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Community Highlights: Meet Keonna Farmer of The Business Zone

Today we’d like to introduce you to Keonna Farmer.

Hi Keonna, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am 25 years old and I was born at home—on accident—in Birmingham, AL and delivered by my father; strong-minded, bold, resilient, dedicated and hungry are the words I would use to describe myself. At the age of ten, I got my first taste at entrepreneurship; while modeling and playing the piano, I fell in love with the game of basketball—and to show my parents how serious I was about playing—I began using my sewing machine to make socks and sell them to raise money for registration fees.

Learning to take initiative like that led to many successful pursuits as I excelled in academics (earning two degrees), athletics, and other endeavors such as my non-profit. Throughout my life, my mother taught me that no opportunity should be wasted. She always reminded me to stay ahead in my academics and my career goals. I also have had the privilege of having coaches—along with my mother—to pour into me and help me understand the importance of a strong work ethic, discipline, giving back, loyalty, perseverance, networking, and staying family-oriented. Because of having that strong support system, I wanted to be a resource for others where I sensed others lacked, which led to me founding multiple businesses and specifically my nonprofit, Girl Life Unlimited. This nonprofit allows me to help teen girls properly navigate their life’s journey. Our mission is to offer scholarships, curriculum-based programs, and mentoring in the areas of education, career development, community outreach, and personal growth for girls ages 8-19.

Our vision is to help each girl create the opportunity to have a well-rounded and successful life. As I worked within my nonprofit and consulted with others close to me—as well as strangers—to start their business, launch it, and make key decisions as a hobby, I saw how many people were interested in becoming entrepreneurs, and I saw how little people knew about the potential opportunities that were available to them. So many had incorrect information about key decisions that needed to be made, and most of that was simply from a lack of guidance in terms of making sound business decisions. So, I realized there more I needed to do to help be part of the solution. Around the time the COVID-19 pandemic ramped up, I decided to fast and ask God what I should fully focus on business-wise, besides my non-profit. He led me to creating “The Business Zone”, where I used my passion, education, lessons, and God-given talents to help people turn their ideas into viable business options. The Business Zone is a consulting group/business development resource hub that offers business development services for teens, small business owners, and non-profits.

Our mission is to provide business owners and non-profits with the ever changing and evolving resources to help their business and organization succeed and compete in their industry. We provide downloadable resources from e-books to courses, and we offer one on one consulting and mentorship & offer business and non-profit start-up. I quickly learned early in my business years, about four years ago, that understanding business credit can be a significant resource to an entrepreneur, but I didn’t make it a point to actually start learning till 2018, then 2019 from a small business owner I knew, and he gave me a great introduction to the foundations of business credit, making sure that what I learned I could turn around and teach. After that initial education, I then took it upon myself to do extensive research and learn as much as I could about it. My original plan was to take all I knew about business, flip it, then charge thousands of dollars to help business owners; however, as time went on, I noticed that I was helping my friends for free, and people God told me to help because they couldn’t afford my fee but that didn’t mean they didn’t deserve to know about business credit. I have often been pressured to keep my prices high, because coaching and consulting is a “new wave” and apparently, having high prices shows that I am in high demand. But my desire is to add value and as I said, because I believe in being the change, I felt it would be selfish of me to set high prices and sit on valuable information when knowing that with what I know, I could help my people level up and get ahead.

The Business Zone also saw a lack of education and guidance when it came to generational wealth & protecting your assets, which goes hand in hand with creating a successful business and because I wanted to help business owners obtain business credit, funding and financing, I decided to write my affordable e-book, “Build Business Credit & True Generational Wealth” e-book. This is my way of being apart of the solution. My goal was to make this book non-surfaced based and teach the things that “LLC & generational wealth” social media don’t teach and the things that the average person don’t think about when it comes to generational wealth and business. Since I have made the decision to make my services affordable, God had blessed me tremendously as I have been helped by many people when I did not have it, and that has only validated my decision to try and “pay it forward.” I did not want to be one of those people who sit on information and have people go broke trying to pay for my services. My goal is to continue to brand, build and grow The Business Zone, my non-profit Girl Life Unlimited and my personal brand Keonna Farmer.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
This has not been an easy nor smooth road. Some of the struggles I faced were work-life balance, discovering my why and purpose, having lack of funds before I learned about business credit. Being young and wanting to do a lot of things at once and you can’t, you have to narrow down your niche and find your purpose. That journey alone wasn’t easy. Also, not just work-life balance but transitioning and balancing friendships and learning yourself was a road that’s not always easy to travel when wanting to create a successful business and do great and unheard-of things. It’s a road that most don’t discuss. Very few millionaires have the same circle they started with. Being young and wanting to meet people who are serious about business was and still is a struggle. Meeting others who aren’t afraid of investing into themselves and have hustle and drive is a struggle.

Meeting people who want to live their dreams through you and think you’re naive and will try and take advantage of you because you are young. I have to use discernment everyday. Sometimes it’s hard meeting people who keep their word unless money is involved. There are many people who like to hear themselves talk and say they will help but when it’s time, they have every reason as to why they can’t help or be apart. Most people put a price tag on everything and not realizing that the $500 you are so eager to charge Wasn’t going to help you get to the big stage quicker than maybe helping that person who has favor and will bring Favor to you for helping them. Favor that you can’t buy. I like to call it using discernment. I had to learn money will make people change on you, no matter how much you know somebody. Doing business with friends is a hard lesson I learned from the jump. Making sure moves always make sense. It’s easy to say, “oh girl, let’s do this and that together,” but the partnership has to make sense when it comes to strength and weaknesses and what each person can bring to the table Most millionaires get there from collaboration and it’s hard sometimes meeting the right person to collab with and work with even if it’s money involved. I don’t get sad or down thinking about any of this. It only makes me stronger, wiser, hungry and more prayerful. What’s success without struggle? What’s a story without struggle? How can your Audience connect with you without a story? How can you touch and change lives without a story?

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The Business Zone is a consulting group/business development resource hub that offers business development services for teens, small business owners, and non-profits. Our mission is to provide business owners and non-profits with the ever-changing and evolving resources to help their business and organization succeed and compete in their industry. We provide downloadable resources from e-books to courses, and we offer one on one consulting and mentorship and offer business and non-profit start-ups. We are most known for our affordable e-book, “Build Business Credit & True Generational Wealth” e-book. I am most proud brand-wise with the lives we have touched and helped near and far in such little time! What sets us apart is our affordability! We are often told that we always overdeliver for the price we charge.

Also me the owner is very personable, hands, authentic and transparent! Customers love a business that they feel they are growing with and that they are supporting a business that they feel the owner is authentic and transparent and that they can feel a connection with the business and the owner. Also, me personally and The Business Zone help in our community in many ways! What I want readers to know about my brand is that we encourage people to be bold and brave! We encourage you to support your own business by giving it the help that it needs. My personal mission is to serve people by offering events and expos, speaking engagements and consulting. I believe in “giving back” by providing valuable resources. I stand on the moral compasses of integrity, good character, giving back, sound relationships, loyalty and good faith. Most Americans play it safe and still struggle financially all their life. You have the choice to invest into yourself with a smart risk and struggle for a short period of time to get ahead or don’t invest at all and still struggle all your life. You will struggle either way, but which struggle do you prefer? A short period of time or all your life?

We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Something surprising to people is that I am 25 years old and that I was born at home and I am not a published model YET, nor have I played professional basketball after college basketball.

Pricing:

  • $49.95 Build Business Credit & True Generational Wealth e-book

Contact Info:

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