We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aneesha Amina a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Aneesha, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today

If I was starting over, I’d definitely spend a little extra time doing research before jumping in. The internet has so many great resources and opportunities for small businesses, and that is something I failed to fully utilize. There are many local community programs designed to help small businesses as well and that is something I’m currently trying to make use of. And lastly, as much as people say “you can start a business without going to college”, and I whole heartedly agree, but I would recommend taking at least a a few basic courses in areas like accounting, finance and management to boost your knowledge on running a small business, especially if you will be doing everything on your own instead of hiring professionals. Taking a few courses not only help gain knowledge but gives access to networking and resource opportunities in the business industry, which is crucial, especially for people like me that are new to America.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

What makes my business unique from others is that every single design is either hand-drawn by me or specifically selected and curated by me to manufacture through machinery. My perspective is therefore very unique and every product has a touch of me included in it. From the packaging to the product itself, I choose every step very meticulously and passionately. I find that my packaging and products worked so well in Bangladesh is because the customer base could resonate with my choices of design and the individuality I bring to my products. It was definitely not easy getting there though, because custom made products take a lot of time, money and effort to produce. Every single bit of the packaging from the instructions to the nail boxes to even the delivery boxes took months to design and finalize. There’s a lot of cost analysis and inventory analysis that goes on behind the scenes that is time consuming and draining for small business entrepreneurs. Especially for me, I chose to do every task on my own and decide every aspect of the business myself. However, I would advise young entrepreneurs against doing everything on their own and instead delegating, especially for basic tasks. This saves up a lot of time and energy for business owners to focus on important strategic decisions and avoid burnout.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I knew I wanted to set up a small online page, but I was only 16 and didn’t have sufficient funds. Back home, it is not common for teenagers to work jobs, but I found a role as a teaching assistant which helped immensely. I worked for a couple of months and invested whatever amount I made from that job on the most basic nail art supplies that were required to get started. Then, as I made my first sale and continued, I started reinvesting more and more revenue back in to the business to grow it further.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media is a powerful tool for businesses if they can use it correctly. I did a lot of research on YouTube to figure out strategies to use on how to grow my social media. I remember testing and trying out different methods that I would learn from YouTube and while some worked, others did not. The main thing I learned is that consistency and online presence is extremely crucial on social media platforms. If you’re there and spending a large amount of time on social media everyday interacting with people and posting, the algorithm will help you. Another thing I learned was to build really good connections with my clients, as that in turn earned me free shoutouts, mentions and helped my business reputation grow through word of mouth.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://cheripressons.storrea.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cheripressons/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cheripressons
• Youtube: https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCSE5f3QOTgsGtxupnXS0ERQ