Many brothers and sisters on the frontline of social, political and cultural struggles and issues; suffer with an Achilles heel. They have consciousness but no cash. Activist and individuals in the culture (i.e. Afrocentric awareness) often lack the economics to perpetuate their projects, dreams and goals. Too many Black folks quote Malcolm X and avoid Earl G. Graves, Sr. (Publisher and founder of Black Enterprise magazine). There are freedom fighters and community Activist & organizers and political prisoners who can not raise monies for their causes or defenses. The irony of being revolutionary or Black political or cultural nationalist; is that in of and of itself is not a paying job. The realities of food, clothes and shelter have related financial cost.

It is the hard reality that the Black Conscious community must face. The options to maintaining your spirituality and Africaness are two: (1) work in the non-profit sector. This way you can still serve the community (or masses) or (2) explore and enter entrepreneurship. The world of entrepreneurship (i.e. self employment) is risky. But with the proper preparatory research and valuable start-up capital, there is hope in potential success. Too often political folks praise spirituality and damn materialism. There must exist a balance. Unless we become successful beggars or live on society dole-we must embrace economics. We can not provide for ourself or our beloved children without positive and constant income revenue streams. We must study business management and development seriously. Street vendors are free spirits and pride themselves of their status of being 'free from the man'. These merchants or business persons must be saluted. We as a people must explore home base business , international trade, the internet for commerce (E-Commerce), manufacturing, wholesale business, purchase of an existing business/franchise. We must create, raise and develop wealth (ie. capital) to become more independent. Too often Black people are viewed as the designate consumer. We must development a producer-class mindset We as a proud and creative people, must create and build successful economic ventures. Black folks must have consciousness and cash.

I just started my business and I don’t have a budget for marketing and graphic design. Why can’t I get by with my perforated business cards and self-designed brochures until things pick up? The truth is things won’t pick up for you if you continue to show a lack of interest in your own company. How do you expect people to invest in your company when clearly you haven’t’ invested in it yourself. Your image is the first thing that potential clients come in contact with and it’s what they use to consider trying your company out. Consumers buy when marketing materials make them feel good about their purchase, and a lot of that “feel good” comes from the branding. So if you’re using perforated business cards or self-designed and printed brochures, you are setting people’s expectations very low for what they will experience in using your services. Do yourself a favor, find out what all of the dos and don’ts of self promotion are (in my book of course). Follow those guidelines and create an image that exudes success; your business will pick up sooner rather than later. I just found the nicest business card layout. It looks really professional. It’s one of those template cards I found on-line. What do you think about those? I think that although they may look nice they are not as professional as you might think. Template cards can kill a business’s identity in one fail swoop. If you want to permanently stunt the growth of your company, rely on these cards to get you business. I have several of those template cards (I keep them for my lectures). Three of them have the exact same design, yet they represent three different companies. There is no room for a logo or any identifying mark that would set one company apart from the other. And to make matters worse, most people get these cards free, so the company that printed the cards has the right to put their logo on the back of the card. You don’t want to appear to be just playing at this business thing. You want to look like you’re an expert and have been in business for many years. And besides, how would anyone eagerly select a company on template cards for serious work from the sea of cards that they are sure to collect? Think about it. Meet Author Sonya A. Lowery Friday, March 10th - Karibu Books, Bowie Town Center 6:30pm-8:30pm: Sonay A. Lowery is the author of The Secret Lanaguage of Business Cards. View her site to learn more about this phenomenal business woman.

........................................................................ ........................................................................ ........................................................................ ............ ............Founded in 1904, Big Brothers Big Sisters is the oldest and largest youth mentoring organization in the United States. In 2004, the organization served more than 225,000 youth ages five through 18, in 5,000 communities across the country, through a network of 470 agencies. National research has shown that the positive relationships between Big Brothers and Big Sisters and their Littles have a direct, measurable, and lasting impact on children’s lives. To experience the difference Big Brother or Big Sister can make, read about real life matches. Research and anecdotal evidence show specifically that BBBS one-to-one mentoring helps at-risk youth overcome the many challenges they face. Little Brothers and Sisters are less likely to begin using illegal drugs, consume alcohol, skip school and classes, or engage in acts of violence.1 They have greater self-esteem, confidence in their schoolwork performance, and are able to get along better with their friends and families.

In the spirit of hope, there came a vision. A vision deeply rooted in the hearts and minds of its founders Rudolph H. Carn, and the late Mae Reed, and the late Edna M. Brown. National AIDS Education & Services for Minorities was created in an effort to counteract the ever increasing spread of HIV/AIDS in communities of color. Since the opening of its doors in 1990, NAESM has taken great pride in serving Atlanta's minority community. As a non-profit community based organization, NAESM is a beacon of hope for those in need of love and understanding. The mission of NAESM is to educate communities of color (primarily African Americans) on the facts about HIV/AIDS (Education and Prevention) and to make health care and social services available to people of color with early or advanced stages of HIV/AIDS regardless of their sexual orientation

Networking is a word that is often used in business, but more times than not it is poorly understood. The Webster’s dictionary defines a network as “a group or system of related or connected parts”. The same dictionary defines networking as “the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions”. Therefore, it is not a far leap to understand that networking is the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions that are related or connected to one another. In realizing this fact, we are now in a good position to recognize the beneficial reality of what (until now) may have been nothing more than competition to you. Keeping in mind that with this newfound knowledge you can now realize that it is healthy business to network amongst other healthy businesses.

Without networking, business is uncertain and unpredictable. We need strong reliable business allies who could help share and support our business ideas and endeavors. Others that are in the same line of business could also use our support and this is truer than ever in the publishing business. If we were to give any advice to authors or to any other person in the literary business rather that be editing, publishing, illustrating, publicity, book selling, and even printing it would be this: Either we all swim together or we all sink. We may not sink all at the same time, but rest assured we would all eventually sink. The law of business is “share” better known as “exchange”. Without this law there is no such thing as business. Even though we at Neshee Publication are proud of our many achievements both small and great, we are aware that we could never had done anything without the support of the authors who trusted us when we had no proof of the quality of work that we do. All we had was our word and our skills.

We also recognize all of the other related businesses that supported Neshee especially Disilgold whom Neshee instantly loved. We swore our oaths of devotion to each other and we have been benefiting from one another ever since. AALBC, Raw Sistaz, Marguerite Press, C & B Distribution, The Rock Magazine, AMAG, The Nile Bookstore in Philly and many others (too many to name but you know who you are) are also good friends of Neshee Publication. In 2004, Neshee launched the DPWA for the express purpose of creating a list of reliable resource for the first time author considering anyone on this page as top in his/her field of work. Neshee has become a name that can be trusted, therefore we are only interested in the top in the field because there are a lot of people that trust what Neshee says and we do not want to disappoint them. We use this approach with our authors especially because they are new in the business and most of them do not know what to do. We try to save them money and time by discouraging moves that lacks good sound business strategy, and of course encouraging those that are on the right path because as newbies there was no one there to guide us; we had to feel our way around which was not only a time consuming project, but also a very expensive learning experience. Again, this was why Neshee created the DPWA, The Author’s Pen, and there will be many more opportunities coming soon from the Neshee Family. It is easy to get big headed in most anything that you do well. This is America: the land of the big headed, but when you stay grounded, dig the scene, and plant the truth you know that it was the “people” who played an important part in your success as well. Through the truth we know that it is people who make the world go around. The people are the branches on the tree of networking. Aalim Elitou, is the Co-Founder, Business Strategists, and Cover Designer of Neshee Publication www.nesheepublication.com As a successful businessman for over 20 years and an author, he has become well known for his business experience and leadership.

........................................................................ ........................................................................ ................................ ........................................................................ .................Yolanda M. Johnson lays it down in recent interveiw with Black Men In America.com “Literary Wonders! is a company that I actually started in 1996 but was originally named Prosperity Enterprises. My son hated to read and was having a hard time in school. It amazed me at how much he hated to pick up a book. I would spend lots of money on books that only collected dust trying to encourage him to read. I began to take a broader look at “our people” and the statistics that said, “blacks don’t read.” When I started my company, there was nowhere near the amount of authors, readers or books as we see today. I wanted to make a point and that was “Don’t let the black fool you. We love to read just as much as the next race and we do it well and write it well.”

"I want readers to take something away from my writing, whether it be how to recover from an emotional trauma, how to handle a relationship, to causing you to take a different look at yourself. I hope people will recommend my work to friends and family. I would like to touch them with my writing as well.”

“The biggest con is that the majority of the funding for self-publishing project comes out of the author’s pocket. You pay the cost to be the boss essentially. You do all of your own marketing and everything else that pertains to your work.”