Announcer: 0:00

The following programming is sponsored by Marc J Bernstein. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of this station, its management or Beasley Media Group. Entrepreneur, founder, author and financial advisor, Marc Bernstein helps high-performing business owners turn their visions into reality. Through his innovative work and the Forward Focus Forums, Marc connects entrepreneurs to resources that fuel their success. Founders Forum is a radio show and podcast where entrepreneurs share their journeys, revealing the lessons they've learned and the stories behind their success. Join Marc and his guests for a mix of inspiration, valuable insights and a little fun. Now let's dive in.

Marc Bernstein: 0:41

Good morning America. How are you? Let's adjust our mic. Oh, there we go. I had to adjust my headphones.

Marc Bernstein: 0:48

I am very excited for the show. I'm excited because we've been off for a couple weeks, we're going to be off for a couple more and I'm going on vacation, going to Alaska early tomorrow morning. And I'm excited about our guest today, Dr. V, and I'll formally introduce her in a minute. But we were talking on the way in and it's on my mind, because of this trip, bureaucratic complexity, because I've never had such issues planning for a trip before going to Alaska. But I'm going through Vancouver.

Marc Bernstein: 1:21

So I had to get my passport renewed, which I did last year, then I proceeded to lose it, then I had to reapply and expedite it, and that is a whole comedy of errors that I won't go through. But I just barely got my passport in time and I didn't even know you needed a passport to go to Canada, because I never did before. It was always you just needed a driver's license. Then I'm checking into the flight and they're telling me I need a visa, and so I'm going through the whole process of getting an emergency visa and then it says, oh, if you have a passport, you don't need a visa To Canada, to Canada, oh, and Air Canada is on strike, which is I was flying United operated by Air Canada, and it was very shaky as to whether we're going to have our flight. We're starting on a cruise, so we couldn't be late, so we had to switch our flight. What a it's been unbelievable. So we've been talking about this and I think it's getting worse. Dr. V, I think you don't agree, right?

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 2:21

I think it's the same. You think it's the same.

Marc Bernstein: 2:23

It's always been bad. So the real question is not. The real question, of course, is not what happens to you, it's how you deal with what happens to you, right? So how do you deal with this kind of complexity when it happens to you?

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 2:36

Yes, I've learned my lesson. It happened once and so I will never let it happen again. And so I just prepare. I just stay so far ahead of the planning process and actually I go online and I read you know what are the current processes and procedures, and then I call. So I triple check, I cross check everything off, just to make sure that I have an idea of what to expect, so I can get ahead of it.

Marc Bernstein: 3:02

Will you come live with me? Listen, I say this because my wife God bless her is a wonderful woman. She's a family therapist by background, great with people, great with advice. She's been my backbone forever. But when it comes to organization, forget it. So it all falls to me and I am pretty good. But I've had a lot on my plate the last few months and I'm not on my game in that way the way I have been.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 3:27

Well, it takes a personality type as well. So you know I have that kind of leaning towards type, a attention to detail personality type. You know I'm a certified disc assessment provider, so understanding.

Marc Bernstein: 3:41

What is your disc profile? What is yours?

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 3:44

I'm a d s, so dominant. And then for the s, it's the uh, oh, my goodness, uh the?

Marc Bernstein: 3:54

uh, that's okay introvert.

Marc Bernstein: 3:55

I'm sorry d s introvert well, I'm I'm a d also, but I'm, my thing is so either something called colby and I'm a quick start, which means I've got great ideas and but I need someone to help on the back end. Not that I can do those things, but it doesn't energize me to do the detail stuff on the back end. So in business, I've been able to surround myself with the right kind of people. Personally, I haven't quite figured that out yet. So anyway, here we go. So let me now introduce you to our guest today, who is very excited. She came to us today from Jacksonville, florida, to Philadelphia, to be here, and I just think it's wonderful. So her name is Dr. V Dunbar, otherwise known as Dr. V, and she's the visionary founder and CEO of the Center for Confidence. Full Confidence.

Marc Bernstein: 4:46

Rx symbols are FCRX, a premier organizational leadership firm specializing in professional business and financial coaching for top performers and mission-driven changemakers, with a passion for helping leaders thrive in complex environments. Aha. She has become a trusted advisor to executives, entrepreneurs and institutions across the globe. She is a subject matter expert in organizational crisis and leadership, and Dr Dunbar serves on the MBA Advisory Committee at the Forbes School of Business and Technology and has led national research efforts as a senior research facilitator, including groundbreaking studies on the impact of COVID-19 on multicultural businesses. As a business advisor with Goldman Sachs' Blackened Business Accelerator, she champions women-owned solo enterprises, guiding founders toward long-term financial growth and sustainability. By the way, frida Thomas, a previous guest, recommended Dr. V and I guess you know each other through the Goldman Sachs program right, yes yes, gotcha.

Marc Bernstein: 5:52

So her latest endeavor, the new La Villa, is a bold $1 million plus community reinvestment in commercial real estate crowdfunding campaign to convert a historic landmark into modern co-working space and an entrepreneurship hub in Jacksonville, florida, reviving a historic neighborhood through innovation, ownership and collective vision. Follow her work and her series Lost Fortunes, which is I've read a couple of her articles that are really good on LinkedIn, at linkedincom slash I-N. Slash D-R-D-U-N-B-A-R for Dr Dunbar, and across social media at TheTrueDrV. I love that. Thank you, Marc. And she's very colorful today and she's got a La Villa Jacksonville outfit shirt on. That she said is her, what did you call it? Your, your, that's your, go to war.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 6:47

Yes, this is my my you know tribe shirt. Today I'm trying to bring community together and build our tribe around the Nula Villa, so this is my lioness shirt, that I'm wearing the lioness shirt, that's right.

Marc Bernstein: 7:00

That's what you said. It's wonderful. So listen, we just took up 10 minutes with your introduction because you had so many things. I'm kidding you, but anyway, let's get into it. So tell me about your humble beginnings and how you started and how you became a doctor and where it went from there.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 7:16

Yeah, I'd love to. And let me clarify very quickly I'm dominant, stable.

Marc Bernstein: 7:21

Oh, there you go, stable Okay.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 7:22

Not the interactive and the conscientious personality types.

Marc Bernstein: 7:27

I think they changed that. I don't remember stable as one of the words. Anyway, we can talk about that. Yeah, yeah.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 7:34

So for my background, my history born in Jacksonville, florida, and we were talking earlier about people who have low confidence, low self-esteem I would have called myself that at that time just a very quiet, shy, introverted personality still a normal introvert, but definitely have, as an entrepreneur, have mastered the challenges around just getting to know people and interacting with people.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 8:02

I always knew that I wanted to own my own business. For some reason I knew that and it was a cross between media, marketing, entertainment or do I want to work in community service fields. And I started out actually working in community service fields. So I was a grant writer for some time, working with nonprofits. I was also an officer with Florida International, my graduate school alma mater. So I went to Florida International University in Miami, received my master's in public administration there because I wanted to branch out and start working more so at a national level, working more so at a national level, helping people and serving people, and married that with my degree in journalism. So how do you go from journalism to working with nonprofits and community service, just working within those departments, the marketing and communications departments?

Marc Bernstein: 8:58

within those fields.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 9:01

Yeah, and then the writing was natural. So marketing, grant writing, all of that was communication for me.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 9:08

And once I graduated from Florida, international moved to Philadelphia, so I lived here for a year, I remember you said that I lived here for a full year and then got married, of course, moved to DC, but I loved Philadelphia I really did, and so it's nice to be back and see the changes. And as soon as I get here, I'm looking at real estate and looking at how much does it cost to kind of have a pad that I own here.

Marc Bernstein: 9:34

It's a lot more affordable than a lot of Northeast cities. It is still affordable it was affordable then and then.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 9:39

it's still affordable now, even more affordable than Jacksonville, which the prices are going up there as well. But coming back, here.

Marc Bernstein: 9:47

Everything in Florida has exploded. It's going, yeah. We have a lot of people moving in within the past Not this moment, but over the last few years it's really exploded.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 9:56

Within the past less than a decade, because I moved back when my husband retired from the Air Force. We were in San Antonio and when we moved back the prices were fairly decent and now, within the past eight years or so, the prices are getting up there. So if you're looking to invest and buy real estate in Florida, definitely get there now. I have you know we live part time.

Marc Bernstein: 10:18

Yeah, you're on the West Coast, I'm on the East Coast, but we drive down with Arlo, who I was talking about, my dog, and we, you know, so we drive down with Arlo, who I always talk about, my dog, and we, you know, so we drive through Jacksonville a lot. So that's our second night. Overnight is in Jacksonville.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 10:32

Okay, so next time we'll have to stop and have dinner at Morton's on the shoreline there on the St John's.

Marc Bernstein: 10:41

Can Arlo come? Of course Arlo can come. As long as Arlo can come, Do a time outside to the.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 10:47

He'll love the view. The water view is beautiful and so yeah, so moved to Philadelphia and then got married. My husband was in the Air Force, stationed at Andrews Air Force Base, loved living in DC after that and then he was transferred overseas so we lived in England for three years and that was right at the moment. I applied for my doctorate at University of Maryland.

Marc Bernstein: 11:14

Gotcha. And then what happened after that?

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 11:17

And then lived in England for three years, had a wonderful time my first time working for the federal government as the marketing director for their morale, welfare and recreation departments, and flew back and forth working on my doctorate in management, with an emphasis on crisis management. So, if you can imagine, physicians save people. For me, it's saving businesses, and that's why I'm so passionate about working with entrepreneurs to help them to figure this business model out and to keep pace with the environmental changes and technology that are happening, to make sure that they succeed.

Marc Bernstein: 12:00

So it's good work. Back to Philadelphia on October 9th because we're having the first founders forum network, for all the previous guests of the show to get together and we're going to have a speak to them that would be lovely.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 12:15

You have a lot of potential clients there.

Marc Bernstein: 12:16

So we have to talk about that would be great. So you have a very like calming presence, which part of that might be because you're quiet, but you've come off as a lot of confidence, so you've built that over the years, I see.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 12:32

I built it into my company's name the Center for Confidence, because I started seeing that in so many other people, especially women, who wanted to go out on a leap of faith and start their own businesses and lean into what they're passionate about. You know, passion is a serious thing. It gnaws at you over and over again until you finally do it, and I'm sure so many people can understand that. And so helping people to get out of their own way and to believe in themselves starting with just the mindset work, of course is what I wanted to work. You know, I wanted that to be the work that I do seeing people transform and then applying that to a business model.

Marc Bernstein: 13:15

So we only have about two minutes left before the break. So I want to ask you about the mindset work and then I want to talk to you about the transition to be becoming an entrepreneur. But what kind of mindset work do you do?

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 13:26

because I'm I'm very much into that you know, it starts with the assessments, so I found that once you tell them who they are, it's interesting. Um, they don't understand who they are, and so that's part of the problem is that so many people are giving them information that doesn't make sense about themselves like they don't know who they are.

Marc Bernstein: 13:45

Use discs and what else do you disc?

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 13:47

people. Styles is my favorite, and then um, the cure c assessment is very good, okay as well. So cure c gets into temperament, um, and that's something that I didn't quite understand. Like, what is temper? Why do people do the things that they do? Is you know, it's their wiring, it's just how they're wired, they can't get out of their own way.

Marc Bernstein: 14:05

You come with your temperament.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 14:07

It doesn't change, you come with it, and so managing it is the goal First recognizing it and then managing it. And then the one that was very big a while back I can't remember that one, but Myers-Briggs.

Marc Bernstein: 14:21

I've been doing this for so long. We've used that a lot.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 14:24

So Myers-Briggs was the one that most people were using those instruments. But then along comes some that are more refined around behavior versus personality and preferences. So that's where you have the disc assessments People's styles. Assessments is how people see you, so that's why that one's so valuable. And then UPenn has the values assessment about character strengths that I absolutely love. Ah.

Marc Bernstein: 14:51

I'm aware of that one. So you know what. We're almost out of time before the break. So when we come back, let's talk about how you transform from working for the government and your other jobs into being an entrepreneur. And then we want to talk about the government and your other jobs into being an entrepreneur, and then we want to talk about the growth of your company. So with that, let's take a quick break and we'll be right back on Founders Forum.

Announcer: 15:19

For over a decade, the Center for Confidence LLC TCFC, has been dedicated to transforming high potential professionals and top industry performers into confident, capable leaders and business owners who drive meaningful change. Guided by our mission to build economic capacity and influence, we partner with small businesses and mission-driven corporations, delivering customized programs, special projects and ongoing support that spark organizational growth, career advancement and long-term impact. At TCFC, and with our emerging brand, full Confidence Rx, we have the prescription for not just developing leaders we help them shape industries, strengthen communities and build lasting legacies. We don't just build, we reinvest. Join our campaign, the New La Villa, to honor history, revitalize the community and give small businesses ownership, equity and financial confidence. Be part of creating a vibrant future for small businesses. Follow our campaign and get involved today at wwwfullconfidencerxcom.

Marc Bernstein: 16:21

We're back on Founders Forum with our guest today, Valecia Dunbar, otherwise and more popularly known as Dr. V. So Dr. V, how did you get from your various positions, where you learned a lot on the job and brought a lot to those jobs to becoming an entrepreneur?

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 16:39

Yeah, so you know, going back to when I was a kid I wanted to have my own business. Going back to when I was a kid I wanted to have my own business. After we finished his work at the Air Force and retired, I knew day one I'm going to go downtown and I'm going to file for my business license and get started. Just get up and running, just formalizing it, registering the business name and then putting up the website shingles to open the doors and invite clients in, because no one knew me really in Jacksonville when I started. I started offering pro bono sessions at the local incubator, and so that's how I started building the brand and building the business.

Marc Bernstein: 17:19

So with young entrepreneurs, new entrepreneurs Of all types, of all types.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 17:24

Yeah, this was the local business incubator, where startups, mostly in Jacksonville, would have low overhead and low rent so they could save some of the money towards really building the brand and marketing and having a strategic approach to growing and scaling their brands, and so I wanted to be part of that from the beginning up. But they also had tenants there who were in business for 10, 15, 20 years.

Marc Bernstein: 17:51

And how long ago was that roughly when you started, when I?

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 17:54

started 10 years ago, so that would have been 2016.

Marc Bernstein: 17:57

Okay, so 10 years ago. So, and at what point did you say, okay, this is what I'm going to do, full time.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 18:02

That was always the point. So it was always a point. What happened is it sort of shifted into a niche focus on not necessarily helping business, every business and every business type, and you know, at every stage. So it really honed in on working with people who were within their first five years of business, who were ready to scale and grow. So they were generating revenue, steady revenue, and maybe they were hitting the six-figure Marc or even transitioning to the million-dollar Marc, but staying in that small business model range, gotcha.

Marc Bernstein: 18:48

So did you have challenges in growing your business.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 18:52

Yeah, the messaging was always tricky. Who doesn't?

Marc Bernstein: 18:55

by the way.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 18:56

Yeah, the message is always so tricky, especially working with people who have an entrepreneurial mindset but they don't yet have the business mindset. And what I mean by that is they know they want to have a business, they know they have a service that they like to provide or a product they like to provide, but teaching them the financials and understanding that this is a numbers game. Entrepreneurship is a numbers business and you have to sustain the income and to keep that income coming in, and every year you're starting over. So what does that look like for you and your brand? How do you build that client base and make sure that they continue to believe that you're the choice amongst all the competitors? So it's really a journey going on that journey with them, but helping them to transition out.

Marc Bernstein: 19:50

So when you figured out that you're figuring out that message, but at the same time, you've just entered the entrepreneur's game, entrepreneur's world, so you have to master the numbers game at the same time. While you're doing that, right, you have to master the numbers game at the same time while you're doing that right.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 20:04

Interestingly, that was my second business. I started a business not too long after college, so I started my marketing business. I worked for State Farm, as a matter of fact, in insurance, for a bit, just to make sure my student debts were just manageable and paid off, and after that I started a marketing firm. So I had the marketing firm for three years and then in Orlando, and then when I decided to pursue my master's, I focused on that.

Marc Bernstein: 20:36

So you'd already done the numbers game before, so you had that experience behind you. So you figured out the message. And how is your business today? How busy is it today?

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 20:47

My business is great. Today I found my niche. I've been working with I'm certified with the state as a business technical assistance provider, working with entrepreneurs, individuals with disabilities who are interested in entrepreneurship, with entrepreneurs individuals with disabilities who are interested in entrepreneurship. I've been working with the Goldman Sachs program now for quite a while as a business advisor, so it's corporate, state and local contracts are coming in and it's been a rewarding journey.

Marc Bernstein: 21:19

So well, are you on your own? Do you have other people? Do you have subcontractors, contractors, you do Many or I you have subcontractors, contractors you do Many, or I have six contractors. Yeah, I figured you and they rotate in and out.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 21:30

Yeah, depending on the job.

Marc Bernstein: 21:32

By the way. So we talk a lot here about, you know, employee culture, company culture and all that kind of thing which is culture is changing because a lot of companies actually a smart I'm not saying you shouldn't have employees, our company, we have employees but it makes a lot of sense today to have contractors. And you still need to build a culture, which I'm sure you're doing, because you're all about culture.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 21:56

Yeah, so we have our team meetings and so our team name is Team Open Shoot. Name is Team Open Shoot. So you know, we want to be that parachute that is opening up, you know, jumping out of it and diving in to help and support people. So we are, you know, the inspiration in our minds to help people, to open up their own parachutes and give them protection and cover and a good, firm landing when they need guidance.

Marc Bernstein: 22:27

So let's talk about La Villa and what's going on with that.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 22:32

Over the years. La Villa is what I see as the answer to why so many entrepreneurs go out of business prematurely, and that's because they're trying to grow and scale, but they don't have the resources in place yet, and so the two largest expense items employees and office space were the two that were just eating up their income, and so I wanted to address that issue with the new LaVilla.

Marc Bernstein: 23:00

And how do you see that working so people? Obviously space will be a lot less expensive. There'll be pooled resources, I imagine. Actually, when I'm in Florida, I work in a co-working space, so I have a sense of what that's like and it's great actually. I've always had my own office, but I love doing that.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 23:16

Yeah, and imagine having ownership in that space. That is the Nula Villas business model that I now want the businesses in that space to have ownership and equity in it so that they not only and in the real estate itself. In the real estate itself that they're owning the properties and they don't have to throw away this money. They can actually start gaining interest and benefits.

Marc Bernstein: 23:38

It's almost like an employee stock ownership plan for entrepreneurs, in a sense.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 23:44

Exactly.

Marc Bernstein: 23:45

It's really cool, Exactly Really cool idea. Do you know about EO, by the way? Entrepreneurs Organization.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 23:51

No, I do not oh we'll talk about that offline.

Marc Bernstein: 23:53

So I've been a member. I've just left just because I'm so busy, but it's a great organization worldwide of entrepreneurs that you should connect with because they could use you.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 24:03

I would appreciate that referral yes.

Marc Bernstein: 24:06

We. So let's talk about your future vision. I know a lot of that has to do with Lovilla, but for the next three, if you and I are talking and it's August of 2028 and we're looking back on the last three years Dr. V, what would have to happen for you to feel that that was a successful three-year period in your business, in your life? However you want to approach that?

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 24:28

Yeah, three years from now, I want to have multiple new La Villa business models around the country, and so the other piece of that is reinvesting in some of our forgotten spaces, our historic main streets where people have, you know, there's been disinvestment and people have moved out and the businesses are struggling and buildings are vacant. How do we take those vacant buildings and start to bring them back to life?

Marc Bernstein: 24:59

I noticed you're like a poet Forgotten Main Streets and I'm a songwriter. So I'm writing that down because I think there's a songwriter. So I'm writing that down because I think I think there's a song in that, because we're reinvesting in our forgotten main streets.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 25:10

That's our, that's our motto.

Marc Bernstein: 25:12

I love that. What challenges do you see over the next three years in accomplishing that?

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 25:18

vision. You know consistency. It goes a little bit back to your, your word of the day Bureaucracy is staying on top of everything that's changing in terms of regulations and policy rules. So just staying ahead of the real estate game and making sure that we're not only creating a new business model but also informing how small businesses can best perform and thrive in this new economy that's emerging.

Marc Bernstein: 25:54

I always ask what strengths do you have to meet those challenges? But you've already answered it You're going to stay ahead of it because that's one of your unique abilities.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 26:01

Stay organized, plan, watch your numbers, watch what's coming this year. You know every year you're starting over, so right now you should be thinking about 2026.

Marc Bernstein: 26:13

I know you're prepared. I can't wait to hear what it's like in three years. Couple really quick questions because we're almost out of time, which is time flies.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 26:21

This goes too fast.

Marc Bernstein: 26:22

Sure does. You're a reader. I know what are you currently reading oh, wow, I.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 26:28

So I this, uh, the six, triple, eight movie that came out, the women of the post is the book version of it, so I've I've been finishing.

Marc Bernstein: 26:36

Yeah, the women of the post that was a great movie or show. I guess it was like a series, right uh, it was a netflix.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 26:42

I guess it was like a series, right. It was a Netflix show, netflix movie, yeah.

Marc Bernstein: 26:44

Netflix movie yeah, that's a cool one.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 26:46

The 6888, the Army Regiment during World War II. Ah that carried the mail, and so there was a blockage of mail that was not getting back to the families of the soldiers, and so it was a huge morale issue that they solved.

Marc Bernstein: 27:02

So we've been talking about you're doing very important work and I love it because it's centered around entrepreneurs. What about your legacy? What would you like to see there?

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 27:13

I've been looking into trusts and forming longer term financial instruments so that whatever wealth I generate from my business, whatever wealth that we generate from the ownership in these properties, that entrepreneurs in the future may be able to draw from it as well and benefit from getting financial grants or resources for their businesses coming out of the pool of money that we grow Well.

Marc Bernstein: 27:43

as a financial planner, I've been talking a lot to people about purpose trust. We'll have to talk about that offline.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 27:48

I'd love to talk about that.

Marc Bernstein: 27:50

Dr. V, thanks for being here. I knew this was going to be a lot of fun and it was, and I really appreciate you, appreciate the audience, for listening to us and we'll see you all again next week on Founders Forum.

Valecia "Dr. V" Dunbar: 28:01

Thank you.

Announcer: 28:05

We next week on Founders Forum. Thank you, we hope you enjoyed your time with Founders Forum and that you found value to take with you throughout your day. Join us again next week for another episode of Founders Forum on WXKB 1039 HD2.