We were lucky to catch up with Joshua Williams recently and have shared our conversation below.

Joshua, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Well, throughout my life I have always been the creative type. In my teens, I played violin in the orchestra, snare drum in drumline, taught myself how to do origami, and learned how to draw and paint from my Dad and Grandad. When I got to college, I got involved doing Youtube and posting videos of me and my friends reacting to viral videos and music, but also started getting more involved in music writing personally. I even created a note in my phone titled “For when you want to be a rapper” and just added things in over time. My senior year of college, I started think about life after college and I knew I wanted to have my own business. Experiences like being a FORBES 30 Under 30 Scholar, where I was able to experience the conference, showed me that I could not only have a business, but a business that aligned with my creative interests. So, I got to brain storming and making a skeleton for a business where I wanted to uplift small businesses and bring attention to amazing talent to help them excel in their endeavors. I didn’t have a name at the time, but I wanted it to be organic and come naturally. I began to connect with people I felt my business could align with and developed a network of creatives in music, fashion, and other disciplines who could share their experiences with me about pursuing their passions/business interests. I found similar experiences among creatives, as well as challenges, that were present even in different industries. Common challenges included needing funding for materials or studio time, having community around their respective craft, but most of all, having space to showcase and promote their work to expand their audience and make new connections . Also personally having interest in music, fashion, and art, I wanted my business to encompass services for it all. With the focus of my brand being on creative services and the creative community, with each segment bringing something different to contribute the creative ecosystem, the name Kingdom came to mind. Around this time my music persona KVNGJAY was also established, so I decided to officially brand my business as KVNGDOM. Our logo also encompasses the essence of a kingdom, depicted as a V with a crown, the V represents the individual/creative apart of the community. The crown represents confidence in your self, leadership, and legacy, but also is designed to resemble mountains where a kingdom would reside. KVNGDOM is something I see lasting beyond my life time and will impact more people than I can fathom, which is what has inspired the slogan “We Reign Forever”

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Joshua Williams, Im 27 years old, and I am the founder of KVNGDOM, a creative hub for music art and fashion. I am from Milwaukee, WI. I have always been the creative type and I got older, I grew more interested in learning about businesses and how they operated. When I got to college I got more business insight and started to think about how i could take what I was learning in put it into my personal goals. I graduated from UW-Whitewater with my Bachelor’s degree in 2020 and started implementing my idea for KVNGDOM I created a year prior. KVNGDOM’s purpose is to uplift creatives and small business through enhancing visibility, industry & business knowledge, and connections; while building a interdisciplinary creative community. We also offer consulting services to creatives and small businesses to further develop their brand and elevate their business strategies. KVNGDOM has also extended its fashion arm, with the recent launch of KVNGDOM Essentials, with intentions to expand into offering custom pieces. Royal Voices Podcast, the official podcast of KVNGDOM, was also launched last year and is preparing for season 2. Everything about KVNGDOM aims to solve the challenges creatives and small businesses experience such as having space to create, having a community of other creatives and entrepreneurs, and having a platform to showcase their work to gain new supporters and customers. Our services and focus on various creative industries, makes KVNGDOM a unique creative hub and unlike traditional collab workspaces.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The biggest thing I had to unlearn is that my vision will not be achieved overnight. Being in the world of social media, I feel like we are always exposed to the success of others. We see people living their best life so often and start to compare ourselves. Then questions like “When will my time come” or “Why is it them” come about, making people set unrealistic expectations and goals for themselves. It’s not a productive or healthy way to think, and can lead to burnout that can negatively impact you and your business. I’ve learned you have to be okay putting the time in. No one likes to show the work, no one likes to show the challenges, but everyone loves to show the success and the accolades. This was the main reason I started my TikTok segment “Life As A Working Entrepreneur”, that shows what it’s like being a entrepreneur while working a demanding 9-5 corporate role. Focusing on others path to success distracts you from your own path; some folks are on a plane, some on a train, and others may walk but they all end up at the same destination. So understanding that has encouraged me to focus on myself and my journey and I believe as anyone’s success grows, how ever people may define it, it will be valued. And if the lessons were learned through the journey, you’ll be prepared to be responsible for all that comes with that success.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think this is something that is always being worked on by every creative and business. To me, reputation is developed by established trust, quality, consistency, but most of all network. The more collective experiences people have shapes how brands and entrepreneurs are perceived. With KVNGDOM I wanted to make sure everything we do pushes our reputation and being visible is critical. I think leaning into making a network and building community has helped me build presence, as well as assisting those in my network with their endeavors when I can. Also having connectivity with your customer base beyond the service/products you offer helps develop relationships impacting your reputation. Having our social media accounts and podcast presence are key components for creating our community, reaching new audiences, and identifying new partners, so my focus has been to sustain these platforms and ensure folks know how to find us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kvngdom.com
• Instagram: (Brand) @Kvngdom.co (Personal) @_jaythedon_
• Youtube: @royalvoicespodcast
• Other: TikTok: @Kvngdom.co

Image Credits

I must acknowledge the photographer for my black and white photos, Shun Powell who owns ShunPFilms. His instagram is @shunpfilms. I created the logo, brand, and product promo images.