speaker-0: Corinne Goble, CEO of the Association of Women's Business Centers.

speaker-1: Can you tell me about your business journey?

speaker-0: Well, I run a national nonprofit, but I run it like a business. So yes, happy to do that. ⁓ I was actually born into a business. ⁓ Some people are born into families. I was born into a business. So ⁓ my mom was running a trucking company, had just started one right about the time I was born. And so I grew up running around the offices. ⁓ probably learned to walk between one dispatcher and another. And ⁓ I was told, hey kid, go sweep the parking lot when I was getting in everybody's way. so ⁓ I grew up like the hard knocks kind of way around a pretty tough business. And I eventually left home and went to college, thought I would not have anything to do with the family business. And when I was in grad school, September 11 happened and my mom said, our business is in trouble. It's not safe for you in Washington, DC in September 11 anyway. Will you come home and help us with the family business? So I did. And that was when I really got schooled ⁓ in what it takes to run a profitable business. Our business was in the red, it wasn't doing well. And we had to do a pretty big turnaround. We had to cut expenses and we had to invest in technology and change the way that we operated with drivers, with our people. shifted. to some changed our numbers between employees and contractors and turned the business around. And that was when she sold the business and it put me out of a job. And so that was when I started working in nonprofits. I moved into the credit union association space and learned about finance and credit unions. And then I ended up going to work for a large car company, Kia Motors, and learned a lot about how process. relates to output and quality and then ended up here at the Association of Women's Business Centers taking all that information about how to run something profitable. I apply that to my own organization but also now ⁓ can pay it forward and help so many other businesses. So we help women-owned businesses, veteran-owned businesses, and really frankly just anybody and we've provided a place where we can do that.

speaker-1: Yeah, what is it like combining helping businesses with the nonprofit work?

speaker-0: Well, what I think I've learned is that we people who run nonprofits, I think we'd be better served if we treated nonprofits more like for profit. Meaning if we found our value in the marketplace in the same way that an entrepreneur must do, then we'll find a, if we find that value, right, then that comes with an economic return that comes with money for the nonprofit. And if you're, If your nonprofit is simply about doing what you think is right, but it doesn't have any impact, then you're going to have a hard time raising money. ⁓ Whereas if you can have an impact and you're doing something good for somebody that has value, then it should be easier to go raise money. So I've taken a lot of what I've learned from the for-profit world applied it. And now I can help other nonprofits do the same. And our primary mission though, is to help small businesses. get started and scale. And if we can do it as a nonprofit, I'm pretty sure we can help for-profit businesses do that too.

speaker-1: Yeah, can you tell me about the nonprofit?

speaker-0: Yeah. So in terms of how we're helping some of these small businesses is that we ask. Thank you. Okay. So I've just been waiting for the perfect question. So there it is. I appreciate that. Yeah. We, we, we do a lot in terms of ⁓ finding out exactly what a business owner needs. So we do some real general stuff and, ⁓ we've got some great websites out there all linked back to our homepage, our AWBC.org. But I want to tell you specifically today about a very niche opportunity. ⁓ We can help a business in everything that they might need from business planning to marketing plans, ⁓ digital literacy teach you about AI and ⁓ project management skills if that's what you need. But we've specialized and we've got a really great program right now specifically for veteran or military active, but veteran businesses who want to learn how to build their business on TikTok. TikTok presents such a unique opportunity because that's where the new market is. ⁓ If you came over to my house to visit, you would find my two children are on social media. And if you so much as mentioned the word Facebook, they would look at you with the most like disgusted look on their face. My kids are not coming anywhere near Facebook or frankly, most of the social media or even e-commerce platforms that I use. The only reason my kids have found Amazon is because they know mom shops on Amazon. If they want me to buy it, they have to send me a link. They do the majority of their ⁓ product education and shopping through TikTok Shop. This is the way, like of the world of this entire generation. And so for sellers who want to find a market, ⁓ TikTok Shop is a really great way to do that. The thing is, it's just not easy to understand. Coming into a TikTok shop is not, ⁓ it's not like user intuitive. ⁓ When you come in, if you've never been on TikTok or if you're not a TikTok shopper, it makes absolutely no sense. You as the consumer don't really drive what you see. TikTok shop has changed, like turned everything upside down. They're going to feed you what they think you should be looking at on your for you page. And so the way that sellers, figure this out and show up on their ideal customers for you pages, not to mention just building their product pages and being on the platform. I mean, that's the real secret sauce. And so we teamed up with TikTok. TikTok funded us because they're so passionate about helping veterans. And so we've got a great opportunity in an eight week program to really help a business with the fundamentals. And if they're already on TikTok shop. how do identify where their gaps are so that they can fill those gaps and be really successful? We've had some great businesses who've participated with us. And I could tell you about one real quick. So, yeah, so ⁓ this business is called Azteca Greens. So I think that's like, is that some kind of like Mexican salad or something? No, it's not. ⁓ Javier Trevino has a specialty golf apparel designed with this kind of Latino heritage flavor. So his beautiful golf shirts are in really ⁓ Latino inspired, like stripe, ⁓ ombre kind of designs. And he just, he filled a gap. He saw value in the marketplace. There were no other. easy to find Latino represented golf wear brands out there. And so he filled the gap and his business is seeing real momentum through TikTok shop and its affiliates. So we've been able to help him grow his business. So that's just one great example. And he happens to be active military. He's based out of Texas.

speaker-1: Are the businesses you work, you're working with open to TikTok because it is a brand new thing?

speaker-0: You know, there can be a lot of people who are cautious about lots of the different social media and e-commerce platforms. TikTok has been in the news a lot and people at one time had some privacy concerns about what it meant to get involved with TikTok. But since the acquisition of TikTok by some U.S. interests, I think that's quelled the majority of the resistance because I think the privacy concerns are... aren't really there anymore. ⁓ in terms of it just being a social media platform where people scroll and rot their brains, yeah, that's still a concern for parents out there and for users as well. And I think we all have to be careful about how we use our time. But at the same time, if we're trying to sell products, ⁓ probably putting them on the shelves of stores isn't the most effective or efficient way to reach customers, especially the way customers like to shop today.

speaker-1: What is it like ⁓ working with these veteran organizations and using a tool like TikTok?

speaker-0: Well, would tell you, so we've run two cohorts, so two separate classes of TikTok shop sellers, all veterans, and every class is totally unique. The personalities that we encounter have been really fun and dynamic, and they tend to help each other. In fact, we ran our first cohort, it was over a year, maybe a year and a half ago now, and we created a little WhatsApp group that everybody could text and chat together just privately. in the class and after the class, that WhatsApp group is still going strong. These folks are really, ⁓ they've bonded to each other, to themselves more than with us, the facilitators, but they still reach out ⁓ when they've got issues or they kind of got like technical support for life ⁓ once they've come into it because of just the relationship bonds there between each other and between us, the facilitators. ⁓ But we've got men and women. And in fact, the first cohort, the majority of them were women. And so the second one, I think we've got a really good balance. ⁓ But you would think military veterans, I don't know, I think of there being an outsized number of like more men than women. But when it comes to tick tock shop sellers, we're seeing a pretty strong representation of women. So this has been, it's been a total delight ⁓ and something totally different for us to get to do.

speaker-1: What are some of the challenges veterans and women face when starting a business?

speaker-0: ⁓ gosh. Well, the biggest challenge and unfortunately, Michael, this has been a challenge for more than 30 years and we haven't figured it out yet. And that's the access to capital, getting funding for their business. It happens to be an area where we've really built much more robust capacity, but we haven't been able to solve the problem yet. Small businesses, especially startups, don't have a great mechanism to borrow money. Banks aren't trying to take risk on new businesses. so you know, it can be a real challenge. But we've got success stories as well from startup businesses who were looking for a real estate loan in order to buy a place or scale their business up by buying into a place all the way through startup businesses who just needed small, what we call a microloan. Microloan is something between like five and $50,000. $50,000 sounds like a lot to me, but in the commercial lending space. And the commercial lending space, if you walk into a bank and you say you want a $25,000 business loan, they're probably going to say, we don't do business loans that small. And in fact, that's one of the bigger problems when it comes to small businesses and access to capital. The products in the market don't necessarily meet the needs of the small business owners. And so that's where we try to focus on either helping our businesses who aren't ready to borrow, aren't capital ready, get there or help them find some kind an innovative product that's gonna meet their needs, but might not have been obvious in the marketplace. But if we could solve that issue, I think it would be harder to find something to talk about when someone asks us the question, what are the challenges businesses face? It would take away so much of the conversation.

speaker-1: So where do you want to see the organization's mission in the next few years?

speaker-0: We've, we set a pretty ambitious goal back in 2022 that by 2027, which is right around the corner, I know you were asking a little further out, but right around the corner, we said we wanted our organization to be the leading voice to ignite entrepreneurship ⁓ for these small businesses to be economic engines, economic engines in their communities. And we're not quite there yet. We're not the leading national voice. But it's certainly our ambition to be able to do that. We think we do it well and we've had a lot of small businesses find success working with us and with our network. Underneath this sort of umbrella of our association of women's business centers is a full network of women's business centers. And then we also work really well with our veteran business outreach centers who are siblings to us. in this sort of network as well as small business development centers and score chapters. So there are just so many resources out there. But we think we're aiming to be the best and at the top of the apex. And I think, you know, I feel like we're making good progress.

speaker-1: What is it like when you do see businesses you work with succeed?

speaker-0: Well, luckily we get to see quite a bit of that. The businesses who we see succeed have put a lot of time and effort into it. Businesses, we don't see businesses succeeding by accident and the businesses that walk through the door and tell us that they want to grow or they want to be successful, but aren't willing to take the steps. We don't work with them. If we don't see that they're progressing and that they're taking on the challenges that we. ⁓ you know, put in front of them. ⁓ They're kind of wasting our time and we're wasting theirs. So, ⁓ yeah, it's definitely very fulfilling. And frankly, we get to see quite a bit of it. ⁓ And our women's business centers too across the entire network. So, I mean, it's really fun to track the success and look back on like the past cohorts of our veteran ⁓ TikTok shop programs and say, Well, we had a small part in their success. They had to do it. We had a small part in it, but there's definitely an element of pride there.

speaker-1: With the two cohorts from the veteran TikTok program, do you see their confidence level rise as they go through the process?

speaker-0: Night and day, absolutely. ⁓ We took on ⁓ one of the clients in the first cohorts that sells tall women clothing. And I remember the day we met her and she had already ⁓ found some success selling. ⁓ But to see her now, like I think it's been a year and a half later, she'll be speaking at the graduation ceremony for the next cohort. And there was no way she had the confidence to. to stand up and speak to a graduating class and she can stand on her own success in the time that she's had getting the exposure through the program that we've been able to provide. ⁓ It's not something you think you're going to get when you sign up at veteransstartup.org for the TikTok SOAR program. You don't think you're going to get flown to Washington DC and get to meet members of Congress and agencies that support veterans, but... So far, we've been able to make that happen in this program. And it's those experiences built on top of the education that have made some of these graduates just so confident, and now they're standing on the stage.

speaker-1: What is the graduating ceremony and event like?

speaker-0: Well, every year we're going to get better and better. Last year we held our graduation ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. And I just thought we had arrived. We in a space lined with international flags, you know, all over the world. And ⁓ for me, it was really just kind of a moment like, wow, we've really arrived. We've done something big enough that we get to be at the National Press Club. And then this year we were able to secure Union Station. They have the East Presidential Suite, which is on the main floor of this grand Union Station, like Victorian looking era building. It's magnificent with marble floors and marble pillars. ⁓ It's the grandeur of it and being right there in the center of Capitol Hill in that kind of like marble walls and things. ⁓ It's like pretty amazing. I don't know how we could top it, but I think I said that last year. So, you know, we'll have to wait and see.

speaker-1: Yeah, I'm in, I live in the DC area and I've been to a event at Union Station and it is awesome.

speaker-0: It's just, when I, when I said this is possible for us, we can do this. This is, we have to make it happen. And, you know, I don't want it for me. I want it for the TikTok graduates. And, and frankly, you know, it's not lost on me. Like, you know, we've said, these are military connected. Many cases they're either active or veteran. And to be able to honor these men and women granted it's for a TikTok shop accelerator. But that also brings that extra layer of meaning that. we get to bring them to the space in a really honorable way.

speaker-1: So how can people reach out and learn more about the organization?

speaker-0: Well, we'd love for people to reach out. The best way is that veteranstartup.org. It's really easy to see our ⁓ SOAR Together for Veterans program. You can find the apply here page and it's a really easy application. We don't get more than, historically we haven't gotten more than about hundred applications per class and we were trying to choose between 10 and 20. So, I mean, the odds of getting in are really strong. It's like, one in five. And if you applied in the past, apply again. We'd love to take a look at people who are interested enough that they've come back and apply a second time.