00:00let's talk about some of the challenges right like the general challenges that you had starting out
00:09in your business or even where you are and how you overcame them I mean I'll start with you
00:13Tiffany sure what can you share with us I think like any business owner cash is important everything
00:22around us yeah and so you know I think we tend to focus on the profit but for me it's more the cash
00:31flow and making sure that that I have the cash flow to purchase new inventory to discover new products
00:39and to present new products to the consumer to be able to pay my employees or contractors that I
00:44work with and if you don't have a healthy cash flow going through your business it's going to be nearly
00:49impossible to continue to keep your business running sometimes you have to start things with
00:54the end in mind and so for me it was a hobby though I'm like okay I'll turn this into a company so I
01:00had no idea it was going to grow as fast as it did so then I had to go back and rebuild my
01:05infrastructure because at that point my main concern was okay I have to order it let me get
01:10this to this consumer Dana as a person who has a Beauty Box subscription business relationships are
01:15everything oh yes how do you build those relationships with those different vendors that
01:19you work with because it's different every single month right every month yes one how do you find
01:24them and two how do you build those relationships with them well going to beauty trade shows such as
01:29Cosmoprof I also go to a show called ECRM and I reach out a cold call brands that I just love I'm a
01:37beauty product fanatic and I'm also always researching new brands do you find that there are a lot of
01:41african-american women in the business that you work with or is it a very small kind of industry that
01:46you're in I mean if we're talking from a retail standpoint you can go to like a retail store look on
01:52the shelf and maybe count four five max or sometimes six this really depends on where you are a black
01:59female-owned products that's there I think that's one of the reasons why I created my brand is because I
02:07didn't feel when I walked into the beauty supply stores that they were educated about the products
02:14that I needed they didn't staff employees that could help me with the questions that I needed and
02:20a lot of the products weren't geared towards my specific problem areas how do you find mentors
02:25though right because it's important to find people to look up to that can kind of guide you through the
02:29process how did you do it Tiffany just finding someone who already has kind of a foot in the
02:36particular area that you're trying that you know that special niche that you're trying to make sure
02:40that you can offer them yeah and make sure that it's make sure that you can offer them something
02:43because their time is very valuable very so we're going to end with like just final words of advice
02:48Courtney I'll start with you what words of advice do you have um I would definitely say you know take a
02:54step back sometimes do your research and give it the best that you have um sometimes if you don't
03:01execute right the first time it can hinder you so if you have to take a step back and say hey I
03:06really need to get this right it needs to be presentable don't rush it because sometimes you
03:11only get that one shot so just stay ready stay all your homework do all your research stay yes
03:18Tiffany um I'm gonna go back to the the whole why thing um if you're a rising entrepreneur I would go
03:25back to why you're creating that product um from my experience I don't feel that consumers purchase
03:32what you offer they purchase why you offering it so go back to the heart of why you're starting that
03:38product because there may be a lot of other brands that are offering the same thing and difference could
03:43be between why you actually started that product and how it's actually going to help the consumer
03:48that's such a great point the why all right Dana I'll let you have the last word on and I would say
03:52be resilient um you're going to have your good days and you're going to have your bad days and you have
03:58to have the strength to get through that those humps um putting God first first and having faith
04:03is what keeps me going and just if just maintaining that and having that resilience will take you far
04:09yeah because it doesn't happen overnight and it's non-stop it's non-stop but I love it
Comments