We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Daniella Ekongo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Daniella, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.
Hi my name is Daniella iam the owner of M&D’s Glam. I started doing makeup in 2020 not having a clue how I was going to do this or even get my supplies. Because during that I was facing a hardship in my life. But something told me to take the step and do it now. I started doing makeup in my apartment because I didn’t have enough funds to rent a space. I truly believe it was God that helped me build up my business. I started doing friends and family makeup because I was still scared about doing other people’s makeup. But the word started to spared and people started booking. It took me about 3 months to really get my name out there for new Clients. Social media played a big part as well, from posting flyers and having people sharing it really did a lot for me.
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.
Hi, my name is Daniella ekongo. Iam the ceo behind M&D’s glam formally known ad Ella’s beauty. M&D’s glam was formed around 2020 when I hit rock bottom in my life and I was battling depression. I was lost and confused in life and didn’t know what I wanted to do. I have had a passion for makeup since I was in high school. But as I was going through what I was going through God used makeup as a healing process for me. I remember going to God crying that I wanted an escape I wanted to be happy and not happy with working a 9 to 5. That’s when gave me the vision to start my business. But even with that I didn’t have money to buy the things I would need because I wasn’t working either. But God made a way and I was some how blessed with $500 to start my business. I took that $500 in the humblest way and went to the beauty supply store and got everything I needed. Now the other problem was finding clients and building myself up. But one thing I can say is when God gives you a vision he will bring provision, that’s exactly what he did. Before I knew it people were coming all over to book. One thing I can say about running a business is that your character and interaction with others matters and it will determine if people will book with you. From there I was blessed to do my makeup full time without a job for about a year. Around 2021 in August I had to take a break due to personal reasons. That kind of set me back because I lost some clientele’s. Then I started to doubt myself and my work I started to feel like I wasn’t good enough. The beauty industry is definitely a hard field to be in if you don’t have tuff skin and if you don’t have confidence you won’t make it. God helped me deal with those feelings and helped me build myself up. While I was trying to build myself back up I found out I was pregnant in 2022 I had to pick between my child or makeup. At that time I wasn’t making enough to be able to take care of my child. So I had to makeup on hold and get a 9 to 5. After giving birth in 2023 March I continued to just focus on being a mother and enjoy the journey. Now in 2024 after my daughter turned one in March I decided to go back to doing makeup. But this time I had my family support which helped me focus on my goals for my business. So now iam back to building m&d’s glam after taking a long break. Running a business is definitely not easy it has its ups and downs. But I thank God I made it this far.
How did you build your audience on social media?
So for me I started sharing my work on my personal social media pages such as Snapchat, instagram, facebook. I did it that way so I could get my name out there more because I have a huge friend circle on my personal pages. I sent out flyers for others to share. Once I started noticing that people were adding me and trying to book I knew it was time to separate business from personal and that’s when I opened up my social medias for my business. What also worked for me was Booksy it helped me get my business out there as well.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
The best source of new clients for me would be Booksy. Because it Broadcast your business and other similar businesses like yours in your area. It allows people to see your work and it allows them to book. That app is what really took my business to the next level. That’s the app majority of people use to look for services.
Contact Info:
