The Capital Corner: The power of "YES" (with credit to my brother Mich...

The Capital Corner: The power of "YES" (with credit to my brother Mich...: "My name is Philip Stephano and I am one of the founding members of The Capital Corner, a non-profit micro venture capital company that inves..."


The author, Philip Stephano, is a social media marketing strategist in Bucks County,  PA.  He is passionate about helping local and regional business around the country to use social media as an effective tool to find local prospects and customers. To learn more about Stephano go to http://about.me/philipstephano

The power of "YES" (with credit to my brother Michael)

My name is Philip Stephano and I am one of the founding members of The Capital Corner, a non-profit micro venture capital company that invests in minority and small businesses in under-served urban neighborhoods.  

Today I want to talk to all entrepreneurs who are in the process of beginning a new venture or trying to grow an existing business. I want to tell you about the power of "yes".   "Yes" is a particularly powerful word and an even more powerful attitude, especially in the early days of a venture.   "Yes" will open up new opportunities to you.  It will expand your professional networks.   It will allow you to multiply your connections and create new business.

Sometimes in the early days of The Capital Corner I would meet a new person and they would invite me to an event.  Of course I said yes to as many of these invitations as possible.  Sometimes I would be heading out the door and my wife would ask me, "why are you going to this?" or "don't you have more productive things to do?"    Many times I didn't have a "good"  answer.  I would tell her, "I'm just saying "yes" right now."   I would leave the house having no idea of what the return would be on my time.  In other words I had no specific deal to pitch, no specific person to talk to, and no specific outcome I was expecting.

I want to report to you that the results have been spectacular.  It is surprising how many people are willing to be generous with their time, their knowledge, and their own contacts.  It is also amazing how many people, who I thought I knew, already had beneficial insight, contacts, or even expertise in related fields.

"Yes", however can only help the prepared.  It is of utmost importance that one does the work necessary before undertaking the path of "yes".  In the case of The Capital Corner my partner Majic and I had written our mission statement, designed our logo, and had thoroughly prepared our "talking points" and our "elevator pitch".   This lubricated the social situation so we could quickly move towards people who were understanding our vision.

Obviously, "yes" is not a panacea.  It is not a substitute for preparedness and it certainly is not the answer to team building or deal making.   What "yes" can do is create buzz, charisma of a business idea, and it can allow an idea to grow beyond the personalities of the business's founders.  

You've been in the woodshed.  You've been defining your business.  You've worn a hole in your chair and your keyboard skills on the computer are now off the chart.  It's time to go out in the world.  Say yes to meet people.   Say yes to attend an event.   Say yes to contacting someone who has been referred to you.  Get off yer tail and go out in the world.  You are ready, and armed with "yes" you will soon develop a network of supporters.

Remember,  it is important to keep these allies updated on your activities.  If you are good on the phone then call people and tell them what's happening.  If you email, then send updates.  If you can blog then blog.  Even if someone doesn't have something of immediate benefit to your venture they may come across someone who does.  Also these relationships may bear fruit at a later stage of your project such as team building or even political contacts.  If your project is out of their sight it will be out of their minds.

In another blog we will explore the power of "no" and when to apply it.  The twist on this is that "no" is equally powerful in different stages of a project.  Are you interested in learning more?    Just say "yes".

...and remember, if someone tells you something can't be done, that only tells you one thing: they're not the ones who are going to do it!




The author, Philip Stephano, is owner of PrimalTweet a social media marketing company in Bucks County,  PA.  He is passionate about helping local and regional business around the country to use social media as an effective tool to find local prospects and customers. To learn more about Stephano go to http://about.me/philipstephano

Capital is a hammer

A lot of people who have opinions about the ethical value of capital and capitalism actually have no experiential basis for their opinion.  I believe that capital is ethically neutral.  What do I mean by this?  

Is a hammer good or bad?   Well, if you are using it to build a house it is good.  If you are using it to bash someone's head in, well, not so much.   Capitalism is a hammer.  It can be used to build communities or it can be used to tear them down.

At the Capital Corner we are proponents of what we call "conscious capitalism."  We see capital as a tool of empowerment that can provide the building blocks of a healthy community.  

Let's look at the African American community.  Blacks represent roughly 12% of the nation's population and yet they control less than 1% of the nation's wealth. It seems that  Black folks have an historically dysfunctional relationship with capital.  Understanding the cause of this is an interesting topic but understanding the cause is not essential to improving the situation.   What is essential is that knowledge of how capital works is communicated effectively to this community.

At The Capital Corner we work with minority owned business and small business to provide not just knowledge but investment, support, and planning necessary for these businesses to thrive.  There are no global solutions to poverty or to economic disenfranchisement.  There are no instant solutions.  However, a bean bag is not filled by one giant bean.  A bean bag is carefully filled bean by bean.  Our goal is to build the capital base of economically challenged communities one partnership at a time.

Together, let's figure out how capital can be deployed as an effective tool of economic empowerment.  Let's figure out how to move communities from cultures of dependency to cultures of independence and agency.  In other words let's learn how to use capital as a hammer to build the community.



The author, Philip Stephano, is owner of PrimalTweet a social media marketing company in Bucks County,  PA.  He is passionate about helping local and regional business around the country to use social media as an effective tool to find local prospects and customers. To learn more about Stephano go to http://about.me/philipstephano

Two types of money.

Did you know that there are two types of money?   One person, in answer to this question ventured, "good and bad?"   Another person answered, "cash and credit".  Getting closer.....   

A very wise gentleman asked me this question early in my business career.   I looked for a fancy theoretical answer that would show off my knowledge (I had none).   The answer he gave me to the question of two kinds of money was this: "the kind of money where you work all week long and then you go collect your check, and the kind of money that gets mailed to you."   The next natural question he asked me was, "which kind do you want?"   Naturally I wanted the kind of money that gets mailed to me.  That gentleman and I eventually became business partners and he would share SO much knowledge and philosophy with me that I will be happy to share with you.

So now that we know there are two types of money and we know which type we want let's see how it applies to minority communities.  We have already cited the statistic that Blacks represent about 12% of the nation's population and control less than 1% of the nation's wealth.  Clearly Black folks are not benefiting from the theory that money can be mailed to them.   Or, the kind of money that is being mailed to them represents dependence and not independence.

Here are some obstacles my partner Majic and I have identified within economically  disenfranchised communities.   There are many businesses that people run that do get the owners a certain level of success.   In many of these cases the owner prides him/herself that they are stacking cash and keeping a lot of their business success under the radar of the tax man or a ticked off ex-spouse.  They are running cash businesses and squirreling money off the books.

What is the problem with this?   When a business like this wants to grow they have an impossible task in convincing a prospective investor or lender that their business is in fact profitable.  They have done such a good job of running their business off the books that they can't demonstrate their success.

The first question a business owner like this would ask me is, "why would I want to pay taxes, unemployment insurance, FICA tax, etc."  In order to understand the answer to this question and in order to get the type of money that gets mailed to you, you will have to understand the concept of "leverage".   In the next blog we will talk about leverage and how it can help you become a business leader and not just one of the crowd.


The author, Philip Stephano, is owner of PrimalTweet a social media marketing company in Bucks County,  PA.  He is passionate about helping local and regional business around the country to use social media as an effective tool to find local prospects and customers. To learn more about Stephano go to http://about.me/philipstephano