It was right about the spring of
1990 and I was feeling pretty confident that my idea of a widely distributed
Black business directory was going to become a reality soon especially since I ran into
TX at a business networking function and he disclosed to me that he had dropped his plans to publish a similar directory.
God was working things out in my favor I thought until I contacted the
National Association of Black Pages in
Atlanta, GA. I ended up speaking with a gentleman by the name of
Mr. Ken Reid, lauded publisher of the
Atlanta Black Pages, and former president of the
National Association of Black Pages. He confirmed to me that their organization was indeed legitimate and that the newly elected
President was now
Mr. Arnette D. French (Now deceased) of
Kansas City, MO, also publisher of the
Kansas City, MO;
Dallas, TX, and
Chicago, IL;
Black Pages. At that time they listed
53 Black business publications throughout the
United States which excluded
Charlotte, NC. I considered this conversation euphoric in that I was now going to possibly join other more experience
Black entrepreneurs in publishing a quality directory for the
Queen City. It did not take me long to contact
Mr. French via telephone and I was indeed honored and excited about his return call especially since this was the same guy that
TX Green worked for in
Chicago producing the
Black Pages there.
Mr. French came across as confident, experienced, and trustworthy during our brief phone conversation. He asked me how far I have gotten in the publishing process and I responding openly and honestly about what I had accomplished up until that point. I mentioned the
Mahogany publication, my survey/questionnaire, the favorable responses, and the fact that
TX was no longer going to publish. He then said something that at the time I believed to be a sure sign that my dream of publishing a widely-distributed
Black business directory was well on its way to becoming a reality. He said,
“Stop what you are doing; I want to train you to make sure you are going to produce a quality publication.” To me his statement was equivalent to
Berry Gordy offering me a recording contract with
Motown Records in the
1950’s and
1960’s during its prime. It did not matter that I was to travel to his office in
Kansas City, MO; at my own expense and pay him the total sum of
$600.00 for two days of training. We both decided on a weekend in early
July of
1990 for my professional
Black directory publishing training. He then asked,
“So what are you going to call this publication?” My response was, I do not know; he then suggested that I call it the
Charlotte Black Pages. I repeated it several times each time becoming more and more excited about my new undertaking this time with help from a seasoned veteran publisher and mentor. I then asked if he knew of anyone else – other than
TX – planning to publish a
Black Page directory in
Charlotte, NC. He replied,
“No, you now have the territory.”
I followed
Mr. French’s orders and stopped working on my new publication until I received the proper training. Not long after our phone conversation I received a
confirmation letter (Postmarked
June 8, 1990) from
Arnette French addressed to me as the
Charlotte Black Page minus the “s”. Wow! He also mentioned to me an
executive board meeting of the officers of the
National Association of Black Pages Publishers that was going to take place in
April of
1990 in
Georgia. That invite went way over my head in that I had not yet published. I could not wait to get back to my office at
Duke Power and give
Hosie the good news. I cannot remember exactly what he said but it seems as though he was not as excited about the news. Was he jealous?
The Training:
It was now
July and my excitement swelled as my training days became nigh. I booked my room at the then
Adam’s Mark Hotel located near the
Kansas City Royals baseball stadium. I recall the drive taking a lot longer than I had planned but the excitement of meeting with the one and only
Arnette D. French served as my motivator throughout the arduous journey. Back then there was no
MapQuest or
GPS to help plan a trip of this magnitude, you had to really on national maps published by folks like
Rand McNally. I drove until I became so cross-eyed from fatigue that I was seeing things like a
Black dog crossing in front of me so I had to pull over at some hotel in
Indiana before I ended my trip early. Finally, after
18 plus hours of driving, I arrived in
Kansas City early that
Friday evening with enough time to check in and turn in early for my
Saturday morning training which was to begin at
8 or
9 AM as I recall. I woke up early that next
Saturday morning and gave myself enough time to locate
Mr. French’s office building located across town at
1601 East 18th Street, Suite 315. The building was quite impressive in that it featured three floors of offices laid out on the perimeter and all inside. There were these
colorful banners/streamers hanging from the ceiling that added an ornate appeal to the interior of the office building. I was decked out in my favorite/only grey suit accompanied by my business brief case. His office was on the second floor and upon arrival I noticed a
Black female decked out in business attire already there waiting outside
Mr. French’s office suite. We did not speak. It was about a
20 minute wait before we heard the deep voice of a gentleman approaching from downstairs. He said something to the effect of
“Sorry for being late I had to….” I was quite surprised when I turned around and there he was, a very dark-skinned, somewhat short roly poly gentleman who sported a short fro and was wearing shorts; a t-shirt, white socks, and no – yes – no shoes. Whoa I thought, this can’t be the mentor that I drove all of this way to pay
$600.00, and bear all travel expenses, for a two-day crash course in
Black Page publishing. Well, he indeed introduced himself as
Arnette French to me and the other woman who turns out was there for the same training. Her name was
Isabella “Izzy” Cooke and she was planning to publish a
Black Page directory in
Bloomington, IL. She was currently holding down a position as a purchasing coordinator for
State Farm Insurance.
After being offered a seat,
Mr. French wasted no time in requesting his training fee up front. We both paid by check. In hind sight I should have written mine on rubber because back then there were no
Century 21 instant checks processing! Anyhow, after collecting his
$1,200.00 for his two-day crash course in
Black Page publishing, he quickly got right down to business and handed each one of us an outline of our pending training. I must admit that I was immediately impressed with his level of training organization. It gave me the impression that he had done this course before as he went over each item line by line to give us an overview of what to expect. I must also admit that as each hour of training progressed I became more and more impressed with this brother who really knew his stuff. He even included a
Pro-Forma Cash Flow and
Income Statement in our packet; at the time I had no idea of what they were. We broke for lunch and lo and behold he made a phone call and Walla, a catered meal was delivered a short time later.
“It’s included with the price,” he bragged. Training day one concluded about four or five PM that
Saturday and I took with me a lot of notes, forms, and other materials shared with me by the late
Arnette French. I now had some real stuff to put in my business brief case.
I partied hard that night at the
Adam’s Mark Hotel; it was my way of celebrating my success to this point. After all, it had been over four years since the idea of publishing a widely-circulated
Black business directory in
Charlotte, NC, was given to me by the good
Lord above. I remember lightly floating out of the hotel lobby that next morning and smiling ear to ear when the front desk person wished me a nice day. That
Sunday’s training (Which ended around 12 Noon) was not as intense as
Mr. French focused on the nuts and bolts of getting our publications off the ground and running. He strongly suggested that we select an office in a prominent
Black business building for maximum exposure. He also gave us key buzz questions to ask when seeking advertising from corporate
America. Questions like “Who handles the minority purchasing requirements in your organization?” He also quoted two phrases of wisdom and encouragement that I remember and repeat to this very day. They are,
“If it is to be, it is up to me;” and
“It doesn’t Just Happen.” The only thing that I did not like about the training – other than his unprofessional dress – is his assessment that he did not think that I had what it took to produce a successful publication. Nothing could be further than the truth given my track record of educational (Honor student), work (Always promoted on time), and military (Senior Non-Commissioned Officer at age
27, tied for youngest in our Battalion) success at that time.
Mr. French agreed to
take a photo of me to document this historic meeting after our training was done and he even treated me to a late breakfast at
Shoneys or someplace like that that serves late breakfast.
My drive back to
Charlotte was plagued with extreme fatigue and monetary shortcomings as I almost ran out of gas several times. I was using my
Chevron card which is not widely accepted on the east coast. I made it to ironically (Will explain later)
Spartanburg, SC, before I could go no further on
Interstate 85 North. I crashed once again in my car at a gas station and woke up that
Monday morning in enough time to call in sick from work. It took me two additional days to recuperate enough physically and mentally to return to my day job at
Duke Power Company. I was once again very excited to report to
Hosie Caldwell the details of my trip and what I had learned from
Mr. Arnette D. French in
Kansas City, MO, on my wonderfully productive weekend.
