Main Event Mamas Episode 36: School, Money and Entrepreneurship

Kiara (00:05)
Kiara.

Tanesha (00:06)
and I'm Tanesha

Kevelyn (00:09)
And I'm Kevelyn

Tanesha (00:10)
And you're now entering the sister chat. Welcome to Main Event Mamas. Y'all gonna have to excuse me. I'm under the weather and this voice does not sound the becoming of me.

Kiara (00:15)
Woof woof.

Well, it's just, you know, it's your turn because they got to listen to Kiara's raspy, not cute voice for two whole episodes. So fingers crossed that we get you back on track faster than my pneumonia situation, fingers crossed. So, ⁓ and I'm excited to be coming back to you guys today because we're to talk about something that is, I don't know if I should say stressful. I mean, it feels like it's a little stressful for me right now, but

As we've mentioned, you guys were moms and we're coming up upon this very monumental stage in the lives of some of our children who are going to be heading to ⁓ college in the fall or at least graduating this spring.

Tanesha (01:10)
I was about to say, it's senior year, y'all.

It's senior year.

Kevelyn (01:13)
Yes.

Kiara (01:14)
Yep, yay.

So, we're gonna talk about that today. Kind of the stressful world that we're in a little bit of college financial aid and preparation for that. And then we're also gonna take you on another journey that I think we all know pretty well, which is the journey of entrepreneurship. And give you some insight on some of the things we've done, we've seen, and.

of course that we want to share with you. So hopefully you'll catch some learnings on both sides. You definitely have to let us know if you commensurate with the feelings that we are feeling at this time because I'll tell you why in a minute. But before we get there, I want to remind you that this is your moment to hit that subscribe button because how else are you going to be first to know when our podcast drops? I mean, sidebar you could visit our Patreon and become, you know, a member of the Elite Squad.

That's also how you can get it first. But beyond that, you gotta hit that subscribe button on whatever platform you're currently on, whether that is the bell on YouTube or the follow on Apple podcast or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, right? So let's kick things off by...

giving our current state of union where we are. think we gotta, before we can get into all the things that are happening, I think we gotta just start with where we are. And I'll start first and tell you, I'm on the struggle bus. I'm near the struggle bus. The struggle bus is pulling me and my senior together towards the finish line. ⁓ Because there's definitely a lot of anxiety and lack of wanting to grow up on the side, which I get. I mean, you know.

Actually, I don't, but we'll get into that. So how are you doing, Tanesha and Kevelyn

Tanesha (03:05)
Well, I don't know, I'm not as stressed as you, I can tell you that, because I don't know. I just had the conversation with him today about where he wants to go, other than the one school that's going to cost me $30,000 a semester. And he just looked at me like he wasn't quite sure, and I said, hmm, OK.

And that was about it, so I'm not stressed. ⁓

Kiara (03:31)
Okay.

Cool, cool, Love that for you. How about you? ⁓

Kevelyn (03:37)
It hasn't been too bad. ⁓ Ours is more of like a two-part process where we are doing more of the dual enrollment out of high school. So, ⁓ but I could talk a little bit more about that and how that process is going and going to be going forward or the plan thereof moving forward. The plan, we'll see.

Kiara (03:51)
Oh, that's right! I forgot you guys were-

Thank

That's fair.

That's fair. definitely get, um, there's a lot of parents who decided to do kind of dual enrollment. I kind of shied away from it only because I did y'all know my, my son's a little bright. Okay. He's, he's, he's pretty brilliant. And I was concerned that.

He didn't really, he wasn't super interested in it and it was just gonna give him more to do. And then also, I don't think he was just ready from a maturity perspective to be on the college campus. So that's where I thought about it. But anyway, that being said, for me and many of us out there, this conversation brings up so much anxiety and it just feels overwhelming. I think at this point in my journey, I'm like, ooh, ooh, but.

I think it's important, like you mentioned, it's a conversation. And I think to make sure it doesn't feel like a lecture and that we're all kind of in this together. So the goal is to get a sense of like what works for your kid. And I think that's why it's all great to have us like here talking about it, because I don't think that anyone goes in one particular, you know, box. I think that we all have unique kids with unique gifts and unique challenges. So the first thing we're to talk about is the fit for college and how you find that.

Because if you're like me, your mailbox is full of college flyers, brochures, letters, everything in there, mama, mailers. I was like, y'all should just start sending them money at this point. Like y'all just, it's a lot of stuff coming and going in which, you know, we have every single college from around the nation is reaching out to.

get your kid interested, which also can feel a bit overwhelming, I think. You have to consider the college rankings. You have to consider the school sizes, the locations, culture. Because I definitely went to two different colleges that had two different vibes. I had a city vibe in one case. I had one that felt like we was in a whole entire bubble. Just a bubble in the middle of the hood, that's another thing. And then, of course,

the majors and academic programs are different from my two different schools that I went to for sure. So there's a lot to consider. But I think the first thing I kind of want to tackle is like, how did you, when you were growing up, think about this? I think that speaks to kids probably a little bit more. It's like, how did you go beyond the brochure to kind of try to find the right fit for you? Or what do you think that kids nowadays could do to try to get a sense of it?

Kevelyn (06:42)
can go first. I think what I felt like worked. I thought college tours were cool. ⁓ You get a sense of how it's like a day in the life of a student on campus. I think that's a good... ⁓

choice because obviously if you've never been there it's hard to tell whether you fit in or even want to go to that school what the culture is like, ⁓ what the students are like, what the teachers are like. So I think that college tours are a good ⁓ choice. I did that personally. So yeah.

Kiara (07:19)
I also did

college tours, but I have a different perspective on that. But before I get to that, what do you think, Tanesha?

Tanesha (07:29)
I mean, I definitely did college tours as in upstate New York. I didn't do college. Like I didn't, like the farthest I went was to Rutgers, which was in Jersey, as a tour. And when I went to that one, I was like, oh, that's the one I want to go to. I didn't want to go to the one that was upstate. I was like, first off, I like snow, but I don't want to be in the snow all the time. Second off, all y'all are going up here, that doesn't sound like a good time because some of y'all, I can't stand.

Kiara (07:36)
Okay.

Tanesha (07:59)
Because back then they were all fighting over one boy. It was just a lot happening and I could tell you stories about that another time but it was a lot happening and I just didn't and I'm kind of happy I didn't go that route because they all slowly started trickling down. I think only maybe one of them actually graduated from the college. I think they all just started trickling, trickling, trickling until it was like no. ⁓

But at the end, it didn't really matter, the tours, because my grades or the money was the issue. So I'm gonna say more than money, because my grades, I did pull my grades up. It was more than money was the issue and why. So the tours, I would say definitely the tours were a stepping stone. I did get like, I felt like back then,

Kiara (08:47)
taxpayer.

Tanesha (08:57)
With us growing up, we did get more of the flyers. I can tell you right now, I'm getting no flyer for not one kid, not for that oldest kid. I'm no school.

Kiara (09:07)
Did you opt in?

Tanesha (09:09)
I didn't know there was an option to opt in. ⁓

Kiara (09:12)
Okay, yes, so there is,

so here's the thing. There is absolutely an option to opt in. So when they do college board, like PSAT testing, and like, so that's why you're not getting all the stuff that's currently clogging up my mailbox.

Tanesha (09:22)
he didn't do that. Okay. Okay, so that's cool. That's cool. I don't want that because

it doesn't matter. He ain't gonna go to those. Anyway, go ahead. Sorry.

Kiara (09:34)
It did make

me feel good to get a Harvard flyer, you know, even though I wasn't going there. It felt real good to get a flyer from Harvard. And my son also got one from Harvard and I was like, I should take a picture because, you know.

Tanesha (09:47)
I I definitely didn't

get one from Harvard. I definitely did not get one from Harvard. I did take a PSAT and I think a SAT, so I guess, but I didn't get those flyers. I got the ones that I went to school, the school tours, and then I got random, I got one from University of Miami. I didn't go there, I never went down there. I mean, they're the ones who gave me a scholarship, but my mom was like, but how much is college? And I was like,

Kiara (09:50)
Again, did you opt in to the flyers?

Okay.

I mean, that kind of sounds fun, but.

Your mom was smart. She was thinking ahead. So the thing I want to bring up is like, okay, so the college tours that I went on, I only went on one, I think. And that's the one that I ended up going to school for. And I fell in love. Like it was love at first sight. They flew me out of there at Randolph.

Tanesha (10:31)
Okay,

they flew you. Okay, see, I would see why you would do that. Yep.

Kiara (10:34)
Yeah,

they flew me out there. They definitely spent a lot of time. They put me with two amazingly strong, brilliant women. I got to see what their lives were like and it just felt cool, right? Like it was so awesome. It wasn't even like its own sisterhood, but it felt like a community, right?

However, within the first year and half, I started to realize that it's like a relationship. They show you the first side of the face, but as you get there, you get to experience the other parts of that personality, and then you might discover that it's not necessarily the fit you thought it was. ⁓ But I loved that school, I'm not gonna lie. I learned a lot from going to Randolph College, which it was called Randolph-Macon.

at the time and I loved all the women I got to meet there. I loved all the experiences. I love that it felt like it was like a liberal arts college. There was so much opportunity to learn so many different types of things.

But, I mean, would it have hurt me to go on a few more tours? No. I wish I had gone on a tour for HBCU for sure. I wish I had. I wish I had like tried that and I was kind of disappointed as I started to wrap up my college career that I didn't get to go to those kind of colleges because that experience, similar to how I felt like Randiff College gave me a very unique point of view.

Tanesha (11:50)
I was, I definitely was thinking that.

Kiara (12:10)
because I didn't initially go to a coed college. So I was very structured into like my schedule, where boys fit in, where they didn't, studying, all of the above, right? Which I think was good. But I also think that once I had learned that, it wouldn't have hurt to, you know, go to Clark Atlanta or, you know, when I moved back to Atlanta, go to Spelman or something like that. I just didn't. I went to Georgia State.

because I also liked the city vibe more than I'd liked being in the the weird suburbs of Lynchburg. Just gonna be honest there. It was weird. was weird. Alright so that being said another thing I kind of want to bring to light was the academic program so that's another thing I think is easy to overlook when you're on the college tour because initially the college tour had said like

Kevelyn (12:50)
Understood.

Kiara (13:06)
When I was looking at majors, I was like, yeah, communications, duh, right? But I didn't know how many different things fell into communications. Like I was like, I don't want to do broadcast journalism, but I did like journalism. So where does that fit? And then looking at the different components, it was very, I don't want to say basic, but it was very kind of broad at the women's college. Whereas when I went to Georgia state, I was able to really hone in.

on the type of communications I was interested in. I was able to go from a mass communications major to a journalism major, right? I was able to become and pick up different concentrations, like getting my PR. ⁓ I think I was like my minor maybe. My minor was Spanish for a while and then turned into religion, but that's a whole other story for another time. But then being able to hone in on the concentration of PR, that was kind of cool. And I think that if I had graduated at

Randolph making at the time then I would have had a hard time trying to adjust and figure out what I wanted to do with my career kind of later. Plus being in the city there were a lot more opportunities for apprenticeships and internships and things like that that were just not necessarily available in Lynchburg and stuff like that. So I think all of those things factor in. I think it's easy to go like I thought about going to a Ivy League college but cost was a factor.

It was much more of a factor than I thought. I don't know why I thought my parents were rich, but they weren't. And that was real important and brought up as many times as possible. But I also think there's a lot of different things to think about. It has to fit your personality. It has to fit like where you want to be in life. Like how do other graduates, know, what are their lives look like? I found out at the women's college that a lot of them went to grad school. I was like, what if I don't want to go to graduate school?

And that was another factor that led to me kind of leaving was kind of like, I don't see myself moving into this direction, so I need to figure out a different direction. And that meant leaving that particular college for another. So there's a lot of things, but I definitely think, like you mentioned, campus tours were great. I didn't see any value in like virtual tours.

was connecting with the current students. I felt like, again, that's like a double-edged sword in a sense, like they're gonna make it their happiest, brightest, cheerful students. And I wanna talk to people who don't wanna be here sometimes. I think I've learned, I think I learned that the value of finding people who are like in the middle, because if you can like vibe with the people in the middle, then maybe it might be a good fit versus.

Kevelyn (15:40)
That's a different perspective.

Kiara (15:53)
The people were like, I love it here. And you're like, I hate it after a year. then like, you know what I mean? I feel like it could be a 360, which is maybe what happened to me. I will not confirm nor deny. ⁓ But I definitely learned that there were other things to keep in mind. So that being said, like if you are out there looking for a college, do all the things. Try to talk to graduates, try to talk to people who are on campus, try to visit.

the campus know that that is not necessarily going to be your experience because we're all different and I think it's important to mention that. But I do want to talk about this one thing that we just briefly talked about before we started filming. I was asking Tanesha and Kevelyn about their initial kind of, what is it, the essay that you, like your application essay that you have to submit during your application process.

and I know it was a really long time ago, so I don't quite remember, but I definitely think there are tips to having a good essay versus having one that maybe may not ⁓ make the fit. I know Tanesha said she didn't have to, so shout out to Tanesha because I definitely remember having to write at least one or two and get recommendations from your teachers because that was... Fortunately, I had teachers who liked me. I feel bad for people who like, you you don't talk to your teachers, you better figure it out.

That's another thing I'm dealing with with the boy child. was like, you better figure out who you need to talk to, how to get these recommendations and then like what your essay is going to be on. I think my essay was about.

the future. think I was like what I'm going to be when I grow up essentially or something like that. But it got me in whatever it was. don't know. But I think at that point I had learned to tell stories that were sentimental to me and that's why like maybe potentially got me in versus not. What about you, Kempelin?

Kevelyn (17:59)
I was just going to say a lot of the time with the essays, they want it to be personal to you. ⁓ Something a part of your story or something about what you want to accomplish that you feel like that school or that particular program can help you do. ⁓ I don't remember quite what my essay was about to be honest with you. a very long time ago.

But I do remember it being personal to me. Kind of heartfelt in a way. They want to know who you are. They want to know who you are as a person. They want to know what you want to accomplish. They want to know all the ins and outs to a degree, To a degree. And if you have like a touching story, I mean, it doesn't hurt to put that in there as well. No, I'm just...

Kiara (18:48)
The underdog always wins.

Kevelyn (18:52)
Tell the truth. So that helped too. ⁓ But hey, I got in. So it worked.

Kiara (18:59)
Right?

Tanesha (18:59)
Now,

okay, I may have not wrote an essay, but I did help my niece write an essay to get into Morgan State. So, but it was personal, so she pretty much was, it was more to her, like to her mom, to prove her mom that she could do it, because her mom had passed away. So it was like very...

Kiara (19:03)
Okay.

Okay.

Tanesha (19:24)
Heartfelt and I pretty much would read it and then edit it and then give it back to her and tell her here you go Put more in there give it a little bit more and you know ⁓ But yeah, no, I never had to because I went to community college. I don't don't know those struggles or life

Kiara (19:34)
you

Well, it was definitely cheaper than my initial experience. I'll probably tell you that. Which leads us to our next conversation, which is paying for it. So that's the next part of the college preparation process. And for me, that's the part that I think I've been dreading the most because it's not that long ago I was in graduate school and I very much remember trying to make sure you had your tax returns and

Kevelyn (19:50)
effects.

Kiara (20:14)
all of that and ⁓ the things like that. So apparently I discovered when I was doing research that quite a few things have changed since our days and age filling out the FAFSAs. Now instead of the expected family contribution, it's called the new student aid index, which is I was fascinated because I do remember the expected family contribution and thinking that's how much my mom would put in.

Which is not true. It's not true. Which is why they've come up with this new system. Because the idea was what your family could be expected to contribute, not necessarily what they will contribute. And I think that that threw a lot of things into the loop. think certainly looking at that first college I went through, like I think the contribution was like

maybe $5,000. Let's be clear, either A, there was definitely more to be paid than that, for sure. And then it's like $5,000 what, a semester, a year? Like I just don't think there was enough emphasis on understanding what that number was going to encompass, because you also have to consider beyond your books, living expenses, right? Like, I don't know how many times I wrote home, I needed money for hoodies or sheets or laundry.

for all the things. shout out to my mom this time for making sure she sent me money to do laundry because it was hard. Or to spend bank on those hoodies I no longer have that break my heart because them things were, first of all, awesome. And second of all, expensive. Those hoodies were damn near $60, $70 at the bookstore. But anyway, so this new Student Aid Index was created to be more specifically accurate.

So was supposed to be used from colleges to help determine a student's eligibility for financial aid. So it helps them identify who's the most in need of it. One thing that I don't love about this is that it no longer factors how many kids you have in college, which I think is kind of crazy considering that I'm likely going to have two in college in very short order. And I'm like, ⁓ pay what for who? Like, hold up.

We're gonna talk a little bit more about that in a minute about other alternatives because if you're like me, you're like, what? I don't know if I have six grand. I'm trying to live right here. I'm be outside with a can soon if that was the case. Like, ooh girl. ⁓ But they also have another thing that they're doing. So I know back in the day, we used to have our parents kind of sign off on it. Now they have this new contributor.

terminology and a FSA ID, which is a unique username and password for each contributor. So in the past, I remember like my parents just signed and that was kind of it. But I also remember like talking to my husband and when he was in school, his mom never signed anything. So he had to go off with himself as an independent kind of person, which made things a lot harder in the process. But the reason why they do this is so that everyone is required to

by their own financial information on the FASFA and it gives you consent to share that information based on your ID. So it does make it cleaner at the very least. there's that. Another thing I learned, didn't know that was a thing. And then lastly, I want to talk a little bit about the IRS direct data exchange. Back when I was doing the FASFA, there was a retrieval tool in which you clicked it and your IRS information, much to my mom's chagrin, went over.

But she did not like that at all. But now this new system is supposed to work much better. It's supposed to be more accurate, less prone to errors because I'm pretty sure some of that was not correct. And then your financial information will be reported correctly and therefore hopefully you get access to funds that kind of help you pay for it in a much more appropriate manner. So let's talk alternative funding because...

Yes, alternative funding. mean, loans are one thing, and we're going to get into that a little bit. But I also think there's other things like scholarships and grants that we don't spend enough time thinking about and don't spend enough time looking for. And I think it's a good time to start any time to start looking for that information. So I kind of want to tap you guys in here and talk a little bit about alternative funding, like some things that if you have a kid coming into age right now, you would want to look at.

Tanesha (25:04)
I mean, I know I've been looking into grants just because he wants to go somewhere that's a little bit more expensive. However, I've also been looking into alternate schools and degrees and certificates that will fit more in the budget where I don't have to pay for it.

Kiara (25:20)
Okay.

I like this.

Tanesha (25:26)
You know, you know,

that, you know, cause I, I like to look at it from a, you can get the same amount of education without all the extra fluff. Just because in, ⁓ I want to ⁓ tap into all of the things that you can get for free.

Kiara (25:52)
Amen.

Tanesha (25:53)
then

find something that is like, because I ain't gone live for a very long time. Once my niece went to Morgan State, I was like, well, maybe you should go to an HBCU. We should, you know, we should. And he just looked at me and at first he was like, yeah. And then I had this accident this morning and he looked at me like.

And I was like, you don't want to party your first year? You don't want to like, he just looked at me like, no. And I was like, whatever, I get it, I'm trying to. But this also speaks about how each kid is different because if we ask the girl child, the girl child would be like, where? Where we going? How we gonna do it? And maybe she needs to go to an all-girls school, cause Lord.

Kiara (26:21)
Ma'am?

You

Party, party, party.

There was plenty of partying. I'm not gonna lie. It just was done in a different manner.

Tanesha (26:43)
You know what, I'm not gonna, we're not on the confession booth so I can't, you know, cause my brain, anyway.

Kiara (26:48)
Nope.

Kevelyn (26:49)
Moving on.

Kiara (26:49)
There'll be no confessions at this

time.

Tanesha (26:51)
don't think I won't tap in in a week and a half. Confession booth. Anyway, ⁓ but I'm definitely looking into grants. think it's really, I think that's the one thing that people forget and even ⁓ scholarships. There's some scholarships that you don't have to write essays for that you can actually probably get. So I've been definitely following somebody on Instagram because they post.

scholarship information, different scholarships. ⁓ And I've just been saving the ones that seem like it's more beneficial for him. ⁓ Just so then we know, we know. But hopefully, I mean, I'm not sure what the change in the FAFSA form that you was talking about, how that's really going to affect me. Because I'm also supposed to be going back to school. So you know, that may...

I don't know, that may be an issue if they not count both lessons. But I know, know, I know, know. So I have to definitely look further into it because last year when I filled out the FAFSA, they didn't have any of that information on there. So it's definitely new. But yeah, that's my take before my voice goes out. Okay.

Kiara (27:52)
Not an expert on this by any means.

Bye, Kevin.

Kevelyn (28:08)
So

yeah, you're fine. ⁓ As far as the big thing has been to keep your grades up, Scholarships, scholarships, scholarships, scholarships. ⁓ Because there's a lot of, and also too, there are a lot of ⁓ scholarships that are degree-prone. So based off like what degree? Like her, wants to be a nurse. yeah, so there's a lot of different options there.

Kiara (28:28)
Yes.

Kevelyn (28:38)
I know we're going to talk about it alternatively later, but there are other means to be able to because she's dual enrolled. So going into it, like there are some high schools that are paired with a certain college. And if you do enroll, then they will contribute like they give you scholarships and different things for going to that specific school for that specific degree program, ⁓ which is what we were looking into for her. So that's an option as well. ⁓

you know for those that maybe you know their kids are going into those grades just an option I mean if you want them if they're mature enough and you feel like they can handle it ⁓ let them do enroll because there's a lot of different opportunities for them degree specific when they do that so that's just option

Kiara (29:26)
Yeah, I didn't know that actually. Forgive me, I was a little confused on how he would get from one campus side to the other too. That was like how we gonna get from high school to, because driving is not a particular thing that we do at this house at this age. That being said, yes, I definitely think scholarship and grants are going to be some of our main focuses moving forward because grades are such a good thing, but also like you said, because of the opportunities.

He wants to go into technology. So know there were a lot of STEM specific scholarships. ⁓ I don't know how that has changed based on kind of the diversity changes that we've seen in the US at this point. I know a lot of colleges have had to take some steps away from that. But I also know that there are some states that offer reduced tuition for staying and stay or even at some times like free. ⁓

tuition, which, you know, I North Carolina has a program similar to that. I know like there's several other places. I think I read somewhere in New York that you can go to community college for free, which I was like, what? It's one of the reasons I did pick North Carolina as a place live was to see the changes that they were making in education focus, especially in technology, because this is becoming a big hub for that as well. But there's other things you can do, which, you know, we may or may not have also done, which is

taking on jobs to help pay for that. I know that for me, I definitely had three, I know we've had this conversation, three school jobs at one time to help pay for my education. And then eventually...

I moved on to just being an RA, which was awesome, but that didn't, my particular program did not offer free room and board for that, so that was another thing I had to kinda combat too. But you know, there are some pros and cons to working part time or full time or trying to take on a side hustle while you're in school, so I wanna talk a little dig into that. What do you guys think? What are some pros and cons? Something you think you would do? Did you do it?

Tanesha (31:40)
Well, I'll start.

I didn't pay for school. My mama did. She used a credit card. But also I went to community college so it wasn't like, I think at the time it was like $1,500. And I feel like that's like a drop in the bucket right now. drop in the bucket. Compared to like going to like, I actually went to Rutgers, can we imagine if I actually went to Rutgers, how much I would.

Kiara (32:02)
drop in the bucket. What it looks like, yeah.

You might have been in trouble.

⁓

Tanesha (32:13)
probably would have lasted semester and then it'd be like, peace out. No, I'm not saying it's because of my grades, it's just because it'd be cost too much or whatever. But...

So I did not, I did apply to do the, what's that, what is it called? What is it called when you work, there you go, thank you. I did apply to do work study. I didn't get paid for it ⁓ because I couldn't get financial aid because my mom worked for the state.

Kiara (32:33)
Work study.

Tanesha (32:46)
But I got like a subsidized loan. Which one is the one that you don't have to pay back until you graduate? Is it subsidized or unsubsidized? I don't know. I got one of those.

Kiara (32:46)
⁓ okay.

Yeah, yeah.

Don't ask me, I did not know enough about that and still don't to this day.

Tanesha (33:00)
I still don't know,

but anyway, ⁓ she got that because I didn't get approved for work study.

Kiara (33:09)
⁓ okay.

Tanesha (33:10)
to help because

I like I was trying to work in the bookstore I was trying to be in bursar like I was trying like you know give me a little you know to help pay pay it so that she wasn't fully paying on it but I didn't get that so I definitely got the loan and like I said she paid with her credit card did she get in trouble with her husband about it she did but she didn't care

Kiara (33:32)
Well, she was investing in your future, so...

Tanesha (33:36)
She was

and it was her choice too because she couldn't let me just go away and try because I think I even got a scholarship for Rutgers. I'm not sure how much though but I think I did. But I think my mom also had PTSD because one of my brothers went to Rutgers and failed out and didn't tell her and kept saying he was going. But I don't know if he had a scholarship.

I don't know if had a scholarship or not, but he definitely lied and told my mom that he was still going. So I think my mom got like, you ain't going to Rutgers. You, this is not, this is not gonna happen. I can't trust y'all. But hindsight 2020, she does, she goes, what if I had let you go? Maybe you would have finished. said, now we will never know.

Kiara (34:06)
Okay.

because I can't trust y'all.

Right, or maybe dad should have let me go to NYU and then I would have forced you to finish. But like, I don't know, maybe we would have had a whole different life choice.

Tanesha (34:39)
You know, can talk about that all

day how dad did not want to press. I was the party person. So technically we went to HBCU.

I don't know. But you know what? I mean, no, no, I think I would have finished. I'm not saying I wouldn't. But we would have definitely been in trouble with that. Okay, I'm going off now because now my, I need to reserve my voice.

Kiara (34:52)
would have finished. I don't know about nobody else. But I would have finished.

Yep. Okay. All right, Kavala. Back to rethinking. Yes, we would have been in trouble with Dad 900%. Very. He would have rolled up at the school. Like we would have been in all types of trouble. Go ahead, Kavala. You did in fact go to an HBCU.

Kevelyn (35:20)
I did, I was gonna say that, but it was a private HBCU which was very, very, very expensive. ⁓ don't think anybody really ⁓ thought too much into that before we got in. But I did, listen, I did get a scholarship. I got a scholarship at first, ⁓ but it was not a four year scholarship.

Kiara (35:37)
We thought we was gonna work it out. Clearly.

Kevelyn (35:47)
But I did get a scholarship. did attempt to try to, I wanted to work, but that was not an option. I was told I could not. So I had to focus on school and get in the best grades possible because they wanted me to finish. so, but then my mom ended up having to get a loan in order for me to continue. So that's essentially how that happened. And then from there, I began to get the loans.

They were like, we did our part. Yeah, I've had it. Correct. You want to finish, you got this. That's pretty much how that went.

Kiara (36:18)
That's right. I did the beginning. That was up to you, right?

It

is. I'm like, I'm pretty sure that's how that went for me. I was like, I'm pretty sure. I'm like, I don't even know if my mom signed up. I think she was like the co-signer for the first one, maybe. Maybe not, because my mom's not really into co-signing. So I don't think so.

Tanesha (36:39)
I can definitely tell you, dad was happy

I wasn't going to College, that cost a lot of money, because he was like, your mom got that? Cool, cool, cool, cool. my last name is Reynolds, and this ain't Rockefeller. And you'd be looking at him like.

Kiara (36:54)
Right? That was his saying all the time. Reddles not Rockefeller. And I was like, well, can it be today? Like next week? Anytime? But anyway, so I think that takes us to the next part, some alternatives, right? So there are other ways to go about your future and your college path that can make your budget work. For instance,

Kevelyn (36:57)
Favorite phrase.

Tanesha (36:59)
Yeah.

Kiara (37:21)
I know Tanesha talked about some community colleges. There's definitely programs here where the community colleges are included. Again, like I just mentioned, in some of the tuition, you can get in for free. You don't have to pay application fees and things like that, which is kind of cool. And I remember talking to a boss I had back in Atlanta who went to community college for two years and then to take his kind of initial...

classes, know, the standard core classes and then transferred to a university for the next two years and he swore up and down that's how he avoided loans. And I was like, well, I wish I had thought this through because I did not. And as a result, nothing like leaving school with hell of loans. ⁓ Trying to find a job in that economy, kind of like this economy, which wasn't the best for me.

at that time. So I definitely think there's other opportunities available. We talked about community college, but also apprenticeship programs, vocational training. You can even take a gap year or take a service year. So the ultimate goal is that there's a lot of ways to go about it if college is your destination. But as we've discussed before, doesn't have to be. There's lots of other opportunities available. And I just want to give you guys the opportunity.

to lean in here to talk a little bit more about either or if you'd like. ⁓ Because I mentioned quite a few alternatives and our past episodes we talked about other things we might have wanted to do. But just wanna give you guys the floor. Anything else you wanna add to that particular thought process? Any particular programs that seem to be of interest? Maybe that gap year? That sounded good. I don't know who would have paid for the gap year, but that sounded good.

Tanesha (39:13)
I definitely am one that definitely didn't think my oldest wanted to go to college so I was okay with him taking a year off. I'm technically still okay with him taking a year off. He don't need to rush. He don't need to jump in there. Because I definitely think that know majors as we all know our majors can change. We don't really we go in as a generalized and sometimes I may I know for me it messed me up because I had to do a lot of different

remote remedial courses and at this particular school I feel like it was a racket because all of us would get like when we get right there where we're about to pass and then we take the test again and all some of fail and be like how did how how how did I almost pass and then take it again and I fail again like what do y'all

dumb what's happening like how we and it wasn't just me it was like a whole bunch of us so we started thinking it was literally a racket just so we could stay in the class because it's community college and if we leave who's gonna pay for the class so ⁓ but with my oldest i'm gonna lie i really want him to go to this community college not and get him a certificate for

Kiara (40:17)
That's fair. Okay.

Tanesha (40:30)
the particular degree so he can get rid of all the fluff and just go straight into the major. They have something on dorm, because that's what he wants. wants to get out the house. I don't know how much that costs. I may have to look into that. But I do think every kid should experience college in some way, shape, or form. Do I think you should go with college?

Flutter your wings? I do. I ain't gonna lie. I really do. I think if I was able to flutter, to fly, I'd have more experiences versus being as sheltered as I was. Anyway, I don't know where I'm going with that story. Wait, why you roll your eyes? I don't know where I was going. I definitely went three directions to the left, but... Oh.

Kiara (41:20)
that's why I rolled my

eyes because I was like she just went on a journey. We went on a whole journey. Yes. Yes.

Tanesha (41:23)
But at least I I answer the question though? Did I answer the question? OK, that's all that matters. OK, cool.

OK, now I'm to mute myself again.

Kevelyn (41:29)
Well, as far as alternatives, well, something I didn't mention earlier in terms of the dual enrollment is that she's dual enrolled at a community college. And so that's how that works. It's like you don't go straight to the university, but with the dual enrollment, you actually graduate with your associate's degree.

Kiara (41:49)
⁓

Kevelyn (41:49)
So that's

how that works, but it avoids you having to pay for that portion of it. So I think that kind of goes in line with what you were saying in terms of ⁓ where someone was telling you that that's how they avoided loans. So they got their associates as a dual enroll and that community college and then transferred. Or you could just go to the community college and do it that way. After you get out of school, you could do that too.

Kiara (42:10)
Yeah, I think he

did it that way. I think he went to community college.

Kevelyn (42:13)
Okay, I was gonna say you could do both alternatives. ⁓ But then the third way I was gonna say, which we haven't mentioned, but I have some experience with is going into the military first because they pay for school. So that's also another option, not everybody's option, not saying everybody should do it, but ⁓ it's definitely something that she's considered as well.

Kiara (42:25)
There you go.

That's fair.

Tanesha (42:40)
I did want to touch in that's why I saw your face like what are you about to say because I do know when the kids well the younger the younger ones because I have one in middle school so definitely I'm looking now at high schools and what I'm looking for and what I want to do and there's this one school that just opened up which is a first HBCU high school and you get a dual ⁓

do classes but you get the, I guess, a degree from HBCU. And I was like, so as listening to Kavalin, I was like, we'll see. That's what I'm talking about because then I don't have to pay because you take in these classes. I mean, but if I can get them all in the same school, that saves my life a little bit. I mean, just smidge it. And then to,

Kiara (43:17)
That's cool.

You do have four children. I

Tanesha (43:37)
the oldest did have that one for one of his art classes. He did. So then let me ask you this, Kevelyn, because up here that he did have an art class that was from

one of the schools, a college, that he would have got college credit for, but I did have to pay. Which I didn't care about paying, because it was like $50 or $75, it was something crazy. And I was like, sure, if he's gonna get college credit for it and he is less, did you have to do that for your girl child?

Kevelyn (44:09)
So we had to pay for our books. Yeah, but the actual tuition itself was covered.

Kiara (44:12)
⁓

Yeah. I mean, there's other ways to save money too. Yeah. I was going to say there's other ways to save money. Certainly. definitely, we didn't talk about the military and I think that is also a viable option for a lot of people. I did have a lot of friends who decided to go in the military and also therefore have no loans. So I definitely understand that was an cost effective way for a lot of them to kind of, you know, proceed that path. And I don't, I don't begrudge anyone their decision. Like at this point, whatever you decide to do, it's whatever.

Kevelyn (44:20)
Yep. And I know that's different every state, but yeah.

Kiara (44:49)
you decide to do. That being said...

The truth is, having a college degree does not also make a career. So I think it's important to emphasize that with your children and to do as much as you can to drill down into a path for them to reach their goals. Because as we've all kind of experienced, sometimes you can graduate and not go directly into what you went to school for. Like me, I was in insurance for six years. Not any kind of journalism or communication.

⁓ before I decided to switch over. There's lots of opportunities out there, but it's important to have flexibility and adaptability to get through the process.

MainEventMamasPodcast (45:31)
Okay, great. So this next part, as we mentioned, part two is about entrepreneurship.

All three of us have either started a business, this in fact is a business, ⁓ worked in the business, learned a lot about entrepreneurship in general. But I actually want to talk about first how accessible that is now, especially now that everything's in a digital kind of format. We have a lot of opportunities.

Kevelyn (45:48)
Okay.

MainEventMamasPodcast (45:59)
easier to start a business at home. So I kind of want us to talk about some of the ways that you can start a home business. Let's just kind of throw that up in the air. And I'll start with one of the things one of my friends actually shared with me. And I think, Tanesha, you were interested in this too, doing kind of like e-books or coloring books and selling those things on Etsy, which I thought was super amazing because it never even occurred to me.

But a friend of mine started doing it and is selling like hotcakes because Homegirl is quite talented. So what are some other ways that you guys have seen people get to their entrepreneurship journey at home?

MainEventMamasPodcast (46:39)
I mean, I can start, because our sister, Kevelyn has an extensive. She's amazing. Entrepreneur. So I'm going to start with my little small little stuff first. But definitely me baking. I started my cupcake business about.

over 12 years ago and it's definitely seen as it's ⁓ it's downs and ups and then downs ⁓ i meant to say it that way but that was the first thing that popped in because it was down and when i say it was down it was like shut down like i still say i had it but it was like because the up because ultimately the

MainEventMamasPodcast (47:08)
I should start the other way, but okay.

Mm-hmm.

MainEventMamasPodcast (47:24)
I think sometimes as entrepreneurs we don't sit here and always realize the cost when we start doing it, especially when I started the cupcake business. I did not really think about the cost. was just more so like I want like people talk about my cakes, people talk about how good this stuff is, and I really wanted to bring that in light.

I even went as far as going to try to go to culinary school. And then I went, nope, not actually not happening because even a trade school is expensive. Why? Not quite sure.

MainEventMamasPodcast (47:58)
You would have

been awesome in a culinary school.

MainEventMamasPodcast (48:00)
I

know until they told me it going to cost me $30,000 and I was like if I'm going pay $30,000 I might as well go to vet school because y'all trippin'. That's why I didn't do it. But I definitely did think about when I went to another community college to dual major in vet tech as well as culinary because they had it there. But then I got pregnant and then

Kevelyn (48:02)
I agree.

MainEventMamasPodcast (48:24)
life happened. We can talk about that another day. ⁓ so yeah, so that was the ups and the downs and me restarting it now. It's still trying to accommodate for the cost because you want to make new items, things that you never made before. But to have all the ingredients, you know, that costs, that changes. ⁓ But definitely even just tapping my head into trying to

MainEventMamasPodcast (48:46)
It does. It does cost.

MainEventMamasPodcast (48:54)
Do the coloring book.

but doing it a different way to make it different to make it that's the only thing I think sometimes being an entrepreneur is trying to put your business out there and make it also different and make yourself marketable that people want to buy from you versus going with the other person like you have to make it easy like even like with my cakes my price is a little different I try to make it in between if you went to the store and you bought it and if you went to a bakery and you bought it make those price

is different to where it's like I'm somewhere in the middle where it's like you know what I'm gonna spend an extra dollar or two to get it from you versus getting some store board things so I think I think that's the one thing when you go into entrepreneurship the cost sometimes the cost is not it and you don't think about it and then just trying to keep the upkeep of it. answer the question? Okay.

MainEventMamasPodcast (49:30)
Mm-hmm.

huh. Yes you did. Alright,

Kevelyn, spotlight's on you, Miss Entrepreneur-Goober.

MainEventMamasPodcast (49:56)
Mm-hmm.

Kevelyn (49:57)
My goodness, y'all would start off like that. ⁓ My experience honestly in entrepreneurship has been I've helped individual start businesses ⁓ and I've also started one, well two of my own, but mine has been in the realm of real estate. So ⁓ obviously being a realtor, ⁓ running your own company, running your own team.

There's a lot of different ways that you could go about making money as an entrepreneur in the real estate industry. ⁓ And I've kind of delved into a lot of them. ⁓ When it comes to just the traditional, you know, helping buyers and sellers to the actual like the real estate investing side where you're flipping houses and you're doing that sort of ⁓ fun stuff. And then you have your

a whole other side, which you do like coaching aspect where you're coaching different real estate agents on how to be a better realtor, how to, you know, find leads, how to expand your market. There's a lot of different ways that you could do it. And I've done quite a few, still more that I want to, you know, embark on, but that's ⁓ my experience so far in the, in the industry of entrepreneurship.

MainEventMamasPodcast (51:21)
Well, I mean, don't let her downplay the brilliance.

MainEventMamasPodcast (51:22)
I'm about to say she's downplaying, she's

downplaying the hell out of herself. I don't know what the hell is going on over here. mean.

MainEventMamasPodcast (51:30)
Yeah, I don't know either. She's quite talented. And I have been an entrepreneur for a long time. I think I started my first kind of freelance business out of necessity because I had to figure out how I was buying school supplies. And so I started a proofreading business, ran exclusively through Craigslist for a while there. And then

went to graduate school and started a social media consulting freelancing, just kind of happened after like one person and then another person and then another person. And then you just kind of pick up clients along the way alongside a full-time job, which is challenging to say the least. And we're going to talk about that shortly. And it became more about like now it's kind of morphed into pen to perfection, which is a copywriting social media and PR.

company and we do everything. We do a lot of content creation, do a lot of social media management, we do some PR work, we do award submissions, we do bios, we do executive thought leadership, and we are just now getting into podcast content creation as well. So, ton of experience in entrepreneurship, but coincidentally all from my house because I had no choice. And when you have children, you have to get real creative.

But I definitely have seen different things I want to think about. There's a lot of AI-assisted things that we can do now. A lot of content creation is AI-assisted is really impressive right now. if that's something you're interested in doing, it definitely is a lot out there, a lot of opportunity. You just got to get after it. But like Kenesha said, there are some challenges to getting out there for entrepreneurship. Definitely so many sometimes.

⁓ the ingredients, time management. But I also think one of the best ways to overcome some of those challenges is by really reeling in on your motivation for why you want to do something, right? I feel like I always tell people we all have the same hours in one day, so you just kind of decide how you want to spend it. So often when you're like, I don't have time, I don't necessarily think it's that you don't have time, it's that you'd rather use that time for something else, right?

Yes, we're all going to sleep. mean, there's just some things we can't get away from. But there are the same kind of amount of hours a day and whatever you enjoy and give your time to is what will or hopefully will give you some kind of.

reciprocation back. And if the case of its business, there's a lot of learning that you have to do along the way. So the why I think is the most important part of the business. I think the way you do it, your strategies, all that incredibly important. But the why is what powers you through all the hard times and the struggles and the

that sometimes are in your way. So I want to dig into that a little bit with each of you guys. I've told you guys where my wife started, I needed money for school supplies at that time because there was a lot happening and that still sometimes is the case. It's changed a little, but before I get into what's changed for me, I'd love to talk to you both about your motivations for becoming entrepreneurs.

Who wants to go first? We're gonna start with, oh, we're starting with Kevelyn? That's what we're doing? Okay.

Kevelyn (54:59)
I

can, it's a lot going on in my background right now, so I apologize. But essentially I started entrepreneurship because, oh, I went into entrepreneurship, obviously we're moms, right? I wanted to be, I've always been in careers where I was always,

MainEventMamasPodcast (55:08)
It's not going to top what's been going on in my background, so you are fine. ⁓

MainEventMamasPodcast (55:14)
Yes.

Kevelyn (55:26)
busy out of the house where I couldn't bring my kids, they couldn't come. Like this was a career field where they could come with me if I had to. If had to bring them to the office, they'd come to the office with me if I had to bring them to showings. Hey, sometimes that's how the houses got sold. They maybe sold the house, okay? ⁓ But it was flexibility honestly is what I'm getting down to that entrepreneurship allows for you to have.

MainEventMamasPodcast (55:47)
Yes.

Kevelyn (55:55)
that a lot of traditional careers don't. And that's why I stuck with it for so long. Even in the hardest of times, it was always because it gave me the flexibility to be able to be there for my kids' sports and their awards and being able, again, to bring them with me and things like that, ⁓ that I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. And I think that ultimately being there for them was probably the motivation to

keep going in that career path. Of course, getting to help people in the most, the largest part just of their life and being able to talk them off the ledge and being able to build that confidence and being able to, you know, give people the gumption to be able to want something like that. You can own your own home. You know that? You can own your own home. You know, and a lot of people don't think that that's something that they can do. So just building that confidence in people and helping them overcome the things and

Helping them with credit repair and all the things to even get them there. And then finally getting able to get to the point where you're like, you know what, you did it. That was the fun little whys, I'd say, as well. But ultimately, between helping people and being able to be there for my kids, those are the two that married the whys for me.

MainEventMamasPodcast (57:13)
Alright, to me.

MainEventMamasPodcast (57:14)
Well, my why was the passion I have for baking. That's what started it. But my why is now is pretty much equivalent to what Kevelyn said. So I can be able to be as flexible as I can for me to be able to be a better mom, as in the words of being there for them.

because it took me to lose my job for one of my children to tell me, oh, I'm sorry you lost your job, but yay. I'm like, whoa, wait a minute, why, why is it yeah? But I'm like, but why yay? And he was like, because you you weren't always. And I was like, I thought I came to your meeting. yeah, but there was, we wanted you to be, and I was like.

MainEventMamasPodcast (57:53)
I definitely didn't get that feeling.

MainEventMamasPodcast (58:05)
You know what, I get it. Because there's some people out there who parents show up for everything, doesn't matter. And the kids do see it. So if I can make that a reality, cool. And on top of that, what I'm doing now is also incorporating them as in trying to help build them up as well and using their artwork and using the things that they have.

that makes them them, because ultimately them makes me. So I guess technically still passion, but also out of necessity and as well for me to just be a more involved, more involved than I thought I was, mom.

MainEventMamasPodcast (58:53)
Yeah, I mean, I definitely understand both your point of views. For me, ⁓ it's kind of married into a lot. Like I said, it started with ⁓ just necessity financially, but then I really kind of wanted to lean into the strengths. I feel like I have a lot of talents that I use for other people ⁓ and I didn't realize that I could also use them for myself. So in terms of...

being able to create stories, I like to consider myself a storyteller and I like very much to help people create their stories. So if it's writing an award nomination or a bio or doing their social media, I feel like I get to tell their story in a fun and a unique way. And in particular, for a lot of women, I think I've seen a lot of them struggle to tell their own stories.

and not feel like they are equivalent to some of the things that they aspire to. And finally, being in a position to show them, like, look at how amazing you are. There's so many opportunities out there. So I definitely think it morphed from just financial necessity into like a passion to be able to tell people's stories, to be able to help them achieve goals, to be able to provide ⁓ unbiased, quote unquote, support. Because obviously, if I'm working with UI,

I'm 100 % your cheerleader. So that's my thought here. So all right, now we can talk about the struggles because there are many. There are many. So we talked a little bit about time management. And for me, I know it's a balance between a side hustle, my many businesses, my family, my life, the podcast, grocery shopping, and also laundry right? So it's a...

immense amount of balance to trying to be there for everybody. But not just that, there's also challenges of fear, right? Like what if you fail? And sometimes that stops you from moving forward. Tanesha and I talked a little bit about that, about Main Event Mamas. like, what if no one cares? No one likes it? So that was definitely one thing. And the last thing is something else I do think Tanesha mentioned. What's finding your unique selling point? Why me?

Why work with me? Why pick up a good eye cell versus someone else? So those are all like common challenges that everyone works with. Can you think of any other ones that you guys think are also ones? And how would you think about overcoming some of those challenges?

MainEventMamasPodcast (1:01:22)
Well, persistence. ⁓ Not giving up on yourself, because it's always easy to do that. I'm so good at that ⁓ when it comes to just me by myself. And just trying to also balance life and time management, which I suck at. So it's one of those things where...

MainEventMamasPodcast (1:01:35)
You

MainEventMamasPodcast (1:01:50)
you just have to keep pushing through it. Like doesn't matter, just like I said, like, you know, my cupcake business, I've been doing it for over 12 years, but it's definitely been down over a period of time due to finances due to the, not the need, but even like my clients kind of like went down because I stopped. So whatever clients I was building,

that kind of like dwindled away in essence and also trying to challenge yourself. So if you are feeling like you're not challenging yourself enough, maybe pushing yourself a little bit harder.

to truly believe that you're able to do it. Like I know I can do my cupcake business and how I wanna do it. And there's so many ways now to be able to get your business out there versus over 10 years ago, over 12 years ago. And unfortunately, we do have to thank the pandemic for that because if the pandemic didn't happen, who knows if all these other avenues would have opened up, especially for me being a baker, would have opened up or just to being a t-shirt ⁓ creator. Things of those things, who knows if these things

would have opened up in essence.

MainEventMamasPodcast (1:03:00)
Yeah, I definitely agree with you. What do you think, Kevelyn? Some other challenges? Other ways to get over those struggles?

Kevelyn (1:03:09)
And entrepreneurship in general, ⁓ the challenge to understand that there are going to be times where the income is coming in and the income is not coming in. That is probably one of the biggest challenges for me. It's just understanding that you got to keep going even when it's not coming to fruition right in that moment.

⁓ that's why, well, I really just speak for real estate in general. You have to be persistent. ⁓ like you said, Tanesha, ⁓ you can't give up. You have to show up every day. You have to tell everybody what you're doing. You've got to market yourself. You've got to, you know, step outside of the box. You've got to try things that, you know, you might not normally want to do, you know, putting yourself out there. ⁓ and in terms of, you know,

being the face on social media, which was a challenge for me because I didn't really like that. Didn't really like being in the forefront. Didn't really like putting myself out there, making the little infomercials, know, doing all the things that it takes to be successful. ⁓ It takes that a lot of the times to stand out and be different, especially when it's your own business. You know, if you don't, if you don't do it, who's going to do it? And yeah, at the end of the day, that's it.

MainEventMamasPodcast (1:04:33)
If you don't believe, who's gonna believe? That's right.

Kevelyn (1:04:37)
That's it. that's what I think ⁓ as far as a challenge for me, that was the biggest one. And that's honestly how I overcame it.

MainEventMamasPodcast (1:04:47)
No, I definitely get it. That was one of the most challenging parts that I didn't even talk about. There's times where it's feast or famine. You know what mean? Everybody wants to work with you or nobody wants to work with you. Which is a lot when you're someone who is just like, I love working with people and it's all great. No one likes being broken up with, regardless of the reason, right? It's the truth is budgets are shrinking along, around.

the country in general, so people are doing different things and saying that like, hey, I'm having to cut back here, there and anywhere. And that definitely makes it one of those things that, oof, where you're just like, ⁓ like what do I do now? And I suddenly have more time on my hands. And that is another thing to prepare yourself for is the ultimate thing is like, keep going even when it feels impossible because there's always clients out there. People will find you, but also being able to put yourself out there.

I definitely hated that too. I didn't put my face in my business for so long. But I also learned the importance from another friend of mine who was doing extremely well that when people feel like they know you, they're more interested in working with you. that was a lesson that I had to learn ⁓ because it's hard. And when it comes to balancing, I learned how to delegate. Shout out to my therapist because she was like, listen, you can't be everywhere all the time.

So you really have to learn how to delegate things as you can and empower other people along the way, empower your kids, empower your spouse to just kind of pick up some of the slack because you're doing more than your typical duties. I think it's really important to continue to balance yourself. A lot of business owners work and work and work theirself into the ground. It's really important to find that balance and also look for resources to help you.

so that you're not overworking yourself or making yourself sick or anything like that. Ultimately, I think the best advice I could give anyone who's interested in entrepreneur, start small and be prepared to evolve, right? Like start with what you have and continue growing and changing. Learn about, you know, there's different tax codes and opportunities to separate your business in LLCs or S-corp, so other types of.

tax ⁓ options for you, learn and grow, and then find you a network. There's a ton of small business opportunities and groups around. Alignable has been a really great ⁓ network that Kevelyn introduced me to, is just getting to see how other people are managing in your local community and across the nation. And then membership doesn't cost anything, which is great. Always a fan of having.

people you can work with and you connect with. So ultimately, today we talked about a lot, right? Like we talked about, girl, preparing these kids for college, going through senior year struggles, trying to figure out how you pick a college, whether it's your best or your worst option, do you like environment or culture? It's a bit of a toss up on any given day. There's nothing certain. So you really just got to get out there and take a chance, which we talked a little bit about college, and to think that there's other opportunities available to you.

your result doesn't have to be college. There's lots of other stuff you can do. And then as we talk about, one of the things you can do is start a business, right? There's no age limit on that, so you can start a business and watch that grow. When it first we just said start small, but also just don't be afraid to fail. You can try again and try again until you get it right. So I think we talked about, like I said, ultimately a lot, but I want to remind you.

that if you've enjoyed our content today that we want you to follow us on all your favorite platforms. We want you to like and subscribe. But also we want you to follow us on Instagram, on Facebook, on TikTok, on...

threads on X.

And we have a new Facebook group, the Main Event Mama Squad, in which you can join. It's a free community, a free group, where you can hang out with the other Main Event Mama Squad members. You get exclusive content, you get to find out what we're talking about. You're gonna get some behind the scenes stuff. And then you get personal notes from the mamas every single day. So, did you catch today's message yet? That's the question. But where can they listen to us?

Tanesha.

MainEventMamasPodcast (1:09:24)
You can listen to us on iHeartRadio, Pocket Podcast, Amazon Audible, Amazon ⁓ Music, ⁓ and... ⁓

MainEventMamasPodcast (1:09:38)
podcast Spotify.

MainEventMamasPodcast (1:09:52)
Yeah, YouTube. Yeah, think you said that,

MainEventMamasPodcast (1:09:54)
That's it, yep, you too. Yes,

and you can also catch our information. Anything you might have missed is on our Main Event Mamas podcast.com website. There you can find all the content that, again, we just talked about. But then even more, you can leave us a voicemail. You can join our mailing list so you can be on our first newsletter when that goes out. And you can catch our blogs because I'm always talking about something. So you definitely wanna clock in and see.

We had a few vlogs this week. talked about our takeover of the humble roses, which was an experience. And then we also had a chance to talk about our new Patreon, which I do not want to leave without telling you guys about this. Patreon is our exclusive place.

for our Main Event Mama fans to get access to us. We are launching a new community and it'll only be through Patreon. We'll also have some brand new content, behind the scenes footage. You wanna find out what we're doing for our confession show? Join our Patreon, there's multiple tiers from free all the way up to buying us a AEW pay-per-view. Speaking of which, shout out to Candice. If it wasn't for you, ma'am.

MainEventMamasPodcast (1:11:08)
Shout out, thank you.

MainEventMamasPodcast (1:11:11)
We would not have seen all out. So Candice, you're our MVP. I just got to tell you, because girl, and this ain't the first time you're going to get shouted out for two episodes. This is just the parenting shout out. We appreciate you. Thank you for showing us love, for sending us a note, and for showing up on our confession as well. So with that, we want to say we're not new to this.

MainEventMamasPodcast (1:11:38)
We're so true to this. And this was Main Event