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SHONTAVIA Johnson Profile picture
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24 Apr, 10 tweets, 4 min read
Earlier this week, I was on a legal/financial panel for emerging entrepreneurs at the #BBBSummit21 powered by @WDMCHAMBER.

Here are some of the resources I shared for people starting and growing their companies/businesses:
1/ If you don't know anything at all about raising money to start your business/company/startup, the absolute best place to learn from ground zero, on-demand, is the How to Raise Startup Capital masterclass by @ArlanWasHere.

You can register for it here: tinyurl.com/bwbjs3pu
2/ When starting your business, consult with a lawyer & an accountant. They can help you avoid mistakes that are expensive to fix later.

But, don't go broke. Use services like law school legal clinics and the Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts if cash flow is low.
3/ You can't afford to ignore or put off your intellectual property for too long. If you wait too long or run your mouth in the wrong place, you may be SOL when it's time to make that next move.
4/ For a list of Black IP/tech lawyers, text me the letters "IP" @ 864-651-9920 & I'll send you a list of people I either know and trust or who were referred to me by lawyers I know and trust.
5/ Law school legal clinics, where upper level law students work w/ licensed attorneys to provide you with legal assistance, are CLUTCH.

Search this map for nearby law school legal clinics that provide small biz & startup assistance: shontavia.com/legal-clinics/
6/ Some law school legal clinics help draft and file patent and trademark applications. They have to be approved by the @uspto first.

For the most updated list of approved law schools, check: uspto.gov/learning-and-r…
7/ Tooting my own horn a bit, I share a ton of content for emerging & wannabe entrepreneurs on my website and email list.

Join it at shontavia.email

It's lit! 🔥
8/ If you're in Iowa, @VentureNetIowa provides some amazing services, including non-dilutive funding opportunities, to early-stage startups in these industries:

➡️Biosciences
➡️Advanced manufacturing
➡️Value-added agriculture
➡️Information technology
9/ If you know it's time to get your life together & FINALLY start your business, but you're not really sure where to start, take this quiz: startabusinessquiz.com .

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More from @ShontaviaJEsq

SHONTAVIA Johnson Profile picture
25 Apr
Grow your brand, they said. Just put yourself out there, they said.

But what does this actually look like?

Here are some *free* ways to start promoting yourself, your expertise and your work. Don’t do em all—just pick 1 or 2 & roll with those for a while.

A thread.
1/ Write. On your own platform AND someone else’s.

Pitch op-eds to local newspapers & articles to other media editors using @TheOpEdProject’s tips. If you’re in Higher Ed, pitch @ConversationUS.

Bonus points if you #ownyourgenius and create a copyright strategy.
2/ Go Live.

This is nobody’s favorite thing to do but it works 🤷🏾‍♀️

Show that you know your 💩but keep it simple.

➡️ Pick 1 platform & stick w/ it for a bit
➡️ Talk about 1 topic per Live.
➡️ It’s OK if no one shows up. You can chop it up for future posts.
Read 12 tweets
SHONTAVIA Johnson Profile picture
30 Mar
In 2008, I took a $90,000 pay cut to enter academia. It was...a transition.

I realized early on that I wanted to be a public scholar and not live or die by teaching evals (they're racist, sexist & flawed) & research submission cycles.

Here's what I've learned.

🧵
Few old heads in the academy understand the public scholar route unless they've done it. If you find a pioneer, learn from them. If you can't, follow them online.

I've spent hours reaching @Wikipedia pages (more Black scholars should have them) & studying career trajectories.
On my YouTube channel, @KanikaTolver has talked about learning from "virtual mentors" by watching their movements online and IRL.

I used this approach to chart a path as a public scholar, because I didn't really know any.

(full episode: )
Read 11 tweets
SHONTAVIA Johnson Profile picture
27 Mar
Black women in academia, it’s time for you to see yourself as an entrepreneur.

Here’s why and how:
You are an expert—you know a ton about your field. You’ve beat crazy odds. You’re starting ahead of the curve in terms of knowledge level
Professors have a ton of opportunities to make money outside of the university. Speaking, consulting, writing, content creation, etc are low hanging fruit.
Read 32 tweets
SHONTAVIA Johnson Profile picture
6 Mar
A while back, my husband and I got a racist-ly low appraisal on our home. After much back and forth with these people (how they thought they could try it with TWO Black lawyers is beyond me), we got the appraiser to change it and closed on the loan yesterday 🔥. Renovation time.
Interestingly enough, I taught Property Law at @DrakeLawSchool for nearly a decade. I got [numerous] comments on my teaching evaluations that I talked about race too much and that it was distracting.
This happens TOO OFTEN to Black folks. Systemic racism is cancer.

We were already planning our next step--getting a white woman to stand in for us next time:

Read 17 tweets
SHONTAVIA Johnson Profile picture
14 Aug 20
If you're following @GoodHumor and @RZA's new ice cream truck jingle collab, here's some black history for you:

Ice cream & ice cream parlors have been rooted in racism in the U.S., even though vanilla cultivation was revolutionized by a black pre-teen in the 1800s. A thread.
It isn't random chance that ice cream trucks still play music rooted in blackface minstrelsy.

Early U.S. ice cream parlors played music to keep patrons entertained, often using the Regina music box, which played, among other things, minstrel music. npr.org/sections/codes…
Then in 1920, Harry Burt created the 1st ice cream on a stick+the 1st ice cream truck. He decided to add music to bring back the nostalgia old ice cream parlors.

To avoid copyright claims, he used music in the public domain. Enter ye old minstrel songs: medium.com/@luckypeach/tu…
Read 23 tweets
SHONTAVIA Johnson Profile picture
6 Nov 19
I also feel pretty strongly that, when you're looking to build interest in your brand, especially for speaking gigs, all of your content shouldn't *just* sit on social media platforms. Don't @ me.
Get yourself a domain/website (@WordPress and @squarespace gotchu). If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, have a simple app developed (@AppyPieInc has worked well for me in the past). Create an email newsletter (@Mailchimp and @ConvertKit can help). Have some control over your msg
Well. As much “control” as one can have over digital content. This is a little tricky I know. My point is, just communicating via social media is a dangerous strategy. Algorithms control who sees your content. The social media company also gets to use your content how it wants
Read 4 tweets

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