Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Anasiah Clark . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Anasiah , thanks for joining us today. How do you feel about asking friends and family to support your business? What’s appropriate, what’s not? Where do you draw the line?
Well when I first started our business, I wanted my main support to be family and friends. At that time you would expect them to be the first to support, I had to learn the hard way. I think too much of my focus was to get them to shop, share things on social media and so on… for the most part I have great family and friends that support to the fullest which I appreciate so very much, but when reality kicked in I had to tell myself that I’m not doing this for friends or family… I’m doing this business for myself and my daughter. Support doesn’t just come with purchasing, it comes with referring people, sharing things on social media about the products, listening to ideas, or just giving me your attention when I feel as if I’m lowest in my business or if I feel as if I’m not strictly doing enough. So for all of my friends and family that do support, I thank them all.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
To start off, my name is Anasiah Clark. I am from and live in a very small town called Charleston. I have a 8 year old daughter named, Autumn. I got into the business back in 2021, at that time I was working a full time job, and also being a full time mother. With that being said, I felt as if I wasn’t giving my all to my daughter on the level that I wanted too… I was always to tired to do anything after work, but then one day me and her talked and we were trying to figure out things we could do to have fun but to bond more. Autumn and I decided to make lip gloss and sell it out of our home, just to give it a try. The very FIRST day we got so many customers around our town and such positive feedback that it made us want to continue, another reason why I continued to make them and sell them was so that I could have enough money to take Autumn to Disney World for her 7th birthday in October of 2021 (I made the dream come true!). After her birthday trip we stopped selling, and I had a rough few months to where I wasn’t focus and it seemed as life was hitting me so hard from left to right. Year 2022 arrived, I wanted a better mindset of things… I prayed and prayed a lot of those nights, 2022 was like a clean slate. One night I was sitting to myself and thinking, something told me to get back into lip gloss. I knew I needed too and wanted too so I decided to get back into it. People from our town and surrounding areas where extremely excited, we were as well. A few weeks passed by and I started thinking again about how I not only want to sell lip gloss, but to also bring in more products for women… little girls and women where my main audience during that time. Each month would pass by and I would add more products to the business. We’ve got invited to do several interviews, podcasts, and pop up shops. I also ended up quitting a job that made my life so much better. That’s how we got into this business, by stepping out on faith and continuing to work harder and harder, like they say hard work pays off! When it came to discipline, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I will say that I have to discipline myself on spending money, and going on. There has been times that I had to stop myself from touching my own money on things that were wants and NOT NEEDS.. There has been times where I’ve had to skip out on birthday parties, family gatherings, party nights, and etc. my business was already on the rise and I knew that me and Autumn couldn’t stop or slack off. With me and Autumn working one on one with each other I have taught my daughter more about money, math, entrepreneurship, how to make products, and measurements in all. We are working, but she is also intaking great knowledge at such a young age.
The type of products we have are lip care and skin care. Our lip care products includes: lip glosses, lip oils, lip scrubs, and lip balm/chapstick is in the making. Our skincare line includes: body butters, body scrubs, body oils, and beard oils are in the making as well. Our body butters and scrubs are made for women and men.
Honestly to say I haven’t had any problems with any customers, not saying that it won’t happen because this is a business and you cannot please everyone… but I do like to show my customers how greatly they are appreciated.. sometimes I do raffles, discounts, and giveaways. What sets me apart from others is the fact that this isn’t just all about money. I care about the customers and the products that they are receiving, our goal is to make them look good and feel good at the same time. I do lip care and skincare that actually helps and have great benefits.. My strong mindset, strive, and greatness is what sets me apart from others.
I am most proud of stepping out on faith and making this business happen for me and my daughter. If only people knew how afraid I was and how much I doubted myself at the beginning of it all. Most of all I’m proud to be a young mother that has made a a business happen. I am proud that Autumn’s face gets to be featured in multiple magazines.
I want my customers, followers, and fans to know that this wouldn’t have been able to happen without them. I am always open to all kinds of ideas that would be fit for us to add to our business. My brand means EVERYTHING to me, my daughter’s name is in the brand for many reasons, when you have a little person watching you, do your best to continue to strive and be the best role model that you can be. When it comes to our work we put in blood, sweat, and tears. I am also brainstorming of new things for you all.. whether it’s to make you happy, make your lips feel soft, or to make your skin feels as new as a baby. Don’t forget our products are for anyone… race, weight, height, gender, and age does not matter when it comes to this business. We love you all
How did you build your audience on social media?
Building an audience is something that you really have to think about. When you are conducting a business you have to think who are you wanting to sell too? For me at first my target was little girls, teenagers, and older women adults. In my generation lip gloss is very popular. I knew exactly what I needed to post, and my purpose of the product. I will tell you that CONSISTENCY is the key.. you have to make posts, take pictures, and upload videos to show people what you have.. Post about your business everyday, no matter who all is tired of seeing it, you are promoting it and getting it out there. Once I started being consistent with posting, and making a business page that’s what caught everyone’s attention… at that point I think it showed them that I took me and my daughters business very serious.. same way for the men, you have to know what they like, what scents are popular.
We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.
I have an Etsy store, so the main way I keep in touch with my customers is messaging them and asking how are they liking the product, sometimes I set up percentages off of certain orders and it goes to their emails. Whether they have shopped one time or 10 times I always do something to let them know that they are appreciated.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.Etsy.com/shop/glossybyautumn
- Instagram: Glossybyautum
- Facebook: Glossy By Autumn
Image Credits
Amber Patrick