We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tanija Carter a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Tanija thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with 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?
Originally the name of my business was “Tanija Lynette Studios” but I wasn’t feeling that because I wanted something other than my name since I already used my name for my clothing brand. After some talks with my friend Roree, I came up with the name “The Lab Creative House”. I came up with the name because I wanted to be able to tell people that “I can’t talk right now, I’m in The Lab” lol and I wanted my clients to be able to say that they get their graphics done in “The Lab”, is also a play on my first and middle name initials. It just sounded cool. The creative house part was an add-on because I wanted the business to be a full creative agency or in this case a “creative house”.
Tanija, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
For those, who haven’t read about me, Hi! I’m Tanija and I am the owner of The Lab Creative House. I have been in my industry officially for one year but I have been practicing with graphics since 2017/18 when my best friend used to let me edit his football pictures. When it comes to my business I focus on creating eye-catching graphics for business owners but I also design flyers, banners, business cards, and more. When it comes to solving problems for my clients, I bring their ideas to life. Many people have the idea they just need someone to bring it to life because they lack creativity or even if they have the design made they may need someone to spice it up and that’s where I come in! Something I am proud of is how far my work has gotten in a short amount of time all from networking. I’ve seen many of my ideas come to life just by talking, for example, I had the idea of creating a menu and being able to see it in a restaurant, and with networking and sharing my ideas that came to life, and now my design for a menu can be found in the Latte Lounge. The main thing I want potential clients to know is aside from the pricing stated on my website I am here to work with you! I know how it is to want certain things for your business but not be able to afford them especially if you are a small business so depending on the service I work with my clients as best as I can with their price range.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I built my audience simply by staying consistent. Many people think to build a perfect audience you have to post every day and multiple times a day and I think that is entirely false! When you want to build an audience you don’t have to post every day, instead, you can post Mon, Wed, and Fri and still have a good audience. All you have to do is stay consistent and engage with other accounts! Follow your favorite hashtags and like and comment on those people’s posts that use that hashtag or find your ideal client and like and comment on their posts!
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
For me personally, the most effective strategy for glowing my clientele was simply reaching out. I got my very first monthly retainer client, shout out to Khalia’s Kravings, simply by dm’ing her on Instagram. Even though I know her personally I still wanted to be professional so I reached out and showed her what I could do and we went on from there. Another client that I got was also from reaching out via email, I offered her some free content to see if she would like my work and once she did we went from there and I worked with her and her brand for a while. A lot of people don’t like reaching out because they think it will go unnoticed or be seen as being annoying but it can be one of the best ways to gain clients from experience.
Contact Info:
- Website: thetanijalynette.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelab.ch/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thelabch
Image Credits
Branded images from Lorvae, Flawless Eyes by Kayla Mone, and Prophecy Clothing Store.