I’m two days into planning a party that has the potential to yield me over $15K in one night — if you’re reading this, you have stumbled upon my open-book diary that I’ve finally committed to writing, laying out my grand master entrepreneurial plans, detailing the results and openly strategizing how I plan to keep going for the wins.
So here’s how I got to this point: in October 2022, at the tail end of performing in the Discoasis for 4-months, and realizing that the UX/UI Design bootcamp I had spent the last year in hadn’t actually prepared me to be immediately eligible for the high-paying salary like they sold me to believe, I decided to quit the program with 80% completed and just start a new business to take care of my pressing need for an income.
The idea of applying, asking, and waiting for an employer to choose me based on my portfolio of 100% made-up student projects, then determining my worth and assigning me duties was the definition of handing over too much power to someone else. And being my own boss was always where I landed no matter how much I’ve tried to convince myself that getting a job would finally prove that I’m normal. Well, I’m not normal so just fuck trying anymore.
I created UME, Upscale Mobile Entertainment, as a solution to the problems I’d been researching in my tech program: a lack of accessible, affordable, indoor spaces to rollerskate in New York City. I saw an opportunity to solve this problem by taking the concepts I built into the mobile app prototype I created rooted in User Experience Research and Human-Centered Design, and instead turned them into real-world, physical services.
While I have taken on several entrepreneurial ventures in the past, I’d always plateau at a certain point and could never get any of my previous businesses to reach the heights I knew were possible. There were glitches in my personality and mindset but I didn’t know what they were. Still, it was if I could sense that there was something inside of me that was screwed up, and that I was subconsciously blocking my own growth. I just couldn’t see how.
Well, it was during the COVID19 pandemic that I hit rock bottom. It was an internal breakdown. My emotional state was wrecked and I felt lost, confused, and overwhelmed by the unbearable agony of heartbreak. I was dying on the inside, yet I couldn’t even explain it. I just wanted the pain to go away but nothing I did could make it stop. There was a gaping hole in my heart spilling so much metaphysical blood that it was drowning me. I wanted to know what was wrong with me. So I put up a sign in my living room that said “Follow the FLOW”. And every isolated morning of the pandemic, I woke up, read the sign and simply did what my body asked, not thinking, just following.
The process led to a full-blown healing journey. I finally unearthed the hidden fossils of trauma that were buried deep within my psyche and were turning into a toxic cancer. I started studying psychology, took up a daily yoga practice, began meditating, committed to frequent journaling, cried lots and lots of tears, and developed rituals and practices to heal myself. That all began two years ago in September of 2020.
Now, today, it’s incredible how much I’ve recovered and reclaimed myself, still sticking with my rituals and practices of self-love and self-healing. So starting a brand-new business is the ultimate test to see if I have adjusted my mindset enough to push beyond any level before and actualize my full potential as an entrepreneur.
Perhaps, now you may also see why this spot right here is so super-exciting. This is the first time I’m operating from a place of spiritual, emotional and physical alignment and self-belief. Okay, so here’s the deal:
Once I decided to start this mobile roller-skate entertainment business, I had to figure out how I was going to acquire all the elements necessary to get some revenue flowing in. Problem was, my Discoasis salary had been cut because the company refused to pay the cast on rainy days. And in the last weeks of the show, in late September and early October — it had rained a lot. The policy to not pay employees due to inclement weather was super-fucked up on the part of the Discoasis but in the end, I took a financial loss on money I needed to advance my newborn business.
In the past, I would have let FEAR and its gang members, SELF-DOUBT and SHAME beat me down into back-pedaling on my dreams. But not this time! I was determined to be relentless. I promised myself to never give up until I had explored EVERY SINGLE POSSIBILITY. If I hadn’t succeeded after a complete exhaustion of options, then I’d accept that I should move on to a different venture.
The first thing I needed was roller-skates. Ones for rent and ones for sale. So instead of dismaying over my current state of funds, or anxiously worrying about how I was going to pay my bills in the meantime, I looked at what I had in the bank and decided to use every dime to get me to my next. I had debt already and since there’s no such thing as negative zero, I decided to take on some more and applied for a personal loan of $10K. And guess what? In ten days, I received $10,0000. BOOM! Start-up capital!
Grappling with the guilt of debt was another area I had to dismantle mentally. I’ll have to discuss that in a separate entry.
With the $10K I purchased my first pairs of skates for rent, skates for sale and the basics needed to create a pop-up presentation of my merchandise that I could set-up curbside or on-location. At first, I stored the skates in my minivan, The Dream Machine, but I knew I had to get a storage unit for my merch. Just a few blocks from my apartment is a storage center and I found an affordable unit to hold my growing collection of inventory.
It was clear a week or two after making those initial purchases, that I was going to burn through that lump sum of money rapidly, and that I would need more investment capital to truly get the business off the ground. Once again, the sickening feeling of FEAR began creeping up on me. And I looked it squarely in the face. Its reflection showed me that I still had some major healing to do around my relationship and attitude towards money.
While I began researching audiobooks to listen to for advice and new insights on money and wealth, I also created an investor’s deck for the business with the intention of asking people I know to invest small amounts of money with me.
Well, I never got around to sharing that investor’s deck because mid-October, a multimedia agency contacted me soliciting my services to be a consultant for a promotional campaign for Google. Yup, GOOGLE — they came to me based on rollerskate research I had previously shared online! Long story short, I was able to negotiate a deal with them to pay me to conduct research for their purposes and synthesize it into content on black roller-skating history in exchange for $15K.
While the campaign was very challenging and took me off my course with launching UME for about 6-weeks, I ultimately earned the additional capital I needed to grow legs for my business. As of this writing, I received half of that payout and I’m waiting for the second half to arrive, hopefully by the end of this week.
Still, I took the $7K and was ecstatic. Those feelings didn’t last long tho. My Inner Critique and her boyfriend GUILT, rose up quickly to remind me of how much I owed in back-rent, how badly both of my sons needed new winter clothes, and the line-up of bills marching their way towards me demanding payment. If I paid everything I owed, I’d be back to broke. I’d still be in debt and UME would still be undercapitalized.
No, this time I’m shutting down the Inner Critique and her ugly lover. I was learning to choose my first. The audiobooks I was listening to were amping me up to be bolder, riskier, and more self-invested first over pleasing others. Now, I don’t enjoy not paying my rent — it feels wrong to not live up to an agreement I made. But the pandemic proved that life is short and unpredictable. There are no perfect and safe decisions. Anyone’s life can be flipped upside down so you better do you and live it fully because it can be snatched away in an instant. I had to transform my thinking on that in order to do what my business needed from me — to keep investing until it is strong enough to bring in returns.
So that is what I did, let my debts pile up some more while I paid it forward with my business. In my calculations, by the time I would have to face any potential penalties for non-payment, with continued investment and active execution of my marketing and sales strategies, I would be in a positive financial situation to work out a payment plan to pay back what I owe. In the meantime, I decided that using my money for myself was better than giving it to the person trying to collect it. They had more than me already, so they’re just gonna have to wait!
The next big task was to find an indoor space that met three important criteria: it would have to have smooth floors and be big enough for skaters to skate, it would have to be easily accessible by public transportation, and it would have to be affordable enough for me to rent, hire workers and still make a profit.
Yo, lemme tell you that searching for a place in this big city has been grueling. Like it is not for the impatient nor weak-hearted. It’s like being a pirate looking for treasure chests hidden at the bottom of the sea. I scrolled social media, surfed the web, called, messaged, emailed, visited so many places and hit dead end after dead end. But I promised myself to not give up!
And last Saturday, I went to visit a studio I learned about from an Instagram post promoting an upcoming event by an artist I met over the summer, at the opening of an art show where my work was being displayed. Funny enough, the only reason I was able to attend the art opening is because it rained that day, and the Discoasis canceled work (and pay) for the cast.
Well, I wanted to see if the studio he was using for his show, could be used for my purposes too. As I walked up the stairs in this building, which held lots of artists' studios, I passed the second floor and discovered that it was open, spacious and had smooth floors. Morning sunlight was pouring in from the windows that lined the walls, and I couldn’t resist giving myself a tour and capturing its potential on camera. This could be it!
And by Monday afternoon, two days later, it was IT! I had worked out a deal to rent the place to host a New Year’s Eve roller-skate party, and make an official debut of my new company, Upscale Mobile Entertainment.
I still had a bit of money from the first half of the Google project pay-out, and put down a deposit and purchased liability insurance as the property owner required to secure the booking.
Then I shared the news with my Instagram audience. I knew that letting folks, especially skaters, see the space would get them excited and hopefully encourage them to save-the-date and plan to party with me over other events taking place on one of the most competitive nights of the year. That Instagram Reel got so many positive likes, views and comments that I felt even further affirmed.
On Tuesday, yesterday, I etched out all the components I wanted to include in this NYE skate party. Again, I started by thinking about the user, the guest. What would make this party feel special for them? What expectations do people have of a New Year’s Eve party? What drives people to go to parties on New Year’s Eve anyway?
Sourcing out the human motivations and desires that drive decisions and actions is what I learned as a User Experience Researcher in bootcamp. Falling back on the insights I gained from interviewing skaters and from my own ethnographic research, having embedded myself deeply within the NYC skate scene, I spent the whole day designing the experience aand drafted it on paper.
Then I made lists of what supplies, materials and personnel I’d need to bring the event design to life. I sorted the lists and prioritized the items based on what was essential, and what would be nice to have. Next, I looked up the costs for everything and created a pricing structure for tickets to reveal how much revenue I could potentially make.
Based on this analysis, I determined I need about $3600 more in upfront costs to earn approximately $15K+ in net profits. But the thing is I don’t have $3600 right now. I’m still waiting for $7K from the Google project, so what am I to do?
Well, I went back to my intention with the investor’s deck, and decided to ask 15 people I know and who have been true champions of me or who I know like to make money, to invest $300 with me for a return of their money plus $100 by January 15th. The old me, prior to my healing journey, would not have had the guts to start calling people — I would have allowed myself to be swallowed up with imagining negative outcomes of rejection and judgment from people I wanted to support me. My fear would have suffocated action.
Nah, ya girl has a different mindset now. Last night, as I called (emphasis on picking up the phone and calling) the first six people on my list, I felt proud to offer them an opportunity to make money with me, and to exemplify collective economics. Most people I know would never invest their money, mostly because they don’t know how to get started and fear taking a loss. The vision of advancing my business while helping others increase their finances is part of what drives me. Being a leader in economic upliftment for my people speaks to my soul!
And, I was able to get $600 worth of investment capital pledged to me by two of the four people I actually spoke to. So that brings us to today.
I began writing this entry because I also would like to publish a book one day, and chronicling my journey in real-time seems like a great first step. Today is Wednesday, December 14th, 2022, and my plan is to continue to reach out to the rest of the people on my list to see how much more money I can drum up. Then I’m going to pay a deposit on the sound equipment rental because that is the second most important part of the party — having incredible amplification of the music. Then I’m going to list the party online and start selling tickets.
Based on the theme I came up with for the party, “New Year’s Eve Champagne Dreams”, I purchased most of the decor materials last night from Amazon, again using credit and pushing my debt to the max on that card. But I feel so grateful for having a line of credit with Amazon! Thanks to it, I know another major priority for the party is covered: a beautifully decorated space and an accent wall for people to take New Year’s Eve selfies and vids (addressing the human desire to be seen and included). I also designed the flyer for the party on the app, Canva, which for an old-school graphic designer like myself who loves Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, was an amazingly efficient tool!
Well, I’m going to stop this entry here and get to work. I aim to be regular at writing and hope these posts will become shorter over time as I develop consistency in narrating my progress.
See you tomorrow!
~SuperGoode
