We were lucky to catch up with Alaisha Croker recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alaisha, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

What it takes to be successful ? Hard work and dedication ! You have to give your all to get where you want to be . Hard work means staying up late, making sacrifices, not hanging out with friends, and handling business. Sometimes you have to be uncomfortable to live comfortable . You have to be dedicated to whatever you’re doing. Meaning you have to really put in the ground work for whatever it is. Success comes with trials and tribulations. You’re going to have to be able to deal with it the best way you know how. There are going to be sleepless nights because your mind is constantly running on how or what you’re going to do. There’s going to be plenty of days/nights were you’re going to cry ! Crying not because you’re stressed, but because your ready to be successful and reach your goals. You have to be fully committed to whatever it is thats going to make you successful. I call it being hungry and taking whatever steps necessary to get to where you want to be. The hunger is going to push you to want more and strive for more .

Alaisha, 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?

My name is Alaisha Croker and I am a 24 year old serial entrepreneur. I’ve been in business for 4 years and counting. I recently graduated Esthetician school to add on to the number of things I offer, I offer graphic design, customized clothing, and esthetics. I got into my industry by just sitting home one day crafting to calm my nerves and relax. I manage to stay disciplined by coming up with a schedule and sticking to it. Also coming up with policies for not only myself but for my customers. The services I offer with my graphic design business are business branding graphics. I design and print business cards, I design branding packages for small businesses. With my clothing design business I created outfits for kids and adults. I create a memorable experience with the outfits, As a new esthetician I provide services such as waxing, facials, and all other self care needs. What sets me apart from others would be my creativity and my marketing. My brand has a story behind it that is near and dear to my heart. I am mostly proud of all the things I’ve accomplished over the past 4 years of being in business. The drive and determination I have now has grown. I’m also proud of the level of creativeness I’ve reached !

How did you build your audience on social media?

I built my social media by offering different items once I reached a certain amount of followers. I created social media pages on all platforms and asked people to follow them. I started posting items on each page and used hashtags to end up on certain explore pages. I started making tutorials of how I made items, and I started offering classes on how to make the items I make. I started looking up ways to create content to keep y followers interested in my work. I ran ads and paid for promotion. With building my audience I posted on my personal page but directed my customers to my business page if they had any questions or wanted to place orders.

My advice to someone building their social media would be create your page. Provide all the information as far as contact, other social medias, websites, policies, and more. Offer something to your followers once you get a certain amount. For example ( Free t-shirt to my 20th follower). Set a goal of how many followers you would want to reach by a certain amount of time. Look up content ideas for what your business is and post consistently. Use hashtags they are very important. They will help certain people find you. Pay for promotion or run ads. These ads can be ran on Instagram, Snapchat, or Facebook. Running these ads will also direct people to your pages.

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

My most effective strategy for growing my clientele was being creative and giving the people what they want. Not only that I was very consistent. I constantly learned new things that could make my business grow. I started offering new services and new items that were in sync with my business. I started asking my customers for feedback. Asking them what they wanted to see, what they wanted, and what they would like to see done differently from me as a business owner. My level of creativity always kept my clients interested in what I offer. They liked my creativity so they always expect me to be creative. My marketing is always over the top. When you have creative marketing and your work is top notch everything will speak for itself. The shares will come and so will the followers and new potential customers.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/theprettyandpaidkollection
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/PAndPB16
• Twitter: @tprettyandpaidk
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ6fzyDwV59Mz4aSxLx7BrQ