Hi. Can I still say Happy new year?
This is from several years ago, but it’s still one of my favorites. The look on the baby’s face is…Wait, wasn’t 2014 last week?
I usually write to you here about Wise Economy stuff, but this newsletter is going to talk first about a very important new initiative – one I’ve been working on for close to two years. There will be a few things about Wise Economy at the end of this newsletter, so stay tuned if that’s your jam.
First, the big news: Trep House is a new virtual superhub for New Majority founders, and it’s coming out of its beta stage and into real life! You can learn more about Trep House and what it offers here.
That statement probably needs some unpacking. A “Superhub” is a new approach to helping entrepreneurs and small business owners grow into their potential. It centralizes and gives easy access to pretty much all of the help an entrepreneur needs – education, community, mentors and coaches, trusted vendors, and funding opportunities. A lot of conventional startup programs do one or a couple of these, but Trep House is creating a full ecosystem. That’s extra important because we are focused on New Majority founders - Black and other underrepresented people, who typically go into entrepreneurship with less entrepreneurial experience, less personal support, less network and less money than the stereotypical start-up founder. But they also go in with a huge amount of the creativity, the energy and the innovative insights that we all need to address the potential of the economic era that’s unfolding!
I’d encourage all of you to take a look at that web site and think about how you can help me make this happen. Here’s a few ideas:
We are looking for Corporate and Community Sponsors. One of the most important elements of sponsorship is that it allows us to give Fellowships to deserving New Majority founders who can’t afford the membership fee. There’s several levels for both governments/nonprofits and businesses, and you get additional benefits as well. Take a look, and send me a note if your organization would like to discuss becoming a Trep House sponsor.
If you don’t represent an organization but you want to support this work, you can join Trep House. If you’re outside of that New Majority category (like me), you can join as an Ally, which means that you can participate in most Trep House member activities. It’s an awesome way to learn. If you sell a good or service that would benefit our founders, and you’re willing to answer some questions about how you work with minority clients, then you can join as a Vendor, which gets you access to the Marketplace for requesting and bidding on Founders’ projects.
Trep House also provides consulting and other services for inclusive ecosystem development, business credit coaching, and more. If your organization would benefit from working with us, just say the word.
One element of Trep House that we’re getting ready to launch is a community-focused student run business program that helps New Majority students get work experience with Black and minority founders and creators. We’ve got a couple of pilots lined up; if you’d like to explore how your school or organization could participate, let me know.
I know that’s a lot – this has been a long time coming! As the Chief Operating Officer of Trep House, it’s been a handful getting to this point, but as Kemo, A’akhutera, Trep House CEO likes to say, we are moving!
And in case you’re still reading, here’s a brief summary of my Wise Economy Workshop work in 2021:
I launched a revised version of my first Wise Fool Press book, The Local Economy Revolution Has Arrived: What’s Changed and How You Can Still Help. You can get that on Bookshop or Amazon or wherever you get books and e-books.
I published two new Short Shots (shorter publications): The First Principles of the Local Economy Revolution and The Fusion Era Will Change Everything. Here’s How to Survive. They’re fun, easy reads.
I published a weekly newsletter with news and analysis about emerging trends and how they are impacting local communities. It’s called Future Here Now, and you can subscribe to it here. It’s useful, it’s cheap, and it’s occasionally fun.
I did several video interviews in two series: AccelerateUs: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Local Economy Revolution and Know Better, Do Better, which features Black entrepreneurs telling their stories. I’m looking for sponsors for both of those series to support better production and editing, so if you’d like to be associated with these, let me know.
I did a series of short videos (typically verbal updates and reading) on YouTube, Facebook and other places, And late last year I started with a few entries on TikTok. Again, I’d welcome anyone who wants to sponsor better work on these!
So…I’m continuing to juggle as hard and fast as I can. A lot of days I think I look like this.
But that beats being bored.
If we haven’t talked for a while, I’d love to hear from you.
Best wishes for a great 2022. Let’s go get ‘em.
Hugs,
Della