Lessons in Entrepreneurship: Building Powerful Partnerships
Entrepreneurship is a wild ride: one opportunity can lead to another, taking you down paths you never imagined. A lesson that became the thesis of my year.
The Hustle Legacy's relationship with Bee Terrific Media serves as a great example of that. Bee Terrific Media is a comics and literature company that was founded on the need to bring diversity to the cherished world of magic and superheroes.
From Harry Potter to Marvel comics, our childhoods (and therefore, our journeys of Self Discovery) are enriched with escapes to alternate universes that somehow help us better understand the human experience.
Bee Terrific founder, Terrio Jenkins, builds his Legacy to further expand these magical worlds by giving black and brown communities superheroes to look up to that look just like them.
More than that, Terrio believes in using Bee Terrific as a vessel to empower people from within. In our year of getting to know each other, he often talked about how much he cared for his team of writers and artists. More than releasing stories, he built Bee Terrific to empower other creatives with the pen.
I've had the honor of becoming a part of the Bee Terrific family through their partnership with The Hustle Legacy.
As the two businesses work to make a significant impact on the world of comics and Self Discovery, this article unpacks their first year working together. From lessons learned about the journey of entrepreneurship to learning how to recognize powerful partnerships, this is a story to inspire you on your path to building your own Legacy.
Believe in Unexpected Opportunities
Let's call him "The Bishop". A man I interviewed for early in the year, when I was looking for side opportunities of income. I thought it was a front desk position. But, after looking at my resume, he offered me a contract to help build him a marketing strategy.
Or so I thought.
Long story short, the very traditional Bishop assumed he could hire a well-organized woman to play his assistant and boss around. You could imagine that I wasn't having it.
My relationship with The Bishop didn't last long. After ensuring my payday for the services I provided, I dipped. In that time, however, I met Terrio, someone also contracted out by The Bishop to help manage their social media.
As a man, he had more sway over The Bishop. However, as a modern man, he didn't always agree with how The Bishop ran things.
As he continued his work with The Bishop once I was gone, Terrio couldn't help but feel like I was a loss to the team. More importantly, he felt like it was a lost opportunity for the two of us to get to know each other as creatives.
Unlike The Bishop, Terrio saw me for more than just an assistant. In our brief encounter, we talked about the businesses we both took this contract position to fuel; his being Bee Terrific Media and mine being The Hustle Legacy.
He felt it unfortunate that we never got to talk more about our shared passions once I left the team. So, after a few months passed by, Terrio decided to reach out and see if maybe we could work together again. And boy, am I glad that he did.
Hold Onto Passionate People
Here's the thing about passionate people: They're not easy to come by. In an era dominated by the relentless grind of work, the pursuit of material wealth, and the constant barrage of digital distractions, it's easy to lose sight of what truly ignites our souls.
The demands of modern life force us to compromise our passions on a daily basis. So, when you find someone who's learned to fight against that and follow their passions, no matter what it takes, you have to know how rare that really is.
The Hustle Legacy Ecosystem brings these People of Passion together in an interconnected community that empowers from within, much like Bee Terrific's business model with their team members.
It's a rare and beautiful thing to encounter someone who has the courage to defy societal norms and pursue their passions wholeheartedly. Especially when the pursuit is as big of an undertaking as changing the whole face of comics.
Like me, Terrio sacrificed the stability and consistency of a W2 job for the flexibility and autonomy of being a freelancer or contractor. Though a hard path to choose, he was driven by his passion to see his comic book company come to life and inspire the world. I related to Terrio’s entrepreneurial grit and admired the mission he tied himself to.
The more I learned about why Terrio does what he does, the more I saw how much he aligned with The Hustle Legacy Ecosystem, and the more I wanted him to be a part of a network built to empower people to build their Legacies.
From our shared passion, this partnership was born.
Learn Through Every Experience
When Terrio first reached out to work together again, our business relationship focused on Bee Terrific's marketing strategy. I worked with Terrio to find new angles to promote the characters from Bee Terrific stories on social media.
From developing Instagram graphics to discussing community building techniques, we spent most of the year discovering how to bring Bee Terrific's inspiring narrative to a greater light.
I saw the magic that Terrio was building here. I also saw how my marketing background and knowledge could help him show other people that magic, too. Working with Terrio on Bee Terrific was something I became inspired by. I knew that the work I was putting into it would have a tremendous impact on our society.
That being said, when developing new partnerships, you can’t expect it all to go seamlessly from the get-go. Finding harmony between two businesses takes time, communication, and adjustments. Working with Terrio and Bee Terrific Media, I learned a lot as an entrepreneur.
Lesson 1: You’re the Expert. Not Your Clients
The first lesson being, I shouldn't expect my clients to know exactly what they’re asking for. At first, I based the services I delivered off of what was being asked of me. The problem here was that the deliverables asked for weren't always the ones most beneficial to the company.
When being hired for a project like this, it's my job to use my marketing expertise to guide the business in the right direction. As an employee, the rule is to do what you ask. As a freelancer, it's up to you to prove the value of what you bring to the company.
That value won't always be best showcased by what is originally asked of you. Eventually, both Terrio and I realized that giving him a bunch of graphics every month for social media wasn't the best use of The Hustle Legacy as a resource to Bee Terrific.
If anything, it simply added more to Terrio's plate of having a backload of posts to finalize and schedule.
Lesson 2: Expect the Transitionary Phase
Which brings me to my second lesson learned through this partnership: when building a new business relationship, always expect there to be a transitionary phase.
You're never going to get it right the first time.
With Bee Terrific, more than graphics and social media deliverables, the company needed a marketing strategist to help them refine their efforts while still increasing reach. Without learning to properly communicate, Terrio and I wouldn’t have been able to adjust accordingly and continue to move forward in building our relationship.
After a few months of providing the agreed upon deliverables, I decided to have a talk with Terrio and discuss the idea of moving forward in more of a consulting capacity. That way, my time and expertise could be better utilized to grow the business, rather than giving him a backload of graphics, with no strategy on how to use them.
Lesson 3: Recognize the Clients that Believe in You
This was The Hustle Legacy’s first year operating as a business. Naturally, it was a year of many adjustments to the business plan and operations of the company. You see, when you’re someone like me, who’s consumed with the millions of ways you could empower others, it could be hard to figure out how to package your services in the best way possible.
I’ve humored calling myself a life coach, a copywriter, a digital marketer, a business consultant, and building out packages that fit into each of those labels. Regardless of what I called it, I knew that I wanted to help people and how I wanted to help them.
The problem was, when spewing out all these different ways you could “add value” to a person’s life, but constantly changing up the packaging, it can get confusing.
Take the Bishop, for example. I originally interviewed with him for a simple front-desk position to keep things afloat while I continue to grow this business. When he asked me why someone with my resume would be going for such a simple job, I told him about The Hustle Legacy.
He took that as an opportunity to sell me with a dream of making an impact, while treating me like a naive young, girl, who’s closest chances to run a business would be to be his assistant. I’ve come across a lot of circumstances like this over my first year in business.
Clients like Terrio and Bee Terrific Media, who sees past the selling points and straight to the soul of the business, are the lifeline for startup businesses like mine. Terrio was clear from the beginning that it’s not about the services that I provide, but the person I am, the mission I dedicate my work to, that makes him want me as a part of the Bee Terrific team.
It’s the same reason I wanted him as a partner of The Hustle Legacy.
Entrepreneurs like us don’t chase opportunities for the promised payday. We chase them for the fulfillment. It’s crazy to think that the two of us met while we both were busy chasing a different opportunity.
The final lesson I learned in my first year of partnership with Bee Terrific Media was to treat your business relationships like family, especially the special ones, because it's through them that you'll build your Legacy.
Always Strive for Growth
Ultimately, I recognized the power Bee Terrific Media would add to The Hustle Legacy Ecosystem. Their commitment to diversity and representation in storytelling amplifies the voices of underrepresented creators and provides members of The Hustle Legacy community and beyond with stories to reflect their own experiences.
Getting to know the company's founder on a personal level further proved the genuine heart that drives this mission. With a year behind us in our partnership, how we empower you on your journey of Self Discovery can only grow from here.
The Hustle Legacy Book Club
Bee Terrific and The Hustle Legacy are bringing you bigger and better Self Discovery resources in the new year!
Among many new community-building initiatives will be the start of The Hustle Legacy Book Club! A monthly virtual meet-up for bookworms to share their reading adventures with a community.
This is a book club unlike any other.
While most book clubs give you required readings and set due-dates to be an active member of the group, we’re bringing you a reading community without the English homework.
With no required readings, and no in-depth discussions on the chapters read, we’ve created a space for you to celebrate your reading adventures, instead of be shamed for missing assignments (what, are we in school?).
Think of our monthly virtual meet-ups as a casual hang for readers to discuss their latest reads, learn how to romanticize reading, and unpack how reading enhances their journeys of Self Discovery.
You'll also gain exclusive readings on Bee Terrific Literature, like Favor of Athena or Sword Dancers directly from the writers themselves. Hang out with Bee Terrific published writers, ask them about the writing process, and give direct feedback on your favorite plots and characters to sway the direction of where the stories go next!
The Hustle Legacy Book Club brings you a unique reading community that allows you to connect with other bookworms and enhance your reading journey.
While we won’t get started until the new year, you could meet the Bee Terrific writers and other members of the community TODAY! Join The Hustle Legacy Discord server to be the first to get any updates on the book club, like when it's happening, how to join, and who will be there.
In 2025, Bee Terrific Media and The Hustle Legacy are bringing you even greater ways to empower your journey of Self Discovery. We can’t wait for you to be a part of it all 💎
