By Yvette N. Harris
(Source MiamiTimes)
During Women’s Small Business Month, there will be plenty of conversations about what women entrepreneurs need to succeed: access to capital, contracts, customers, visibility and opportunities to grow.
For Black women entrepreneurs, those conversations are especially important.
We know what it means to create opportunities for ourselves, build businesses around our talents and ideas and keep moving forward even when access, resources and relationships are not always equal.
But as we talk about growing our businesses, I believe there is another conversation Black women need to have:
Where are we on our own calendars?
As a Black woman entrepreneur, publicist, community advocate and mother of a high school senior, much of my life is spent pouring into other people — clients, organizations, community initiatives, my daughter and the business I have spent years building.
Like so many Black women I know, I am accustomed to being the person who gets things done.
We show up. We solve problems. We take care of our clients, families and communities. We make the call, meet the deadline, organize the event, support the cause and figure out what needs to happen next.
There is pride in that.
But there also has to be room for us.
I have become much more intentional about choosing simplicity, honoring my boundaries and making space for my own ideas, creativity, joy and needs.
That is how Creative Day came about.
Mine is Wednesday.
I try not to schedule work meetings. After dropping my daughter off at school, I might take a pool exercise class, have breakfast somewhere, work on my website, set new goals, plan a trip or give myself space to think.
Sometimes I get acupuncture, a massage or a chiropractic adjustment. Sometimes I sit on my balcony and breathe. Sometimes I head to the beach.
And some Wednesdays, Creative Day doesn’t happen at all.
The calendar fills up with Zoom meetings, interviews, client commitments and deadlines. That’s the reality of running a business, raising a teenager and being active in my community.
But even when Wednesday doesn’t cooperate, the idea of Creative Day has changed something for me.
On Tuesday afternoon, I can think, “Tomorrow is my Creative Day,” and immediately feel a little lighter.
It has reminded me of something I believe more Black women entrepreneurs need to permit ourselves to embrace:
Joy cannot always be what we squeeze into the spaces left over after the work is done. It has to become part of the landscape.
Because the work is never completely done.
There will always be another email, another client need, another opportunity, another deadline and another goal.
And for many Black women in business, there can be an additional pressure to keep proving ourselves to work harder, be prepared, deliver and keep going.
But success should not require us to disappear from our own lives.
I have spent more than 25 years building my career and my business. At this stage, I am not only thinking about growth; I am thinking about how I want to grow.
I want to strengthen what I have built. I want to pursue new opportunities, explore new ideas and continue evolving as an entrepreneur.
But I also want a life that gives me peace, joy and room to breathe.
Those goals do not have to compete.
In fact, creating space for ourselves may be one of the smartest things we can do for our businesses. When we have room to think, dream and step outside the demands of the day, we can see our businesses and ourselves differently.
So during Women’s Small Business Month, as we advocate for greater access to capital, contracts, resources and opportunities for Black women entrepreneurs, let’s make room for another measure of success.
Let’s ask ourselves:
Am I creating a business that supports the life I want, or am I creating a life that revolves entirely around my business?
For me, the answer starts with Wednesdays. Even when Wednesday doesn’t cooperate.
Because after years of building something I am proud of, I am learning that the next chapter isn’t simply about doing more. It’s about being intentional about what I want more of.
More creativity. More possibility. More peace. More joy. And yes, more room for me.
