Behind every successful entrepreneur is an incredible story, and Darnyelle Jervey Harmon’s story is one for the books.
Harmon is an international speaker, best-selling author, and award-winning business growth strategist who looked deep into her past to develop a bright future. After feeling unfulfilled in the corporate hustle and grind, Harmon quit her job and became a highly successful Mary Kay cosmetics independent sales director. Through her success—and two pink Cadillacs later—she went on to help other women build their empires with her company, Incredible One Enterprises.
As its clientele grew, so did her passion for giving the keys to success to other women business owners. The Wilmington, Delaware, native has helped close to 40 Black businesses reach the million-dollar mark with her “Move to Millions” method. The method is designed to transform your business’s key components into a scalable and sustainable enterprise, defying the statistics. “Statistics tell us that 78% of people who cross seven figures the first time never repeat it,” Harmon told Black Enterprise. “So, for me, it’s about scaling and sustaining.”
Harmon practices what she preaches during her Move to Millions conference in Herndon, Virginia. The yearly conference consists of educational sessions that hundreds of business owners register for to cross the million-dollar threshold. Harmon shares her story and the challenges within her journey, including filing for bankruptcy. While that seems like a dark cloud for some, the Inc. 5000 business owner said it was one of the best things to ever happen to her.
She says it put her in a different place and opened her eyes to educating herself on how to improve her business. “At the time of meeting my bankruptcy trustee, I was required to take a financial literacy course, and I would never end up in his court again,” she confessed. “And that’s when money began to change for me. That’s when I began to understand what it was, and once you know better, you can do better.”
Having that new knowledge helped her to make healthier decisions, business-wise. She detests that financial literacy isn’t taught in elementary schools nationally as she feels that’s where a mindset of “hustle and grind” comes from to access money. Harmon says, “If you work the principles, money will show up.”
Outside of taking some of her many courses or listening to her “Move To Million Business Podcast,” she identifies free steps Black business owners need to do now to be successful. As many people start a business blindly, Harmon says the first thing is to be very clear about the problem you solve, calling it a “spice problem.” “A clear and expensive problem because when the problem is strong enough, we will do anything, pay anything to resolve the problem,” she says.
The second thing is to identify your audience. She calls it “deepening the spice.” “You have to think about scenarios they must be in and how it’s wreaking havoc on their life,” she explains. “Because if you can craft a message that is clear—which is the third thing—that is clear, compelling, and contrarian in front of the customer, you can make money right now.”
Lastly, even with a clear message, she lists having a clearer solution as the fourth thing. How are you planning to solve that problem for them? Harmon suggests being in close proximity to that person to let them know you are the solution. “It doesn’t cost you any money to do any of those four things.”
