We were lucky to catch up with Brandy Nicole recently and have shared our conversation below.
Brandy , appreciate you joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
It was towards the end of Covid when I realized I wanted a safe place for people to celebrate special occasions when the city was still somewhat shut down. I was decorating people’s homes and realized if I had a space we could still celebrate safely. So, I then contacted a commercial realtor who assisted in finding the greatest location for my event center, I had never owned a commercial space so I did not know what the process would be, I didn’t have a lot of money in the bank so I thought I would be turned away quickly. But after submitting a thorough business plan and how I could help the community and the other small businesses in the area I soon received my keys.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I have owned Love4traveling, LLC a full service travel agency since 2017, so in my city most know me for my wonderful travel planning services. Then in 2021 I expanded into event planning as well and opened up our brick and mortar where we provide full service planning, our ideal client would be any couple looking to get engaged and we would work with them through their honeymoon. My service provides one on one attention to every client we meet and allows them to truly live in the moment while we do the hard work. Our company is special because we are the only one in the city who has a dual service, travel and event planning company under one roof making it very convenient for all of our clients. We also work with any client who is looking for convenience in planning any special occasions, workshop or conference.
Later, I became a business coach and author serving my community with business resources, mastermind classes, and business events to aid any small business owner, looking to grow or expand their business.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Of course! I wrote my book Live in the Moment, 7 Keys to Ignite your Passion, Live your Purpose and Chase your Dreams for exactly that to get folks to think about entrepreneurship. Believe it or not this book has actually helped my journey as an entrepreneur to keep me focused and pushing for greatness! I will re-read it as if I’m not the author. It is a self-help book where I take notes, and it constantly keeps me thinking!
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
I started my initial business in 2017 with only $100 and that basically bought my software to book the trips. I quickly had to start generating income! As I expand it in 2021 in the midst of Covid, I was able to obtain a small PPP loan and that was the only capital I had to open up the event center, after I used all of that for renovations, I solely relied on bookings for revenue after that. I was worried but my first full year in business I grossed six figures and we have continued to grow ever since.
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