TEAM Pursuit Uses Entrepreneurship To Fight Violence, Turn Lives Around

There are many entrepreneurs who do something good after they become successful. Quincy and Misty Angelique Smith, the co-founders of TEAM Pursuit, became entrepreneurs to help others.

"There are so many organizations that are vying for the same dollar," Mr. Smith told Benzinga. "It's tough for grassroots organizations to get funding to run their programs. We thought, 'Why don't we create our own capital so there are no restrictions?'"

The "TEAM" in "TEAM Pursuit" is an acronym for "The Ethical Authority Mandate." The organization is dedicated to helping local communities (specifically Detroit, Michigan) get back to some of the core values that were lost over the past few decades.

"Social issues -- respectful authority, self esteem, how we treat one another -- those core values, those pillars, we want to get back to," said Mr. Smith. "The team motto is the understanding that we can't do this ourselves within our own organization. It's going to take a team approach, so we've connected with all sorts of different entities in the community -- other organizations, churches -- [to draw] on each other's strengths to make a real impact in the community."

Becoming An Entrepreneur

In addition to launching Authentically Branded, a special line of hair care products, Mrs. Smith also helps others find their entrepreneurial passions.

"We help them develop and identify their niche and then help them with business planning, strategies," Mrs. Smith explained. "We help them tap into their true authenticity, and once they do that, we help them to understand that their authenticity is their gift and we help them identify their business under that."

Part of that process comes from TEAM Pursuit's Dare Events.

"We bring in kids from all around the city," said Mr. Smith. "The first one was called Dare 2 Dream. We bring in entrepreneurs, we bring in business owners, community members, to come hold workshops to help the kids and give them tools that they need to be successful."

After that TEAM Pursuit held a follow-up event called Dare 2 Be.

"After you're done dreaming, let's realize what that dream is," Mr. Smith continued. "It can only be a dream for so long. At some point you have to walk into what you see. We hold entrepreneur competitions, [show] kids how to write [and develop] a business plan, things of that nature -- really be hands-on. We're kind of an event-driven organization, bringing the community together."

Mrs. Smith said that she believes this can also serve as preventative action to prevent kids from going down the wrong path.

"Once they are consumed with what they love to do, it will eliminate the distractions, the violence, the crime," she said.

Challenging Pursuits

The Smiths deal with multiple challenges, both as entrepreneurs and as the founders of TEAM Pursuit.

"We're dealing with a culture that has been…affected in our community for years with the drug epidemic," said Mr. Smith. "We have a lot of families that don't have fathers. Kids are not being taught how to cope, how to think critically, how to deal with conflict. It's kind of been passed on from generation to generation."

Sometimes there are situations where kids simply cannot grasp the problems around them.

"You can talk to them until you're blue in the face," Mr. Smith added. "You can give them that olive branch, but they're so entrapped into a certain way of thinking because of how they were brought up. Sometimes it's really tough to kind of dig and pull those layers back and really get to the heart of the kid."

Mrs. Smith said that an individual's mindset is the biggest challenge they face.

"Our mission and vision is to help them not only dream but then when you dream it, you also see it with your heart, and we want them to see it with their eyes," she said. "Once they visualize it, we can help change that mindset. The biggest challenge, again, is how they think. They never had that model before them, so their thinking capacity is keeping them trapped and bound, which is causing their behavior to remain perpetual."

'You Have To Be Disciplined'

Entrepreneurs won't get anywhere without a bit of discipline.

"If someone is not disciplined it won't work," said Mrs. Smith. "My personal challenge is there's just not enough time in the day to manage it all. The challenge of being an entrepreneur is that you definitely have to multi-task, you have to understand how to leverage your time."

Mrs. Smith said that entrepreneurs can't multi-task or properly leverage their time if they don't have a strong foundation of discipline first.

"Sometimes we want to jump into entrepreneurship because we don't like our job," she added. "But if we don't use those fundamentals that we learned at work -- being on time, maximizing your time at work, using leverage as much as you can. You need to build that first with your nine to five, or whatever you're doing, and then apply those same skills [to entrepreneurship]."

'Identify Your Passion'

Mrs. Smith has some advice for those who want to start a business.

"Identify your passion," she advised. "Once you identify your passion, which could be your gift, you have to develop that niche."

From there she recommends the following steps:

"Once you develop it, you definitely have to develop a business plan identifying your target market."
"Once you identify their needs, you speak to that particular market as if you are the solution to their problem."
"Once you give them a solution, that's when your business is exposed to what it is you have to offer your market."

"From there they apply all of those skills that we just spoke about, be it discipline, time management, organizing your life," Mrs. Smith added. "All of those things are a huge foundation in wanting to become an entrepreneur."

Mr. Smith also had some advice. "I've always been taught this: when somebody smarter than you [is] talking, shut up," he said. "You [also] want to surround yourself with people who are going in the same direction. Sometimes that means you have to cut certain people off because they're dead weight. That's critical. That's in life period -- not just in business. You want to make sure you surround yourself with people who have the same likeness and vision that you have as well."

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.

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