Lesson 75: Expertise

This week a co-worker asked me, an intern, how I knew who to contact for a certain customer. I replied, “I checked the COC, which had a name and number I could call.” When I first started my internship this summer, I had no idea what an invoice was, let alone a “COC”.  Now, I have expertise.

I developed expertise only after overcoming the panic and frustration of staring at my computer screen not knowing how to do my job. Showing up day after day failing to accomplish my assignment was demoralizing, frankly. Acknowledging my ineptitude and asking for help from everyone in the office not only reduced my anxiety, but my skill level went from mundane to mastery.

My job this summer involves collecting past-due balances from customers. Many small business owners know the difficulty involved in delivering your goods or service and contacting the customer to make payment. The money your customer owes you is called Accounts Receivable. When you collect, the Accounts Receivable becomes Cash on the Balance Sheet. This week, I wrote a manual called “Standard Operating Procedure for Cash Collections” memorializing my expertise in this role.

This experience shines a small light on the stress of owning a business. The business owners with expertise have weathered the storms not knowing what to do next. Just as I learned to navigate the panic of my internship, I have come to appreciate that true expertise in business ownership is not innate; it is earned through navigating painful road blocks when you do not know what to do next. Their expertise required resilience.

As I enter the final quarter of this newsletter (75 out of 100 total entries), I pause to review the expertise I have developed in the arena of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition. In the beginning, I did not know about SBA 7(a) or the Stanford Search Fund Study. Now, I have 75 newsletters (and counting). Expertise is a sign of excellence, and this newsletter documents my pursuit of excellence in ETA.

My vision is to leverage my influence as a Black business leader to pursue economic justice. I doubt I could have pursued this vision through ETA alone; there is simply too much to learn in isolation. This expertise came from sitting at the feet of professionals in the space all while keeping my unwavering focus on this larger vision. This week, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a national unemployment rate of 4.2% in July 2025. However, the rate for Black Americans stood significantly higher at 7.2% – a troubling one percent increase from July 2024. Acquiring and operating a vocational training program will directly address this disparity and actualize my vision for economic justice. I know I cannot do it alone, but I believe the networks built through this newsletter share my passion for empowering the next generation of experts in their careers.

This is Lesson 75: Expertise. Next week is Lesson 76: History.