Hello Cart, Meet Horse

Multiple stints in business over 18 years, and Alicia Davis still felt the need to join the Columbia Chamber’s Minority Business Accelerator’s second cohort.

“I just really believe in continuous education. No matter how long you’re in business,” says the owner of Davis Tax Consulting & Financial Services. She’s already found motivation from the first cohort of graduates (listed below). And a major a-ha moment came during the very first session last month.

“I’m always setting five-to-ten-year goals, but I don’t tend to think about the daily steps to get there.” That morning, however, she discovered one big goal to gain government contracts is out of reach – for now.

“I had been reaching for government contracts, but I’m nowhere near ready. I don’t have the right system of checks and balances within the company. Some are systems as simple as onboarding new employees. I realized I’m putting the cart before the horse.”

Now, she’s committed to filling in some gaps with short-term goals. What stood out to her most, though, wasn’t just her personal discovery. It was the community she’d found.

“All of us are in the same boat without realizing it,” Alicia says. “One person was beating himself up because he’d been in business for several years and he felt like he should be further along. And all of us in the room could relate to that.”