Deanna “Dede” Sutton – Successful.Sista.Profiles

Deanna “Dede” Sutton
Clutch Magazine and Brown Fashionista Founder
Sutton Media
View more Successful Sista Profiles
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URL: www.clutchmagonline.com

Deanna “Dede” Sutton’s Bio:
Deanna Sutton is the founder and creative/editorial director of Sutton Media. Sutton Media is the publisher of Clutch Magazine and Brown Fashionista. Since its relaunch last April, Clutch Magazine has become one of the leading online magazines for multicultural women ages 18-34. With a passion for all things social media, Deanna recognizes the power and opportunity that the new media platform presents. At Sutton Media, Deanna is responsible for business development, marketing initiatives, and editorial and creative direction. Prior to launching Sutton Media, Deanna worked as an integrated marketing professional where she assisted in media relations, account management and other client activities. Some of her accounts included Sara Lee, Kroger, Starbucks, Wal-Mart, and Philips Consumer Electronics.

Successful Sista Survey
Success Stories and experiences of Business Women that we all can relate to and learn from.

Did you always want to be a Business Woman?
Business woman…Yes. Business owner…No. I always thought I wanted to work in a top marketing/pr agency handling big accounts and when I finally reached that goal I realized it was not what I wanted at all. I am a very creative person, so in the corporate world I felt I wasn’t getting my creativity or ideas out. Also, I am somewhat of a nerd and I always over research and dabble in all types of industries, so many times in my career I felt there were individuals over me that didn’t have the knowledge and know how that I had and that was very frustrating. I hated being locked in a title, especially when you are and know so much more.

How would you describe your experience as a Black Entrepreneur?
I would say great! Mainly, because I come from a family of entrepreneurs. All my life my Mother and Father owned real estate and contracting business on top of working full time for GM. So, I always witnessed them working hard and I think that rubbed off on me. Don’t get it twisted this is the hardest job I ever had, but I have a plan and I plan on seeing it out to the end.

Looking back on your business decisions, is there anything that you would have done differently?
Well when Clutch first started as a print magazine I was 22 — so there were probably a couple, but I must say I researched and planned out Clutch for two years before I made any moves and that is one of the smartest things I have ever did. When I decided to relaunch Clutch as a online magazine a couple years later, I took two more years to research and learn the online game before jumping back in.

Did you have any formal business training? Do you think this is important to be successful?
If you mean by “formal” being college educated (B.S. in Marketing) – Yes. Honestly, I’m split on this, mainly due to me believing with God anybody can be successful, but I will say my education provided a blueprint to my current and future success. If you have no knowledge of all the aspects of business it can be very hard. You must understand everything that goes into running a business, if you don’t you will get stuck and getting stuck for lots of people means the end.

What funding sources have worked for you?
I will say that I am very blessed to have a very supportive family. Also, I worked in corporate America until I got to a point where I could be able to do Clutch full-time. I went out on faith and I was rewarded.

I do want to mention, that new entrepreneurs should be very realistic when going into business. I remember when I first started I was stuck on the idea that a Venture Capitalist or an Angel Investor was going to scoop in and fund me and as we all know that rarely happens. Also, I was hearing about business loan this and grant that….that turned out to be untrue in my case.

I think entrepreneurs should have a growing business that is already functioning before approaching anyone for funding. It seems like lots of people think “oh…let me get a business plan and I should be able to get something”….no…that rarely happens. You need to depend on you and your product and build it and if it’s good and serves an untapped niche or thirst then somebody will notice.

How has family/friend support financially or otherwise affected your business efforts?
It’s been all positive. My family supported me financially for the first 3-4 months of business. But, I saved up for years before relaunching Clutch. My family and friends know how hard I work on Clutch and my other upcoming projects and I couldn’t ask for a better support system. But, for those without a support system – I say keep it moving – do not let others stop you for what you feel you are chosen to do. Point. Blank. Period.

How do you work on making your business grow?
I am a social media junkie, as well as a seasoned Marketing/PR executive, so being able to execute tools from both definitely help.

What words of wisdom can you share with other business women?
I have a few….

– Be Smart. Please research for at least 6 months before starting a business. In that 6 months, read up on the industry, learn your target inside and out, execute surveys, put together some type of business plan and marketing plan (online and offline) before you move forward. Also, you don’t need to pay thousands of dollars for a business plan or marketing plan — check out sites like www.bplans.com and mplans.com and look at their sample plans to get an idea of what you need to know and understand.

– Get a mentor. I am blessed to have very successful mentors from lots of backgrounds that serve as advisors and friends. They always listen to my problems and help me come to a smart solution. They also guide me in business decisions and are constantly grooming me for the big leagues. When looking for a mentor please make sure they have some type of knowledge in the field of business you are pursing. You can also check out www.score.org for potential mentors.

– Don’t concentrate so much on the identity of your business. One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone who wants to start a business focuses so much on logos/business cards for their company. Yes, a logo is important, but concentrate on learning and researching your business before worrying or spending money to get a logo produced. It’s not smart and most of the time, you will end up changing the name once of twice – hence waisting money and time.

- Be original. Don’t copy – be original… be you! Don’t copy another entrepreneurs style, bring something new to the table — it will be rewarded and appreciated.

- If you are a online business….you must understand Social Media and Marketing. It’s a must. Trends in social media, advertising, design, SEO, are all required to know if you are going to be successful.

- Network and attend business seminars and local funding meetups. Networking is very important, but you must make sure you are in the right networking circle. Also, attend VC and Angel meetups – it’s a big eye opener on how funding works and what investors look for in an entrepreneur/company. Note: Many VC’s and Angels will tell you they do not fund companies that are not located in their local area*

– Know that success that doesn’t come easy or fast, it can take years before your desired success comes to fruition.

– Believe in yourself. If you don’t..nobody else will.

Black Women Support Each Other

Greetings!

This is Lashanda Henry, founder of multiple shades of you online – the eCommunity for positive people of color (www.msoyonline.com). I wanted to take a moment to invite you to learn about and share the following eCommunity Groups (within the msoy network) designed with Women of Color in mind. If you are already aware of these services, feel free to share them with your friends and associates.

Black Business Women Online
http://sistapreneurs.ning.com
Almost 2000 members and growing, BBWO is the place for African American Women Entrepreneurs and Black Business Women interested in marketing, sharing, and growing their business. Advice, Sell, Support – that is what BBWO is all about. Members can create pages, chat, add photos, events, and more. Best of all, the group is free to join and easy to use.

The Black Moms Club
http://blackmomsclub.ning.com/
Creating a space for moms of Color in need of fellowship and support, the Black Moms Club is a Social Community all about the African American family. BMC is a place for Black Moms, Women, Single Parents, and Mothers of Color to talk about children, teens, fathers, love, work, education and everything in between. With almost 1000 members to date, the Black Moms Club gets bigger and better every day.

The Black Girl Click Ad Network
http://www.blackgirlclick.com/adnetwork_links/
The Black Girl Click Advertising Network was created to offer Black Entrepreneurs and Women In Business the opportunity to promote their businesses and web projects on websites designs specifically for Women of Color.

What Black Women Think
http://www.msoyonline.com/blackwomen.php
What Black Women Think is both an Online Video Showcase and growing eCommunity for Black Women to highlight our documentaries and video clips. As well as explore the issues that Black Women face in an effort to redefine the Black Woman on our terms.

Black Writers Connect
http://blackwriters.ning.com
A group for African American writers, authors, self publishers, publishers, and book club leaders. A place for both writers and book lovers of color to connect, share experiences, work, advice and more.

Sistas Making Money On Myspace
http://www.myspace.com/sistas_makin_money
A Growing Myspace Friends Circle Created to Highlight Online resources and communities for women entrepreneurs. Moreover, this friends circle is a great point of reference for sisters with promotional myspace pages, interested in finding new people with similar interests to add to their own myspace friends lists.

Hopefully, one or all of these groups are of interest to you.
Enjoy. Exchange. Excel.

Each One Reach One
www.msoyonline.com
lhenry

Turning Your Craft into Cash – HomeBased Business Ideas

From eBook – Seeking Support: A Guide for Single Black Mothers

Creating websites isn’t the only way to make money online. If you love being creative, from writing stories to sewing dresses, here are a few online resources that can help you turn your craft into a lucrative online business.

Writers
If you enjoy writing consider starting your own online journal, also known as a blog. Whether for fun, or as a profession, many online viewers create blogs and use them to generate extra income by add pay-per-click advertisements like Google Adsense Ads to their page. Starting a blog requires no money when you use free blog sites like blogger.com, wordpress, or live journal. Just remember to write about something you are interested in or are an expert at. You just might find you generate a group of readers who are interested in what you have to say. If you already have a blog and want to know how to generate more income here are a few links to review:

• Can I really Make Money using Adense?
• How Much Do Bloggers Earn Blogging?
• The Key to Keywords: Optimizing Your Adsense Campaign

Self-publishing, turning your writing into actual books, is also very popular. To learn more about self-publishing your work visit lulu.com, iUnverse.com, or google “self-publishing” / “print on demand services”. You should also read my articles:

• Self Published – Writing Your Own Book
• The Secret to Creating Your Own eBook

If you enjoy writing, but aren’t necessarily interested in creating a book. Consider starting a career in writing articles. Here are a few informative posts to review:

• Make Money Writing Articles Online
• 23 Places to find freelance writing jobs and freelance blogging jobs

Craft Creators, Knitters, and Fashion Designers
If you enjoy creating handmade clothing, jewelry, bags or accessories consider selling your products online. Many women sell their designs on etsy.com, an online eStore for handmade goods. You can also sell or promote your products on popular sites like ebay.com, amazon.com, thenext.com, and stumbleupon.com. And you can also setup a myspace.com page to promote your products, or design your own website and take your online business a step further.

Interested in Selling Online in General?
There is always someone online looking for something to buy, even if its used. As a matter of fact, things like ‘used baby clothes’ sell very well online. If you have a few things new, or old that you think you can turn into extra cash, visit online vendor hotspots like izania.com, ebay.com, amazon.com, or craigslist.com. Most of these sites allow you to post your products for free or for a small fee.

If you don’t have products to sell, that’s alright. Did you know that you can join the Amazon Associates program on amazon.com and make a profit by selling amazon goods. Through amazon associates you can easily customize and create your own store, filling it with the product themes that interest you. For every profit sold through your site, amazon gives you a percentage of the profit.

If you always envisioned opening your own store, perhaps getting into a franchise, then visit one of the following sites:

• Black Enterprise Franchise Center
• Top Franchise Companies – Entrepreneur Magazine

Photographers, Artists, and Graphic Designers
Whether you are a freelance photographer or one who draws in their spare time, you too can earn some extra income by selling your photos on istockphoto.com, an amazing site for affordable and very professional stock photography. As a web developer and designer, I purchase pictures from istockphoto all the time. What makes this site so great is that the images are submitted by artists like yourself, who get a commission for every sale. If you browse through the artists, you’ll see that some images are quite popular. If they’ve sold one image for about $3.00/image at over 200 downloads, you can imagine how much earning potential this site has to offer.

There is also decent money to be made in graphics design for entrepreneurs and small business owners interested in flyers, book covers, graphic banners, websites, or logos. From time to time I develop websites and/or graphic banners for extra income.

Musicians, Singers, Small Record Labels
Quite a few singers have found their claim to fame by creating their own music and selling it on line. Artists and musicians generally use sites like cdbaby, youtube, and myspace to gain a strong internet presence, but here are a few other links for those interested in making money in music entertainment.

• Kunaki CD Manufacturing and Online Publishing Compan
• Web Resources for Artists and Musicians

Now there you have it. A few very useful sites for those interested in turning their craft into cash. Enjoy.

This guide for Home Based Business ideas is actually an excerpt of my book for Single Moms. It has been updated slightly to provide you with new resources. To get a copy of this guide. Here it is: Seeking Suport- A Guide for Single Black Mothers: Mahogany Momma Web Guides

Official Site: mom.msoyonline.com

Self Published – Writing Your Own Book

A Guide for aspiring writers and those interested in Self Publishing, writing their own book. If I could learn how to write my own book, so can you!

Self Publishing Howto Guide by LaShanda Henry

As a Black Entrepreneur, finding the finances to fund your project is often easier said than done. It is for that reason that self-publishing my first book sounded like a great idea to me and possibly the same holds true for you. Having self-published several books, I’ve learned a few things along the way that I thought might be of interest to any writer interested in entering the world of self-publishing.

This is the first of several of my featured posts entitled ‘Black and Self Published.’ In these posts I’d like to share with you everything I’ve learned as a young author/ Black Entrepreneur. I’m going to show you how I published my first book, what resources I used, why I both love and hate self-publishing, and the valuable lessons that I have learned along the way.

First and foremost I want to point out that self-publishing is not for everyone. I chose to self-publish for a number of reasons. I had very little startup capital. I didn’t want to spend months or even years sending my story to publishers. I had the word processing/graphics skills to design my own book and I was really eager to see my work in print. In hindsight, I now realize that rather than seriously planning a business strategy for publishing and marketing my book, I was more focused on printing the book at a price I could afford. At that time, it seemed like the best thing to do, but honestly you can never go wrong when you sit down and seriously device a plan that is both realistic and will benefit you in the long run. I’ll go into more detail about this a little later, but I wanted to start off by making it clear that self-publishing isn’t an easy alternative to creating your book. Like mosts things it has both benefits and drawbacks.

As I mentioned above, dealing with publishers was the last thing I wanted to do so that first thing I did was goolge ‘publishing your own book’, which quickly opened my eyes to the world of self-publishing. Of the many websites I stumbled upon the two that stood out were iUniverse and lulu.com. I was impressed by iUniverse when I learned that several well known authors started off from the site, but I ultimately chose to go with lulu.com because I wasn’t interested in paying for an editor/cover designer/etc. I planned on doing that stuff for myself and I honestly didn’t have a couple of hundred of dollers to invest in their services. Though their program wasn’t right for me, it might be right for you if you need that extra guidance and support.

Once I signed up for lulu.com, I was ready to transform my ideas from pen to print. Lulu.com is a premier self-publishing website. It is free to join and they provide print-on-demand services. The great thing about print on demand is that you only need to pay for the books that you order to be printed, which is a great way to cut your initial startup costs. However, what I learned later is that the less you pay initially for the printing of your book, the less you gross back in profit. Print on demand books tend to cost more to publishing because generally speaking, the orders are smaller. In other words, the more you order in bulk the cheaper the cost per book. This is why many self-published authors tend to invest several hundred dollars into initially printing a bulk of books. In doing so they can charge less for their books without needing to markup the price to make up the profit. This is why print-on-demand books tend to cost more money, especially illustrated books printed in color. It is almost impossible to publish children’s books through print-on-demand because the cost per book is just too high. But again, apart of cutting printing costs is being able to shell out the cash required to print larger quantities of your book.

As for my book, I was more than satisfied with lulu’s services. Being able to pay for copies on an as needed basis and selling my books on lulu for a small fee, was perfect. My biggest expense was purchasing the book’s isbn number through lulu. An isbn number is basically a unique tracking number used by retailers to identify your book. Beyond selling your book online or at select events, you can not sell your book in bookstores or to large online retailers like amazon.com without an isbn number.

Once I purchased my isbn number I was ready to take my work offline, which was truly an eye opening experience. Contrary to my initial dreams of having my book sell big numbers on amazon or generate huge sales in the store of my choice, promoting one’s book as a self-published author is very different from what I expected. Most bookstores generally get their inventory through book distribution companies, which specialize in selling published books to stores. I quickly learned that in order to get my book on the shelf, for some stores, my book first had to be on the list of one of their distributors. As luck would have it, though I was able to avoid the process of dealing with publishers, I was going to have to begin an almost identical process by mailing distributors, requesting that they distribute my work to their stores. In some cases, I did find a few stores that work with self-published authors, but they generally do so through consignment. This means they initially take a few copies of your book (say 5 for example) to see if they sell, and if they do sell, then the store will take more. When books are sold the store gets 60% and you get 40% of the sale. Ultimately this means that there is no initial big lump sum of money sent your way, you have to first pay for the printing, supply the stores with copies, and then wait for payment of profit when books are sold. If no books are sold, stores generally give the books back, which is why the chances of you finding a store that will pay for your books upfront is pretty slim.

A similar concept holds true as far as getting your book on sites like amazon.com. Getting listed is only half the story. Initially amazon will take only one or two copies of your book, and if you don’t put in the effort to get that copy sold, they won’t request more copies of your book. Again, the process starts with printing costs, and book sales, before the possibilities of profit. When I understood this very important piece of information, I came to realize the other, less talked about side of self publishing. It might seem like initially you aren’t putting in much money, but you might find you ultimately have to spend more than anticipated to get your book in the right places to be sold. This is why it is very important to set aside a budget, however small for your publishing project factoring your printing costs, book price, and estimated return after all expenses are paid for. Last but not least you have to factor in the cost of marketing as well as how you plan on developing a marketing strategy. Of course this question is completely determined by your motivations for creating a book. Is it enough for you to see your book printed, sell a few copies, or do you have dreams of writing the next best seller?

If you do want to gain noticeable exposure for your book, understand that there are tons of ways to go about book promotion. It’s up to you to do your research and find out what works best for you. Some authors enjoy the extra income and additional exposure than comes with doing speaking engagements or book signings. Some sellers opt to invest in vendor tables at book fairs, expos, and trade shows. I’ve met a number of self-published hustlers who hit the streets, get their vendor permits and sell their books on corners, with promotional t-shirts, postcards, or bookmarks in hand. While others promote strictly online by setting up blogs, sending out press releases, writing articles related to their work, advertising on sites that cater to their target audience,freely distributing short excerpts of their work, or developing a fan base on social network communities like myspace. What ever marketing strategy you use choose, remember that sales made by self-published authors are 50% up to them and 50% upto readers actually being interested in their work. As for my own work, I’ve probably tried each of the above mentioned strategies at least once. Trying to get a sense of the pros and cons of each, and which strategies work best for me not just as an author, but as a sales person and business woman. It goes without saying that as a self-published author, you will wear many hats and play many roles. In hindsight, I would have spent more time better understanding each of these roles before I started the publication of my book, but again it is because of my wrong choices that I learned so many right lessons along the way.

Of all my lessons the most important is this, whether you choose to self-publish by investing the capital to print in bulk,to self-publish through print on demand, or to use the more traditional route and submit to publishing companies, at some point you can not avoid having to pay. You are either paying for initial print costs and marketing fees or your paying as far as the time you put in to get your work noticed by publishers or readers using whatever marketing strategy available to you. On the flip side, choosing to find a publisher requires you to roll up your sleeves, develop a thick skin and be prepared to deal with waiting for responses, possible rejection letters, and learning to navigate through the world of publishing. And in the event that you do receive that acceptance letter that every aspiring writer dreams of, you can enjoy the benefits of book signings and signing bonuses without worrying about production costs or setting up promotion. Just keep in mind that the more costs your publishers take care of, the smaller your percentage of the profit. One of the pluses of self-publishing is that you retain a larger percentage of the sale, but if you are getting 80% of 10 books sales vs. 15% of 1000 plus sales, which one is really better in the long run. Ultimately it all depends on three things from two perspectives, how much money, time, and skill (as a writer/sales person) are you looking to both put in and get out of your publishing experience. If you can put in all those three things and then some with 200% of your best effort then perhaps self-publishing is the best solution for you. But if you are more interested in increasing your chances of getting those three things out of your experience, then you might want to focus more on getting into a publishing company that can help you promote your work on a bigger scale and give you access to professionals that can help you better perfect your craft.

As for me, I love being black and self-published. It’s a lot of work, and sometimes I honestly do put in more money than I get out, but the thrill of turning the pages of my own books and making a sale at an event, well that is priceless. But just the same, I have presently decided to invest my time into more lucrative projects until I can either put more time/money into self-publishing, or research publishing companies that I would like to work with. But that is a another chapter, in my book, for another time. As far as your own work, there is no better time like the present to learn more about self publishing. Whether you sit on the floor in Barnes and Nobles, go to the library, signup for a seminar, or search the internet, it’s important that you educate yourself about this process before investing your time and effort into getting your book published. Of course there is no process without having an actual book, so at least start working on an outline or your first draft as a means of personally committing to the task of seeing your work published.

On the topic of actually writing your book, cover design, cost analysis, editing/or finding an editor, printing business cards, promotion, etc. I will write more about these areas in detail later on. I just wanted to share my story, so that you had a real point of reference if you were curious about where to start, so go – get started. We’ll talk more later.

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To review book self-published by LaShanda Henry visit her lulu.com/msoy store and also be sure to check out her collection of e-Books by lhenry. Ms. Henry is best known for her work ‘A Better Today Brings a Brighter Tomorrow’ a resource guide for Black Parents about youth programs for Black Students, along with her digital publication for Black Mothers entitled ‘Mahogany Momma Guides’.

Related Network: Black Writers Connect
Related Post: The Secret to Creating Your Own e-Books

Black and Self Published
lhenry