Today we’d like to introduce you to Janae’ Willis-Beard.
Janae’, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
When I was ten, I opened my first business on the front porch of our family home. I sold candy, chips, and frozen Kool-Aid Cups. Unlike many millionaires who say, “My parents gave me $500,000 to start my business.” My mom loaned me $50 for a modest Sam’s Club purchase and I paid her back $75 and had a profit of $100. Not bad for a fifth-grader who hated math and whose parents are the furthest thing from millionaires.
I have been in Dallas for almost 12 years by way of Washington DC, but I am an Alabama native. Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama I am the middle child of 5 and the youngest girl. My father is a Southern Baptist minister and my grandfather was an Usher for our small hometown church. I grew up Sunday mornings singing in the choir and attending nurses’ aid meetings with my older sisters and my grandmother.
I attended Tuskegee University and studied Sales & Marketing and Hospitality Management. After college, I moved to Washington, DC and worked for some of the largest hotel brands in the world. I spent most of my time learning Food & Beverage and daily operations. With the skills I garnered I expanded my knowledge into meeting and event planning focusing strategically on weddings and varying social functions. After four years in DC, I meet my wonderful husband and we relocated to Dallas, Texas to expand our family.
Beard Marketing Firm has been a vision in the making for five years before we even begin working with clients. Spending my childhood in the church gave me great pride in serving my community and working with people who have visions and missions that are greater than themselves. In 2017 Beard Marketing Firm (BMF) was birthed to help small businesses and entrepreneurs with their marketing and social media needs. In 2018, after a year of frustration, I reviewed our services and operations and realized that lack of education and resources was why so many of my clients could not gain traction in their specific market.
Many of my clients at that time were nonprofits who lacked a basic understanding of how board development and fund development played crucial and impactful roles in the growth and sustainability of their organization. In 2018 Beard Marketing Firm also became a management and consultant firm as well as marketing and brand development. We rebranded as Beard Marketing & Management Firm and took our first major contract with The DEC @RedBIrd and served as the Community Coordinator. We developed and launched the major programming for The DEC during the initial year and we worked with entrepreneurs in the community to understand how to start, grow, and scale their business.
During the past three years, I have come to RECOGNIZE that entrepreneurship seems like an unattainable dream to most. That many in the African American and Hispanic communities are paralyzed by fear and lack of educational resources that make the entrepreneurial journey more than a dream. I am passionate about providing education, access to resources, and a strategic network that helps people start, grow, and scale their visions. It is from vision and passion that Beard Marketing & Management continues to work with small business owners and entrepreneurs of color, especially those in the Food & Beverage industry.
We are very excited that in 2020 we are launching our Bon Appétit Cohort and opening Coupled Cups Coffee & Wine Lounge in Historic Downtown Lancaster. Since my first business on my parent’s front porch; a simple candy store and hangout for all of the kids in the neighborhood, I have had a love for people and business.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
“Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.” – Booker T. Washington
This journey has been many things: lonely, scary, thankless, painful, laughable, faithful, trying, encouraging, and so much more, but the one thing that I can’t say is that it has been easy. I quit at least twice a month, in my head, I throw up my hands and I say forget this let me update my resume and go back to corporate. In November of 2019, I actually applied and interviewed for a job that was below entry-level for my skill set and experience, but God is faithful and I have come to learn that he always blocks me from going or doing something that will keep me from working where he desires to place me. I did not get the job.
In the initial consultation with new clients, I share the Iceberg Theory or Titanic Theory. On the surface of a situation or the top of the iceberg, the area that is floating above the water, you see what is perceived as the glitz and glamour of entrepreneurship; money to spend from a full bank account, fancy business trips, lavish vacations, big houses or fancy cars. What you don’t see is what is underneath the water; late nights, missed family engagements, tears, depression, anxiety, ramen noodle dinners, and so much more.
For BMMF, we struggled to understand the importance of an ideal client. Who did we want to serve and who did we want to work with or for? We tried for two years to be all things to all types of businesses, never looking at what we already knew, Food & Beverage. We have worked with accountants, tax professionals, medical practices, fashion lines, and none of these are our areas of expertise or knowledge. Food & Beverage and hospitality management, however, is where we naturally breathe and live.
You must know your ideal client and it is okay to not know the first year or 18 months, but if you don’t find your audience you will spin your wheels never getting ahead in your arena.
Beard Marketing & Management Firm – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Beard Marketing & Management Firm’s (BMMF) working vision is to deliver effective, profitable, and efficient results to our clients through strategic networks, reliable planning, and execution that deliver measurable results. We offer consultations for business development 101 where we work with bootstrap startups, small business owners looking to grow and scale their business and learn how to use resources such as the SBA or certifications to grow their business. We have our signature “Strategic WhiteBoard Sessions” that we created to walk entrepreneurs through a heart check. These sessions are created to help entrepreneurs get out of their heads and talk through the needed steps to make the next move in their vision.
In 2020 we are launching our Signature Bon Appetit Cohort focusing on small businesses and entrepreneurs in the Food & Beverage industry. This 10-week cohort will include professional headshots, professional shots of food and processes for marketing, also resources to move their food & beverage business to the next level. BMMF also produces stunning marketing events and strategic programming for our clients that elevate their brand. We manage everything from budgets to logistics, to the design and execution of branded events.
Many branding and marketing firms don’t explain or teach the science behind why we do what we do. Why we strategize social media, with web updates, and then take three months to plan a particular product launch or new program. Yes, there is a Science to what we are doing; it is buyer psychology or end-user experience. At BMMF we explain this to our clients, but we also consult on best business practices. We provide resources to our clients about industry-specific trends and how they can use these trends to grow and scale from where they currently are. We believe in teaching and coaching, and that is why our clients have been with us for so long.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I am a God-fearing person. I a Christian and it reflects in all areas of my life, especially my business. In my 20 years of working, no project, no job, no career has brought me as much joy and pride as when I filed my LLC paperwork for my legacy creation. BMMF is not the whole picture. It is a snapshot of what will come in the next decade. After three years of working and failing, working and succeeding, and working and failing again, we have learned that we are a hospitality company. My husband and I have the desire to be in this specific market because it is a representation of who we are as individuals, as a couple, as parents, as children, friends, and especially Christians.
So I am proud of my creation and the vision that has been giving to me to create and bring to fruition.
Pricing:
- Consultation 45 minutes* $90 (we do have specials were we do them for free)
- BMMF Signature WhiteBoard Session hour and half $397
- Branding & Business Development *Alliance Package* $2500
- Branding & Business Development *Partnership Package* $3700
- Branding & Business Development *Strategic Package* $5200
- Appetizer Sponsor Bon Appétit Cohort $1500
- Beverage Sponsor Bon Appétit Cohort $2000
- Dessert Sponsor Bon Appétit Cohort $3000
Contact Info:
- Address: 3662 W. Camp Wisdom Rd
Ste 2044 - Phone: 682-334-2947
- Email: info@beardmarketingfirm.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beardmmfirm/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeardMarketingFirm/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeardFirm
- Other: www.beardmarketingfirm.com
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