We were lucky to catch up with Jenelle Simone Valle recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jenelle Simone , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I started Shop-BOB as a way to help promote my friends since I didn’t always have money to buy their products or services but felt I could still support them by marketing them. Businesses I shared through Shop-BOB were seeing an increase in sales and visitors to their websites. In my first month, I had over 3,000 visitors and I saw potential to expand my network to use this engagement to build awareness, however, I did not want to create just another business directory for Black and Latinx owners. In digging deeper to find my purpose in the market, I didn’t realize that my path was already being paved for me while working as a regional manager raising funds for non-profits. I traveled city to city raising millions of dollars for national organizations and local storefronts to help them meet their goals to fulfill their mission. What I noticed was who wasn’t in the room. A lot of times, I was the only woman and even further, the only person of color. I often thought, if only we can do this for organizations in our communities, it would greatly help local organizations at home.
The pandemic shifted my entire life. I lost my job as a top Senior Regional Manager as all public events were now cancelled and I remember my first reaction wasn’t to feel sad about losing my job. It was the question “How will these organizations raise the money needed to fund their work when we need them now more than ever?”. Suddenly my vision for Shop-BOB took a quantum leap merging my experience in fundraising and passion to help businesses into a platform that funds nonprofits through partnerships with Black and Latinx businesses.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
As a child, I was always called to the floor to show off my latest dance moves during family get-togethers and I was never short of words when meeting strangers in the street. Earning my degree in Broadcasting, I have worked my way into major radio stations such as, SiriusXM Heart&Soul, Shade45, HOT97, WBLS-FM, WLIB-AM, KISS-FM, and as an actress, held roles in Law & Order: Organized Crime, MANIFEST, Marvel’s Jessica Jones, numerous films and commercials.
All of these opportunities have allowed me to perfect my craft of storytelling. I believe now more than ever people are no longer interested in just a transaction; they are looking for a connection to your brand. They want to learn your story to engage on a deeper level. Companies can no longer hide behind a fancy logo; society wants to see the face behind the brand. Shop-BOB lifts the veil and allows both organizations and businesses to tell their story to make a genuine connection with their target audience. No more gimmicks or fancy marketing, just true authentic transparency; that is what Shop-BOB brings to everyone.
Not only are we a fundraising platform for nonprofits, we also have launched our own 501(c)(3) Shop-BOB Cares. Our mission is to support programs servicing communities of color. Shop-BOB Cares is dedicated to supporting extraordinary individuals that are making an impact in their local communities, connecting them with our network of businesses and/or providing them with micro grants to allow them to focus on their mission.
I founded both Shop-BOB and Shop-BOB Cares to be a helping space for our communities no matter what level a business or organization operates. Everyone needs support and we are building an ecosystem that truly distributes wealth and help.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Theodore Roosevelt said “comparison is the thief of joy”. All of my life, I believed that you never tell anyone what you’re cooking in the kitchen until you are ready to serve it to the table. This idea may prevent thieves from stealing your recipe but, in the end, I am learning that they can never replicate your secret sauce. This mentality hindered my growth because I doubted my abilities as I watched competitors flourish and scale up. I was hard on myself adding on the pressure of timing as validation to prove my worth to everyone. “I’ll show them” was my internal dialogue for years as I anxiously tried to work and rework business plans while watching my competitors take what I’ve done on social media and successfully add it to their branding. The difference between me and them was that they had a team and I was doing it all alone.
Recently I attended a Tech Conference (Black Women Talk Tech) and during a workshop, Andrea Donkor (Vice President, Regulatory Relations at PayPal) said that “our greatest superpower is asking for help.” This was a lightbulb moment for me that I didn’t expect to trigger and yet activate me at the same time. I was so afraid of allowing anyone to see me as someone without having all the answers. How do I present myself as a perfect market fit for my company if I couldn’t do it all on my own? During the same Tech Conference, Carla Harris (Senior Client Advisor at Morgan Stanley) said “there’s a difference between a Founder and a CEO”. The CEO is the person who actively cultivates relationships and uses their network to strategize and execute a plan to maintain and scale a company. You can’t utilize a network without asking or requesting assistance. This is the lesson that I had to unlearn. Your net worth is your network. Go through your phone, social media and emails to find people that can help you strategize and execute a plan. Don’t worry about the ones who may decline the offer to meet. Open yourself up to the opportunity to connect with people to help you succeed.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
I am currently raising capital for my business. I have applied to accelerators, incubators, pitch competitions, micro grants – you name it! I have received more rejection letters than I can count. I laugh when I see eligibility requirements for an early stage startup and they ask for the company to already have almost a million in sales just for the possibility to apply for the opportunity to receive a $5,000 award and in exchange for a percentage in equity no less! I’ve taken course after course to learn how to create a pitch deck, submit grant applications, etc… but at the end of the day, my business still has monthly expenses to take care of to remain open.
I started by creating a crowdfunding campaign to help raise in a “Friends and Family” round of investing, and as I am super grateful for every dollar donated by my amazing family and hardworking friends, it doesn’t compare to others that are able to raise 6 and 7 figures with just a drawing on a bar napkin and a handshake. As the Founder and CEO, I have to make difficult decisions and decided to get a third job to bootstrap my company. My main job is my business to build traction and increase organic awareness. My day to day job helps to care for my home and essentials but my third job is solely to build the bank account of my company until I am fully profitable.
I’ve also created educational and business development programs that are inline with the vision plan and mission statement of my company and have reached out for corporate sponsorships and/or donations. I have recently secured our first corporate donor and will be using that as leverage to secure others.
We often think there is only one way to raise capital; however, with bootstrapping, the possibilities are endless. We talk about multiple streams of income and this same thought should be applied to fundraising. When one method is working, increase your attention and energy to that method. We often make the mistake of exerting all of our time to the method with potential rather than nurturing the opportunity that is actually working in our favor.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shop-bob.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopbob_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopbobs
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shop-bob/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/shopbob_
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKLuBXjHZtheCbVRJGwHIng
- Other: Shop-BOB Cares – 501(c)(3) organization https://www.shop-bob.com/shopbobcares
Image Credits
Created by Jarrod