Pt II-The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly-Day 16

Good morning to you. Happy Wednesday. This is a glorious day, as I know that this is truly a day that the Lord has made. I do understand that everyone does not believe in Jesus Christ. But, I must write and communicate what I believe, in my heart and mind. You can, likewise, share your differences, of which I have absolutely no problem. I believe that we can agree to disagree.

The Bad:

As I forged ahead with my networking plans for my business. I made contact with various groups, too numerous to name here. But I will, for clarity purpose, mention a few. Florida Minority Regional Business Council, Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce, Florida Minority Business Enterprise, city of Miami, Miami-Dade Small Business Development, and many others.

Florida Minority Regional Business Council:

This organization is nonprofit. Its advertised purpose is to assist minority business in the development and expansion stages. I paid about $250, for my certification application. Albeit, I did not earn one penny, from their assistance, during my association in their organization. They did absolutely nothing for my business, but invite me to networking events. I called to set up mentoring appointments, but I was overlooked. I believe that the organization is basically a front to obviously assist more Latin businesses, because most A.A. businesses are not expanding under this organization. I can say without a doubt that my business did not grow at all from my membership with this organization. In fact, I recently received a phone call from their office to inquire as to whether I will be renewing my membership. What do you think I told the lady on the phone?:)

Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce:

This organization is primarily African American. They advertise their services will "lead the way toward long term business properity". (MDCC website). I paid $175.00 for this membership. Let me say here that some of the people are very nice. But what did I get for my membership fee? My business profits did not increase at all nor did I receive any contracts, while a member. I was invited to various networking events and other social events. This organization is more of a social club. It did not appear from my vantage that they were adamantly concerned about increasing my business profits. It appeared that they were more attentive with their own income, by charging us for all of the social events. There were no checks and balances in place. The checks and balances are important for the organization to ascertain if the social events are assisting members in turning contacts into customers. Some people get very comfortable when they have a job and they forget that some of us (entreprenuers) are seriously trying to increase our profits, so we can also pay our bills.

Now I am not intentionally trying to be facecious. I am disclosing the facts. I paid my money for these memberships. Yet, I did not receive the services I should have received from these two organizations. I consider myself a realist. I look at the bottom line, which in this case is simply....did my membership in these organizations assist my business in increasing profits? The answer is NO.

The bad in these cases is that African Americans do not assist eachother here. There is no genuine support group. It appears that if an A.A. has a good paying job, that is all he/she is concerned with. This is a sad but true fact. An A.A. is the leader of both of the above oganizations. I am ashamed to say it, but it is the truth. The blacks here are more concerned with individual success rather than group success. This is why we have no or very little power base. Just look at the people that control the power here in the South Florida area. The Latin power base did not happen by mere accident. Blacks have no real power here.

Sometimes the TRUTH hurts. But it is still the truth.

L. for Love