Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Akil Prince. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Akil thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
I think it takes a extreme amount of dedication ,patience, and you really have to love what you do. And you really have to be willing to do the work that it takes to actually be successful. Some people might see you or someone eles and think it happened over night without knowing the hard times and struggle that it took to get there.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Like I tell everyone, I honestly just fell into jewelry. My first passion is being a drummer whitch not a lot of people know about me. But my mom has been a entrepreneur and working a full time job my whole life. One year around 2008 she was opening up a business in a flea market in downtown five points west in Birmingham AL; one day when I was helping her move her displays in. A Latina guy who I would later come to know as Hector; walked up to us and introduced himself. He asked if I would be interested in a apprenticeship with him and I could learn all about jewelry and start a career. But I would have to work for free at first for a few years until I learned how to do enough to work and help around the shop more as a jeweler. So at first I honestly told him no of course, because at the time I already was working and doing side jobs, helping my mom so I definitely didn’t want To work for free. But my mom told me you “ you should try it you never know you might like it and might be beneficial for you in the future “ . So I went ahead and gave it a try, and I ended up working with him and learning how to do everything concerning jewelry from making gold teeth, to custom jewelry and jewelry repair. I ended up working with him from when I was 14-18 years old then we parted ways; because I wanted to do more and start my own but he wasn’t ready for me to go. After that I stopped doing jewelry for a while And did alot if random menial jobs until, I moved to Houston TX. I met my wife there and I started to talk to her and tell her about my life of course. I told her what I do and she asked me; why am I doing these random jobs when I know how to make jewelry and handle a business. So she made me quit my job and get one in my field and I started working at Jared’s the gallery of jewelry for five years. I then got tired of working for other people; because I always knew if I can make them hundreds upon thousands of dollars why can’t I do that for myself? And do it better with better service and quality? So I did research and decided I was ready to start my business and my wife and I ended up deciding to move to Nashville Tennessee. Since it is close to where we both are from and it’s growing with a lot of Black owned businesses. And for her music, so we came here. I moved here with service jewelry repair in Brentwood tn so I could have a job already; to help with financial support. Meanwhile I bought equipment and tools; because not a lot of people know but I started Designsbyakil from nothing. I had no tools no equipment nothing. I have only had a few connections and the knowledge that’s it. And I used what I learned and slowly built my business up. I am still no where near I want to be yet; but definitely so far from where I have started.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
I honestly never had the capital or any loans. I just had a to get a full time job in my industry and work on building my business at the same time and invest a lot.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Word of mouth. Talking to every single person I see and Passing out business cards and flyers
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/designsbyakil/?hl=en
- Facebook: Designsbyakil
Image Credits
Lipstickandearrings