From newly-minted and established business owners to White House policymakers, attendees of our Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo are fired up.

During my segment on Warren Ballentine’s nationally-syndicated talk show yesterday I talked about the steady stream of emails, tweets and calls I received describing our event’s game-changing potential. In fact, our conference brought more than 1,200 African American entrepreneurs to Atlanta last week for three days of instruction from brilliant strategic minds, inspiration from top business leaders and induction of new contacts into business networks. It was the only place on the planet you could have found MC Hammer, Angela and Vanessa Simmons, Carol Daughter‘s CEO Lisa Price, Professor Charles Ogletree, former Deputy Commerce Secretary Dennis Hightower, master dealmaker Magnus Greaves, investment powerhouse Eddie Brown, Deputy SBA Administrator Marie Johns and Publisher Earl G. Graves, Sr., to name a few, offering business counsel and camaraderie to attendees ranging from teenpreneurs to BE 100s CEOs.

For me, this gathering represents one of the high spots of my year. As Editor-In-Chief, it’s a gratifying and validating opportunity to meet scores of entrepreneurs who share stories of their trials and triumphs, many of whom thank BLACK ENTERPRISE for serving as their coach and champion. I’m always equally humbled and awed by how so many have built thriving enterprises with creativity and sheer will as their major resources.

As I shared with Warren, our conference offers education and renewal to our staff as much as it does our audience. This year’s theme was aptly-framed “Rethink Business,” which introduced new trends and innovative approaches for the 21st Century economy. Those who attended discovered some valuable lessons. Those who were unable to come to Atlanta can discover what they missed through videos here on BlackEnterprise.com this week. In any event, the following seven tenets I uncovered can place your business on the path to growth and prosperity. 

• Look for sweet spots in emerging industries.

The panels I moderated on the green economy provides a perfect example. My panelists didn’t agree that the sector was “the next big thing,” they told conferees the time to pounce on opportunities is now. For instance, William S. Parrish, Jr., CEO of NobleStrategy, a thriving construction management firm, stressed that African Americans must learn about “green opportunities” and “legislation that is creating a new divide.” A professional with a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accreditation, he said Black firms must embrace sustainability as a means of enhancing their business model, distinguishing themselves from competitors and significantly reducing operating costs. Another panelist Warren Crawley, president and co-founder of Green Grease Inc., identified an exclusive niche. Based on advice from his 16-year-old son to collect cooking grease from residential homes and recycle the substance into biodiesel fuel, he launched a firm that now counts individuals, corporations and governments as clients. So your next big moneymaker may come from that can of bacon grease in your kitchen.

• Follow the new rules of business financing.

You can still find capital to expand your company—but it will cost. That message was delivered loud and clear during the jam-packed session on business financing moderated by Editorial Director Alan Hughes. Terry L. Jones of SyncomVenture Partners (No. 7 on the BE PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS list with $410 million in capital under management), said investors are willing to invest in viable companies with potential to produce huge returns—that is, if business owners are willing to give up more control. And even in this post-recession economy, bank loans are available to entrepreneurs willing to “put some skin in the game,” according to Leonard Walker Jr., Atlanta business banking division manager at Wells Fargo. Such funding, Walker said, may require as much as a 30% down payment though.

• Go digital or die.

Our conference devoted a number of sessions and boot camp drills to web technology and social media. We placed such a strong emphasis on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn because they represent the best tools to reach new markets and target customers. In fact, during Multimedia Editorial Director Sonia Alleyne‘s one-on-one with rapper/entrepreneur MC Hammer, he said he viewed Silicon Valley as “the seat of power” in the “relationship-based economy” and maintains the current environment presents the best opportunity for tech start-ups. Hammer said he was developing an business incubator with Internet entrepreneur Wayne Sutton, another conference speaker, for African American entrepreneurs. Bottom line: Companies that ignore the digital space do so at their own risk.

• Know the terrain when pursuing contracts.

Many Black entrepreneurs miss their destination: gaining lucrative government and corporate assignments. Why? They don’t have the right map to begin with. At our session on doing business with government, Lourdes Martin-Rosa, president of Government Business Solutions, directed entrepreneurs to visit American Express OPEN’s website to access Victory in Procurement (VIP), an educational program designed to help small business owners boost their business as they navigate through the government contracting maze. (American Express Open served as the sponsor for that session.) During another seminar on supplier diversity, conference sponsors Nationwide Insurance and mega-retailer Walmart provided session attendees with a step-by-step process for getting passed the door of corporate purchasing offices: Be specific the products and service you’re offering; know the company’s priorities and supplier standards; and clearly distinguish your company from the pack. Says panelist Leon Richardson, CEO of Southfield, Michigan-based ChemicoMays L.L.C. (No. 88 on the BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE COMPANIES list with $28.5 million in gross revenues), a chemical management services company that serves automotive and pharmaceutical manufacturers: “Don’t use your minority status as your value proposition.”

• You got to be in it to win it.

Entrepreneurship is about taking risks and pursuing every feasible opportunity. Sometimes failure provides the most valuable lessons. For those who dared to be involved with one our major attractions, the Elevator Pitch Competition, they came to grips with that philosophy on a public stage. In the contest, 10 companies battled for a cash prize using their best 60-second business spiel. Competitors included a women’s apparel rental company, a website repair shop, a healthy ice cream producer and a female valet service, among others. The entrepreneurs had to face a tough collection of judges: BLACK ENTERPRISE CEO Earl “Butch” Graves, Jr., attorney and TV personality Star Jones, comedian and radio personality J. Anthony Brown and Magnus Greaves of business start-up financing and consulting firms, The CASHFLOW and 100 Urban Entrepreneurs. Those eliminated by judges gained valuable advice on how to perfect their pitch, critical to engaging investors as well as the opportunity to gain a shot at a capital injection. And as evidenced by this year’s competition, it pays to take calculated risks: our judges selected three entrepreneurs to each receive the $10,000 cash prize and the 8-week mentorship program jointly operated by The CASHFLOW and100 Urban Entrepreneurs.

• Build your business network.

Dennis P. Kimbro, the Clark Atlanta University business school that conducted a seven-year study on millionaires, said the No. 1 stumbling block for Black entrepreneur is not money since two-thirds of the 1.3 million African American concerns borrow less that $10,000 dollars. The problem, he asserted, is “the team building stage, finding like-minded individuals who will give your dream wings.” Solving that equation comes, in part, through solid management. The other aspect is building a solid business network. Our opening keynote speaker framed a primary objective of conferee when he said: “The reason why you got up at 6:00 and showered to get here at 7:00 to make sure that you listened to the speaker at 8:00 is to meet the individual in front of you, the individual behind you, the individual to your left and right. Networking is a critical skill. It’s not who you know, it’s what you know about who you know. People don’t care about you until they realize how much you care about them. It’s not all one sided.”

• Learn to be a hustler.

In achieving entrepreneurial goals, Kimbro took a chapter from an old school text but the message was just as powerful in a new school era: “You got to hustle. Those who make things happen all share this quality. No matter how intelligent or able bodied you may be, if you don’t have a sense of urgency and the need to explore your potential, you will fall short of the mark. Hustle is doing something that everyone else is certain cannot be done. Hustle is getting the customer to say yes after he or she said no. Hustle is believing in yourself when no one else will. Hustle is winning and encouraging others to win. Hustle is heaven if you’re a hustler and hell if you’re not.”

Harvard Professor Charles Ogletree Jr., Ph.D, made an alarming observation in 2004.

I’m talking about the scrub described in the TLC song lyrics: “Sitting on the passenger side of his best friend’s ride, tryin’ to holla at me.” Don’t act like you don’t know who I’m talking about. The scrub they describe is living in his momma’s basement, takes his dates out on the bus or his bike and never has any money. The larger question is, is this term and description applicable to all black folks?

Before you ladies start tripping, I am not just referring to black men. In 2004, while speaking at a Dr. Martin Luther King Holiday event, Harvard Professor Dr. Charles Ogletree Jr. said that “(Blacks held) 1% of the nations wealth in 1865, and 1% now”. In other words, we hold the same percentage of wealth now that we held at the conclusion of slavery! Even if we assume that Ogletree’s stats are a bit off, I would be willing to bet that he isn’t far off. Black people are sitting in the passenger side of American wealth.

You’re thinking: How is this possible? We have improved exponentially. We have Oprah, Bob Johnson, Shaq, and Cosby; how is this wealth disparity possible? Black folks are arguably the descendants of the strongest people to walk the earth, a people who survived that free Caribbean cruise from the west coast of Africa. Black Folks in America have huge attributes like forgiveness, love, innovation, creativity, athleticism, and the list goes on. Black folks have a lot of things—except wealth.

In my financial advisory practice (www.PolarisAdvice.com), I get a front row seat to the insanity. I did an interview for another publication, and the interviewer was asking me why, based on a study, African American’s savings rate was so much lower than the general population. My answer included the disparity in wealth as a major reason, with a few examples. The fact that we generally earn less, require school loans more often, and rarely inherit wealth are huge factors. I did not share the participation in insane behavior with this publication since it is a “majority” publication. I will, however, add insanity as a major factor as I’m addressing the Black Enterprise audience. If you don’t know the definition of insanity, stop reading and ask someone right now. We need to collectively stop acting in an insane manner.

The solution to this insanity is way more than I can discuss here—you’ll have to wait for my book. I will, however, share a few easy ideas.

1. Shop with black-owned businesses for 12 months. It isn’t easy. I did it, and it was the most eye opening business experience of my life. (Also, see the Empowerment Experiment.)
2. Buy as much life insurance as you can afford, and work to end the cycle of not passing wealth on. Make the next millionaires of the next generation.
3. Save money, even if it hurts. Put it in a freezer bag, and throw it in the back part of the freezer where it ices over so that you have to chip it out to get it.

Black folks will stop being scrubs when we realize that wealthy people are wealthy because the have a lot of money, not because they spend a lot of money. A big part of keeping the money is by spending it among ourselves.

Eric D. Grant is a financial advisor with Polaris Wealth Management.  Eric is also an Investment Adviser Representative with ING Financial Partners, member SIPC.  Polaris Wealth Management is not a subsidiary of nor controlled by ING Financial Partners.

Wess Young and Dr. Olivia Hooker are survivors of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 and are featured in the documentary, "Before They Die!" (Source: Marcia Wade)

At the age of six, Hooker recalls being terribly affected by losing everything, particularly, her favorite doll and doll clothes. “It took a long time for me to really get to the point where I could sleep well.”

It took a lot longer for her family to recover financially. While their home was not burned to the ground like most others, her father and grandfather, Hank and Samuel Hooker, owners of one of the most prominent clothing stores in Greenwood, lost more than $100,000 in goods. The men in her family were placed in an internment camp and when they were finally allowed to return home, they found that whatever valuables that weren’t stolen had been destroyed.

Greenwood was plundered when a white mob, angry about the alleged molestation of a white girl by a black boy, descended upon the town’s black inhabitants overnight. When the sun rose on June 1, 1921, more than 300 black residents were dead or missing, and almost the entire community was burned to the ground. The 10,000 residents in the community were scattered across the country.

Hooker’s family moved to Topeka, Kansas, and the former professor, now 94, who remembers finding artillery shells in the dresser drawers, says she refused to attend school because she didn’t want anyone teaching her that didn’t look like her. “It was like having everything removed as if we had gone to another planet,” she says.

Decades later, Hooker, now a resident of Greenberg, New York, and two other survivors, Otis Clark, 105, of Seattle, Washington, and Wess Young, 92, of Tulsa, attended the screening of Before They Die!, a documentary detailing the accounts of several survivors and Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree, who unsuccessfully petitioned the courts of Oklahoma and later the Supreme Court for reparations. Ogletree assembled a team of prominent attorneys that included Johnny Cochran and Adjoin A. Aiyetoro, a longtime activist and legal counsel for the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America.

Otis Clark (seen here with his granddaughter Star Williams) is the oldest survivor of the Tulsa Race Riots at age 105.

“My law career has been put on hold, and I haven’t really worked because  I’ve been obsessed and committed to this process. But it has been a complete labor of love,” says Turner before the screening of Before They Die, which cost about $930,000 to make.

With the help of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC), a membership organization that represents the most senior African American corporate executives in Fortune 500 companies, Turner was able to raise $1 million and take the survivors around the country to tell their stories at screenings.

Within 72 hours after deciding to help put on a screening of the movie in New York, Westina Matthews Shatteen, a member of the ELC and managing director at Merrill Lynch, convinced American Express, JPMorgan Chase, the Bank of New York Mellon, the New York Stock Exchange, Deloitte & Touche, and Merrill Lynch to underwrite the screening at the Times Center earlier this week. The ELC is planning to finance several more screenings.

Turner also received help from his cousin, Denise Clement, who produced the film and interviewed 22 survivors from across the country, including Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, New York, California, and Virginia. When the project started in 2003, there were 125 survivors were still living. Now there are about 65, she says.

“Our efforts with the film are to do what the government has not done, and that is to find a way to get reparations for them before they die,” Clement says. “The people in Rosewood, Florida, [an African American town where a massacre occurred in 1923], Japanese Americans who were in interned during World War II, victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, and families and victims of Sept.11 have all been compensated. The only people who have not been compensated were the survivors of Tulsa 1921.”

Greenwood had been extremely prosperous, and because of segregation, the community was totally self-contained. The community had black-owned doctors’ and lawyers’ offices, movie theaters, hotels, two hospitals, and several schools. “Once the dollar came into the community, it stayed in the community multiple times before going back out,” Clement says. “Blacks were allowed to work in white Tulsa, but they were not allowed to live in white Tulsa. So they brought all of their salaries back to the community and that is where it stayed.”

The riot started when a gun went off after several black veterans of World War I tried to protect the 19-year-old boy accused of molestation. An angry crowd of more than 1,000 white Tulsans clamored for the sheriff to release the boy so that they could lynch him. After the shot went off, the sheriff deputized the crowd, which then began shooting black people and looting houses.

“In order to cover up the fact that they were looting, they started burning houses. But they were burning houses knowing that there were people in the houses,” says Clement, who described photographs of charred bodies lying in the streets. “There are panoramic photos that show block after block of destruction. Houses were burned to the ground and the only thing left standing is the chimney. The photographs look like a war zone. Nobody denies that the event takes place, but for about 70 years nobody really talked about it.”

To make matters worse, after the riots, black Tulsans filed more than 100 lawsuits in 1921, but the opinion of a grand jury ruled that the victims caused the riot so whatever destruction occurred was their fault. As a result, insurance claims were all denied, and the victims were told they brought it upon themselves.

John Rogers, CEO of Ariel Capital Management, was a significant financial contributor to the film and appeared in the movie. His great-grand father owned the Stratford Hotel, which was destroyed after the riots in Greenwood. “I can imagine he was never quite the same,” says Rogers. “[I think] he lost some of his confidence and his entrepreneurial spirit.”

Today, Hooker says she thinks it is important for people to know that in the United States, these kinds of things can happen. “The people who were supposed to protect [us] did not,” Hooker says.

Otis Clark, who was 18 at the time, hopes that the film will “help us realize that we can do better now than we did then.” That hope has yet to be fulfilled.

In 1999, the Tulsa Race Riot Commission looked at tens of thousands of documents related to the riot to verify stories and gather information that had not been revealed since 1921. In 2001, they issued findings that the survivors should get reparations and that there should be a memorial and a scholarship set up for the descendants for the survivors.

So far, in addition to not receiving any reparations, the survivors have not received an apology from the State of Oklahoma or any U.S. president. The movie has helped raise $100,000 at a screening in Oklahoma, and garner an apology from the current Tulsa mayor, Kathy Taylor, but the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the case in 2005.

“The movie is necessary for the rest of the world to see what the great American flag stand for,” says 92-year-old Wess Young, who was 4 years old when the riot took place. “It does not protect all.”