How a Woman in Detroit is Uplifting the Voices of Women Everywhere and Creating Her Best Life - youramericanmoney
Author: Michelle
Description: My name is Robin Kinnie. I am an entrepreneur, a mom of three, and an overall go-getter. What’s your business? Well, I have two businesses. I own a recording studio here in Midtown Detroit, where we produce all forms of audio. We specialize in audiobooks, voiceovers for commercials, different audio projects around the city. And […]
Date: 2022-12-14T10:00:00+00:00

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# How a Woman in Detroit is Uplifting the Voices of Women Everywhere and Creating Her Best Life

posted on 14 December, 2022

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My name is Robin Kinnie. I am an entrepreneur, a mom of three, and an overall go-getter. What’s your business? Well, I have two businesses. I own a recording studio here in Midtown Detroit, where we produce all forms of audio. We specialize in audiobooks, voiceovers for commercials, different audio projects around the city.

And then we also of course do music. We’re in Motown, so we do music as well as podcasts. The second business is Motor City Woman Studios. That’s a post-production audio business, and that works with clients all across the country. The projects that we work on with Motor City Woman is, it can range. It could range from video editing to podcast editing. So basically, a post-production service

In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please read my disclosure here.*

## Listen to the Episode

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## WOC Podcasters

When I was in second grade, I got in trouble for talking. In fact, I ended up having my name put in the dog house (it was literally drawn on the board) and I had to sit out during recess. It’s the first time that I remember being in trouble for speaking. It would not be the last. As a podcaster, I’m able to highlight, share and reflect on the issues, values and topics that matter most to me from a lens that reflects my viewpoint and culture. I’m able to uplift the experts that often don’t get shared on other creator’s platforms as well. I love that this content allows me to be heard. Because, unfortunately, as a Black woman I’m used to not being heard or ignored. I’m able to share my lived experience authentically with my podcasts and the other content that I create.

But learning the skills to market my podcast, being in community with other podcasters who don’t talk down to me when I ask a question can be hard to find. I’m so happy to be a paying member of Women Of Color Podcasters a community created by Danielle Desir of The Thoughtcard, a personal finance and affordable travel website and podcast. Women of Color Podcasters is the home base that I go to hang out with other creatives designing content that I’m so excited about. I love participating in the different workshops offered, strategy sessions and learning about all of the cool shows that these amazing creatives are producing. If you’re looking for professional support and community-Women of Color Podcasters is the community that I belong to. Thank you to Danielle and WOC Podcasters for being a supporter of my show and helping me to bring this episode to life as a sponsor. If you would like to learn more about WOC Podcasters, go to https://michelleismoneyhungry.com/woc for more information.

## Show Notes

Robin-So let’s go back. I will start with saying that I never looked at entrepreneurship as a way to support myself.

I didn’t know any entrepreneurs growing up. I thought, you go to college, you get a quote. Good job. And you work there for 30, 35 years, you retire right off until the sunset. It wasn’t until I was pregnant with my third child that I realized that I wasn’t happy. I was not living the life of my dreams, and I knew I deserved better and I started making decisions of.

Okay, how can I change this? I was working a nine to five working for a nonprofit organization, which I loved. I loved their mission. I loved the people that I was working with. I was like, this isn’t the lifestyle. So I knew I had to make a change. I started researching what is it that I would like to do, because again, I didn’t know anything about entrepreneurship.

Michelle-I understand that you had someone else who was a part of this journey with you, but this is a lot, right? And I would love for you to talk about two things, which is how you managed the workload and the trajectory. Like how long did it take from. Initial ideation to.

Where you’re like, wait, this thing can sustain itself. And then I think the other piece of it is just the finances. Once it was sustaining itself, I’m curious what were the logistics around, okay, this is now what I’m gonna do full-time, and how did you create a benefits package and that kind of thing.

Robin-Okay. So when we first started the business in 2016, because I do have a partner. I was still working full-time and we were working on the business evenings and weekends, so, so long days, weekends really didn’t exist because on the weekends we had shows. We had, we were starting to get clients and you go into the marketing of it and a just a whole host of things when it comes to building a business.

We continued on this track for two years, so I worked for two years full-time. While building the business on the side. And I think that’s something that’s overlooked when it comes to entrepreneurship. Everyone wants to look at the sexy side of, oh, quit your job and make six figures tomorrow, but you have to be smart about it.

We did have savings so that we didn’t, we didn’t get a loan when we first started the business at all. And really there’s no philosophical reason for that. Other than I didn’t want anyone telling me how to run my business. I knew and how I wanted it run. I had a very clear vision for it, so I didn’t want any outside investors at that time.

Michelle-I do want to talk about like, how were you creating your benefits package for you and your family because you have kids get sick. Mm-hmm. , you know, you get sick, like things come up. You have to get your, your annual, like, there’s just all these things. And so if I’m a woman listening to you, Talking about growing this amazing business.

I will say, I’m thinking, well, but how did you, what about you take care of those other things. Mm-hmm. , before we get into this part, listeners do note each state is different. So what Robin has access to may be different in terms of laws and that kind kind of thing than in your state.

Robin-Well, my partner is also my husband and he still works full. Specifically because of the benefits and because of, you know, his full-time job. His benefits cover the entire family. So it’s all strategic. It’s a partnership on, on several different levels. I tell people when you’re starting a business, you have to think about taking care of yourself, taking care of your family, and we would love for both of us to work full-time in the business, but we are not there yet.

Michelle-For American women in particular, there are just certain policies that we don’t have access to compared to our cousins and sisters in other countries. Mm-hmm. and. I’m wondering what policies would you love to see that would make this entrepreneurial journey?

Robin-I can definitely speak to policies that I would like to see more of as a mother.

When I started, as I mentioned, I was pregnant with my third child and had two little ones at home so I could not attend all the cute little after work networking events and all these different things that were going on. I’m like, gosh, you know, I want to be engaged. that doesn’t fit who I am and it doesn’t fit my lifestyle.

I will say that as a mother, uh, one of the benefits that I hope anyone who’s starting a business has, and that I don’t take for granted at all, is I have a, a large support network. Both my mother and my mother-in-law are both retired, so you know, if there’s a, a sick kid at home or you know, I need something, someone picked up, dropped off.

You know, I have people to call. So that’s another thing that I’m, I don’t think people talk about is your support network as you’re growing this business, especially if you are taking care of someone else, whether it be you’re a parent or a child. But some of the policies that I would like to see more of are all about childcare.

Michelle-The heart of this conversation is also just how are you, how can women better design, how can American women better design their lives so that they’re living lives, inten their lives intentionally while earning money in ways that light them up?

Robin-I love this question about designing the life that you want, because I think the root of it is for, for most American women, they’ve never even been asked that question. What do you want? Some women I know don’t even know what they want.

They’re just on autopilot. You go to college, you graduate, you get a job, maybe get. You have children, dot, dot, dot, , then that’s it. And one of the challenges I would have for, for any woman, whether they have kids at home or not, is to first sit down and think about and visualize and, and these are things that I did.

I did these things. I visualized what would a perfect day look like? , what would be something where I’d be like, gosh, I made it. What does that look like? What does that feel like? Now? What are the things I need to do to bring that to fruition? Okay. One of the things was really looking at how I spend my time.

Michelle-What was it like going from nonprofit to entrepreneurship? What were the mindset shifts you had to embrace?

Robin-It was certainly was a shift and I worked in the nonprofit space for 10 plus years. I, I loved what I did and I worked around women who led with their heart, but they were very clear on the bottom line, and they knew how much money we needed to fundraise, how much, how many prints we needed.

We supplemented that with services (for Motor City Woman). You know, we, we looked at, okay, where is the gap and how can we fill that gap in a way that’s aligned with our mission? Now, going from the nonprofit sector to entrepreneurship, it took me years to get to the point. I need to charge what I am worth. I am not meant to struggle and there’s no metal for saying, oh my gosh, I’m gonna do this, and I’m, I’m only getting by on, on scraps. It probably took me about five years to, to make that, to make that shift, to be quite honest with you.

Michelle-How would you know what you don’t know, I guess is my question.

Robin-And, you know, one of the things that, that you just said was within the creative industry, and I, I think because we are, you know, so into what we create, you know, we ha we have to look at it as this is reflective of who I am.

And so I think the rates should be even, even more than that because, you know, this is a. Product that I’m creating and, and, and that I am offering in general. I look at what the industry, you know, dictates when it comes to, to different pricing. I’m, I may browse a few websites from time to time, and I’ll say, annually I’ll do something like this.

I look at, you know, of course, the number of hours that it’s going to take. And in general, I never take on probably more than five or six clients a quarter. And that’s because I’ve designed a life that I love and I don’t want to struggle and I don’t want to be stressed. Um, and I really want to dive into each client and, you know, and really absorb and, and, and give it my all.

Michelle-For those of us who would like to work with you or curious about your services, how can we find you?

## Connect With Robin

- Motor City Woman

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#### Michelle

I am an obsessive foodie, but not self-righteous with it, love travel, meeting new people, helping you look good, and am freaked out by people who don't enjoying reading...something! Grab a Perrier, read my blog, feel free to drop me a line! Hope to hear from you soon.

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