Ending Poverty Through Entrepreneurship with Dr. Velma Trayham, Thinkzilla

Today’s episode is about the impact you can potentially have as an entrepreneur on your communities. Dr. Velma Trayham joins us to discuss how she is helping ending poverty through building her 3-winged business. 

Three things you will learn this episode: 

• How to run multiple businesses effectively;
• How to use your business to help your community;
• How to use self-care and self-development to grow as an entrepreneur. 

About Dr. Velma Trayham:
Dr. Velma Trayham runs a three wing operation: ThinkZilla, a brand engagement firm; Millionaire Mastermind, a business education platform for women; and she is a hotel investor as well. Her three businesses synergistically feed off each other. She has mentored over 5000 women in her career and is an award-winning entrepreneur.

She also wrote the book, “After the Pivot: Real advice on how to survive a business pivot and make money.” In this book, she shares insights on how to navigate the aftermath of a pivot. Drawing from her own experiences and highlighting successful examples like PayPal, she provides business owners with practical guidance to move forward, make informed decisions, and ultimately thrive in the face of change.

Expand your entrepreneurial toolkit with our curated collection of Business Books.

On today’s episode: 

• Dr. Velma Trayham’s entrepreneurial journey (she’s hiring 25 new employees!)- 01:55
• Why she’s working on many different businesses instead of just one OR  Why having many different businesses can be the solution you need -03:35
• Why Dr. Velma Trayham built Millionaire Mastermind Academy and has run it every single month since - 07:40
• Is everyone ready to own a business? (and an interesting definition of ownership) - 09:54 
• Why your business will suffer without self-care (and why self-care is central to every entrepreneur’s success)- 12:06 
• What is supplier diversity and how it can help communities get out of poverty - 14:52
• What does a community-focused legacy look like? - 19:34
• Lesson 1: How to run multiple businesses effectively - 21:04 
• Lesson 2: How to use your business to help your community - 22:17 
• Lesson 3: Your business is only a tool on your journey - 23:44

Key Takeaways: 

• Having many different initiatives does not mean you have to do all the work running all of them. All you have to do is put the right systems, processes and people in place to make sure the business runs well. 
• If you want to have many different businesses, one strategy you can adopt is to make sure that one business feeds onto the next. Dominate a space. 
• “Ownership is not a pursuit, it is a result”
• Professional development and self-care are extremely important for entrepreneurs: “you cannot pour from an empty cup”. 
• Working with small minority-led businesses can help communities get out of poverty. 
• Whoever you are, you are brought on this earth to solve a problem. 
• Money coming into small businesses flows into their communities 7x, the number is just 1.5-2x for large corporations. In short, small businesses uplift their communities financially considerably more than large corporations do. 

Why sometimes having several ventures is more effective than having just one: 

“When you look at ending a systemic issue, a systemic problem, and you’re looking at poverty, you need different elements in order to do that so along the journey I have been understanding what the problem is, I am not waiting on other people to provide solutions. I am actually along the way putting things in place to be the solution to the problem” -  Dr. Velma Trayham

What are your pro tips for successfully running multiple businesses at the same time? Tell us in the comments and don’t forget to say hello if you would like to share your entrepreneurship story on our podcast. 

Connect with Dr. Velma Trayham:

• LinkedIn: @VelmaTrayham
• Instagram: @Velma_trayham
• Millionaire Mastermind Website: https://millionairemastermindacademy.org/ 
• Thinkzilla Website: https://thinkzillaconsulting.com/ 

Connect with A.J.Lawrence:

• Website: ajlawrence.com
• Email: aj@b8fpodcast.com 
• Instagram: @ajlawrence
• LinkedIn: A.J. Lawrence
• Twitter: @ajlawrence
• Medium: @a.j.lawrence

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Affiliate Disclaimer: Some links in this episode are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Rest assured, we only promote products/services we believe will benefit your entrepreneurial journey.