In today’s episode, we hear about the small business journey of Porshia Mitchell, who saw a need for a flexible event space and brought her vision to life. From engineer to entrepreneur, Porshia has created a community space that continues to support small businesses and event attendees alike. In today’s marketing tip, we learn about how AI searches are different than the way you’re used to searching.
TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome to the Small Business Miracles podcast.
I’m Jeff Randolph. This small business podcast is brought
to you by EAG Advertising and Marketing. We’re going
to talk about marketing. We’re also here to celebrate
entrepreneurs. We have marketing news and advice
that business owners can use to keep moving forward.
Today, we’re talking to Porshia Mitchell, the
owner and operator of Cocoa Spaces. But first,
we’ve got another small business marketing tip
to talk about. In today’s marketing tip, you
may have noticed new sources for traffic in your
analytics recently. And that’s traffic from AI
search. And if you haven’t seen it or you’re
paying attention to it, you should. Because the
way people search and how businesses are found
is changing. And it frequently changes, but it’s
continuing to change in a big way with AI now.
And so if your marketing strategy doesn’t keep
pace, you may as well be invisible to those people.
Yes. Plenty are still searching for you using
Google and other search engines, but even Google
is showing you search results generated by AI.
Traditional search was like playing find the
matching words. You type marketing agency in
Kansas City, and Google matched results with
those exact words. AI search plays a smarter
game. It doesn’t just look for matches. It understands
what you mean. It’s powered by natural language
processing and machine learning, which means…
It can interpret questions the way that humans
do, and so it understands the difference. That’s
why you can now ask full -blown questions, even
conversational ones, and get meaningful answers
instantly, and then revise those questions and
say, no, no, what I mean is, or can you tell
me more about X? It’s not magic. It’s just really
smart software. AI search is a lot like the best
intern you’ve ever had. It’s fast. It’s smart.
It’s always learning. It doesn’t just scan for
words. It interprets intent. Using semantic search,
so it looks for meaning, not just words, it looks
at language models and understands sentence structure
and your phrasing that you use. And then it looks
at behavioral data, where it learns what users
typically mean based on their past behavior,
based on questions you have asked it in the past.
Now, put it like this. It’s not just about what’s
said. It’s about what’s meant. And if you want
to know what AI searches know about your company,
give it a shot. If you like what you find and…
Especially if you don’t, let’s talk. We’ll have
some strategies you can work on right now. And
that is today’s marketing tip. Welcome back to
the featured interview section of our podcast.
I’m here with Porshia Mitchell. She’s the owner
and operator of Cocoa Spaces. Porshia, welcome
to the show. Thank you for having me. We’re excited
you’re here because we’re talking about Cocoa
Spaces and Event Space. Give me the origin story
of Cocoa Spaces. How did this start? Well, Cocoaa
Spaces just kind of came from a time during COVID,
right, where we all were in the house. We were
just, you know, pretty lonely. We didn’t get
to spend a lot of time with people. And I was
just sitting around like, what do I really want
to do with my life, right? Just that. You’re
sitting alone at home thinking about what you
want to do with your life. That sets the stage
perfectly. What is it that… I haven’t done
yet that I want to do because, you know, it was
in uncertain times. Right. We didn’t really know
what was going to happen, what was going on.
So it was just kind of like, OK, what can I what
do I want to do? And so that’s kind of where
it was birthed from. And I’ve always just been
a person that naturally like planned things,
planned events. And I thought, why don’t I have
my own space to do this? And, yeah, I just started
doing research from there. I didn’t really have,
like, anybody to look to for it. But, yeah, I
did a lot of research online and I was able to
figure out what I needed to do. And we were all
kind of starting to go back outside. And, you
know, they were like, oh, you can have this many
people in a room, this many people in a room.
I don’t necessarily like large events, right?
Because Cocoaa Spaces is a micro event space.
Micro events and capacity is like people.
or less. or fewer. Yes. And so sometimes
when you have things, you don’t necessarily need
a huge crowd. And I thought there was definitely
a gap in those type of spaces that are available
here in Kansas City. venues you go to are large
spaces sometimes you just want to have a gathering
you don’t necessarily need a lot of people but
you want to have the same kind of amenities that
a larger venue does have yeah yeah and so you’re
you’re you’re coming up with you decide I don’t
have a real estate background or anything I don’t
have a an event planning background I’m just
going to go for this and and yeah so I have I
actually had a friend who had a store and um
She kind of gave me some pointers on look at
commercial real estate and all these things.
And so I just was kind of looking around to see
what I could do. And I stumbled upon the space
that is now Cocoaa Spaces, which is actually next
to my old dentist’s office that I went to growing
up. Oh, okay. And so I was like, oh, this place
is for lease. Let me see who’s the realtor for
it. I went in there. It was very ugly. Yeah.
But I had a vision, and me and my dad basically
renovated the whole place. Well, and what a nice
family project to have. Definitely. That’s fun.
Yeah. Unless you get in there and one thing leads
to another, leads to another kind of repair work.
I’m just picturing every episode of Property
Brothers ever where, oh, here’s something we
didn’t know about. Yeah, everything just kind
of. fell in line you know i you know prayed about
it and everything just kind of happened in the
way that it should naturally um i really love
the ceiling nothing else in there was the same
um as it is now so um the owner of the building
gifted me the floor um so he redid the floor
for me My dad, basically, him and his friend,
they redid everything. They built the kitchen.
He built me, like, a movable mobile bar in there.
I had everything planned out as far as, like,
furniture and stuff because I have, like, a little
living room in there. So, yeah, I basically mapped
it out on, like, this D software because I am
an engineer by day. And so… I showed it to
the owner of the building because he was kind
of nervous about leasing it to me. I’ve never
been a business owner before. And so when I showed
him how serious I was, you know, he was like,
okay. All right. I got a good feeling about this
one. All right. Interesting. And what part of
town is this in? This is in Brookside East. So
we are off of like rd and Rock Hill Road. Not
a bad spot for an event space. Let’s, let’s,
so. fewer than people for capacity. You know,
as someone who has planned a lot of events in
my day, I really appreciate the resources that
I found on your website that would tell an event
planner, you know, here’s the space and here’s
capacity and, you know, go through the rules.
It gives you a real sense of here’s what this
place feels like before you ever go. So appreciated,
you know, by someone who does that kind of thing.
Give us a sense of the different kinds of events
that you’ve had there. What is this? really kind
of have has been used for yeah so we do you know
your regular events birthdays baby showers and
things like that but we also have a church we
use it on sundays um we’ve had product launches
we’ve had people do um networking events. We
have companies that are a little bit smaller,
do like trainings, workshops. People do content
shoots, photo shoots. It’s a little bit of everything.
So we kind of, you know, I market the space as
just, you know, it’s for your creative and intimate
events. So people get really creative with the
ideas of things that they want to do there. And
it sounds like it’s just a very flexible space
to do whatever you need to do as long as you’ve
got fewer than people to do it, which covers
a whole lot of ground. I want to ask about a
pitch competition you did because you took third
place. Congratulations on that. Thank you. A
pitch competition with Porterhouse KC. For entrepreneurs
who don’t know, tell us about the organization
and kind of the pitch competition that you were
part of. Yeah, so the Porterhouse KC is a nonprofit
organization. They basically help small businesses
in the Kansas City area. I was a part of their
small business development program. So they do
this for about four months. And you basically
just kind of learn how to elevate your business
in different ways. So we kind of step through
like a workbook. You learn how to do better marketing,
finances, reaching new customers. And then we’re
also at the same time developing a pitch. using
those, you know, different things that we’ve
learned and, you know, pitch it to the judges.
So it’s a really good program if you’re, like,
looking to learn more about elevating your business.
And also it allowed me to connect with other
entrepreneurs in the Kansas City area that I’d
never met before and just, you know. make a community
with them as well. So I’ve, I’ve met a lot of,
you know, made a lot of great friends and contacts
through that and gain more business from that.
Yeah. We, we are, we are big supporters of CEO
peer networks. Um, that there, there are so many
good uses for that. Um, what, what did you take
away from that pitch experience? Because the
pitch experience you, that was a planned rehearsed
competition kind of thing. What would you, what’d
you walk away with? Um, that I was able to just
like, There’s more in me than what I thought.
I’m not necessarily big on, you know, talking
in front of large crowds and doing different
things like that. That was my first time doing
a pitch. But what I realized is that. Something
that you are passionate about, something that
you love, something that’s yours, that you made
and created, it’s so easy to talk about. It’s
not hard to do. It’s passion at that point, right?
You’re talking about your baby, more or less.
Right, exactly. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought
it would be. It was definitely just like a great
learning experience. And now I just want to do
more pitch competitions. Well, yeah, you’ve got
it down to science now. Tell me what’s next for
Cocoaa Spaces. Where does it go from here? Yeah,
so right now I’ve just been working with a mentor,
really just trying to like. Elevate more, do
better marketing, working on seeing if maybe
I need to do another location or expand because
there is opportunity to expand in the space that
I’m in. And so, yeah, just trying to like reach
more audiences. I’ve been connecting, doing partnerships
with other businesses. So like bringing in a
decorator and having. more access to things for
my customers, like different table types or decorating
opportunities. Yeah, so just being able to expand
to more people. It sounds outstanding. If I could,
I’d like to take you into the lightning round
now and give you questions that… You couldn’t
possibly know we’re on the way. So help us learn
more about you and what makes you tick and how
your brain works. I’ll start with, you were starting
to get into it a little bit. What part of the
business do you wish you knew more about? Oh,
I wish I knew more about marketing. Oh, I’ve
heard of it. I feel like we could help with that.
I do feel like we have some advice that we can
give. Social media is interesting and the algorithm
and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, I wish I
knew more about that. Yeah, and it can be, social
media can be a great place for, especially in
an event company, to reach out, like to help
the people who are there at events. tag the facility
and help help the facility get to be known more
because they’re having a great time and what
space are they at and so you can you can do a
lot of magnification with that yeah um when it
comes to being a business on on social media
though a lot of times that’s very much a pay
-to -play situation where where you really do
need to advertise and target an audience to be
able to be seen exactly that’s a that’s a real
challenge between that and then like profit and
loss talk, all that kind of stuff. Yeah, I wish
I knew more about it. It happens. Let’s see,
I want to ask a question about, you know, this
is… you own the business that you are, you
are definitely an entrepreneur here. Um, but
when you’re not in, in that entrepreneur hat,
uh, you are an engineer. You mentioned like,
what, what kinds of things do you engineer? So
I have my degree in electrical engineering, but
I do project engineering. Basically I’m like
a project manager for engineering projects. And
so I just oversee the projects, making sure they
meet different deadlines, whatever issues are
going on, whether that involves reaching out
to suppliers and getting new parts and all that
kind of stuff. What’s easier, being an engineer
for a living or being an entrepreneur? Well,
I would say as a small business owner, because
you wear all the hats, you’re like you’re the
owner. I’m the marketing team. I am the finance
person. I’m HR. I’m everything. So, I mean, it’s
a little bit harder, but I think I enjoy it more
because it is my business. You know, it’s something
that I created because I love it. Yeah. Well,
you know, you’ve certainly got the project management
side of things down. It seems like that would
help your business quite a bit. Yeah. I noticed
you had some photography on the website and on
your Instagram feed by another superstar, Sean
Lee House, Sean Lee Photography. I’m looking
at a sticker that’s on your jacket right now
that’s the support small businesses. You’re wearing
that kind of thing very proudly. You also support
local women -owned businesses with events like
your Valentine’s pop -up. Do you intentionally
seek out small businesses to support in the community?
What’s your stance there? It seems like you’re
wearing that on your sleeve, exactly. Yeah, so…
With Cocoa Spaces, that is something that I’m
trying to do more of this year. I really am looking
to partner with other local small businesses
to do events, whether they want to utilize us
to do a pop -up or, you know, for their own events.
And so I did the Galentine’s event with women
-owned businesses. They are small businesses
as well. And then with Sean Lee, you know, we’ve
been doing a couple, like, headshot events. So,
yeah, it’s something that I think is important
because it’s. bringing community and my space
is all about community and being able to help
each other so well let’s i mean let’s have us
help you then because uh you have some events
that you’re you’re running you you aren’t just
hosting it in the space but you’re kind of managing
that event what what do you have coming up on
the calendar yeah so um we have another headshots
and happy hour event that’s coming up on may
th and basically it’s beyonce themed because
it’s sean lee’s birth Well, that’s, I can’t think
of anything better. That’s outstanding. It’s
going to be, you know, Beyonce playlist and there’ll
be like some specialty cocktail drinks that will
be named after Beyonce songs. And we’ll play
some networking games, of course. But it’s for
you to gain a headshot, whether it be professional
for your LinkedIn or you want it for your brand,
if you have a business of your own. It’s an opportunity
to get a headshot because sometimes there’s not
a lot of opportunity to get those sometimes.
So it’s just a resource for… on business owners
and professionals to get headshots. And, and
we can, you know, uh, throw it right back with
a link over to the, the Sean Lee, uh, photography
podcast that we did not, not too many episodes
ago now. Uh, I, I know if, if. if she’s doing
the photos, these are going to look, these are
going to look good. So she did some for me a
couple of months ago and they were amazing. So,
you know, I was just like, we need to do. Yeah.
Let’s one more time. Let’s do this again. And,
and you’re, so you’re running the show. Any like,
is this open to anyone or is this? Yeah. So it’s
open to anyone. And, but it is a ticketed event.
It’s $for the headshot. You get a drink with
that as well. And then you get to network. So.
Yeah, it’s $and you can come and get a head
shot. And all the Beyonce you can listen to.
Yeah. Not bad at all. Not bad. Let’s see. This
entrepreneurial journey has been kind of a ride
for you. As you started going on this path of
entrepreneurship, what’s the best business advice
that you’ve gotten? Ooh. Stay consistent. Stay
consistent. you know, the people will come as
they see your passion for what you’re doing.
So just because, you know, you post something
doesn’t get likes or, you know. If you do an
event and people don’t come, just keep being
consistent. People will see, you know, your hard
work, your passion, and people will start to
tap into that. Oh, man, agreed. Agreed %.
The consistency in marketing is really important.
Like if we do one magazine ad one time. maybe
that gets seen, maybe it doesn’t. It’s that repetition
that really works for it. If you’ve got a billboard,
you know, an outdoor ad, that needs to be there.
all the time so that people are seeing it so
that when they’re ready, you have that name recognition
and you’re ready to go. So, yeah, consistency,
%. That’s a great tip. I may just go ahead
and end the lightning round on that tip then
because that’s good wisdom for everyone to have.
Let’s see. Tell people where they can find you
if they want to have an event there, if they
want to check it out and go to the website. Where
do they go? So if you can find us on Instagram
and Facebook at Cocoa Spaces, C -O -C -O -A -S
-P -A -C -E -S. And then our website is www . Cocoaspaces
.com. All right. Porshia Mitchell, owner and operator
of Cocoa Spaces. Thanks for being with us today.
Thank you for having me. Happy to be here. And
that is our show. Thanks to Porshia Mitchell.
And thank you for listening to the Small Business
Miracles podcast. Remember to subscribe, leave
us a five -star rating and review. Drop us a
line on the website at eagadv.com if you have
any thoughts. Until then, we’ll be out here helping
entrepreneurs with another small business miracle.