We were lucky to catch up with Nzinga Muhammad recently and have shared our conversation below.
Nzinga, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
I started my online crystal business for two reasons. One being that I was raised spiritually so it resonated with who I am as a person and two because of my own personal experience with crystals. It was September 2018 when I purchased two crystals locally that helped calm an oncoming anxiety attack and that was the day that I realized I wanted to help others the same way that crystals helped me. I also wanted to honor my mother since it is because of her that I am even on this path. My business is named after her and for her so Chi’s Aura is Chionesa’s aura. She flows through my business in so many ways. I know firsthand that I have helped so many people in their own spiritual/healing journeys and that is something that I am truly proud of.
Nzinga, 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?
I feel like I just answered this in the story behind my mission, but I definitely don’t mind answering it again. For those that don’t know me, my name is Nzinga and I am the owner of Chi’s Aura Crystals. I started my business in April 2019 while working a full-time job and by April 2020, I was a full-time entrepreneur. I was laid off from my full-time job at the time because of covid about 2 weeks before my one-year business anniversary so the timing was definitely something for me. I had an idea of when I wanted to do this fully, but spirit said otherwise and I listened. I believe that I have a strong social media presence because what other way would I connect with my customers? They tell me in every way possible about how much my spiritual business has helped them and I even have reviews on my website now to allow them to share their experiences with new, potential customers. Crystals have been a part of my life since I was a child because of my mother so really this is a full circle moment for me. I watched my mama use crystals mostly for physical healing so when I got older and wanted to continue learning, I found out about they can help you emotionally. I started building my own little collection outside of the things she gifted me when I was younger and I feel like the rest is history from there because I am truly aligned in my purpose. I love that something so near and dear to me is able to help others.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
I got the idea in September 2018 as previously mentioned but I didn’t actually start doing full research until February 2019. I didn’t have the extra funds on hand, so I used about $500 from my tax refund to purchase the things I needed to get started and whatever I got in sales after I launched in April 2019, I put that back into my business. I feel like you always hear people say that but it’s true you, you have to reinvest in your business.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I talked about my business online through my personal pages before I actually launched to create the awareness. I didn’t overshare or post everything, I shared enough and that varies person to person. I also feel like once I started, word of mouth really became a big thing for me and that is still the case for me. I have an Instagram business page which is my main business platform outside of my website along with Facebook, Tik Tok, YouTube and Pinterest. I’ll be honestly and admit that organic growth is not as easy now as it was a year or so ago but you just have to pivot and find your place in the algorithm. Consistency in posting and good light go a long way! You always want to make your business personal to others. Let them know who you are and why you choose to do things a certain way. It’s like storytelling but for your business. I also utilize going live on Tik Tok which brings new followers and sales to my business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://chiauracrystals.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chi.aura.crystals/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Chi.Aura.Crystals/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH8dFkTrTq6wBBCJcwYX7Mg
- Other: Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@thecrystal_lady
Image Credits
The credit goes to me. These are images of crystals that are available on my website.