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I know our entire audience isn’t entrepreneurs, but for those who are, this episode is for you. As well, if you are genuinely curious how business, branding and start ups work, it’s a great conversation to listen in on.
I met our guest, Arielle Loren in 2015 when she attended my Wild Soul Movement retreat in Costa Rica. Ever since I’ve really enjoyed watching her business and trajectory evolve and we dove into all the parts in this conversation.
We talked about integrating larger social issues into business, which is what she’s been doing by focusing on the disparity between how funding gets allocated to the rest of the entrepreneur field vs what’s available to early stage, women of color founders.
She explained the difference between different types of funding, what “bootstrap mentality” means, and how to leverage and build credit and gain access to certain circles.
We explored where people waste their money in the early stages of running a business, the psychology and process to sales, working remotely, AND the role self care, focus and perspective play in running a sustainable business.
I also loved hearing about her various ventures over the years, living abroad, and how she landed in Miami as her current home base.
This is a rich and layered conversation. Enjoy and share!
xo,
E
About Arielle Loren:
Arielle Loren is the creator of the 100K Incubator and a Harvard-trained business strategist. After 10 years of consulting for top brands and startups, she is on a mission to help 1,000 black and brown women entrepreneurs get business funding and scale their companies to 100K+ in yearly sales by December 2019. Arielle’s client work, writing, and speaking gigs have been featured in FastCompany, TechCrunch, Huffington Post, SXSW, and NPR. She is a graduate of Harvard University, where she holds a master’s degree in Management and graduate certificate in Strategic Management. She also holds a graduate certificate in International Business Management from Georgetown University, and a bachelor’s degree in Social and Cultural Analysis and a certificate in Producing from New York University.
Connect with Arielle:
What You’ll Hear:
7:45 Arielle’s big truth in recognizing the discrepancy in business funding for women of color
9:25 Discussion on the definition of funding for business
10:45 How women, particularly women of color, lag behind in funding opportunities
13:14 The drawback of following mentors who are predominantly white men
14:15 The unique challenges faced by women of color in pursuing their businesses
19:55 The most common ways that founders waste money in their businesses
24:49 Arielle’s origin story
28:30 The false narrative of the “overnight dream”
35:54 The benefits and pitfalls of working remotely
37:11 Thoughts on the transition from an office environment to working alone
40:20 The demographics of founders in Arielle’s practice
41:47 Thoughts on moving a business to a full-time venture
46:15 Arielle’s women’s sexuality magazine, Corset
50:08 Thoughts on cutting losses or walking away from a business or role
52:55 Arielle’s experiences living in Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and Miami
Resources:
2019 WSM Weekend Workshops
Akashic Records Readings
100K Incubator Webinar
Corset Magazine
Click here to watch/listen or scroll upward to listen only:
Quotes:
“Less than 1% of black woman founders actually have received venture capital funding. Also only 34 black women founders have ever received over $1 million in venture funding.” – Arielle Loren
“Black women are the fastest growing demographic when it comes to starting businesses.” – Arielle Loren
“We’re starting businesses at a faster rate but our revenue isn’t going up which is a big problem.” – Arielle Loren
“Early on in my entrepreneur journey I was just assuming when people don’t talk about this, that everyone was better at business than me.” – Elizabeth DiAlto
“When you receive capital it needs to be put into customer acquisition.” – Arielle Loren
“I feel like I’m also cleaning up the mess of a lot of unqualified, dishonest biz coaches out there.” – Arielle Loren
“I just kind of got this very spiritual call that the knowledge I had accumulated over the last ten years was meant to serve women who were much earlier in their careers and who really needed the support and really needed the structure and really needed the education and resources and funding opportunities that I know how to get.” – Arielle Loren
“I never saw how the business could play a role to help correct some of these social issues and so that’s what I feel we get to do right now and I’m really excited about it.” – Arielle Loren
“Pay attention to the details because the strategy is always in the details.” – Arielle Loren
“This is one of the things that bugs me about some of this guru advice. ‘Leap and the net will appear’. That’s an easy piece of advice for people who might have access to safety nets. That’s really irresponsible to give to people who might not.” – Elizabeth DiAlto
You May Also Like:
Take the Leap with Sara Bliss
Being Boss with Kathleen Shannon
Get your copy of the Untame Yourself book on Amazon!
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