We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ayanna Jaji a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ayanna , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

To be completely honest, I had no actual knowledge about the industry I was about to step into. As I previously mentioned in an earlier interview, I was introduced to the music scene by my boyfriend. I saw his passion for music and it kind of grew on me. Well, it most definitely grew on me. I just wanted to learn everything about it, I knew I always loved music and I loved to watch the hustle of an independent artist, so that mixed with the mentioning of a record label by my boyfriend we decided to start a label. I had no prior knowledge about the music industry other than knowing what everyone else already knew, so to know where our business is today and to know all of the work and network, I have surrounded our business in is incredible. There was a lot of trial and error I can say that, but with the help of our team, and certain individuals we met along the way we were able to scale our business for the better. We have a long way to go, I have so many ideas and plans I am working on executing and I just can’t wait to see everything come together. The first thing that was kind of a struggle for me was creating the business in a legal front. There was so much to learn about setting up the business, there was so much to learn about business credit and grants and just so many things in general that I didn’t know until father down the line. To be honest I went through a period where I just was in a funk, I had no ideas, I couldn’t think of what could take our business to the next level. I had ideas but no clue how to make them happen. It went on like that for a few months until maybe a few months ago I just had a creative spark. For so long we focused on only the music, that is a main part obviously, but when I realized I wanted to appeal our company to a wider audience of creators that’s when my ideas really started coming. I am actually on the last phase now of a collaboration program I will be introducing to the world very soon. A program where artist and small business owners can integrate and collaborate with each other in a way of showing the product as a piece of art, just how we view music. I have so many plans for our business, and I could honestly sit and talk about everything I had to do to figure out a successful plan for my business, but that would take all day. the main thing I did was get up and remember who I was. I remembered that an idea is only an idea if I don’t ever try to execute it. I failed and failed but eventually I will get it right. The main thing I did was start to create habits in my life and to stop dismissing small changes. i had to realize that even if the outcome was small that eventually it will all add up into something legendary.

Ayanna , 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?

Hey, hello, and what’s up to the people who may not know who I am, and I am sure it is a lot of people LOL, but it’s okay because one day everyone will know my name, and I say that humbly. Anyways…. My name is Ayanna Jaji and for my spiritual people I am a Virgo Libra cusp. I had to say that because I just think that matters. I got into my industry honestly by chance and complete surprise. It was never my plan to make music and I was never planning to own a record label, but somehow it worked out that way and I love that for me. Out of nowhere I unlocked a passion I never knew I had. I guess I can say I had had to opportunity to be in that scene but somehow, I missed it. I modeled for a long time, I had opportunities to be in music videos and be around rappers and such, but I just didn’t think it was my scene for real. I wrote music for a long time, as kind of my escape from reality, it was my therapy we can say. On top of that I have a lot of musicians and artist in my family, so i guess it was destined for me eventually. All of that mixed with me spending a lot of time with my partner in the studio it just kind of clicked. One day I was playing around with some lyrics in the studio and made a song and it just went on from there. The music thing started for fun to me until it got real and out of nowhere it became a sort of career. I think once I really became an artist myself that’s when the whole label thing started making a lot more sense to me. That is when I started meeting people in the industry that were all a part of the growth in our label. A thing to know about me is that I am a learner, I love to learn, I love to know how to do things, that was beneficial for me in creating different services in our label to be able to appeal to all types of artists. Individuality is so important to me; I feel like music is a way of identity in a sort because you can express yourself through your words, it’s almost powerful. I want that for everyone who makes music, so I learn. I learn about ways to promote; I learn whatever i can to have the knowledge to take care of my business. I want them to be able to tell their story without having to conform to the standards of the industry. To remain individual, that is what we offer.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I believe the most effective strategy is networking, whether it is seminars or networking events, or a movie premiere, whatever it is meeting people in person and actually talking to them helps you learn so much about a person. it is most effective in my opinion because that conversation you had with that person you are able to bond with them and learn about what they can offer you and vice versa. I have met people I still work with to this day at networking events who have really benefitted our business. Go out and talk to people IRL I promise you you’ll love the outcome.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

The one book I recommend, and I stand by this book to this day is Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I recommend this book because it changed my way of thinking business wise and financially. It made me think of other ways I could create passive income within my business, which in place gave me more ideas of how to expand our business to other consumers.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/luhyana_?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/luhyana_?s=21&t=VvdPgacIvSN31GX7Lflqjg
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@ayannajaji2603
• Other: spotify music link https://open.spotify.com/artist/1AeztEki1v77jTLJCPsis3?si=2BnEHZ23RfOyjr3uFpksPA