99.9% of all businesses in the U.S. qualifying as small businesses and yet 34% of them are still closed due to COVID-19. How can they break past this statistic and stay afloat? 

The key may be to structuring their businesses properly and increasing fundability, and that’s where Alleah Erica Clarke comes in. As a business strategist and managing consultant at AJ Cultured, Alleah Erica Clarke is an active proponent of creating businesses that are built to last.  Last year’s pandemic fueled her desire to empower small business owners when she heard that over 40% of black-owned businesses closed and learned the top challenges they face are that they lack alot of the necessary resources to stay afloat.

“We all know we can work hard, but do we have the business structure that we can tap into when we need to?” Clarke goes on to say, “Unfortunately many small businesses were unable to take advantage of the PPE loans and other programs that could have sustained them in 2020. We help establish that type of business structure so businesses of any size can access capital quickly.” 

Running a small business requires entrepreneurs to cover so many areas from finding customers, to branding. This leads to many entrepreneurs working in their business instead of on their businesses, so they have the capital to reinvest into outsourcing and acquiring necessary resources and that’s the purpose of Alleah’s coaching program, to help entrepreneurs focus on the fundability of their business. Alleah shows clients how to build their personal and business credit in just 3-6 months ensuring that the business owners she works with are proactive and not reactive.  Her business model is different, her goal is not to work with clients long term, she structures a plan for them to outgrow her program and move on and make their next move. 

“It’s not an overnight process, but it gives us enough time to build the organization, build personal credit quick, build business credit, and also build a client sheet.” 

The business strategy and approach Alleah provides is a roadmap to building a sustainable, pandemic-proof business, because by structuring your business properly, she says, businesses can then be afforded the opportunity to access funding when they need it.   

Once a business strengthens their personal credit and builds business credit, they have the option to utilize their own business credit to give loans to themselves so that they can continue to keep their business open and operational, while “leveraging other people’s money.” In this new era of entrepreneurship, Alleah teaches small business owners that being in business today and into the future will require a resilient, flexible and durable approach. 

“The flexibility of being an entrepreneur is to be able to think on your feet, think creatively, problem solve, and pivot when necessary.” 

So, what’s the secret to becoming pandemic proof? “Become fundable” says Clarke. 

 To learn more about Alleah Erica Clarke, please visit www.sociatap.com/culturedcreditcoach/.