Let's Talk with Leaha & Rhonda October 7, 2023

What is Let's Talk with Leaha & Rhonda?

Leaha Crawford and Rhonda Nolen are business consultants that discuss the current struggles of small business owners and entrepreneurs. Each episode covers steps necessary for smaller businesses and business owners to grow and prosper.

Unknown Speaker 0:00
You're listening to locally produced programming created in KU NBC Studios on public radio K, u and v. 91.5.

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The following is a paid program sponsored by Crawford management group and smart time consultants. Please be advised that the voices and opinions you hear did not represent the views of 91.5 Jazz anymore, the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Unknown Speaker 0:34
Hi, my name is Leah Crawford. And I'm Rhonda Nolan. And you're listening to the let's talk with Leah and Rhonda show for all the beautiful entrepreneurs out there. This is for you. Good morning, Las Vegas. How are you doing on this Saturday morning. I hope you're doing great. My partner in crime. Leah Crawford is not with us today. But I have two lovely ladies in the studio with me this morning. And we're going to talk all about their businesses. Okay, Las Vegas, you know, I want to know did you exercise today? I hope you've been up and outside of your house, but I'm going to ask my guests. We have Miss Eleanor Cromer Crombie, a Romeo a Eleanor Chromie, a from Project 300. And we have Miss to Shell Lawson from the fig strategy and consulting group. Good morning, ladies. How are you doing? Good morning. We're so glad you're here with me today. Fantastic. We'll get right into it. Miss Eleanor, tell us about Project 300.

Unknown Speaker 1:36
Well, Project 300 is an online tutoring service, our focus is actually kindergarten. But when we started out, we weren't able to get that many kindergarteners. So we did expand to elementary school students, which our majority of students are second grade right now. But we want to help students who are struggling readers, improving their foundational skills which they need throughout life. And so I'm a retired teacher, okay. And so I created this program, because I want it to still work with the kids. Yeah. And so as I was working on putting this program together, a article came out in the paper called The Big Idea challenge. And it went right along with what I was trying to do, which that program wanted innovative ideas and education. So I submitted my idea. And we were one of three winners for 2022. And so that was really great, because fantastic thing. And so with this program, we provide one on one tutoring is exclusively online. And so the parents have to be dedicated to getting the student involved because they need to log them in, especially because they're so young, they have to log them in. And so we set up a time, we do have some four year olds, which that's great because we want to help these students, you know, get those skills before they, you know, really become readers. And so we're trying to encourage people, you know, they, your student does need to know those letter names, letter sounds, and then they can start sounding out those basic consonant vowel consonant words, you know, cat hat, bat, you know, the Dr. Seuss stuff that we have all grew up reading really just falls into place, and the students love it. And the parents we have their their raving, you know, given us rave reviews, where they really have seen their students improve. And and that's, that's really important.

Unknown Speaker 3:30
So the one on one classes that you have for the students do these happen after school and on the weekends?

Unknown Speaker 3:36
Yes, most of them are after school, where most of our students are logging in between 230 and we have tutors that work as late as seven o'clock. And then we do have a group of homeschool homeschool students, okay, and then some of the ones who are preschoolers, they're not in school yet. So we are able to get some of those students during the day. Okay. And so we have a variety, but most of them are after school, once I start my after school group, they're back to back, you know, because they're just getting out of school, right? The parents are dedicated to getting them on there and, you know, practicing to do those lessons. And it's really been great to see their progress.

Unknown Speaker 4:13
That's fantastic. So you work with four year olds, five year olds,

Unknown Speaker 4:17
we have I think our oldest student may be eight. Okay. Okay. And, but like I said, we haven't turned away? Well, we did. I did have to say no to one parent that called that was middle school. And, you know, maybe in the future as we grow, we could offer help to them, but they were saying they need help, you know, and then, you know, the population in Nevada has a large Hispanic population. Yeah. And so many of those students come in with poor English skills, and then they're trying to translate and so it's a lot, it's hard. So we are trying to put together stuff where we'll be able to help more of those students also.

Unknown Speaker 4:55
That's great. So how long did you teach in the public school system system?

Unknown Speaker 4:59
Um, was about 20 years. I'm from Cleveland. So I started out in Cleveland. And then when I came here, I was here for, like 15 years. And most of my background was actually preschool. I really, you know, wondered why the 40 year olds were not in school. And even here, it's kind of sad that it's not even required for kindergarten. But those students, you know, preschool, and you know, those four, four and five year olds, you know, they're so ready to learn. Yeah, that's the group that you really want to, you know, start pushing to, to learn those early skills.

Unknown Speaker 5:32
So Las Vegas, if you have some extra time and you want your children to start learning early, you can contact Miss Eleanor on the website, and you can check out everything she has to offer. At h T. P, S, semi colon, backslash backslash project 300 Academy that calm, I'll read it again, H, tt, P S, semi colon, backslash, backslash Project 300 academy.com. And it gives you a whole overview of what the Project Academy Early Learning Academy has to offer for children from the ages four to eight. So if there are some mothers and fathers and grandmas and aunts out there, that seems that they have a little one in the family who just needs a little bit of extra help, then you can contact Miss Eleanor sometimes Eleanor, you taught forever. And you loved it, didn't you?

Unknown Speaker 6:26
I did, I did. Even when I go into my room and go to the computer, my husband calls it my unretired room. But I do enjoy working with the students I do. That's fantastic.

Unknown Speaker 6:37
And if you'd like to contact Miss Eleanor by telephone, she can be reached at 702-685-1973. Again, that's 702-685-1973 that that's super fantastic. I think that kids that age, they learn like a sponge. Like they pick up things, you know, very easily. And they always want to keep busy. Because I have a virtual cooking class every month that I do with 100 black men in Las Vegas. And when we started that class, it was really for high school students. But the little kids started to sign up and participate. So we were like, okay, so we have kids from five to 20, you know, to get online and we cook and they learn, you know, everything you know, learn different words, learn about vegetables, meats, foods, how to measure, you know, all those fun things, all those skills you need in everyday life to succeed. So I'm very happy to see that you have this program for these children. Thank you. That's fantastic. So now I'd like to introduce everybody to Mr. Shell Lawson. She's the president of fic. Strategy and consulting. Hi, Miss Lawson. Welcome to the show. How are you doing?

Unknown Speaker 7:40
I am great. And I want to answer your original question. I did exercise this.

Unknown Speaker 7:48
Hot Yoga, hot yoga. Leah loves hot yoga, she swears by it. So do I how long have you been doing it?

Unknown Speaker 7:54
So I have been practicing for 23 years practicing yoga. And I've been doing hot for about 15

Unknown Speaker 8:01
Oh, fantastic. I'm going to come one day One day I'm going to come to you on in because because Leah loves it. We love beginners. So tell me about your company fix strategy and consulting.

Unknown Speaker 8:13
So fix strategy and consulting is a Diversity Equity and Inclusion business strategy firm. And those are a lot of big words that essentially mean I help leaders and organizations align their diversity initiatives with their business goals. So we saw a lot a lot of companies, especially the major Fortune five hundreds, making really large commitments to improving their diversity, hiring more women hiring more people of color right after the George Floyd. Death, right. But what we didn't see or hear was how they were going to go about doing that, and how that actually made sense for their business. So what I do is look at their overall business goals, their mission, their purpose, who their customers are, who their customers are going to be in the future, how demographic shifts are going to affect their businesses going forward. And then I help them align diversity initiatives that will actually make sense for their business, which means they're more likely to stick with him. Right? So instead of saying I'm gonna hire Michelle, because she's a black woman, right, like understand how to show actually helps you solve a problem within your business and how this aligns in the long term. Right for the greater good.

Unknown Speaker 9:23
Okay, so did you work in corporate America prior to starting your business? I

Unknown Speaker 9:26
did. I wasn't I was in corporate. I may not look it but I was in corporate for over 20 years. I don't look like I was in 20 years.

Unknown Speaker 9:33
You sound like you were sound like, sound like you were in corporate America. There we go. We're a couple of years.

Unknown Speaker 9:40
I'm still I'm still fighting the fact that I'm hitting that age where I'm like, No, I don't look at I don't look at I just have the experience. You look good. Thank you, bro. Thank

Unknown Speaker 9:48
you. So tell me what inspired you to start this business?

Unknown Speaker 9:52
So I had hit a point. Honestly, in my career where I had two choices I was either going to level up and except a VP role, which means I was going to give up even more of my own life, or I was going to step out on my own. And I unfortunately, in my last corporate position, I unfortunately experienced blatant racism for the very, very first time. Wow. And due to a complete lack of support within the organization, I decided that it was time for me to go ahead out on my own. Okay. And that was in 2017. And even though it has been an incredibly year, we're both we're all entrepreneurs here. It has been a roller coaster, to say the least. But I have not regretted it.

Unknown Speaker 10:34
That's fantastic. Yeah. So now, where did you go to school?

Unknown Speaker 10:38
So I do not have a formal degree, everything I have is, what is it school of hard knocks, that's fancy. But I am a very proud graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 small business

Unknown Speaker 10:49
program. That's a fantastic program or program as much.

Unknown Speaker 10:53
I mean, we're at UNLV. And I'm a huge fan of education. But I can say that actually working in corporate for over 20 years, and then starting my business, and then going through an education program was a game changer. Like I had such a deeper understanding of what my gaps were and what my strengths and weaknesses are, right? Like, we're kind of taught as business owners, we need to be good at everything, when reality, I'm good at like three or four things, right? Right, outsource everything else.

Unknown Speaker 11:23
Exactly. Hire other professors hire other people, we this, this show is particularly for entrepreneur listeners, and we always talk about, you know, having outside people to help you have having your accountant having your lawyer, you know, and having your mentors also. So you need a whole team to actually help you grow and develop and run your business. Absolutely. I also want to share with the female entrepreneurs out there that Ms. Lawson is also the president of Navo. And NABO is the National Association of women owned businesses. And I'm a member of that organization, and have been for several years. So what made you decide to run for president and want to run this thing?

Unknown Speaker 12:02
So look, I'm like, I'm gonna keep it real. I had, like I said, I started my business in 2017 2018. I had my first interaction with NABO, which is actually National Association of Women Business Owners slight slight tweak, okay. But I had my first interaction with NABO. And I hate to say like, it wasn't the most positive. Okay, right. So I logged into this discovery call. And I didn't see anyone that looked like me. I didn't see anyone that came from the hospitality or the food and beverage industry. Like, there was everyone was a middle aged white woman, either in insurance or real estate. Okay, so we didn't really have any diversity of thought you need diversity of industry, diversity of age religion, and I'm like, this isn't really for me. Well, after I graduated from the Goldman Sachs, 10,000, small business program, Goldman said, hey, we'll pay for your membership to NAWBO. And I was like, Alright, let me look, let me relook at that novel situation, what's what's going on there. And I learned that it was an advocacy organization, okay. And when I was in the Goldman Sachs program, I got really into advocating for small businesses, small business owners. So when I really looked at it, and looked at the current leadership and the direction, it was, like, they were trying to move in the direction of diversity, but just not quite hitting it just yet. And so, of course, I have one of those personalities where I'm like, I'm not gonna go in, I was like, I should be the president. Like, I'm just gonna run for president. So I self nominated as President, I made my platform very clear, which was that I wanted to make sure that the chapter was an accurate representation of the community that we live in, serve in. We are in Las Vegas, it is a diverse community, from race, industry, age, etc. And that was my goal that I wanted to make sure that everyone that actually interacted with NABO felt like they had a place there that it wasn't just for insurance, or just for Christians, or just for like that. You could see yourself there, Rhonda, right, that you have a place you contribute, and that your business issues actually matter as an organization and that collectively, we're much stronger as a single voice, we can make some noise, but as a united voice were unstoppable. And that was why I wanted to run as president. That was a platform I won, and I ran and won on.

Unknown Speaker 14:20
That's fantastic. And now I understand you all are also certifying women owned businesses, man,

Unknown Speaker 14:26
correct. Yes, ma'am. So now you can actually get your certification with Navajo as well, which means that if you are a woman owned business, or if you are a minority woman owned business, you can actually go through NABO to get your certification.

Unknown Speaker 14:39
That's fantastic. And we've been telling all of our listeners that if you want to do business with any of the casinos here in Las Vegas, and if you want to do business with the government, any government branch, you have to be certified. And you have to be either of these certifications. And also if you're a veteran, you can be a veteran owned business or certified person and just so many other certifications, but you have to have one of them. So you're either You're a woman, you're a minority, you're a veteran, and so many others, but you have to have a certification. But that's fantastic that NABO is in the position to be able to do that to help out in this Las Vegas region. Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 15:09
And, and what I love about us being a certifying body is that we are promoting whether or not this is good for your business. Right? So yes, you could be certified, but if my company like I have the certifications, but I don't do business with large casinos, so my certifications don't actually have the same value as some to someone or to my clients as it would to have some to someone that is doing business with those, right. And so from the NABO perspective, our goal is to make sure that we are providing opportunities and information to women to help them make the most informed decisions. So while we're going to certify you, we also want to make sure that this actually makes sense for your business. Right, right. Like that's, that's number one. I mean, we, if you don't do business with the government, and you don't plan to do business with the government, don't put yourself through the stress of going through the government, women own certification, because it doesn't necessarily make sense. But if you want to do business with the government, it is a requirement. And we can now assist with that. Well, I

Unknown Speaker 16:08
think any small business owner is looking for funding from the government, especially the SBA, that being certified as a small business owner through the SBA can probably help you do that process. Would you agree?

Unknown Speaker 16:18
I so I am a huge fan of making sure that at the very least, especially for all women, that you at least have your business certified as a small business enterprise. And I'm also now I'm on my soapbox out. I'm also a huge, huge advocate of one of my biggest issues which I learned through the Goldman Sachs program, and that I really advocate for it is that as women that we're making sure that we're also pushing the SBA to redefine small business, okay, because it is not properly defined, the small the Small Business Administration defines small businesses as a company having 500 or fewer employees, I have five, I assure you, there's a huge difference between having five employees and having 500. Right. And so in, in all of our efforts, we're also saying, use your voice, like the whole point of NABO is an advocacy organization and making sure that we're calling out those those sorts of in inequities. Because I assure you, Rhonda, if you have 500 employees, and I have five, and we're competing for the same government contract, who's getting it,

Unknown Speaker 17:21
right, and you're right about that, and I, what I really believe is that COVID taught the SBA a lot of lessons. First of all, they didn't find out too, after COVID, that there were so many businesses. And so it needs to be defined, it should be a micro business, and then there should be a small business, and they'll number those numbers should change because much like you, I'm a small business, I have 10 employees, and then I hire contractors around the country to do work. And then your business, of course, is even smaller, right? So so so we are small businesses, and we are real small, real small, but we're micro business. So the rules and regulations for micro businesses versus small businesses that have four or 500 people is totally different. They should

Unknown Speaker 17:59
be but right now they are not they're not that's that's part of the challenge. Like we're all in the same category. And we clearly shouldn't be

Unknown Speaker 18:07
we shouldn't be That's right, right. You're right. Because when I, when I talked to I've gone out and talked to a lot of businesses and and you know, I own my own business and one of the arms of my business as an event production company. And so what I found out when I went to talk to corporate America is that they have funds for diverse own companies to come in and do business for them to separate from operating funds and other things. So that's why if you do offer a service to accompany that you have to have a certification that you absolutely get it because it's a whole different pot of money. Yeah. And I found a lot of companies like that I had one person say, Well, you know, I've got $2 million, I have to spend, you know, with diverse companies. And I was like, here's raising man, like, I'm here. When did we start working? You know what I mean? Because I would love to have a contract with that particular company, and be able to produce events on their behalf. So and that's just from network networking. And we always talk about that, to get out and talk to other people find out what other business owners are doing. Talk to your mentors, but I want to go back to that Goldman Sachs program. Now I have a cousin who's outrunner, who lives in Detroit, and he went through that program, and he learned a whole line. And so tell me, they do it once a year. But then we pick a certain amount of companies. Is that correct? Oh,

Unknown Speaker 19:13
no. So tell me Goldman is the best kept secret in executive education. And here I am exposing it. Everyone who's know about it, they do. So they're different cities have partnerships with Goldman Sachs through Babson College, okay. And so Detroit, I don't know if they had a physical location, but like LA has a physical location. Houston has a physical location, New York, etc. Las Vegas did not have a physical location. So I was a part of the national cohort, which meant we met every it is a stressful program. I won't lie it is it is intense. But we met online. So our entire program was conducted online. But what makes the Goldman Sachs program so impactful is that you were learning from other business operator, so everything that you were learning can be applied in real life, like immediately. So I'm learning how to close a gap in the program today, I'm able to apply that to my business tomorrow. And that was, that's why I'm a huge fan of if you are at that stage in your business, right, where are you, Rick, you recognize, like, I may not be that sharp in this area. But this program just helps you really start to put things into perspective. But it also teaches you a couple of other things. One was, you need to make sure that you understand how powerful you are as a business owner in your community. Right, you create jobs, you stimulate the economy, right, there's that. But then the second was that you have a responsibility as a leader as well, to make sure that you were using your voice and your influence, to create better policies, right to actually contribute, which is, again, how I became such an advocate for let's get the SBA to redefine small business. Because as small businesses we're all affected by that has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a black or a black woman or a woman or whatever. I'm a small business owner, which means we're all affected by that. Okay, so your

Unknown Speaker 21:09
process was online. It's mostly my cousin went through the process in prior to COVID. And they did it in person. Yeah. And they met at a local community college. Yeah, it did you meet once a week for several amount of weeks, or did you meet once a month? How's the program rolls out?

Unknown Speaker 21:23
So the program is structured? I think there's one day a week that you don't meet, okay. Oh,

Unknown Speaker 21:30
online, it was, it was pretty. So you had two essential lecture days. And that's you have tons of homework, but you have two lecture days, I want to say that those were three hours in lecture. And then you have your small group days where you meet with a small cohort of six to eight people, and you're working through business challenges. And then you have your mentor days, where you're sitting, you're working one on one with your mentor, and this is specifically around your growth goal. Okay. And what every business operator appreciates about that program, is that it stretches you. Okay, so we have basic goals that we're aiming for small business operators, right? Like, I'm like, Yeah, I want to hit $5 million. And they're like, great, everyone has that goal? What are you going to do to actually create impact? What are you going to do to really stretch? You know that that is this a basic goal? Rhonda? How can you push it even further, like pie in the sky? How would you go about this? Okay, great. This is what you're going for it? Now let's build that out. What does that look like in real life, you've got to, you've got to chunk it out, you got to know your strengths, you got to know when to outsource weaknesses, hire, scale back, whatever. And that that was essentially the program and I want to say it was four months, four months, okay. So it was it was intense. And what they say when you apply is that you have to have the resources and the team in place. Because this is not a program that you can, you know, give half to you have to be all in. But the impact I came out so much sharper. And I feel like I have a really strong business acumen already. This changed my life.

Unknown Speaker 23:07
That's fantastic. Now, Miss Eleanor, are you thinking about expanding your business into other areas? Because I know you're in Southern Nevada right now in Las Vegas area? Are you thinking about expanding to Reno or any other area? Oh,

Unknown Speaker 23:18
absolutely. Well, once we build up more here, we do have people out of town all the time saying, do you, you know Can my grandchild is in California, can I get her in the program, you know, and so we have people all over the country that would really like to put their kids into this program. And like I said, right now, the tutors and all of us are right here in Southern Nevada, but there's teachers all over the country that could, you know, tutor for us because this is online. And so we wouldn't be able to do that. And then another area, everybody's talking about math, the reading scores are low, and the math scores are even lower. Yeah, you know, in a couple years, maybe we could add math in because, you know, the

Unknown Speaker 24:00
kids are struggling. Yeah, I think that and with both parents, you know, those homes working all the time, you they kind of need someone you know, that can give them some extra help in those areas. And, and speaking and writing and math are just so important, especially with the new STEM programs that a lot of these schools have. So you know, getting your children involved in enlightened early, you know, only makes for a better future

Unknown Speaker 24:27
is big, because even what I found with the students that we're working with, when I would try to dictate a word to him, and then I would say Show it to me, you know, and they hold up the paper to show me I was like, Oh my gosh, they cannot write either. So we started doing more writing, you know, put the letters on the line. And these were not the kindergarteners these were like second grade students and like I said writing was writing has been very bad, but it is improving. I have to say all of those students, you know that we started you know, making them Write and show me your writing and I take a screenshot of it and put it in their folder it, you know, little stuff like that because we are online, but they have missed so many skills, you know, and but they need it, you have to be able to write and you have to be able to read even if a lot of the students will say, Oh, I love math, a lot of the math problems are things you have to read, you have to understand what the problem is asking you. Right? You know, and there's tons of word problems. And, you know, math is huge. It's a part of almost everything that we do. So you do have to be able to read even if it was cooking, you know, you got to read that recipe, I

Unknown Speaker 25:36
read the recipe that, you know, we find also, because I also work with the economic empowerment class where we teach children about banking. Some children don't know how to write cursive, and these are older children. And so when we actually at the end of the class, and we take them to the bank to show them what a bank is, half of them have never been in the bank, everything is online, everybody's doing everything on my phone on their computer. So when they actually have to go to the bank. It's a whole enlightenment, you know, and at the end of this class is called the Youth economic empowerment class. And we teach elementary school, junior high and high school students about banking, checking, savings accounts, credit scores, and all those fun things. It's a 10 week class we do every spring, but at the end, you know, we go to Wells Fargo Bank, and we show them what a real bank is. What are the jobs inside the bank. And we also, we also encourage them, if you open up a bank account and put $200 in we match that $200 Oh, yeah, we've been doing that for the last three years. So it's been a total success. Because we are trying to teach children how to save and how to prepare for things that they want. You know, everybody's path in life is different. Everybody doesn't goes to college after high school. Some people become entrepreneurs, some people go on the armed forces. You know, people do many different things. Some people step into a family business and kind of learn the family business to take over. So everybody's Walker, life is different, but we want to make sure everyone is prepared, no matter where life takes them.

Unknown Speaker 27:02
That's good. That's a good philosophy.

Unknown Speaker 27:05
Yes, yes. Yes. So ladies, I'm so happy you were here with me today. Lea, we miss you. But we had a great show. Beautiful Saturday morning. And I just want to remind our listeners, hey, if you have a loved one needs a little bit of help reach out to miss Eleanor at Project 300. Her number is 702-685-1973. That's 702-685-1973 And is the project 300 Academy, and you can locate her on HTTPS semi colon backslash backslash Project 300 academy.com. And also, if you have a business out there and you need some help with some strategy, you can reach out to Ms to Shell Lawson. She can be reached at 1-800-834-4946. And the name of her business is Figg strategy and consulting and if she will come and meet with you, and you can talk about some of the things you'd like to do with your company. If you're ready to grow your business or branch out or go into other areas and other states she can help you with that. So I'd like to say thank you, Miss Lawson. Thank you Miss Eleanor. I'm not even gonna mess up her last name right so I'm bad names. You know, I'm bad. But I want to thank you ladies for being on the list talk with Lee and Rhonda show today. We really appreciate you and we look forward to seeing and talking to you soon. Thank you. Thank you awesome Vegas. It's been fantastic. Keep your eye out for the 100 black man virtual youth cooking class coming up on October the 25th. Also is Halloween time if you have small children, as you know on the north side at the Pearson community center. They will be giving out candy and goodies on October Yes, yes. And one more announcement one

Unknown Speaker 28:49
more announcement. NABO has our annual fundraiser coming up Woda Women of Distinction awards and that is coming up on October 24 6pm to 9pm at the Westgate Las Vegas resort and casino and it is going to be a phenomenal event. We are recognizing women. We are inspiring women and we are launching our her initiatives where we're raising funds to develop programs that help business women in Las Vegas. close their gaps. So NABO Woda event October 24 6pm Where can I buy tickets tickets at Navo S in S envy so NABO Southern nevada.org

Unknown Speaker 29:28
Fantastic. I will see you all at the event. Las Vegas had been real have a fantastic Saturday. Bye bye. Thank you

Transcribed by https://otter.ai