I can’t remember where I first read it. It was a tweet that was shared through other social media but the gist was that when humans discovered invisible waves that surround and connect us through time and space, the first thing we did was fill the air with music.

I bring it up now because the chaos that has surrounded the first few weeks of the current administration feels like static. I’m dating myself but even the younger folks can experience this for themselves if they hit the FM dial on their car radios and then find a spot in between the radio stations that come in clearly.  There is static and noise and brief snippets of conversation followed by more static.

Stuck between Stations

My brain has felt a little stuck between stations and some will tell you that’s by design. The way you get unstuck is to change the frequency or tune the dial until something comes in clearly and the air is filled with music again.

In the past few weeks, I’ve been working on changing the frequency for myself and my fellow business owners.

What is happening?!

In a recent interview for 12.5 minutes our guest, my friend and business partner Heather Cox said, “If you lived through the 432 days of January…” and that felt right to me.

I’ve been hearing from a lot of my fellow business owners since the current administration took office.  The diverse business owners that I specialize in working with, the people who work in the DMV, and the community where I live that thrives on a diverse immigrant community  (named number one place to live for families by that bastion of woke mind virus thinking, Fortune Magazine) – have all been reeling.

At a recent gathering of the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce another friend asked the group, “Do you have any good news for us?”

I have a couple of ideas.

Change the frequency

If you’ve read my blog posts before then you know I lean toward optimism, or at least practicality.  And at the risk of going over ground I’ve covered before, I’m going to stick with business owners here since that’s my lane and small diverse businesses are the area I know the most about. If you have resources for job seekers, immigrants, etc. please let me know and I’m happy to share in the next newsletter.

 Cut through the noise

  • It’s Black History Month – support Black-owned businesses.

Boycotting the brands that have rolled back DEI commitments actually ends up hurting the companies that are selling in those stores – women, LGBT, Black and disability owned companies can’t afford that. Heather puts it well here – you’re better off consciously consuming. Continue to buy those products you know to be owned by diverse businesses.

  • Procurement programs are, for the most part, still intact

Starting at the end of last month when I spoke to a group of business owners for the Washington Area Community Investment Fund (WACIF), and a large part of my message was to break through the noise of what is happening.

WACIF has a great programs including The Hive at the Anacostia Arts Center where businesses get access to DC’s CBE certification. I came to give a talk about where certification fits into an overall business development strategy while keeping an eye on this environment that we’re in.

One participant mentioned how she was able to see opportunities in spite of the chaos.  CBE certification is for DC residents – so far there’s nothing in place to change that.

Women owned small business (WOSB) and Service disabled veteran owned business (SDVOSB) programs in the federal government are not under review.

  • Identify what companies are NOT rolling back DEI commitments

I mentioned this last month but since then there’s been even more movement. Some companies have doubled down on their DEI commitments as opposed to rolling them back. Apple, Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs (again, not exactly anti-capitalist warriors over here) have all re-committed to their programs. And some companies who made noise about rolling back commitments have just done that – made noise.

It turns out procurement functions were not just seeking out small and diverse business owners out of the goodness of their heart all this time. There was a business case all along.

  • Check out your sources and your resources

We’ve all gotten used to reading the headlines but now is a good time to read past them.  I’m not saying, don’t worry be happy.  I am saying you need to know more not less about what opportunities do still exist for you as a small diverse supplier.

Women Impacting Public Policy – an actual lobbying and advocacy organization that partners with the 501c3s that are skittish when it comes to policy – is holding an event on what the executive orders mean for federal contractors on February 20th.

  • Take care of yourself.

    Meditation is widely believed to help with various mental and physical challenges.  Many meditation adherents and some medical authorities believe that different frequencies of sound have different healing effects on the body. Changing frequencies  can be figurative in terms of cutting through the noise.  It can also refer to a literal changing of frequencies in terms of sound, or even the rate at which you consume information.

My podcast co-host Jared also said during one of our interviews, “We’ll be dealing with this for a while.” Settle in, knuckle down and to the extent that you can as a business owner, stay the course but don’t be afraid to change the frequency.