Coach Daymond's Blog

So last weekend, despite the fact that the clouds were grey, the rain poured, and the roads were slick, I still managed to stick to a pretty rigorous entrepreneurial schedule! My in-person business meetings were still handled without a glitch, and most of my business tasks were completed to my satisfaction. Yet, I could not help but think about how we as entrepreneurs sometimes limit ourselves because of excuses . In the past, I recall having some fledgling business dealings that didn’t seem to be important to some of the potential business associates I was attempting to forge relationships with. I remember how I used to be gung-ho about getting some new venture or business opportunity off the ground, but the other person found an excuse for postponing or canceling the meeting. In many cases I recall THE WEATHER being one of those excuses. Whether this excuse was truly a valid one or not, I may never know. But I will say that I sometimes wondered if something was wrong with me becaus...

Don’t you hear it all the time? Is chivalry going out of the door? Does anyone offer common courtesy anymore? Do people care about formalities these days? And if you are one of those people who do care, do you practice what you preach? When it comes to your business partners, I DON’T ADVISE DATING THEM ROMANTICALLY LOL. You are asking for a world of trouble if you do. BUT, as you attempt to build your business and formulate new BUSINESS relationships, I urge you to pay close attention to your own actions while you critique those of others. HUMILITY and SOFT SKILLS go a long way in business. However, with the onslaught of technology, hard and fast instant messaging, emails, and conversation by any means other than actual voice, we sometimes forget to check ourselves and our egos as we strive to do business. As an entrepreneur, leave the “Big Head” at home. So...picture yourself sitting at the dinner table, waiting for your blind date to arrive. You’re on edge, and you are fully ...

Don’t worry. I know the title of this blog may scare some readers off, but this will not be a “preachy” post. I PROMISE! I saw some Facebook content about a week ago, and I noticed how one of my FBFs expressed some concern about how another friend (not my FBF) posted reasons for not being able to make it to other peoples’ events and special occasions. The individual stated that he or she has familial priorities, kids, or just may not feel like participating because of how tiring life can be. Now, even though I think that the person was perhaps a little rude with his or her delivery of the blog announcement, I actually understood and “accepted” this point of view. I just read the blog post, and thought to myself, “Okay.” Then, I kept it moving. But, I still felt sorry for my FBF, because there was obviously some level of disappointment. Stuff like this happens all the time. And I think we all just have to learn to accept people where they are. I’m not saying be stupid and let them w...

I ran across a very interesting article today. On the HBCUbuzz.com website, I found this article entitled, “12 Reasons Why Black Businesses Fail Within The First 12 Months.” Here are the subtitles for those 12 Reasons: Too Many Alphas & No Betas No Research Insufficient Funds Failure to Adapt Family Member, Not Business Partner No Consistent Vision Failure to Diversity Our Products No Experience Failure to Provide Good Customer Service Failure to Market Online Lack of Leadership Lack of Followership If you want detailed information regarding the way the article spins these 12 reasons, read it here: http://hbcubuzz.com/12-reasons-black-businesses-fail-within-first-12-months/ . All of the reasons above are extremely important to cover as you set out to start your own business. But I would also encourage you to delve deeply into how you can actually solve these problems. This article does a great job saying what’s wrong, BUT NOT HOW TO FIX IT. If I had to pick m...

I was recently asked this question (see title) by a good friend and colleague of mine who is doing some wonderful things in a nearby city! At that point, I was suddenly reminded of all the things that should be considered if someone wants to start a charity! So, now I’m happy to share with you how I think this question needs to be approached. If you have the goal of starting a nonprofit business, then one of your fundamental questions should be, “What benefit will I be providing to my target demographic?” Keep in mind that the benefit you will be providing can be either a good, a service, or the combination of both. Once you identify that benefit, you need to figure out if it lends itself to being a charitable benefit or a retail benefit. This is where things get a little tougher. What I often notice, when people branch out to create nonprofit organizations, is that they sometimes pursue them unnecessarily. What do I mean by this? Well, there are a lot of efforts that don’t...