How Sean De Freitas is Helping Black Entrepreneurs Scale

From Single-Person Operation to Fully Staffed Enterprise

Sean De Freitas, Founder of Zayick Consulting

Many Black entrepreneurs don’t have a blueprint for how to scale their business, taking it from a single-person operation to a fully staffed enterprise. However, changes across the ecosystem in recent years mean there are more resources to help as they embark on this journey. Sean De Freitas is the founder of Zayick Consulting, a boutique firm that goes beyond bookkeeping and accounting, to help Black entrepreneurs analyze the data so they can make informed decisions about the future of their business. He also guides them as they create strategic plans, putting things in place to help them achieve those goals. A Certified Professional Accountant with over 20 years’ experience, he immigrated to Canada in 2011, starting in industry with banks and insurance firms. After beginning to feel a bit disgruntled with the corporate space, an avenue opened in 2019 for him to go out on his own. Now, he’s helping Black entrepreneurs build and scale profitable businesses. The Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub caught up with Sean to talk about the ins and outs of scaling.
 
What are you hearing from Black entrepreneurs about the challenges involved in scaling?
Lots of challenges. There is tremendous challenge in going with organic growth, going from zero to breaking that $100,000. It’s a real challenge to market, promote, and then service clients, but then once you’ve broken that $100,000 barrier, how do I move on up and turn this business into a million-dollar business? It requires a lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifice, and a lot of focus on marketing and promotion. Then, depending on if you’re a supplier or manufacturer of goods, it’s then making sure all of the various supply chain elements are in place; that you have a multitude so you’re not just relying on one particular source for supply. Staff is a big challenge: finding dependable, reliable staff that you can train up and invest in. If I can break it down into three, it's supply chain management, staffing, and marketing, with that marketing mix being online and how best to promote the business.
 
Let’s look at all three of those individually. First, what specifically are Black entrepreneurs encountering when it comes to the supply chain?
Really developing those. Certain entities will be able to work with manufacturers that are in China, wanting to take advantage of the lower cost. Then it becomes a case of working with a Mandarin or Cantonese speaker here so they can have those discussions. I’ve worked with entrepreneurs who’ve actually gone out to China themselves and met suppliers and manufacturers themselves and developed that relationship. I’m actually working with one entrepreneur who’s recently come back, and he’s made good inroads to ensuring the supply chain is solidified. Again, you have to put the work in and the investment to ensure you’ve got that solid dependable relationship with those individuals.
 
Staffing is one we hear of a lot. Why is staffing so hard?
One of the big factors, I believe, is there’s been a shift generationally. There’s an unrealistic expectation where we all want to strive for that work-life balance, but there are times when you’ll have seasons where you’re going to work a little harder, you’re going to maybe go beyond the 9-5. It’s not going to be 12 months of the year, 365 days of your life – it’s going to be around particular seasons. So, there are times when you’re going to have to work above and beyond and there’s going to be other times when you’re not. I think some of the expectations are a little unrealistic.
There’s also pay and benefits. Yes, companies want to reward staff but perhaps they’re not going to be able to do it at the upper echelons. It’s going to be incumbent on owners to be creative with how they’re rewarding staff. Perhaps offering them a percentage in equity stake to ensure they have this longer-term commitment with staff.
 
And what about marketing? What are the challenges there?
Just really understanding the best fit, the optimal mix. There’s going to be some trial and error: you’re going to do one thing and it’s going to work; you’re going to do another thing and it’s not going to work. So, just being able to pivot and pivot quickly.
 
We know that consistency yields results. For a Black entrepreneur who wants to scale, where should they be applying the discipline of consistency?
Across the board. Definitely with marketing, definitely with what your clients want. It’s about consistency of effort and always taking action. Yes, it’s difficult. For example, I’ve broken down my day into three core elements. First, having 1:1 conversations with clients and potential clients. The second is creating content for marketing. The third would be advertising and promotion. If you’re consistently working on those three pillars, you’re going to move the needle forward.
 
Scaling as an entrepreneur can be tough. From finding and keeping good staff to creating that perfect marketing mix to break the $100,000 ceiling, it can be daunting to navigate these challenges without any guidance or mentorship. For Black entrepreneurs looking to scale their business, you can add your business to our Ecosystem Map and get connected to other businesses and organizations dedicated to seeing Black entrepreneurs succeed.