DiversePhilly Upcoming Events

Online Event Registration - Powered by www.eventbrite.com

Nicole's Commentary 15 January 2009

Knowledge of self is the foundation upon which all other learning is built. The last few commentaries, I have described the knowledge my grandmother, my mom and my dad laid upon my foundation. My grandmother gave me the key to success by valuing my relationships. My mother gave me a writing style full of wisdom and discernment and my dad gave me sympathy. All these influences have touched my heart but now I get to pull it all together and talk about my grandfather who touched my spirit.

Robert Kiyosaki wrote in "Cashflow Quadrant" how to achieve wealth through understanding the 4 types of cashflow. There is employee cashflow - cashflow that is linear, the self-employed cashflow - cashflow that depends 100% upon yourself, the business owner cashflow - cashflow that allows for exponential growth using leverage and the investor cashflow - where money works for you. The goal in life is to move through the quadrant to become an investor where you don't work for money but money works for you (see Professional Insurance Planners, First Financial Group, Prescott and Associates, May Financial Services). My grandfather, Robert Newman, came from a farming family who owned 200 acres of land in Montross, Virginia. When his father passed, the land was willed to his 5 children. Each child received 40 acres of land, but no mule. Because of his upbringing, my grandfather went out and built a landscaping company on the mainline. I really did not get to know my grandfather but after 32 years of being dormant, his entrepreneurial spirit awoke in me.

As I continue on Robert Kiyosaki's path of the cashflow quadrant, I want to prepare (because failure to plan equals planning to fail), for the final quadrant of investor. I know that SUCCESS IS A HABIT. Using the slight edge of having financial discipline is the key to wealth and that is why we will start off wealth building classes with the main accounting component of budgeting. Then we will know how much to pay ourselves first. It was my grandfather's financial discipline that allowed him to use the assets he built in his business for generational wealth. See, my grandfather had the thoughts to invest in the people who will carry his name and that forethought keeps his legacy alive. Even though he passed away 16 years ago, 9 years before my children were even born, he thought enough of his future to ensure that they were placed in his final will and testament. When he passed, he willed the estate in Virginia, like his father before him to his heirs, which are my three children. He did what is quoted in the Bible, proverbs 13:22 "A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just." Now I have the pleasure of preparing my business to do what was carried in my spirit by my grandfather. I have the honor and privilege of hosting your network as we each one, teach one, the skills necessary to create a financial path to become investors. Now is the time to create the habits of financial discipline and create businesses as vehicles for real wealth that can affect our generation and more importantly, create wealth for our future generations to come. Thank you, IKEA and First Financial Group as we learn how to build wealth starting February 2nd, 2009! REGISTER: http://wealthbuilding2009.eventbrite.com/

Nicole's Commentary 2 January 2009

As I reflect on this year, I realized that college prepared me to be an employee. The last 2 and ½ years books from Barnes and Noble, Borders and Amazon.com prepared me to be an entrepreneur. I know there is a million dollar business somewhere in my soul and the knowledge that I feed my mind (like the food that I feed my body) is the key to bringing it out. This is how I plan on educating the next generation of entrepreneurs and growing my business.

Our children will go to college and study in the Business School for People who Like Helping People (Robert Kiyosaki). At college, they will learn how to become Campus CEO's (Dr. Randall Pinkett). To become campus CEOs, they must Think and Grow Rich (Napoleon Hill) and get straight A's in Relationships 101 (John C. Maxwell). They also need to learn How To Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie) so they can reverse The E-Myth Revisited trend that 50% of all businesses fail within the first 5 years. The Secret (Rhonda Bryne) is out - wealth is attracted, and I have been blessed to understand the The Slight Edge (Jeff Olson) principles of changing my philosophy into self-disciplines that create habits. These habits I used to attain an MBA, build my health and to build Newman Networks.

Philadelphia in 2009 is on the verge of The Tipping Point (Malcolm Galdwell) to connect the city of neighborhoods into a united community. At the same time, Newman Networks has completed the first half (employee and self-employed) of The Cash Flow Quadrant (Robert Kiyosaki). Through network marketing, I am learning how to become a leader with the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (John C. Maxwell). Now it is time to move to the business owner quadrant and use The Blue Ocean Strategy (W. Chan Kim) of cohesiveness and business coalitions to embark on my true calling which was found in A Purpose Driven Life (Rick Warren). This will allow me to live as a Go Giver (John David Mann & Bob Burg) and then DiversePhilly will be seen as a network of Endless Referrals (Bob Burg). I have The Audacity of Hope (Barack Obama) that I can help my mentor and friend, Sulaiman Rahman, realize his vision of making Philadelphia a better place to live, work and play.

Nicole's Commentary 15 December 2008

I just returned back from Hollywood, Florida where our friend, Stacy Straughter, allowed me to see the big event. Stacy is the marketing manager for the national Count Me In Campaign. Count Me In was started by Nell Merlino, founder of Take Your Daughter to Work Day (my mom had been doing this for years.....). Count Me In's mission is to economically empower women by creating 1 million women who own businesses with revenues of 1 million dollars. As Nell explained, 41% of women owned businesses generate revenues of 10,000 or less. 73% of women owned businesses generate revenues of $50,000 or less. Only 3% or 250,000 women owned businesses have revenues of over 1 million dollars. I went to the national event where I got the chance to hear a 2007 winner tell how her business was generating $800,000 last year to just under 6 million this year.
As Oprah says, that was my Ahh-Ahh moment. This is where I realized why network marketing is driven by getting people to the big event. This event showed the potential to grow my company into a million dollar business. I must admit, I did not go to our big event when I first joined but I now make sure my registration is paid for way in advance. For 2008, Count Me In is creating the Make Mine a Million Race (how appropriate for the marathon runner!). Business ownership is not a sprint; it is a marathon. To run a marathon, we must reach training goals along the way. There are three categories for this year's race. The walker is the business owner with the goal of $250,000. The jogger is the business owner with the goal of $500,000 and the runner has the goal of $1,000,000 for 2009. For the $100.00 registration fee, we will receive mentoring and tracking logs so every month we can see how we measure against the goal of 1 million (or $250,000 in my case).
My network marketing business is already preparing me for the challenges of 2009. Robert Kiyosaki talked about how to create business owners in his book, CashFlow Quadrant. The cycle of life is about moving a person through the cash flow of employee to self-employed to business owner to investor. As I transitioned from employee to business owner, I understood that it was necessary to go through self-employed stage. This is where we document all the jobs in the company and find ways to create a team to execute the jobs effectively. The key to execution of any job is LEADERSHIP. Companies live and die on leadership skills of the business owner. If I own the company but I am not setting the guidelines and finding ways to motivate employees then eventually the company will not attract good talent and the company will cease to exist. I feel truly blessed to be able to attend a 2 day leadership retreat where we will study under John C. Maxwell and prepare for the challenges of managing exponential growth in 2009. Leadership is influence and leaders learn how to influence people to perform to the best of their abilities and face their fears (usually of change) that hinder growth (both personally and professionally).
What network marketing does and Newman Networks does and what Deloitte did was invest in people. I made a promise that I will not attend the big event alone. We will create a team of leaders who get trained on leadership. These leaders will be the ones who set the goals to make their business a million dollar business by registering for the Make Mine a Million Race and plan on attending the next big event. With the system of each one, teach one we will work together because "team work makes the dream work". Nell Merlino had a conversation with the Barack Obama transition team because just as during World War II, when the men left to fight for our country, it was the ladies who put on the hard hats and made the supplies and planes to keep this country moving. As this economic crisis continues, now is the time for the ladies to step up to the challenge and create million dollar businesses which create jobs and will keep this country moving again!

Nicole's Commentary on 20 questions

The holidays are here and it is a time of giving thanks for making 2008 such an outstanding year. As I have grown as a person (thank you UrbanPhilly and Paliani Consulting), I have seen my business grow! One thing I do not like to do is mail out cards. Thanks to Tara Colquitt, The Credit Woman, DiversePhilly has been introduced to Send Out Cards. Originally, the program was purchased for a one-time $99 fee to use as a Contact Management System, but now we can use this tool to automate sending out my Thank You cards! Send Out Cards allows me to add the DiversePhilly logo (thank you Universal Concept) to my cards! (subliminal marketing). This is my list of 20 questions:

1) How do I say thanks to LadyBug Marketing and UrbanPhilly for showing me the ropes of the marketing in Philadelphia?

2) How do I say thanks to The Hospital of University of Pennsylvania and The Enterprise Center for my first company contracts?

3) How do I say thanks to Whitney Thomas (my headshot) and Sabr Enterprises (Project Great Potential Graduate) for providing the marketing materials for my company?

4) How do I say thanks to Abundant Home Inspection, Dove Holiday, Enon Tabernacle Capital Fund, Bo's Tire and Rim Shop, Philadelphia Business Journal (especially Sharon Oliver), the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce (Kate Bay) for becoming silent partners and supporting DiversePhilly?

5) How do I say thanks to HDMS and Technically Speaking Radio for producing and broadcasting the DiversePhilly commercials?

6) How do I say thanks to I Won, SIS Fitness, Brian Williams, Exit BenchMark Realty, Professional Insurance Planners for allowing me to talk about DiversePhilly on their radio programs?

7) How do I say thanks to French Mobile Notary, Sovereign Bank (Jonas Tart), Colin M. Williams, JSPN & Company, KMM Financial Services, Soul Purpose by Veronica Freeman for becoming DiversePhilly business partners?

8) How do I say thanks to our DiversePhilly restaurants Delilah's, Bottom of the Sea and Yono's Bayou Cafe for making us feel welcome when we come to the table?

9) How do I say thanks to Eatible Delight, Elohim Cleaning Contractors, Girlfriends, Tomika Bryant, for being such success stories and paying for their DiversePhilly listings for the entire year (cash flow is king to a small business)?

10) How do I say thanks to RL Snaggs, Whole Unit Artistic Development Inc., Whole Unit Studios, Sanders Studio, Yo Darkroom! for creating the successful Wine and Cheese networking events?

11) How do I say thanks to our vendors, 1 Dynasty, Agel, Mylisa Flowers, Full Circle Aestethics, Hackett Global Marketing, Gandomera Business, Abdul Karim, Be Empowered, Agape World Wide Travel for being there as our vendors of choice?

12) How do I say thanks to our Attorneys Athena Dooley and Real World Law for making sure Diversephilly businesses have resources and know-how to legally define our businesses as a separate entity?

13) How do I say thanks for Hair 4 U (Masterman Alum), Can U Handle the Truth?, and Soles, a shoe experience for just believing in me?

14) How do I say thanks to Archer Benefits, AmeriPlan by Marlon Freeman, and CIGNA for making sure we are properly protected from the catastrophic costs of illness?

15) How do I say thanks to CAMP CAYA and Tonya Ladipo as they make sure we have built up our self-esteem which is an extremely important ingredient for marketing?

16) How do I say thanks to First Financial Group/Mass Mutual, Desiree Richardson, Prescott and Associates and May Financial Services who make sure we are doing the proper activity to create generational wealth?

17) How do I say thanks to Orchid Blue Salon, Professional Academy of Cosmetology, Roots Hair Studio, Kazoo's School of Hard Knox, Dr. Smith's Foot Care and Not Just Nails for taking care of our appearances so that we are properly representing our businesses well (as we all know, image is everything)?

18) How do I say thanks to the African American Chamber of Commerce and their members Raymond Holman Jr. Photography, Spruce Hill Properties, Alpha Office Supplies who leveraged multiple networks to grow their business?

19) How do I say thanks to Team-Clean for breaking the glass ceiling and reaching back to grab Nicole Newman and move DiversePhilly to the next level?

20) How do I say to Radiant Properties LLC, Ultimate Concrete LLC, Eley Electrical Contractors, Precision Plus Plumbing, JHL Enterprises as they make sure our real estate assets are developed?

Bonus Question! To JeterActive: How do I say thanks for being the web developer who brought my vision of DiversePhilly and Newman Networks to life? We say Thanks the best way we know how, by marketing your business in the DiversePhilly newsletter. We look forward to creating exciting synergies and sending out our cards this holiday season!

Many Blessings,

Nicole Newman

Marketing Tips shared at the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce

Be sure to join us next month as we share more tips with our Montthly Breakfast with Fran event from 7:30 am - 10:00 am on Tuesday, December 16th, 2008!

Nicole's Commentary 14 November 2008

With the new year looming, now is the time to plan for the next 3-5 years of growth. While we were discussing the foundation with a fellow business owner, she said "The last few years I have been working as an employee. My business has not been set up right so I have a lot of fear. Even though I can't afford you, I can't afford to not have you if I want to grow my business". She has been in business over 15 years, but she did not incorporate the business, there is no an accounting system, and she did not track her customers. One method to get over the fear of success is to lay a solid foundation.

Even though, the newsletter is distributed to 1200 business owners, only 240 (20%) choose to open and read the newsletter. For those owners who want to save both time and money, here are a few ways to lay a solid foundation for success!

1) Build your network and garner quality recommendations (see marketing tips above). Business relationships, on average, take 18-24 months. Join us at the Greater Philadelphia Chamber to associate with like minded businesses who understand that we have to grow together. This is where the relationships are built to do business at the next level. The Greater Philadelphia Chamber and The Enterprise Center exposed my business to the President of an 18 year old, large minority owned firm with over 500 employees. Now that is a person I want to associate with.
2) Set up your DUNS number to enter the www.CCR.gov database. This is the database that corporations and the federal, local, state government use to find qualified vendors for procurement opportunities. As I learned at the Supplier Diversity Network, there are 1.43 million companies registered with Dun and Bradstreet but only 471,000 are in CCR. That means my business eliminated a million competitors by just registering!
3) Build your business credit. My first company loan will be a small one just so we can establish a credit history and show that Newman Networks has the accounting systems in place to handle expected capacity. Michael Bing from The Enterprise Capital Corporation, (another relationship that started a few years ago) my application is on it's way!
4) Become minority and/or women owned certified with the City of Philadelphia. This is a free service and the newly created Office of Economic Opportunity has made the application process much easier. I personally use this as a credible guide to show my business is incorporated, licensed properly, has a business bank account and has the business mindset to get the job done.

For me, the best way to get over my apprehensions is to go out and just do it!

Attitude is everything

Success in life is determined mainly by your attitude. Network Marketing taught me that 80% of success is determined by attitude and only 20% is determined by skill. Attitude is what drives the underlying philosophy into behaviors. Applying these behaviors over time creates habits.

Business ownership offers the choice to live your passion. The philosophies that make your character will determine the success of your business. The philosophies that I hold in my heart are:

1) We are all connected. Newman Networks exists to build relationships and we do this by connecting people. If you view my profile on www.linkedin.com, I guarantee we know at least 1 person in common. On average every person knows 300 people. 300 people multiplied by the 300 people they know, multiplied by the 300 people they know equals 27 million people. As the Philadelphia community is a 5% fraction of that number, we can truly adhere to our tagline as the City of Brotherly Love.

2) People do business with people. The average business relationship takes 18-24 months with at least 5 separate exposures (that is why networking is critical). Knowing who knows who vastly shortens the relationship building timeline which means business can move at a faster pace. J.P Getty said “the wealthy build networks while everyone else looks for work”. We are now positioned to use technology tools like DiversePhilly, Facebook and LinkedIn to build and connect our networks.

3) Live life in the mindset of abundance. The current financial crisis on the country has had a negative affect on the bottom line but a positive effect on my approach. The nature of business is cyclical and I have learned to have the same attitude in a recession as I did in a surplus. The marketing budget and the church collection plate should not dry up in a recession. I learned a long time ago, that when we close our hand to hold onto our possessions, we also close our hand to the abundance that the Creator wishes to provide. Relationship building through marketing creates the momentum that will drive the success of your business.

Those philosophies allow us (Newman Networks, RSVP Me Inc, and Eatible Delights) to appreciate the supporters and clients who continue to give on November 23rd, 2008 from 3-6PM at The Gathering Place even in the face of a recession!

Feast or Famine!

One of the newsletters I read is from the go big network. This week’s article is titled "Go Big or Go Home". A downsized economy will sort out business owners who create opportunity from those who disengage and eventually perish. The retail sector will hurt this holiday season as sales are predicted to slump with the unemployment rate steadily increasing (168,000 people lost their jobs last month) and a credit crunch that continues to limit capacity for businesses. It is your network of resources that will keep your business afloat and even thriving. As we learned at the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce networking event, to survive in this economy, utilize your network (Diversephilly, the various chambers, your associations – Michael, I will make an appointment for TEC’s Capital Corporation) and diversify your customer base. Think creatively about how to generate revenue from small businesses, corporate businesses, non-profit agencies and government clients.

ClearPoint Technology and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber emphasized that the businesses who are not operating on the Internet (see Gypsy Lane Technologies, Universal Concept), and do not have a professional email addresses are not even considered being in business (www.godaddy.com). When your business is properly incorporated (Real World Law, Athena Dooley Esquire) , has business assets separated from personal assets (see Sovereign Bank), has financial statements for the last 3 years (Goldflam and Associates, Williams Accounting) and has a course level understanding of the intricate operations for your business plan(See Enon Tabernacle Capital Fund's IE3 Institute for Entrepreneurship), then your business can go from a start-up business to an established business.

What I learned from the MED Week Conference was that we need to be entered into the CCR.gov database to be considered for corporate and government clients and have a profile in the Dun and Bradstreet reporting agency. I will continue to advance my business by learning what it takes to build an enterprise and share that information with the businesses on DiversePhilly. Newman Networks operates with corporate clients (Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania), small businesses and non-profit organizations (The Enterprise Center). Government clients are the missing piece for a diversified client list. It is time to add the City of Philadelphia’s, newly created Office of Economic Opportunity to my appointment book and learn what is necessary to work with the City of Brotherly Love.

Nicole's Commentary - A tale of 2 sons

My kids are the greatest teachers. Omar, the middle child, lives in the OR world. He is always asking - Is it red or blue? Can I have an apple or an orange? When there is nothing to compare, he adds - OR NOT to make a comparison. He will ask, "Can I play on your computer or not?" Nasir, my youngest child lives in the AND world. If I ask, "Do you want a pretzel or a water ice?", He will say, "I want a pretzel AND a water ice." He wants it all - there is never a choice for him. Our Saturday routine involves going to the corner store and getting donuts (that way the kids can stop asking for donuts Monday through Friday). Omar wanted the mini donuts from the store. I asked Nasir, "Do you want the mini-donuts or a big donut?" He said "I want the mini donuts AND a big donut". I said, "You can only have one." So he thought for a while and he said, "I want a big donut".

Even though I said this to him, I know in my heart that I too live in the AND world. I want a profitable AND a socially conscious company (see triple bottom line with social venture institute). I want to run my own company AND be a part of a team. I want to be a mentor to teach AND a mentee to learn. I want a traditional business AND a network marketing business. I want to stay connected to my heritage AND be able to work with everybody. I want to be a career woman AND a work at home mom. Being an entrepreneur is the only way I could achieve the time freedom to teach and learn from my children AND the financial freedom to build generational wealth. Being a member of both the African American Chamber of Commerce AND the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce allows me to tap resources from inside AND outside of my community to achieve this goal.

I bought Omar and Sahar, my daughter, the mini donuts. Nasir creatively found a way to get everything he wanted. He got a mini donut from his big brother and his big sister and the big donut for himself. In essence, he is just like me and he got it all - That's my boy!