Hidden Gems: Meet D. Cherelle of Business Squared

Hi D. Cherelle, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
“I’ve always wanted individuals in my community to have the mindset to achieve financial discipline”- D. Cherelle, 34

I grew up with a New York State of Mind naturally being born in Queens, NY. Both of my parents are Brooklyn representatives not to mention growing up with three brothers, with me being the only girl.

My parents instilled a unique courage within me to acknowledge my outspoken nature, embrace the goodness of giving back, and to foster my generational entrepreneurial spirit.

At 20 years old, I became a business partner with my mom managing three businesses for my family. We recognized and understood various community deficiencies, so we wanted to be apart of the solution. 1. Lack of access to trending fashion and accessory items. 2. Lack of food options for industrial park and court employees 3. Scarcity of Human Resource training for small businesses. We recognized a need for fashion forward accessories and purses in Maryland long before we were excited to buy these items online. Along the way, we traveled back and forth from New York City to provide high quality and exclusive merchandise. We were partners that ventured from purse parties to even organizing a storefront boutique location in Aberdeen MD. I vividly remember commuting back and forth from New Jersey to purchase wholesale Sabret Hot Dogs in order to provide a competitive advantage to other food purchase opportunities. In addition, to that we serviced industrial parks, medical facilities, and local court houses. I managed and facilitated all of the locations as a tribute to my late grandfather whom originally sold hotdogs in Brooklyn, New York for a living. I was fortunate enough to even manage marketing and operations for (TFR) Training for Results, a human resources training company that services small businesses to enhance their customer service experience. These businesses motivated me to fine tune my credentials and create a wholesome business autonomy.

At this time, I was faithfully leading three family businesses, working full-time, all while pursuing my MBA. By this time I saw it was time for a change. Around 2013, I moved on to take a deeper focus on my corporate banking career and moved into my first condo. It was then, that I began supporting my college colleagues and started network marketing businesses where I sold both health/weight-loss products and travel experiences. Looking back, I felt like network marketing never did come off genuine to me or at least I never felt like my authentic self. In truth, most of the time I was selling products more for the support of those black businesses rather than a out of true passion.

I’ve always been a top performer in the banking world, however, being a bold, black, and brilliant woman in corporate America can automatically create a glass ceiling. I had a tumultuous ride in this field as I experienced an off and on battlefield with poor leadership, being over worked, and ultimately being underpaid. During my 10 years of working in the financial industry I leaned into business banking and became a true servant to my community. I educated my clients on how to repair their credit, and assisted a slew of business clientele on how to qualify for funding and resources. Over time, I had become a game changer in my community because of the trust and relationships I had forged and eventually converted to financial success. As a licensed banking leader, I secured millions in lending funds and developed a passion for influencing my community to “Financially….get it!”

After years of indulging the banking industry, I decided to start Business Squared LLC as a one-stop shop service to shine light upon what I saw and believed to be missing in the Black business community. In 2018, I finally left banking to really pursue being a full-time entrepreneur. Since then, I haven’t looked back and have been doing my business full time. You can also add being a part-time female life insurance broker to my resume, if you want. In recent times, I had the pleasure of creating a non-profit, Heal-A-Preneur and lifestyle brand, named D. Cherelle. The overall goal being to stress multiple streams of income that support and pour back into my community that I love and cherish so much.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The journey has been far from an easy one from lack of funding, mental health challenges, and the need for more support.

Being a virtual service based business requires heightened levels of marketing, especially during COVID-19. Our struggle with funding opportunities has been low mainly due to gender/race inequalities and having a financial service based company. In turn the challenges have forced me counteract by building strong networks where more of my peers look like me and have similar goals as me. Although I have niched my market down to clientele who specifically need my services the most, it goes without saying that our business still need marketing to succeed.

Like most Americans between 2019-2020, I suffered huge setbacks as a business owner also going through major life events on top of COVID-19. Mental health really impacted my company after being the victim of an unforeseen domestic violence situation leading to separation, divorce, and relocation. These events led to a series of unwanted emotions and experiences that took time and therapy to heal. That healing pushed me towards a rebirth in which now I can truly say I’ve become a better business woman now than ever before. 2021 has been a staunch year of recovery and healing all while Business Squared is back to business managing repeat contracts with several clients. The co-founder of Heal-A-Preneur, Sequoyah Sherrill, LCMFT and I both understood how trauma can take entrepreneurs out of alignment with our goal. So it was prudent to counteract these issues by providing mental health awareness and financial resources to black business owners.

As it stands, the need to channel more support has become a challenge. Often times, we think our friends and family will always be our top supporters, right? Whether it’s helping out with the business or providing direct support or referrals, it’s least likely to work that way in the Black community. I’d say it can be emotionally damaging when the people “closest” to me don’t contribute to adding value to my business. It doesn’t always have to be about purchasing a service! Why can’t it be about advocating, spreading the word, reposting content, and referrals selflessly? Grass-root marketing is challenging, even more so with COVID-19, therefore advertisments and use of other visual social media marketing tools are most effective for my business. Except that the consistency of this type of marketing technique is not always feasible. I am totally aware that my competitors do best when investing in marketing. It’s also a fact that Business Squared LLC is currently picking up its marketing momentum to be a force in our market and community.

Lastly, one of our biggest struggles was building a pro-bono portfolio. Doing fee-less work from 2017-2018 really allowed us to be overtly generous causing some companies to then take full advantage. To date, we acknowledge what our community needs and we strive to provide free services and paid services so we can be forever be an asset no matter how we grow. In my opinion, we have now found the correct balance.

These transgressions helped me to get to the bottom of who I was, I got forced to deal with my past, present, and future, to EVOLVE. I can leverage my strength to empower others and be an example of redemption.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Business Squared LLC?
Business Squared LLC is a financial solutions-based organization providing consulting, business financial planning, and funding resources to BUILD your financial future.

The company was inspired by Black Start-Up companies, entrepreneurs, and CEOs who struggle managing money, understanding aspects of a business financial picture, and strategies to leverage your voice and business credit.

Our services are financial literacy (consulting/strategy sessions), planning (Business Financial Statements & Projections), and training (pitch & business credit).

Our Social Impact is to lean in to BUILDING UP Black Business Leaders with startup companies by EMPHASIZING:

-a mindset that counteracts old habits
-financial confidence and quality relationships with our clients
-reliable business financial plans
-business credit & pitch development
-a strong sense of community

Founder & CFO- D. Cherelle is passionate about the 1.8 million black companies that lack business funding, literacy, and support. She is on a mission to increase the number of black employee-based businesses. Her goal will always be to promote financial elevation and enlightenment in the Black Start-Up Community.

Essentially, I am a Contractual CFO for small businesses, specializing in strategic planning, financial business planning, and business credit development.

As it relates to Business Squared, I want to be known for helping business leaders make their business make financial sense. I also want to be known for going to get the information and bringing it back to my community for application and execution.

What sets Business Squared LLC apart from other companies is our ability to lead with a business financial plan to create leverage, clarity, and income generation for a startup company. Our company can be temporary or ongoing shoulder to lean on to support special financial projects and campaigns, train and develop financial skill set to manage company better, and/or work hands on to empower, lead, and strategize the financial trajectory of the company.

We are taking 45% off our contracted CFO Service plan for our next 10 committed clients to getting their business finances on track for 2022, creating solid income generation goals, creating a sound and current business financial statement, and overall consulting on the best upcoming strategies for your company. ( End Of Year Sale)

We are offering Business Credit VIP days which takes our clients through the entire execution process in one day with an accountability software for a lifetime and business credit advisor that helps to ensure execution for 12 months.

In 2022, we will offer our intro course on Business Credit 101 that gets the basic execution tasks outlined and demonstrates the process necessary to start business credit development.

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
If you want to work with Business Squared LLC, we are open to partnering and collaborating with cohorts and business accelerators to deliver workshop training to discuss business credit execution or how to write and perform your first pitch.

Any brands looking for a resilient speaker to discuss overcoming trauma as an entrepreneur, divorce, domestic violence, entrepreneurship, money mindset, business credit/finances; D. Cherelle fits the description to speak on behalf of these topics.

Giving Tuesday through December 2022 Heal-A-Preneur will be fundraising with Krispy Kremes for Digital Dozens, we can definitely use our communities support.

We are currently accepting clients so please visit our website www.b2sqllc.com and select the service most of interest to you.