First 48: The Return of Small Business Saturday Live
Small Business Saturday Live, or SBS Live, has made a comeback and I gotta give myself props for not crashing out and giving up!
Look, it would have been a valid crashout. TikTok tried it. The wi-fi at home tried it.
I also had no idea my phone would give me iCloud notifications when the wi-fi was upset and going out. None.
Learn something new every single day, am I right?
“So, what is SBS Live all about?”
To get to what I’m doing now, we gotta rewind back to me picking the camera back up on top of being a whole Content Creator that was going to Girl Tribe Pop-Up with a plan. Not just to shop, but to put people on.
I would shop to my heart’s content, talk to the business owners, get contact information, ask if I could record content, and then go back to my apartment with my little pop-up photo studio and get to work when inspiration hit.
Those same business owners I spoke to? They’d likely get an email, DM, or something asking how I get photos or content they never even asked for. No cost to them. Just cause I wanted to.
I won’t to go into many more details in this post, but you can head to cydneyrai.com to read more!
Now, Small Business Saturday (SBS) Live was created years after that initiative with a mission to bridge the gap between creatives and their confidence in marketing themselves online. 4 hours of me hopping between platforms on one of my off days while holding a whole role as a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at a non-profit organization.
Yes, I want you to have your “15 minutes of fame” on my platform.
Yes, I want to know who you are as much as I want to know what you do.
Yes, we can have a whole strategy session whether you’re on-camera or in the comments.
Yes, my third question is in the prompt is always going to be how do we show up, help, and support YOU.
People love to skip or think Imma just forget about that last one, but nope. Never. Imma ask again so you understand that I’m in your corner now and your needs aren’t something to shrug off. Cool?
Anyways, I started SBS Live in 2024 around the time Black women in business were stepping into what I remember as “Purple Takeover” across social media platforms cause we were tired. Tired of being overlooked. Tired of not pouring into our own and circulating our money with intention. Tired of being asked to do a whole lot of work for free when the businesses, infrastructures, skillsets, and experience are worth more.
Now, is it free to hop on SBS Live? Absolutely.
Do you have to be a Black-owned, women-owned, or socially and economically disadvantaged individual (SEDI)? Nope but never get it twisted. We are not an afterthought with this. We are the center.
As much as I ran from Marketing roles all these years, I’m really good at it. Not just for myself, but creatives and entrepreneurs across a variety of industries, from different backgrounds and lifestyles, locally and around the globe.
A.K.A “the limit does not exist” over here and that is a powerful spot to be in, especially for the good of humanity.
Brief Intermission: Creatives Need Rest Too
Just hours after bring Small Business Saturday Live back, I experienced vertigo for the first time in a while. I am talking the room is spinning and I am stationary. Absolutely not.
It felt like a call to slow down, regroup, and sit with the great work I had already done. Not just that I didn’t give up when the tech was trying my patience, but I didn’t shy away from the fact that I am very much human.
I cannot do it all, nor do I want to. Now, can I do a whole lot more than most, you best believe it. And, still. I’m human.
The first 9 minutes of the audio above is me explaining how I am more susceptible to vertigo since my heat stroke in 2023 during my first time at Bonnaroo. I will turn on my iPhone’s focus mode of Do Not Disturb (DND) or Sleep so quickly to block out everything else and decompress, especially after work and 8 pm, when I am home.
That is one of the main reasons that I may RSVP to events, but I may now show up if my body is calling for something different. I don’t play about what my body is telling me. I would rather disappoint someone else than dishonor and push my body back to that place.
— Potential Read: “The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma” by Bessel van der Kolk
You can buy a physical copy on Thriftbooks here. You can also listen to the audiobook via the app, Libby, here.
Because rest isn’t a reward over here. My rest is a proactive part of my self-care routine as much as it possibly can be, especially as a multi-passionate creative. It is a part of my process. It is what allows me to show up the way I do when I can. It is why nicknames like “The Great Connector” and “The Walking Cheat-Code” can exist without me trying to live up to some unreasonable expectation that could come along with them like I am Team #NoSleep or all for hustle culture.
Hustle Culture can kick rocks. I’m not saying discipline, discernment, and dedication aren’t key. I am saying to hustle your life away so you can’t even enjoy what you’re building while you’re building it is madness.
Time is the one resource we will never get back. Live your life. Do the thing. Create the art.
Let the Show Begin (Again): Small Business Saturday Live Tries YouTube & Meets A Young Creative
I have been thinking about taking SBS Live to YouTube for years. I always find a reason not to.
This time, it felt like I had no choice with the way TikTok was behaving and the fact that I was on an Instagram hiatus. So, yup, YouTube it is!
What I didn’t expect to happen is that I would run into a young creative who loves science as much as he loves being a photographer. Yes, duality! Yes, multi-passionate!
It wasn’t just that I was able to speak life into his interests to dig up fossils and photograph animals, and nature, cause I remember being interested in dinosaurs at his age. It was the fact that he affirmed something I had already been thinking.
How do I create an entity like The Creative Conservatory with a similar structure to a school where young creatives could enroll and feel supported in more ways than one? Where they could be safe to explore what they want at the schools they attend all over the world but also explore who they are in connection to The Arts with us?
A place where The Arts is the priority and could never be the first thing cut due to funding.
A place where Home Economics could exist again and not feel like an afterthought.
A place where Sports as a whole feels more inclusive, intersectional, and intentional.
A place where extracurricular activities can happen during all hours of the day.
Just food for thought.
So, What’s Next?
Where to Lock In (Live Conversation): Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Threads
I am going to do my best to be live on my personal platforms for 1 hour on Saturday, October 10th starting at 4 pm, and every second Saturday of the month for Small Business Saturday Live. It may ramp up as we get closer to the holidays, but we shall see!Where to Watch (Post-Conversation): The Creative Conservatory YouTube Channel
I have no idea who I am going to post next, but I believe I am going to try to go in the order I recorded them as much as possible!Where to Connect (Anytime): Our Private Community
If you’re interested in joining Small Business Saturday Live and staying in touch afterward in a space where you’re not too much, you’re not too quiet, your ideas aren’t too out there, this is where you should be! & it’s free!
