hiring a designer to work with you on even a few design improvements is a worthy investment. Allow him/her to design a plan for you that will work with a budget that is one you can eventually save up for, if you don't have the money now. Don't think that just changing one or two things like paint color and accessories might give your business an entire style overhaul. Commercial spaces are not as easy to upgrade as a room in a home. There are codes to consider, lighting issues, space constraints, traffic patterns, ergonomics, different moods of client, themes for branding your company. Designing a space is a well balanced combination of science and art. Non-minority business owners care enough about their companies to invest in opening well done restaurants, offices, spas and stores. We can do it too! Let's stop giving them reasons to call us ghetto! Let's put our businesses on the path to recognition and success...
picture from : djhuppatz@blogspot.com
