We recently connected with Bria Hash and have shared our conversation below.

Bria, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

When I started my business in 2016 as a virtual assistant nobody in the space was targeting Black women in business. Yet, I was curious because I’d just spent a significant amount of time and energy that summer in my hometown Roanoke VA pulling together a physical list of black-owned businesses. Putting things into context, 2016 was a turning point socially and economically for us all. During this project, I heard firsthand the needs and gaps in black-owned businesses so it was a no-brainer for me to consider focusing on this demographic.

I went to my virtual assistant business coach & she told me flat out not to do that. “Do not focus on black women in business they don’t buy and you will limit yourself.” These were her words. She was not trying to be malicious she just didn’t have the same perspective I did.

Luckily, I was a facts-driven person. I’d already been doing a significant amount of research so I knew black women were the fastest growing entrepreneurial group. I went with my gut and although it was initially unpopular to be that direct with a target audience in the virtual assistant industry I stood by my decision.

At first, people were shocked to hear how boldly I proclaimed “I serve black women in business”.
They would often aim to broaden the conversation by saying “She serves minority women in business”. This would happen on podcasts, at speaking engagements, & anytime someone else was in control of the narrative.

I would respond by letting them know again “I serve black women in business”. Not because I didn’t take clients from other groups or to be exclusionary. I was creating a needed space to respond to the cultural, social, and economic needs of this specific group which required focus, strategy, and precision.

In less than 5 years I went from working as a virtual assistant making $18.50/hr to running a multi 6 figure online education company.

In the middle, I released 200+ online masterclasses & 8 full suite courses and programs that have gone beyond the simple target audience but have tapped into what I call the Highest Aligned Customer.

In 2020 I released my flagship program Black Woman Sales Academy a comprehensive sales skills academy designed to help service providers structure their businesses to earn 6 figures and beyond. It bought in 6 figures in less than 90 days.

Customers told me “Bria it feels like you’re reading my mind– how did you know I needed this?”

They weren’t saying it by chance. They were saying it because it was my intention to serve them in a way no one ever intended to serve them before.

The typical voices in the sales industry were missing what it really meant for Black women to be responsible for driving a company’s revenue. They needed the skills but they also needed cultural context.

My team and I have spent countless hours pulling together the DNA or (Desires, Needs & Aspirations) of our specific audience. We’d learn about things as specific as what they drove, what they packed for lunch, the type of wall plugs they had in their home or if they had wall plugs at all.

We learned about their homelife, their upbringing, their thought process, habits and behaviors.

This helped us to learn their heartbeat & in turn helped us to scale our business around this specific community.

As I scaled my business I not only gained money but I continued to tap into the life of my dreams by serving people that I loved and wanted to work with.

If I could leave the readers with only a few things I’d like them to know that scaling to scale is overrated. Scaling with intention is the way to go. They can hit their revenue goals while following their true north star.

References “black women fastest growing entrepreneurial group”
https://www.fastcompany.com/90730716/corporate-america-spawned-the-fastest-growing-group-of-entrepreneurs-black-women
https://www.jpmorgan.com/wealth-management/wealth-partners/insights/black-women-are-the-fastest-growing-group-of-entrepreneurs-but-the-job-isnt-easy

Bria, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

From virtual assistant to a multi-six-figure business owner, Bria Hash has provided business acceleration resources to thousands of business owners, and has helped 200+ entrepreneurs to successfully transition into full-time entrepreneurship.

As an expert in her self-coined niche, Behavior Driven Sales, Bria uses her degree in Psychology and extensive experience as a classically trained, sales strategist to help her clients to deploy custom and timeless client acquisition strategies to serve more people, more quickly and in return increase the bottom line and longevity of business.

In 2019, Bria released her debut book, The Melanin Marketer, to help the 20- something aspiring entrepreneur navigate the journey of ownership and understand the unique experiences of the African American business owner. Through her work, Bria is doing her part to transform the landscape of the black entrepreneurial community, empowering African Americans to create a financial legacy through business ownership that will have a resounding impact for generations to come. Her latest program, the Black Woman Sales Academy, is shaking the landscape and breaking barriers in an industry that has ignored the needs and culture of black women for far too long. Bria continues to share her message of vision, integrity, intention, and sales on her platforms and in all of her endeavors.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

When I started in business I charged $18.50/hr as a virtual assistant. Along the way, I refined my strategic skills so that I could help my clients launch products successfully. One of the last clients I worked with as a virtual assistant paid me $40/hr.

I single-handedly created an event that turned into a book and a digital program. On release day it pulled in $160,000. This was only the beginning of her earnings. The program is still running today & has generated close to $600,000.

I was paid $3,500 for a program that I strategized, structured and deployed.

That was the moment I learned 2 things:
-People don’t pay you what you deserve, they pay you what you request.
-Payment is an exchange of value, not a penalty to the other person.

My mature mind now knows that payment for my services is not a dig or inconvenience to anyone else. It is an exchange that guarantees I can show up to do my best work. I teach a full lesson in my academy about how Pricing Keeps The Promise & I stand by this now knowing that fair pricing is less about charging someone as little as possible and more about ensuring that they get what they expect when they buy.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I am going to do my best to share actual numbers here. I think it’s important for small, start-up businesses to see the reality of funding as a founder.

I started my business with a $500 paycheck from my last job & $10,000 personal credit card line.
I used that money to produce my first photoshoot, pay for a business course, & deploy my website.

I got my first client in 30 days using the sales techniques I’d learned from selling insurance. Cash flow began pretty early in my business & although I was bringing in revenue I soon found out that when you start a business you pretty much start at 0.

Traditional banks were very slow to lend to my business. They required 2 years of tax returns and P&L sheets.

I didn’t have that but I was doing big things that required capital.

One of my largest projects, the release of my book The Melanin Marketer required capital to produce & print.

I went to the bank I had a relationship with and took out a personal loan of around $18,000 to fund the business.

They wouldn’t lend me money to my business but they would lend money to me. I took it.

I learned a lesson from this. It showed me that relationships with financial institutions matter sometimes above revenue so I moved all of my payments in the business to come through one processor.

After seeing how much revenue and how often I was paid (daily) it wasn’t long before they began to offer me working capital lines.

These are still one of my favorite types of business funding because they are offered based on the company’s actual revenue processed through the platform & they typically have low to no origination fees and are paid back through each transaction vs big monthly payments.

My company has now grown to also receive family & friends start-up funding.

I have shown a track record of reliability, trust, and willingness to put up my own capital as needed.

Within 5 years I received about $110,000 in outside capital which helped me to run major projects and sustain the business during restructuring.

Capital is one of the greatest assets any business can have. Don’t be afraid of it, just know what works best for you.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.blackwomansalesacademy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briahash/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/virtual4ourty/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briahash/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BriaHash

Image Credits
Jennifer Hayward