We recently connected with Erika Oganesian and have shared our conversation below.

Erika, appreciate you joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

When I first started my business I never would have imagined that it would be paying my bills. I started out of my parents house in their spare bedroom doing sneakers as a creative hobby more so for myself given that I’m into shoes. Once I posted a pair I made for myself, people started messaging asking about it and that’s when the idea pinned in my head that I could make some money off this. The rest was history

Erika, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Erika oganesian I’m 28 years old living currently in Philadelphia. I own a custom sneaker business that goes by the name of YesitsEs Customs. When first starting out I really was just doing sneakers for friends and word of mouth really got to going and social media helped as well in the process of boosting the number of orders I was receiving. I didn’t know much about what I was doing I just watched YouTube videos and found videos of others doing what I wanted to do. It was a lot of trial and error given that other customizors didn’t want to share what materials they use or who they purchase materials from. I’ve been in business for almost 4 years now I’m extremely grateful to say the least. I pride myself in a quick turnaround time and detailed work. The city of Philadelphia has been super supportive, local clubs have allowed me to set up tables and display my work. The feedback from my clientele and social media followers has been uplifting and positive.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media has been huge for my business. Over the years I have learned that it plays a giant role in the number of orders I receive. At the beggining of my journey I didn’t take the time to record step by step everything I was doing or take the time to take photos of every product I produce, however with time I learned it’s extremely important and it’s crucial to the development of your business. Taking the time to make sure that you are getting content and good content at that is detrimental to the business and will definitely show when going over profits. Social media allows you to reach so many different people in so many different areas that you could never reach with just word of mouth alone.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

When people pick up their orders or contact me letting me know how In love they are with their shoes it’s really a feeling I can’t explain. I take a lot of pride in people wanting to wear a product that I have created. People allow me to be apart of their special moments like couples ordering shoes for their weddings or to represent the memory of a loved one that has passed or during birthdays as gifts- I’m honored to be the one to bring their vision to life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.yesitsescustoms.com
• Instagram: Yesitses_customs
• Facebook: Yesitses_customs