August is National Black Business Month. To celebrate TheBlack.Blog will be releasing a month-long interview series featuring black businesses across the country. New interviews will premiere every Monday at 5pm CST. Plus, series bonus interviews premiere on Fridays.
To kick off the National Black Business Month: Interview Series presented by TheBlack.Blog, we spoke with Roxanne Iniece to discuss her business and her entrepreneurship journey. Roxanne Iniece is an author, consultant, and business growth strategist with over 20 years of experience. She is the founder and CEO of Roxanne Iniece which helps entrepreneurs build profitable and sustainable businesses.
TheBlack.Blog:
Hello and welcome to the National Black Business Month: Interview Series presented by TheBlack.Blog. We are here with Roxanne Iniece, she’ll be telling us a little bit more about her business and her entrepreneurship journey. So Roxanne, please start with telling us a little bit about yourself for those who do not know you.
Roxanne Iniece:
Well, it’s a pleasure to be here. Thank you to TheBlack.Blog for allowing me to participate in this series. My business model, Roxanne Iniece, is really focused on supporting the entrepreneurship journey by providing resources and tools to allow an individual to build their business, to be both profitable and sustainable without compromising the quality of their life. I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years in a variety of different ways, working with different companies and also independently as a full-time entrepreneur. I am a proud mother of an HBCU Alum, and just an overall family-focused, community-focused individual. I really try to live out my time in this universe being of service. And so my business is just one of the ways I do that.
TheBlack.Blog:
What is Roxanne Iniece for those who do not know?
Roxanne Iniece:
Roxanne Iniece is purely focused on providing consulting and direct mentorship to professionals, as well as business owners. Roxanne Iniece is individual-focused, providing consulting and direct mentorship to individuals that are in any phase of their entrepreneurship journey. Typically, the professionals that I work with are individuals that work full-time jobs, and they think they want to start a business, but they’re not sure if they have the right talent, the right credentials, the right skills or the time. And so I collaborate with professionals to help them flush out the answers to those questions. Sometimes that answer is no, but in the case of a yes, then we begin to build out the right business model that makes sense for them, their lives and what they’re seeking to accomplish through their business.
TheBlack.Blog:
You’ve talked generally about the different services you offer to help entrepreneurs and business owners succeed. What are the top services businesses come to you looking for help with?
Roxanne Iniece:
Through Roxanne Iniece, individuals come to me when they are really ready to take their entrepreneurship or their transition seriously, so they’re looking to get organized in their thoughts, and in their concepts for business. They’re also coming for assistance in figuring out ways to be more efficient and effective with their time. Again, usually the professionals I work with, they’re working a full-time job and trying to start a business simultaneously while managing whatever their personal or family commitments are. So I work with those professionals on identifying different technologies and tools that we can automate that will allow their business to function while they are at their nine to five and still enjoying their personal lives simultaneously.
TheBlack.Blog:
With all the experience you’ve had working with different clients, what is one common mistake and or roadblock that individuals run into throughout their entrepreneurship journey?
Roxanne Iniece:
That’s a good question. So a common roadblock, I would have to say is underestimating the amount of things that are going to occur in the midst of the process. And by that, I mean, we usually have a clear end goal in mind. The end goals I usually hear from people are: 1. They want to be a millionaire/billionaire or 2. They want to have a lot of locations 3. They want to help a lot of people. All of that is very ambiguous because ‘a lot’ means different things at different times. They really underestimate all the things that need to happen in order for that outcome to be achieved and that causes a variety of different challenges along their journey. Another big mistake would be starting later than they probably should have. A lot of times I hear from professionals and individuals that are already on the entrepreneurship journey, that they want to wait to tell the world about their idea/venture until everything is in order, until everything is perfect. Perfect really is a myth, it’s not real. If you’re always waiting for things to be perfect or for the perfect time, then that means nothing really happens. The other side of that is tomorrows and next weeks aren’t promised. So if we’re spending so much time waiting until the perfect time, then we may run out of time.
TheBlack.Blog:
Now that we’ve discussed the specific services you offer, take us through your booking process. If someone were to book right now, what would the process look like?
Roxanne Iniece:
So the first step in the process would be to complete an assessment, which is always available at http://www.roxanneiniece.com. During that assessment, which is an automated questionnaire, I ask a variety of different questions to understand who you are as an individual, what you are trying to accomplish, and your level of commitment and readiness. I also use this assessment to learn a little bit about whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish, whether you’re starting a new business or relaunching an existing business, or maybe you just want to change career fields and you’re needing some assistance and figuring out which field you want to pivot to. So the first step is to complete an assessment. Again, that’s all done online. After the questionnaire is completed and the booking fee is paid, then you will be scheduled for an appointment. On that appointment we review the information you’ve provided on your questionnaire and then we make a determination jointly whether or not I’m the right fit for you, and whether or not this is the right time for you to start your journey. If the answer is no, then I refer you out to some of my other business colleagues doing great work in this industry. If the answer is yes, then we get started.
TheBlack.Blog:
Let’s shift a little bit. You talked at great length on how you help others and how you are of service to others. What is one thing that you’ve learned since being in business?
Roxanne Iniece:
I am an introvert. I’m not not necessarily what people would consider, a people person. Networking is not my favorite thing to do. I hate to market myself because I don’t like talking about myself, but you need to do all those things when you are a business owner so that people know that your business exists. So I think what I have learned over the last two decades is to do a better job of either hiring someone to do the marketing for me, or to get out of my own way and make myself visible and accessible to the people that I know need my services.
TheBlack.Blog:
You spoke briefly about having an HBCU daughter, and the other businesses you run. How do you balance it all? How do you balance being a mother, a business owner, while also going through life?
Roxanne Iniece:
I don’t know that I’ve necessarily balanced it. It’s really prioritization for me. My business model and my business goal is built on the way that I want to live my life, which is I don’t have any desire to function out of scarcity or always hustling, always in a hurry to get to the next thing. I have no desire to do that. And so my business is structured in such a way where I’m supporting other individuals to not create that paradigm for themselves either. So I don’t know how much of what I do is balance as much as it is prioritization, and really making sure that I put my own wellbeing at the top of the list and not compromise that. That means being in control of my schedule, and planning out almost everything I need to do, down to returning phone calls, running errands, and daily life chores.
TheBlack.Blog:
Let’s talk about the future. Thinking on a grand level. Where do you see Roxanne Iniece in five years?
Roxanne Iniece:
I don’t know that I’ve thought all the way to five years. I really try to focus on 365 days at a time, because there’s a lot that can happen in 365 days. But if I’m pressed to answer that question, Roxanne Iniece will be operating a physical location. I envision that to be a place where my target audience can come to decompress. They can come to exchange ideas, access resources, or utilize the space to be able to facilitate their own services, or facilitate various different parts of their business. I’m hesitant to call it an incubator or co-working space because that’s not at all what I’m envisioning it to be, but more of a place for my people to just be, if that makes sense.
TheBlack.Blog:
As we reach the end of the interview, we have some breaking news for you. All 6 businesses in the Interview Series have been nominated for the Black Business Scholarship presented by TheBlack.Blog. In case you’re not familiar with the scholarship, here’s a brief summary. TheBlack.Blog presents a quarterly scholarship to businesses who we feel are making an impact. Scholars are selected via a nomination system allowing people to nominate businesses who they feel are impactful. This scholarship is funded by donations. With that being said, Roxanne Iniece is now in the running for the Q3 scholarship. Congratulations!!
Roxanne Iniece:
Thank you. What a surprise! That was super dope.
TheBlack.Blog:
If you were to win the Black Business Scholarship, how would you use it for your business?
Roxanne Iniece:
I would absolutely pay it forward and make it available to another business through the way of donating my services to someone through the utilization of the scholarship, or maybe working with you to randomly select someone to be a recipient, if I were awarded. I find that a lot of times individuals aren’t able to take the next step in their business because of lack of funding. Regardless of how a person’s life appears to be from the outside looking in, I find people just can’t take that next step because they don’t have the funds, however nominal they might be. So I try to eliminate as many barriers as I can, and this will be an opportunity to do that.
TheBlack.Blog:
Well, Roxanne. I want to thank you for speaking with us and participating in the National Black Business Month interview series presented by TheBlack.Blog. We greatly appreciate your support and your participation. Please let us know how we can find you and how we can support Roxanne Iniece.
Roxanne Iniece:
Roxanne Iniece can be found on Facebook and LinkedIn as ‘Roxanne Iniece.’ My website is roxanneiniece.com. People can also follow me on Instagram @IAmRoxanneIniece.
Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure.
Celebrate National Black Business Month with us!
New interviews premiere every Monday at 5pm CST. Series bonus interviews premiere on Fridays.
TheBlack.Blog 