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.
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.
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