We recently connected with MaLisa Riley and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, MaLisa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

I am happy to be a business owner to the point where I wake up everyday considering what I do a regular job. Punching in on my own time clock, I put my all into it. During the times that I feel I should work a normal job I remind myself that I have the same drive as the owner of any company I could work for. When sales are low I promote in order to create sales, some days are better than others financially, but the advancement of my business is my responsibility so it is very necessary to put the same effort and energy if not more into my own business as I would put into another persons growing company/business.

Now if I was working a job daily with no time or energy for my own business, then I would not be happy.

MaLisa, 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 am an entrepreneur and self published author. I opened my business Mommy Grind Etc. in 2019, it is.my custom design business in which I create items for my customers that they cherish every single day. My biggest seller is the custom mugs, my consumers love them because I take the time to create special messages for each personalized design, a lot of them include photo memories of loved ones who have passed on.

Aside from Mommy Grind Etc. I am the co-owner of Butterfly Affect Publishing, which I share ownership with my sister. We published our first book in 2021 and have six books that are to follow with releases set for Fall 2023 and Spring 2024. Owning a publishing company can be difficult because everyone wants to be told that their projects/books are good, a lot of times future creatives don’t understand the full process and the patience that it takes to publish a book. Not to mention the footwork that is required of a self publisher. It’s insane, so you have to love helping people bring their dreams of being an author to life.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Due to domestic violence with my mother and father, I traveled from New Orleans, Louisiana with my mom and sister on a Greyhound bus that ended up parked in Downtown Los Angeles. I was five years old at the time. We lived in the Union Rescue Mission and ultimately my sister and I were removed from our mothers care while we lived in the Cecil Hotel located in the heart of skid row. Going through my most important years as. a child in foster care was very rough.

It was in my first foster home when I found my love for books. The room I shared with my sister didn’t have a t.v. it only had a box of books and magazines. Through the words on each page I would escape my surroundings and suppress my feelings allowing my emotions to feel whatever was going on in the book I was reading at the time. It felt magical, from then on I knew I was going to be a creative writer. I would ask for books in every foster home I was placed in after that. To this day I wish I could find that one foster parent to thank her for that box of books.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I honestly think that honesty is what helped build my business. I show up and deliver as my transparent self and call it real or relatable but people love it and they love me. If I am having a delay on products or am overwhelmed with my “today list” I’m very good at letting my consumers know. Being a business owner can be overwhelming so you have to take it a day at a time, so I stopped creating To Do List and started creating ‘Today List’ which only consist of things that can realistically be done. Doing this has improved my business life in a major way, it has allowed me to be of better service because I don’t feel overwhelmed or like I can’t get things done.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.butterflyaffectpublishing.com
• Instagram: @writtenbymalisa
• Facebook: MaLisa Riley
• Linkedin: MaLisa Riley
• Youtube: Refining Purpose

Image Credits
Brandon Mathews