Building A Digital Business with Longevity In Mind w/ Natasha Eubanks

In short, afro Tech chase my life and I'm not the only one. People come to afro Tech and leave with jobs at some of the largest tech companies on the planet. People come to afro Tech and find venture funding for their startups. People come to afro Tech and find employees to join them on their company building journey. People come to afro Tech and find a new boat who can write some mean code. Anyway, Look, I do hope to see you at afro Tech twenty one too.

It's our first time as a conference in Austin, Texas and he I got some bottom fold were ready to rock. So you know it's on check out experience dot afro tech dot kind of learn more. I'm will Lucas and this is Black Tech, Green money. I'm gonna enso you to see to some of the biggest names, some of the brightest minds in brilliant ideas. If you're a black and building or simply using Texas and kick your back,

this podcast is for you. The Tshu Banks is an entrepreneur, content creator, founder and editor in chief at the YBF, which is to go to site to learn the scoop on your favorite celebrities. Young Black and Fabulous is one of the hottest Black celebrity gossip sites on the planet and millions of readers per month. Sip the tea on her platform at afro Tech twenty and the Metaverse. We talked him the Tosh about building an imprint that you're stay in the test of time, content creation and the

amongst black women. Black women are starting businesses at the fastest rate of any racial group, but we are still the most underfunded female demographic impair. But the fact that over sixty of new businesses are digital based, we've either got a black tech crisis on our hands or the most bomb opportunity to make you successful in your space for a very long time. So we're gonna talk about ways to ensure your business is legacy aligns with that

last category. Okay, my name is Nisashi you Bates and I'm the host of the Lobby of podcast and the CEO, founder and editor in chief of Young Black and Fabulous, or as you may know it, the Lobby of dot com. Fifteen years ago, I stepped away from what has become an eternal right from law school to chase my true passion. So that true passion went from mom, I wanna leave

law school because I want to blog to world. I want to become the largest household name in digital media that centers on culture, is black owned, and push our own narratives in non traditional ways. So what I didn't know was that this blog would be a disruptor that develops into a multimedia platform. Even with having a mass millions of readers and followers across multiple yb of platforms, I'm still on my journey and based on what I've

learned so far, I will always be so. With that said, I have fifteen years of experience, successful moves, failures, everything in between that leads me on this journey. And I've built a business from nothing, not a penny of investments lending or a penny of my own money, and I've built it into a budding media empire. It's possible a promise because because I've had the most roller coaster style

on the job training experience imaginable, it's been crazy. I'm giving you the keys for you to build your own legacy while jumping over a few hurdles that would break even the most credential entrepreneur. So you're about to find out why experience is the cheap code you've been looking floor and that will get you success. You might say, I don't have experience to leverage, so leverage someone else's.

And after today you can leverage my decade and a half's worth of experience owning one of the largest and one of the most respected digital entertainment platforms. So I mentioned legacy earlier, you might be wondering what that has to do with starting a business. The key to business longevity for me is identifying your legacy. So I'm gonna tell you six steps to do just that based on what I've learned these last lump teen years, and that

will be your blueprint for a successful business. But first I want to talk about something UH missed opportunities and the life lesson and taught me it's at the worst Category five hurricane in history at that time, Katrina to make me realize life is actually bigger than solely following a plan you set out when you were just a team, A plan you know will make your parents happy and others happy. And people are kind of the way they see you based on aspirations and goals you talked about

since forever. So it's hard to kind of change from that, and I get that you feel like you're letting people down. But learning that a change and plans is not a failure unlock something in me. It allowed me to unapologetically go towards my goals, but it took a minute. In that minute definitely cost me some valuable early growth opportunities.

I feel would I be further along had I known, had I taken those opportunities, maybe, But turning down a book deal because I thought the person offering it must be a fraud if they're asking LUO me to come to a meeting in New York to talk about a

book deal, spoil alert. She was not a fraud. She's actually a broker for the most bomb book deals for our faiths like Mr Copeland, and I also didn't follow up on offers to create digital based shows within a network of a then rising star who is now IMM nominated, because I just couldn't fathom what I, a blogger, could possibly bring to the table, and even the opportunities that

were a little bit more technical. So like I turned down a twelve K offer thirteen years ago from a domain holder who wanted to sell me a three letter domain addressed that better represents my business, but I turned it down because I didn't trust myself to do a deal that was based in an arena that I was so unfamiliar with. And I killed to have only paid twelve K for a three letter domain today by what? But at years old, I was just still pretty unsure

with myself, my abilities, my everything. We know, everything is about timing, and I definitely missed some opportunities that I just wasn't mentally and emotionally ready for because I still hadn't convinced myself that I deserved them. I still battle feeling like a failure and not completing law school versus the idea of simply being just a brave entrepreneur. I didn't look at myself that way until years later, and it could be in part because entrepreneurship, which needs to change.

While there are business owners in my family, it's not something that was ever put on a pedestal in my life as a kid or even within my school. I was taught that traditional routes of academia lead to amazing jobs and that leads to an amazing life. Successful business owners and entrepreneurs were kind of the outliers, but certainly not the rule. It's a reconditioning of my mind that I had to that had to happen to me for me to truly step into my purpose. How do you

do that though, And that's the tricky part. How do we how do we follow our passion and and make sure it's that has the longevity that we crave. We start with what we want our legacy to be. So let's talk about long life. Should it be your business, your product, or you and a longlife. Who are what gets the spotlight? It's a tough decision, but your decision definitely can change based on your needs as your business growth.

So back in two thousand five, when I started the ybs dot com, I was a fresh college graduate waiting on a law school to start. Facebook had just kind of come on the scene in my circle, and it was still mainly just for college students and alumni at that time, and you were really only Facebook friends with people you know well, so your classmates or friends or family and other people. So when people posted status updates, it was seen by a small group of people and

you already knew them, so nothing was a shock. It definitely felt like people were and you're we're not in your business per se, or trying to get things to hold against you like they kind of do now. So I would post anything in everything, and even on my site, I would use it as sort of a personal diary in between all of the celebrity news that I was posting.

That's technically what blogging means, right, online journalize. So I was giving detailed updates within celebrity news, post on moving back to New Orleans for Loyola Law and was stressful a f I would include in the post about what I was personally watching and loving, and I would talk about partying and school and Marty Gras And I was the sole person posting on this site, so it wasn't even a business yet anyway, So I thought I could

get away with it. So I thought, in my head it was my small number of loyal readers, college roommates, a couple of family members who were reading the site, and that's it, and that is who I was talking to and divulging things to. In my head had already decided that I wanted the website to be the star if it ever grew into anything. So I never posted pictures of myself, never did interviews, and was totally just the girl who was obsessed with celebrity tabloid gossip, just

like every other person my age that I knew. And after all that, started to site solely because the Perez Hilton's and pincause of new blogs and people magazines of the world not talking about black celebs outside of a Beyonce mentioned here and there. So I decided to teach myself the basic the basics of coding and how to read other people's page source code in order to create a blog spot page, remember those of freeings, so I

could eventually become like they're super of successful pages. I was just a fan scouring the internet and every tabloid for any type of info or any pick involving any black celebrity, and I would compel everything I found into this one huge, endless post, and I just couldn't get enough. My opinions were front and center, unfiltered, reckless, often borderline slanderous in defamatory. But I wanted the site to be a star, so I hid myself because I didn't fit

the aspirational vibe. I hadn't even set for the site. Who wants to see a curvy black chick who's broke and in school? Anyway? The site was my hobby, so why wouldn't I post about the fantasy life we all would want? Red carpets, hot bodies, hot celebrity relationships, tons

of money, mega mansions and drama for days. I too was aspiring to have that life, so I didn't actually have it, though who did The editors that People magazine didn't, and but they were allowed to write about celebrity life without someone questioning why they had audacity to do it. Never did I think I had to live the life of something I spoke about in adding racially curi curiosity.

So then things changed as the site grew, which I wasn't even truly noticing myself, yet so did my audience and on multiple platforms too, So Facebook had opened up to anyone and everybody that wanted to do acroless of academic status, and I started to see random people requesting to be my friend in plenty and they have polity to say about my personal life that I was sharing.

So I started to see pushback from readers, likely the new ones, who criticized the way I wrote my opinions, my audacity to even talk about things like this luxury life and things like that. Who was I to do this? I mean, there was no other digital only celebrity gossip site out at the time sitting around black people, and there wasn't for another year or two. So out of all the horrific things said and even having my life threatened, at one point, someone belived me and my taste and

TV shows, and that's where I drew the line. It was hurtful, and it made me kind of withdraw even speaking about myself, and my skin just wasn't as sick yet. So it seemed like making a site the star was going to be a little bit harder than I thought, but I noticed it's star potential when I quit for

a few weeks. Katrina had come after everybody's life up ruined our first couple of weeks of law school, and I hated everyone and everything, especially our government for the horrible response to my city, the people who were black like me, who were being obviously treated the worst. And I was fed up, so I stepped away from everything while trying to figure out what to do next about

school and life. Then something happened, the outpouring of emails and messages and comments and pleading to know if I was safe during this whole, big, huge flood in Katrina craziness. My regular readers have formed a bond with me that actually was real, and despite me saying f everybody because of a few critical apples in a bunch, their love and support brought me back. Maybe the site was a star in the making even with all that bad inch happening.

Maybe I started back blogging as Katrina up ending my life and forced me into attending schools mandated and a whole another city in Houston, as if you're one al year isn't impossible enough as is, And after completing my first year, I said, you know, and basically being in a depression, I said, you know, I'm just not gonna return. I saw value and what I was building for myself, and it was only growing even with me giving a

fraction of time to it. That's when I saw an opportunity to become the face of my business and still didn't take it, fear thinking in my head, if I failed at my goal of completing law school, I would feel at everything else in life. Those few critical bad apples will grow into a million who would just I just knew would hate me. So here I am scared to put myself out front again. I don't deserve the

shine or attention. So I passed up multiple opportunities that were Natasha focused, taking only about two that I can even recall, one a multi page spread and Bob vit and magazine chronically my nightlife and this one woman show blogging business. My face, my voice, my body. Me was out there for the very first time in that way. And oh the opinions, and they happened to be I mean,

they happened at an even more furious rate. And I was already met with you know, all the craziness from before, and here are other people saying, you know what, if you condition to celebs, you have to take it to really okay. So after a few public fights with celebs at that time and being upset about things they were being up. They were upset about things that I posted and fights that were orchestrated by someone I thought was actually my friend. In this business, I lost hold in

myself and this business. It felt like it was me versus the world every day, in a business that had no blueprint already. And why am I being criticized for not looking like an aimless actress when I'm still just that regular girl, just like y'all, just like anybody walking down the street who like celebrity gossip. And I was in school and I just stopped by town boys and I love celebrity culture. Why am I held to a

different standard. I truly believe the way that I viewed myself in the way that some people viewed me, painted askew picture of what was real, but actually what was important. It's why I backed away from amazing growth opportunities and TV appearances in a book deal all at twenty five. I didn't feel like I deserved them. Deep down, I didn't see anybody who looked like me taking this exact path, so I didn't think I should either. I shouldn't be

in the spotlight. But the fact of the matter is I had way more love than hate and way more people relating to me in my journey than not, and I couldn't bring myself to realize that until the light went off. A pivot is not a failure. That's what I had to tell myself. Pivoting to follow a passion that I had a strong convictional work is the definition of not failing. It's winning. Pivoting within your business is the definition of not failing. You're adjusting to stay alive.

Even today, it's still a balance and that for me. Over the years, without a manager or publicist or agent or anything, I've become a correspondent for a nationally syndicated TV show in the room I enter development deals. I have done countless appearances on shows like Extra, and became the correspondent for four years on a nationally syndicated great

radio show, Big Boys Morning Show. Became a brand ambassador, which obviously takes a lot more, showing yourself to the world for amazing companies like Samsung, Gate through Seven, all while still pulling back a little bit on what I give and what I show myself. It's still always in the back of my mind to this day, all the hate,

all the critiques. The critiques hit a little bit differently though, when youre getting paid to do this showing off and this organic stuff, so you're not just doing it for likes. And I will say that helps. But what I've learned is it takes both. It takes a dose of you and a dose of your business, both sharing the limelight. People don't buy merchandise and don't consume content and dependent of who is selling it to them or who is

creating that content. Remember that and finally, healthy balance that works for both you and your business. Evolution, staying true to your purpose while constantly evolving is probably the biggest hurdle entrepreneurship, except nothing less than what you actually need in order for you to flourish, in order for you to stay in the note in your business. So when it comes to running a business, you should have multiple partners to help you keep on top of the next

big thing. Your business evolves when you bring in the right components to make it evolved. Keeping your company fresh and nimbless key. So every partner you have demand to have a dedicated account manager who access a direct liaison between you and that partner company. This account manager should have weekly or bi weekly check ins with you, telling me what their company is doing and how will how

will it benefit your business. You partner with these people because they know more than you in a certain area and their experts and set area. So make sure you're getting all the value you can from that partnership because they're getting paid in one way or another from you. I work with experienced partners and who have been around for longer than five years. And you don't have to be a tech genius to be in the tech game.

You just have to hire one. So I hired a mobile website development company because of their cutting edge technology that basically optimizes us for everything that we will need to day now that over people are accessing content Solio Mobile. I partner with companies like with with cutting edge advertising technology to optimize our revenue model, and developers and server text and people who put foundational aspects of our business first.

Since it's your company's home, you should always know always next in your field, and using these account managers like members of your personal board of directors is keeping. They should see you as a value client too, though, so they may be willing to bend some rules or some

fees when necessary to keep you on board. If are you what you need client for them and you have you shown them that, or do you have a unique audience or or something some type of unique goals, So offer that perspective to them if they're unaware there's something that they you have something of value they can use

as well. For while we have three point oh It's coming, we are working with the powerhouse development company crowd Favorite because they are the best of what they do and it's more than just them designing a new site for us. They are invested in actually seeing as succeed. We have established a true partnership over the last year or so, so that includes business advice from one business to another, connections, introductions, and partnering together on things outside of this one project.

And partnerships like that are gold plus. They get to work with a unique client like us. We're a small business. We're not their Disney client, but we also have a big digital presence and the super hands on CEO and a diverse demo. It's like having relationships, you know, and for me, like having a man. You want a man to bring some benefit to the table and bring something that I can't go get anywhere else, just like I bring a benefit to the table for them. Same thing, guys,

same thing. With that said, hiring can be tricky. Knowing how to do everything at least at the basic level, but still out source what you can is important. You can't hire properly if you don't even know the basics of the job yourself. Another way, evolution in business manifest itself is where you fit in with your business. I learned very early, but I could be a machine. I used to stay up thirty six hours at a time, often just to figure out coding myself before I could

afford a team for that. I have this instatial appetite for discovering things. And this was all fine and good when I was twenty five and had time and energy. Now, with the business that has like ten platforms to maintain and growing and a small but dynamic team of employees freelancers, partners, correspondence everybody to manage, I simply can't be the machine anymore,

at least not at all times. So like you think you're being the energized or bunny, the quality of your work false because you're actually exhausted trust me, you miss out on major growth opportunities because you're too busy working in your business and you don't see the bigger picture from the outside. You're only thinking how much bean with you have to give, and you can't make that growth happy with that small amount of bandwidth, So start wating

the benefits of expanding your team. The difference between self employed and entrepreneur is self employed, you're working in your business and out, but you can only grow so much as you only have so much bandwidth. But as an entrepreneur, you know when to pull yourself out. You work on the business from the outside to grow the business. It's tricky for us who build something from the ground up. Though it's our baby. Would you let somebody come in

and raise your human baby? Not so, it's hard, but businesses are not human babies. And eventually growing personally and professionally to a point where you are just the decision maker and you delegate the inner workings of your business to others, it will be necessary and I struggle with this every day to this day. I have set an exit plan for myself on no less than two occasions, and it clearly has not happened yet. But working on it.

But if you don't grow, you die. What I've learned after fifteen years also is the return on an investment does not have to be dollar to dollar. Instead, I ask myself that if I invest in this other human on my team, does it render them and being a more of a well rounded person that benefits both you

and them forever? Is my r O. I gonna come back maybe in a year or two if I put in a couple of thousand dollars here for this maybe, And it's certainly something to consider when if your goals are achieving longevity and legacy, let's move on the gift. Identify your gift. What's the innate gift you have to offer to the world. Who do you move and when? And how does that align with your passion? Your passion is what you would do and chase for free. I did it at the very beginning for a few years.

I know I love politics and always have. According to what others tell me, my gift is in moving people to take action and making people feel seen. I use my gifts to put Black Hollywood on a pedestal because I know that that spotlight that I give to those people who are usually not talked about, will always trickle down and affect the entire Black community and fabulous ways. And recently I've been able to circle back to my original path action with the launch of y By of Politics.

So joining two of my favorite passions in one place amazing. Added up authenticity plus aspiration plus tax. Advertisers are now spending a hundred and nine billion more on digital advertising then on print, so what you charge needs to reflect that fact and the fact that digital media is now keen for advertising. You don't have to play small anymore. Your authenticity is something that advertisers pay top dollar. Four. You have aspirations to new businesses down the line, longevity

not cut short by legal woes. And then you add tax. You have bills, you have experienced, and your unique individual You deserve to monetize all of that charge properly so you can fund your business properly. I got my first lawsuit a little over ten years ago, and it was from a stripper in Atlanta who swore that out of fank or character by calling her a stripper on y B up and a story about cheating with all despite the fact she worked in a strip club and was

topless and dancing. She was mad. I quickly learned that my business will now face latitious people just out for a quick dollar, or people overly sensitive about their own brands, and they see you in your business with a large voice and some change in your pocket as a target to hit. So I beefed up my legal budget so my longevity is not affected by legal woes. Have a team of lawyers I can go to for various business

needs now and trust it comes in hand. You protecting your cash flow as well with loans, credit lines and for growth is also key. I'm doing this because I'm sorry. In doing this, you become your own bank, and that's amazing. And this is that tricky conversation circling back to where we first began that talked about how black women in particular are the most underfunded group and business. So this is definitely the case in the investment capital side of

things and on the lending side of things. So the other route we end up taking is credit and loans. Finding an amazing banking partner is one of the best cheat codes I learned. I will say, established credit line and credit cards when you don't need them while you're at the top of your revenue making and at the top of your credit that is when you get the best offers and best interest rates and the best limits and you can tap into them whatever you need to.

The revenue component of blogging and content arena is also really tricky, and it's this constant game of proving the worth of yourself and your audience. Budgets are often divided into mainstream and multicultural, and you, as your guests, who are you know? Multicultural is always drastically smaller than mainstream budgets. Breeds and companies know that it's multicultural media and the black consumer base who make them hot in the first place. Yet we're often paid out the least or if it all.

Until we can adjust that blaring issue systemic racism within corporate brand marketing. We have to become our own banks so we can live to fight another day. Conquered competition, compete with yourself. I spoke earlier about the mindset of I've felt it one thing, and they're for I don't deserve and can't win at anything else. That mindset has to be defeated. Was it really a failure or was

it a pivot? There's a difference. Don't outlist yourself, the pro and con list, like the advantages and the disadvantages. I mean, they just keep you in this never ending turnstyle. I was and still am Mary Jane. From being Mary Jane, I admitted posting notes everywhere, posting note acts, real life, posting notes all man. A lot of it is working out that self doubt in your head by trying to find the weak spots in our own arguments or for like,

for ourselves or against ourselves or our business. But at some point you have to just get out of your head and just do it. You want to start running ad promos for your business and do marketing, start with a super small budget, do some a B testing, Just try it. Nothing is better, nothing is a better teacher

than hardcore experience. I'm learning at myself. I needed to take my own advice with their the past for the past few years when I was so hesitant to expand my writing team and the most overwhelming content ever, it's terrifying to let people that, I mean, even if you train them, it's to come in and take the reins of one of the most important aspects of your business. But what my hesitation is caused is us not growing content wise. At the rate that we could have. I've

learned my lesson now and that's changing. Yes, your biggest competition is yourself, but it's not the only competition. There will be others who rise up in your field as well. I never mentioned others, and I don't pay attention to what others are doing, but I might hire people to do that. Having the right people keep an eye out on what's happening in your landscape is healthy, it's needed, But obsessing over what others do is not. Why what is your wife my wife? Because I want to provide

an aspirational yet relatable space for the culture. Nailing both is my goal, and being highly respected in both is my goal. Yes, it's tricky, but let's look at it. That's who I am. I'm both and and you're both and people like both. Who are we to not try to get what we all like? Why do we have

to give something up? I've been blessed to have bought my dream condo at twenty seven and maintain a hundred percent ownership of my business with the zero investors, made deals with political campaigns and invites to the White House, and live the lifestyle that from the outside looking in look glamorous, but people do not see the incessant hard work and sacrifice that goes into it. So I'll talk about it and talk about the unglamorous side. I want my business is to reflect that same vibe. Why do

we have to ignore any part of ourselves? We love aspirings and lives of young black and fabulous people. We can still be completely down to earth and relatable about our life experiences, relationships and the way we move. Finally, I leave you with this, what shines in your limelfe? How have you already evolved personally and professionally and in what ways do you still need to How are you honing your gift, aligning it with your passions and sharing

it with the world today? Are you charging what you are worth? What doubts do you still need to conquer to reach that longevity and those legacy goals? Why are you starting your entrepreneurship journey? Like I said earlier, this is a journey that will be on for life. I've learned very quickly and never end. And you never truly reach any goal that you have because you always create a new one. That's what an entrepreneur does. You have more experience than you think so, use it. Use it

to make decisions quicker and more substinctly. Let your experience guide your instincts. Experience tells me to have faith, Let it live and create my legacy. Black Tech Green Money is the production of Blackty, Afro Tech Who, Black Effect Podcast Network, and iHeart Media. It's produced by Mortgage A barn In Me Well Lucas, with additional productive support by Love Beach Me Rissa Lewis. Special thank you to Michael Davis,

Jermaine Hall, and Vanessa Serrano. Learn more about my guests and other tech destructors and innovators at afro tech dot com. Enjoying Black Tech Green Money. I think it's a five star rating on iTunes. Cook Get your money, Piece of Love