Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in content creation but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Kriselle Gabriel, founder of Empowered in Color, located in Las Vegas, NV, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Empowered in Color helps people of color thrive in both business and in life! We understand that there are many barriers keeping marginalized people from succeeding in the world, and we want to help bridge that gap with our podcast, digital resources, and, eventually, in-person & virtual events. Many professional development resources and events, even if targeted to people of color, are usually still extremely expensive and inaccessible. We want to bridge that gap by providing free and affordable resources for folks to take advantage of. Corporate partnerships allow us to be able to do this for our audience.

Tell us about yourself

Back in 2017, I was shocked when I saw how many entrepreneurs of color weren't getting the recognition they deserved and reflected on my hometown in LA, where many of my peers went into careers because they felt like there was no other choice for me sure-fire success and stability. As someone who also felt lots of pressure to do the same and didn't, I want to help others take agency over their lives and choose to live it how they want, not how they feel obligated to live it.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

I was honored when I found out that my podcast was listed as an Anti-Racism resource by Ohio State University's Library at the height of Anti-Asian hate crimes. To have a university recognize your work even informally is a big deal, especially when you feel like you're not making the impact you hoped you would make. It validates my work for sure.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Being the primary breadwinner of your family when you're building up a business on the side is one of the most difficult things because, at the end of the day, you will always have to do the work to pay the bills first before working on what you love. I don't think we hear enough about people who don't have a partner with a really high-paying job or access to capital via wealthy friends/family or business loans to subsidize them while they grow their business. This means that it will take longer for your business to grow and scale at the level you may want it to grow, but it also means that you may have to make difficult decisions in regard to how you spend your time with your business and loved ones. Sometimes people don't understand that people like us actually exist, and that's why I talk about the financial struggles that come with entrepreneurship--especially as a woman of color and child of immigrants who always barely had enough financially to survive.

However, despite the difficulties that come with a lack of excess capital, I feel like my work, in particular, is worth it for me. It is fulfilling work that helps others which is what matters most to me.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Be prepared to fail. We hear about success stories more than we do failures which can give a false perception of how difficult it is to run a successful and profitable business. Failures don't have to mean your whole business will fail, but it also includes smaller-scale failures, like releasing a product that doesn't get many sales or missing a deadline for a project. There are always many reasons why anything may not work out in your favor, with many being out of your control. Learn to accept that, and that failures do not necessarily mean that you as a person are a failure.
  2. Have a support system that consists of people who are willing to help you do the work if you need it, people who have some sort of business experience to guide and educate you, and people who truly believe in what you are doing. Every person in your support system does not need to have all three qualities, but they all should truly believe in what you are doing. There are many people who tell their friends and family running a business that they support them, but they don't actually believe in what their loved ones are doing, whether the business idea itself or the person. You want people who genuinely believe in you and your business. Usually, those kinds of people will also be honest with you about decisions you make along the way as well. Running your own business is hard, and it will be important to have these people to lean on and encourage you to keep going. If you have a romantic partner too, their genuine love and support for you will make all the difference.
  3. Don't wait until everything is perfect, but also have some sort of action plan. If you wait until everything in your life and/or business is perfect before you launch or even quit your day job, that day will never come. However, you also don't want to take the leap without having a general game plan and timeline on how you plan to move things forward. It doesn't have to be extremely detailed and planned day-by-day, but you still want to know what you are working towards over the next few weeks and months. Otherwise, you will always play catch-up with your business, which isn't sustainable long-term and will lead to burnout. I have embraced the mentality of "[launching] imperfectly" in the past, but with no set plans on what I'll be doing next, how I'll be doing it, or how long until my next milestone. If you have no direction, then you are working and creating into the void. Learn from my mistakes and fall into the happy medium of launching imperfectly but with a general plan.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.empoweredincolor.co/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empoweredincolor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/krisellemg

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.