In this episode of Hello Chaos, the hosts introduce their podcast dedicated to exploring the lives of founders, entrepreneurs, and innovators. They discuss the importance of sharing real and raw stories of ups and downs in the entrepreneurial journey. The hosts also share some tips for founders and express gratitude to their dedicated listeners. They mention that their podcast is part of Orange Whip, a multimedia company that supports founders and entrepreneurs through local media platforms. Tune in to hear inspiring stories and valuable insights from successful founders.
[00:03:11] National Entrepreneurship Month.
[00:08:25] Global Entrepreneurship Week.
[00:10:37] Women entrepreneurship statistics.
[00:15:06] Supporting local founders and entrepreneurs.
[00:20:06] Face everything and rise.
Celebrating National Entrepreneurship Month
SPEAKER_00: Alrighty, well welcome to Hello Chaos, a weekly podcast dedicated to exploring the messy and chaotic minds and lives of founders, entrepreneurs, and innovators. We talk to founders from different industries, and different company stages of all shapes and sizes, We like to hear real raw, and unbiased founder stories of their ups and downs and wins and losses, and why our mantra is where aha meets oh shit because it's the oh shit moments that we have found that turn into those ahas, or vice versa. But those are where the lessons are learned. We drop new episodes every Sunday, so tune in on Sunday night, and here's some great tips for founders to prep you for the week ahead. I will say that we get our highest downloads actually on Monday morning. We're up to, which I know big, big podcasters are probably a laugh at our stat, but we get a little over 1,500 downloads every Monday morning. We do get lots of views and some downloads that float in through the week, but Monday morning from like, was it 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., we have 1,500 downloads almost every week. So shout out to our listeners and our dedicated listeners that we appreciate the support and the listening. the listening, and our viewers. So, HelloCast is one of the many resources brought to you by Orange WIP. That's Orange WIP, W-I-P, for work in progress. Orange WIP is a multimedia company dedicated to serving founders and entrepreneurs in affiliate cities through hyper-local media platforms. We are designed to inform, inspire, and create connections to help founders succeed. So every city needs to have an Orange WIP. It's an all-in-one content hub for founders with fresh and engaging stories. We do curated local calendars. We have dynamic roadmaps to navigate the local ecosystems. all in one place. So we've done all the hard work for founders and all they needed to go was to one trusted source to find all the information they need to either start up or scale or grow or be a part of the entrepreneurial community. We send a weekly whip to your inbox every Sunday with the latest news for founders. It's 100% free, just an email to subscribe. My name is Jennifer Sutton, guys, and my friends and family all call me JJ. I'm the founder of Orange WIP and will be your host today. And today's a special episode because it's National Entrepreneurship Month. November is National Entrepreneurship Month. So I thought we would do something a little special and talk about why this month has significance and how do we get involved, how do we talk about it. It's pretty special because, you know, starting a business is not easy. To all my fellow founders and entrepreneurs out there, you all know it is, it's a lot of fun until you start it and then it becomes it's all it's a lot of brain sweat, a lot of literal, like, Don't wanna say pity sweat, but yeah, it's a hard, hard work. Successful entrepreneurs are careful in their decision making to start businesses. They study the market, they find gaps, they understand the wants and needs and buying behaviors of their audiences. They find those insights, they build a brand, they're building a culture, they're building an operational system. And even then, when they do all the right things, sometimes success is not guaranteed. This is why National Entrepreneurship Month is important, and it's because it celebrates those risks taken by entrepreneurs to start those businesses. and hire and employ people and really become a nurturer of the local economy. It provides, you know, these ecosystems. It provides opportunity for resource sharing, community connections, and really helps founders become and stay successful, not just become successful, but to stay successful. So let's talk history for a minute, like where did this month come from? Why was it recognized and how was it recognized? So the concept of entrepreneurship has been part of our society for thousands of years, bringing innovations to the world while building local economies, even when it was, you know, you know, little teeny tiny, just not even towns, just villages and tribes. The word entrepreneurship actually comes from the French word entrepreneur, which means one who undertakes. And this first, this word first appeared for the first time in the French dictionary in 1723. So it's an old ass word. It's a old word. The first, you know, the first ever entrepreneurs were traders and merchants that exchanged one set of goods for another. And then with the advent of agriculture, the agricultural revolution, entrepreneurship became a big shift when humans started to work on farms instead of searching and hunting for food. Then of course it exploded with civilization and capitalism and then the invention of money. Soon, it just became kind of our, you know, the world became this innovative and entrepreneurial spirit. And our economies are completely driven by entrepreneurship. So today, entrepreneurs are seen really as the cornerstone of our economy. Local businesses and high impact entrepreneurs are what actually support the local economies and support our local communities. So very important to really understand and know who's in your local area. How do you support these ecosystems and nurture them? And you know, we always hear like shop local. But doing business, you know, even if they're not, you know, a retailer, there are ways that you can support the businesses that are in your community because they give back to your community. And it's why in 2011, again, some of the history here, President Obama designated November as National Entrepreneurship Month. And it was, again, a way to celebrate the success of entrepreneurs and what they do for our economy. And then in 2012, November 6 was declared as National Entrepreneurs Day. That just happened a few days ago. So a lot of communities across the country have been celebrating entrepreneurship on that day. Again, it was an initiative to motivate and support entrepreneurs. In 2012, it was really government started unlocking access to capital, expanding mentorship opportunities, centers like SCORE and SBDC started becoming more apparent and given more funding to support the local entrepreneurs and founders. But, you know, it's interesting, not only U.S. recognizes and celebrates the importance of entrepreneurship, but it's a global thing. So Global Entrepreneurship Week was established back in 2008 and will occur this year on November 13th through the 19th. So next week, it's the world's largest entrepreneurship festival celebrated in 180 countries. So check, so in every country, every community, there are going to be events going on. If Orange WIP is in your city, you can always just go to Orange WIP and we have a curated calendar of what all is happening for Entrepreneur Week, Entrepreneurship Week in the local market. If Orange WIP is not in one of your cities, you've got to go to, I mean, you can check out Chambers. There's probably three, four, 12, 15 different organizations you can reach out to to find out what is happening during, you know, in your community during November 13th through the 19th of next week. There is also Women's Entrepreneurship Day. This day was established officially in 2014 and was proclaimed as a day of significance, again globally, but this is a day of significance every year celebrated on November the 19th. And it's observed in 144 countries. And you know, I'm a female founder and a woman entrepreneur. So super important for me and love to celebrate with my female founders and my community. But I'm gonna share some, just some stats about us as female founders. Women entrepreneurship is growing. When I look at just the US, 42% of all US businesses are owned by women. That's about 13 million businesses that are owned by women. It generates about 1.2 trillion in revenues to the U.S. economy. But interestingly, and this is where, you know, female founders need support, only 2% of women owned businesses ever break the 1 million in revenue. It's those like super high impact, but it is a, you know, 98% of women owned businesses do not break that threshold. And a lot of it is because of lack of funding, lack of resource, imposter syndrome. There's a whole slew of reasons. If you listen to the podcast, you'll hear about a lot of those things. But yeah, female founders, we need some breaks given, some support. But 2023, I think we hit a milestone of 74 women are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. And there are 56.1% of women right now in the workplace. So, you know, we are, we're, we're, we're growing in the workplace. 2022 I think started 49% of new businesses that were started in 2022 were founded by women, and that was up from I think 20 some percent from the year before. But yeah, it's, you know, How do we grow? A lot of it is support, support those local business, support those female founders and minority-owned founders. Especially if you're an investor and a VC and, you know, when you have a, you know, female founder sitting across and making their pitch. You know, we need capital. Lack of funding is one of the most blatant challenges for female founders. Just 2.2% of all venture capital goes to businesses that are founded solely by women. All male founded companies receive funding after their first round close to 35% of the time, but for women that number is less than 2%. So not only are we getting less funding, but we're getting it less of the time after first round. So again, lots of other stats. If you have more, please share. Go connect with us on social and Send us some stats. We'd love to hear hear your voices and some other stats around you know minority owned and female businesses, but you know being it being celebrating national entrepreneurship, how do you support, how do you get involved, what can you do. Well, one, show support. The easiest way to support startups and entrepreneurs is to actually do business with them. So purchase their goods, purchase their services, do business with those companies down the street from you. Support those local businesses, whether it's B2B, B2C, check them out. But support doesn't always begin and end with just a purchase and doing business with them. You know, invest in startups. If you've, you know, if you've got capital, if you're an angel investor or you want to support through funds, you know, no one is going to, you know, that's, everyone needs funding and support there, but also your expertise, your energy, become a mentor. The knowledge you have, whether you've started your own business and exited or maybe you've just had a really, really robust career, that knowledge is of great value to founders. Your story, how you started, how you grew, the challenges you faced, you know, that's why we love this podcast and why we do the local editions. and tell local stories of founders because it's the, again, it's the ahas, it's the oh shits, it's the how tos. Those stories are invaluable to a founder of how do I, you know, how do I make sure I don't run into those same barriers or to recognize that, oh my gosh, I'm, you know, if I'm gonna scale and grow, I need to make sure that I prepare myself mentally. for that next, you know, for that next phase. So those stories, whether again, you're a founder, come on to places like Hello Chaos or in, you know, Orange WIP and those local platforms, tell those local stories. Those things are so invaluable to another founder. but also if you've just lived a great career. Your knowledge and your insight is or your positive mentorship is unbelievably important. So show that support. Support organizations and companies that support founders and entrepreneurs You know, there are a lot of innovation centers, chamber organizations that offer programs, accelerators, incubators. A lot of the universities are doing that in your local market. Companies like, you know, Orange WIP, we again, and you're in a local market, I'm going to give a shameless self, you know, self-promotion here, but, you know, we, but these organizations need sponsorships. Like us, they need underwriting. This helps provide programs and the content that help make entrepreneurs successful at low cost or free like us. You know, in our case, we're free. We rely on sponsorships and underwriting. connect with, you know, another way you can help celebrate and support entrepreneurs during this month is to connect with entrepreneurs. You know, go into LinkedIn, connect with other founders, or in your local community, go to an event, be a part of the ecosystem. There are many resources in every local area that list events or directories, get to know the local founders. Again, chambers are always a great resource. If there's an Orange WIP in the market, Orange WIP is a one-stop hub for all the resources and a dynamic roadmap to navigate the ecosystem. So, check to see if we're in your area and connect with us. Find out what other organizations are holding events and hosting events. And again, just attend and lend a hand, give a handshake, give a pat on the back. Another way you can celebrate and be a part of National Entrepreneurship Month is start your own business. You know, a lot of people are tinkering in their garage and or have been working on some business plan, maybe afraid to kind of take that leap. Well, take the leap. Just, just do it. Just start it if you've got the idea. Go to an event, attend an incubator, or a boot camp, and help figure out, like, maybe I can do it. Get the help. Every city and every community has a ton of resources. You'd be amazed. at the number of resources that are just available to entrepreneurs to help them take that action and get that motivation and be encouraged to just do it and the steps to do it. So, encourage that. and then be a part of the entrepreneur community. Again, there is nothing that is more important than being a part of a community and a network of like-minded businesses, entrepreneurs, and people. Open yourself up to those connections. It's such a powerful community, not just for the entrepreneurs and the founders, but all the folks that support that ecosystem. So whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or supporter, try your best to get involved with National Entrepreneurship Month this November. Head over to, if you're in South Carolina, you can head over to Orange WIP and check out the local events calendar and directory and see what's happening in the local market. But be inspired and be encouraged. It's such a wonderful community to be a part of. So I'm going to leave you with a couple quotes that I just love. So courage does not always roar. Sometimes it is a quiet voice at the end of the day saying, I will try again tomorrow. I often say that because sometimes you just end the day and you're going, I did not, either I messed up or man, I could have, I didn't even get through half of my to do. And all you can do is just have the, have that courage to go, I will try again tomorrow. And then another one is fear has two meanings. It can either be forget everything and run or face everything and rise. The choice is yours. That's from Zig Ziglar. And one thing about being a part of the entrepreneurial community, this is something that a lot of founders and entrepreneurs, it is a spirit of the face everything and rise. And they are people in that community. It's, it's limitless. It is, you know, just a lot of encouragement. And just it's just to be around other entrepreneurs. It's like you're, you know, you're sitting in in just a room full of just fire. And, and, you know, it is, it is So powerful. So what other quotes speak to you? Send us, send those in. We'll post those on social. But thank you for turning in to this special edition of Hello Chaos. Again, it's National Entrepreneurship Month, November. You can find our podcast on your favorite podcast platforms. My go-to is Apple Podcasts, so check us out there. If you wanna watch the podcast, subscribe to our YouTube channel, Hello Chaos Podcast. If you'd like to be a guest on the podcast or interested in sponsoring, we love to get support. Send an email to hello at orangewhip.com. And again, that's orangewip.com. Thanks y'all. See you next week and go subscribe to Orange WIP.