Changing habits is hard because people get comfortable in their ways. We talked about this stagnation in a previous blog post. However, you want to make change and are determined to allocate more of your hard-earned money to Black Businesses. So where do we start and how do we make this change without overwhelming ourselves. I will outline some easy steps to get you started down the path of Buying Black.
Inventory current Black Business spending
The first step is to take an inventory of your current monthly spending. Taking inventory of your current spending is important because this enables you to establish a baseline for your Buying Black Program or BBP. By establishing a BBP baseline you will be able to establish goals, uncover opportunities and track progress to ensure you meet your goals.
The easiest way to do this is to review your primary bank account over a two-to-three-month period. Create a spreadsheet that tracks which retailers, businesses or restaurants that you frequent. Place these businesses into two categories: Black owned or Non-Black owned. Then sum the total of dollars spent in a month at a Black Owned business and divide that by your monthly paycheck. This will tell you what percent of your income is spent with Black owned businesses.
Identify Areas for Improvement
Now that you’ve established your BBP baseline we can move to step two. Identify areas of improvement that will be easy for you to accomplish. For instance, let’s assume that in your BBP analysis you notice that you spend a lot of money at restaurants and less than 1% of that is going to Black Owned businesses. So that is an easy fix, break free from routine, find a Black owned restaurant and schedule time to go visit it.
Or look in your pantry or bathroom and identify items that you purchase on a regular or monthly basis. Then choose one or two products that you could swap out very easily. Once you identify those items you can begin the process to find alternatives for them.
Find Black Owned Business or Products in your area
The next step is to identify a local retailer or business that can provide the product that you want to replace. To do that, you should probably begin your search with some
Black Business Directories. These directories are good for showcasing community-based businesses, owned by Black people that can provide the good or service that you are looking for. One well known Black Business Directory is called Official Black Wall street. This directory is nationwide and provides the user the ability to search for businesses by state and city. This website also has a friendly app that boasts 1.6 million users. So you will be able to find what you need there.
There are also local Black business directories that may help you on your journey like the Houston Black Pages, Virginia Black Business Directory, or Cocoapreneur which serves Pittsburgh. Lastly, WebuyBlack is the largest on-line marketplace for Black owned products. You should be able to find the product that you’re looking for on that site.
Another good place to find black owned products is at your local retailer like Wal-Mart, Target or Ulta Beauty. If you go to their websites and type black owned products will come to a site like this.
Make Purchase and enjoy your product
Now you are ready for the final step. Purchase and enjoy the product. When starting your BBP it is important to not try to save the entire Black race with your purchases. Start with one product and slowly, overtime begin to add more products. If you find this article helpful please provide feedback in the BLK DYMND comment section.
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