{"id":446,"date":"2020-11-17T07:39:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-17T07:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.godaddy.com\/ventureforward\/?p=446"},"modified":"2021-06-11T23:25:03","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T23:25:03","slug":"diversity-in-business-strengthens-resilience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.godaddy.com\/research\/diversity-in-business-strengthens-resilience\/","title":{"rendered":"Cities with more diversity have more online microbusinesses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Amber Khan-Robinson, the daughter of the first African American athletic shoe designer in the U.S., has always had entrepreneurship in her blood. So when she was looking for ways to keep her three children from staring at screens all day, she decided to help them \u201cstart a business.\u201d Working at home in Atlanta, they made 85 hibiscus lime popsicles to sell at a festival. Soon, the family was selling hundreds per weekend at events around their city under the name MOKIPOPS<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the pandemic hit, MOKIPOPS, like many neighborhood businesses, was forced to pivot their business to maintain sales. So Khan-Robinson set up a website for online orders. As customers began ticking up, the whole family pulled together to keep MOKIPOPS afloat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe just started delivering,\u201d Khan-Robinson says. She and her husband drives their 10-year-old son to a customer\u2019s address and he takes it from there. \u201cHe runs up, rings the doorbell with his mask on and leaves it at the door,\u201d she says. The next step for her budding e-commerce operation: figuring out how to ship orders in a cost-effective way, which Khan-Robinson calls \u201ca daunting task.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    MOKIPOPS is one of millions of internet-enabled microbusinesses in the United States. These businesses, which are often overlooked by traditional economic surveys, create jobs, reduce unemployment and boost median household income, according to data from Venture Forward<\/a>, a multiyear initiative that looks at the economic impact of 20 million websites registered with GoDaddy. This year, they\u2019ve also helped blunt the economic toll of the pandemic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    More diversity, more microbusinesses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    New data from Venture Forward shows that diverse communities are primed to gain the most from these microbusinesses. Cities and neighborhoods with a higher percentage of foreign-born, African American and Hispanic residents \u2014 like Atlanta, where more than half the population is African American \u2014 tend to have more microbusinesses per 100 people than less diverse ones. And while microbusinesses often represent a supplemental source of income for their owners, minority entrepreneurs are more likely to want to turn them into their main employment, according to a 2,330-person survey conducted by GoDaddy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The upshot: Microbusinesses have the potential to make a positive impact in minority communities, even as they\u2019ve been hit harder than most by the pandemic, both economically and from a public health perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWe should have a more comprehensive policy about how to support small businesses, and particularly small businesses owned by people of color, Asians and other groups that have been marginalized,\u201d says Connie E. Evans, president and CEO of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO)<\/a>, which champions underserved businesses across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Search Venture Forward for data about your community<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Indeed, civic leaders who take steps to harness the potential of microbusinesses can help to revive their local economies. There are \u201cinequities that exist across racial divides in general, but in entrepreneurship specifically,\u201d says Stacy Cline, senior director of corporate social responsibility and sustainability at GoDaddy, who spearheads Empower<\/a>, a philanthropic program designed to support entrepreneurship in underserved communities. By providing these people with the skills required to build their own businesses, \u201cthey can provide for their families and they can give back to their community,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Moving online because of the pandemic<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Consuelo Rosales has worked hard to overcome those inequities. An immigrant from Mexico and mother of three who lives in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and works in nearby Memphis, Tennessee, she spent a decade as a housekeeper. After splitting from an abusive husband three years ago, she started Consuelo\u2019s Cleaning Services<\/a>, relying on support from a community organization that helped her with basic business skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cI was on the verge of giving up. Going online was my only recourse.\u201d<\/p>Consuelo Rosales, Founder of Consuelo\u2019s Cleaning Services<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    By early this year, Rosales had three employees and an office, and was making enough to provide for her children. Then the pandemic hit, customers vanished and she had to lay off her employees. Her preferred way of finding new customers \u2014 knocking on doors \u2014 was out of the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    With the help of the same community organization, the Georgia Micro Enterprise Network<\/a>, Rosales was able to set up a website. By June, she began to get calls from new customers who found her online. First a restaurant she had worked with before, then a homeowner. A few months later, Consuelo\u2019s Cleaning Services has around 30 residential customers and six commercial ones \u2014 and seven employees. Roughly two-thirds of her new business is from people who find her online and the remainder from referrals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cI was on the verge of giving up,\u201d Rosales says. \u201cWith the pandemic, I couldn\u2019t go knocking on doors. People weren\u2019t going to open. Going online was my only recourse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Rosales\u2019 determination and drive are hardly unique. GoDaddy\u2019s survey found that 66% of microbusiness owners<\/a> say their website has helped them adapt during COVID-19. And while about 2 out of every 5 respondents consider themselves fully employed by their microbusiness, many of those who don\u2019t would like to be \u2014 turning what\u2019s essentially a side hustle into a main source of income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Consuelo\u2019s Cleaning Services founder Consuelo Rosales and her family<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    From side hustle to main employment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The survey found that the desire to turn ventures into full-time jobs is especially true among micro entrepreneurs who are African American, women and foreign born:<\/p>\n\n\n\n