In today's episode of the As Told by Nomads Podcast, join Dawn Dickson-Akpoghene and me to talk about the experience of founding multiple businesses and her company, Popcom's technology that helps retailers skyrocket their businesses' product-market fit through brand intelligence. Growing up under business-oriented parents, she found it funny how entrepreneurship was never brought up or taught. And because the school system only teaches kids how to be workers, Dawn learned the hard way to rightly pave her path as an entrepreneur. Tune in and find out what else Dawn has to share about their technology of tomorrow in this episode!

Going For It Anyway 

Before accumulating 20 years in entrepreneurship, Dawn had to start by learning her way in. Even though she was a daughter to parents who were into business. "It wasn't a word we talk about," she even said. Growing up in her family, they were taught to only focus on getting into college, finding a corporate job, and retire from that job. For Dawn, it wasn't encouraging at all. In a school system where kids are generally taught the knowledge and skills on how to be workers and not CEOs, Dawn grew this innate solid feeling of wanting to be freer and be more of her own. She wants to call the shots. Eventually, Dawn did just that. In 2001, she founded Urban Star—an online entertainment social platform before social media was even a thing back in the early days. Urban Star focused on listing events, restaurants, concerts, and everything hot and current in central Ohio. They were recognized for featuring local artists and music on their site and did really well by making money from email marketing and hosting online ads. If we think of it, Dawn was a real starter. By the time this episode comes out, she is already the founder of her 5th brand.

Outline of the episode:

• [03:50]"Entrepreneurship wasn't a word we talk about..."
• [05:02]Businesses built on experience and the need to solve personal problems.
• [08:16]What a business, from 20 years ago, teaches you.
• [10:34]What Popcom does for businesses and the people.
• [12:48]How did the pandemic affect Popcom?
• [18:09]On extending Popcom's mission to international markets.
• [20:06] What is brand intelligence?
• [21:46] Basically, anyone can invest in Popcom!
• [25:27]On building a community of investors that network and invest in each other.
• [28:35]"No one else's success is going to affect mine."

Resources:

Website: https://www.popcom.shop/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawndickson/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/THEDawnDickson/

Popcom’s Crowdfunding: https://www.startengine.com/popcom

Subscribe to the UYD Collective: https://tayorockson.podia.com/uydcollective

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