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Some of you may have heard the statistic that Black women only raise an average of $42K for their businesses and most don't know how to attract a team. I read these facts — and let them go. I decided to define my own path as a Black woman business owner, regardless of the obstacles so many of us face.

Here are three challenges I had to work to overcome to make my business become a reality and thrive:

1. Getting Over People Underestimating Me

For a long time, I believed that if I obtained more degrees or appeared on more "top" lists people would give me the benefit of the doubt when trusting that I could achieve whatever I wanted. I mean, how much evidence does someone need? Eventually, I accepted the fact that if people don't want you to succeed, it's a waste of time and energy doing the work to be accepted into their circles. A better use of time is to focus on solving your customers’ needs so that your business’ success is your evidence.

2. Not Comparing My Journey To That Of A Privileged White Male

Almost every business book out there shares the story of how a successful white male was able to accomplish something amazing against all the odds. But what isn’t said is how this person didn't have to worry about cash flow, stability or lack of access to a network. I admit, a time or two I was upset when someone in that group did a fraction of the work I’ve done and received 100 times more accolades. But I realized that what's for me is what's for me.

Again, making my life miserable through comparison was a complete waste of time. All I can ever do is continue to grow along my path to success. We all have unique talents that we can leverage to achieve our life goals.

3. Understanding That Only Action Creates Change

It's really easy to call out an organization for not having diversity and not being culturally relevant, but often the people who are causing the pain lack true interest in making a change. Companies will do whatever it takes for us to buy their products, but nothing more. So, I decided that if I wanted to support an organization run by a Black woman in the financial services industry, I would have to create and build what our target users and I needed.

Adding angry faces to social media posts or witty tweet comebacks doesn't create the products that we seek.

All in all, to overcome most of these obstacles, I had to stop focusing on what was wrong in society and focus on what I could do to enact change. My greatest wish is that through my platform, EnrichHER, 100,000 women will be able to control their own economic destiny. By owning our destiny, we can stop placing our hopes of prosperity with people who have no incentive to help us succeed.

Roshawnna Novellus

Writing since February 2022 · 1 story contributed