We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alandria Lloyd. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alandria below.

Alright, Alandria thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

This is such an important topic because unfortunately, people really believe in a such thing as an “overnight success.” What appears to be an overnight success is years of planting (investing in yourself as well as your business) and plowing (advancing by strategically partnering and collaborating with others). I was an entrepreneur for 10 years before diving into full-time entrepreneurship. There were many exhilarating highs and extreme lows. When I left corporate to take on the 24/7 grind of entrepreneurship, I had no idea what I was doing. I was seriously praying and allowing God to lead me. Then there were moments of throwing spaghetti on the wall, hoping something would stick. The problem was, that whenever something would work, I wasn’t able to retrace my steps to rinse and repeat it because I had no method to the madness. I was literally all over the place. Being scattered mentally and emotionally led to physical illness. I had a health scare that caused me to be unable to work for a month straight. Thankfully I had enough money flowing in to support me or else I would have been in bad shape. After I recovered from the forced vacation, I began to re-prioritize my health and business structure

I began documenting my processes, creating SOPs, and workflows, in order to train someone else how to do the things I hated doing but needed so my business could thrive. Not only did I hire others, but I made sure to employ those who were more skilled and knowledgeable than me. I needed people who could help me carry the vision and take it farther than I ever could do running things all alone. Once those things were settled, I began seeing a major increase in my profits as well as my peace.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I created my business, “The Agency by Alandria Elle,” because I wanted to provide done-for-you services and products for busy entrepreneurs to help them avoid the burnout I once felt in my business. It’s difficult trying to run a business all alone. You find yourself being a graphic designer, tech support, customer service, content creator, and photographer, all while working in your zone of genius. It may work for a while but it’s also the quickest way to burn out, break down, and begin to hate the business you once loved. I don’t want anyone to feel that way, so my firm is here to give them a helping hand.

Our product lounge includes done-for-you emails (copy & paste), social media post templates, and ebook/lead magnet templates.

Our service suite provides offers such as Social Media Management, Social Media Marketing, Content Creation, Television appearances, and much more.

I wanted to create services that allow business owners to focus on what they do best, while we do the rest.

One thing that sets us apart is that we provide clients their very own manager and contact person. There aren’t several different people working on multiple accounts. Each client has their very own point of contact to accommodate their business needs.

I’m really proud of this division of my brand because we are able to prevent business owners from melting down emotionally and closing their businesses due to frustration, a lack of assistance, or the stress of juggling multiple duties at once. We provide the assistance they need in order to not only focus on their brand, but to also increase their visibility and grow their brand

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I learned the hard way that being a solopreneur doesn’t mean that you have to do everything solo. When I became a full-time entrepreneur, I was really protective of my baby (my business), and didn’t trust anyone to help me with anything. So I became a DIY graphic designer, I wasted time googling tech issues when my computer wouldn’t cooperate, I developed headaches from taking 20 sales calls a day, all while trying to maintain my sanity and provide space for my creativity to flow. It was a mess! I also realized that I had major trust issues, and in order for my business to grow, not only was it imperative that I delegate but I also had to trust those I delegated to complete the task at a level of excellence.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

So I was fortunate enough to scale my business to multiple six-figures in a very short time. I didn’t come from money or had any financial education. So I made the money very easily but didn’t utilize things like budgets, so I lost a good amount of money. It was devastating watching my accounts dwindle. I remember watching one of my accounts go from 50K to less than 5K in a matter of months. It was heartbreaking. The loss wasn’t completely due to a lack of following a budget. There were many other factors involved such as changing my entire business model, as well as health issues. But regardless of any of that, my accounts were looking real sad at one point. In that moment, I knew that I had only 2 choices. One, was to wallow in a pit of frustration or two, go to my CEO (God) and see where I’d missed the mark, how to get back on track, and what was necessary to go farther than ever. I chose option 2. In the midst of heartbreak, I bounced back harder and made more money than I’d ever counted before. Resilience is truly a gift and not everyone has it, but for those of us who do, we are truly blessed. I give all glory to God!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.alandriaelleinternational.com
• Instagram: alandria_elle
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/alandrialloyd
• Other: To schedule a free clarity call to discuss social media management, digital advertisement, or a television interview, please visit bit.ly/theagencyads

Image Credits
Photos: Kim Taylor of Kimazing Photography