We recently connected with Briana Washington and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Briana, thanks for joining us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?
Being a business owner no matter how big or small you are you will always faced with a variety of issues from shipping, complicated customers, design error, quality, and most of all price inflation. During the rise of the pandemic I was able to stay afloat with my business until January, 2020. Not only was shipping seized and packages was barely being delivered but price of merchandise went up tremendously it was unexpected and hard to keep up with. The many businesses that was able to turn the pandemic around and keep making money salute because, I won’t sugar coat it was really hard for me. 2021 my prices was off the charts and when I say I had no hope I truly lost all hope for my business and really didn’t want to sell hair anymore. Customers would purchase on my website with one price and I had to refund them due to price change or miss out on profit opportunity where I occurred many fees and account termination because of it. When I tell you it was awful it way too HARD trying to keep up with market and competitors pricing while facing reality our new life . The quality of my hair became terrible vendors was just shipping out anything to make a dollar and it put me in a even worse situation because of it. I always strive for the best hair for affordable prices so I definitely expected since prices high as a giraffe neck quality should of never been an issue…. TUH that wasn’t the case quality was awful for 1, vendors didn’t want to work with you “our hair is 100% virgin your client must didn’t follow blah blah blah” it was so annoying and aggravating I’m glad I overcame those type of vendors and found my guy! Another issue that I was faced with and many business owners need to be equipped for and learn how to properly handle that I wish I knew how to go about it better are chargebacks please don’t think or feel that it can’t happen to you because it can happen to anyone and just like the customer always right the banks feels the same way. It’s so hard trying to win chargeback cases that’s why you have to ensure your policy and make sure your policy states a refund/ return policy, a chargeback policy etc. because it can get very frustrating showing proof of delivery, service etc. and still lose. It’s consider “fraud” and during my 5 years I’ve experienced 2 charge backs I lost both and ended up winning after 1 year and a half of fighting. Never give up and make sure your invoice, contract, or whatever states your policies !!!
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 background and context?
Hello Queens and Kings, My name is Briana W. I’m the proud owner, chief innovator and most important CEO of Queen Extensions LLC doing business as The Queen Experience. I’m 27 years old and have so much more to learn when it comes to life and business, I created my business in 2017 and I have zero regrets there’s days where I see several orders vs days I see 0. I decided to step out my comfort zone and launch my business because I was tired of looking for affordable hair that was either a hit or miss; hair store and local boutique’s wasn’t giving what they advertise after a year of deliberating I wanted to be a business a successful one and since then I learned so much that I wish I would of learned when I first started I could of saved so much money and earned much more. When I first started my biggest struggle was trying to figure out my set prices many people complained that it was to expensive so I often tried to adjust prices as often as I could I’ve encountered so much during my 5 years in business and each and every mistake I learned from and and applied it 100x better but enough about the downside of being in being in business let’s here about what I offer I offer a wide variety of hair extensions and products such as hot tools, hair protection and so much more. I’m still expanding my business year to year to on finding my ideal product as well as target audience over the years I have worked more on my customer service, the way I promote, as well as limiting frequent sales. I put a lot into my business from the thought to quality and I try my best to ensure 100% from communication, product delivery and quality to ensuring my customer is satisfied. I’m always helping anyone out when it comes down to business from grants, to advice, to what needs to be established because without a plan and business structure you will be stuck dealing with hardship that you don’t need to deal with. I represent myself, my brand, and family and I will do so by keep pushing my small business until it’s known worldwide.
Have you ever had to pivot?
During the pandemic after I took a pause in selling hair I started to rebrand and look for a better vendor even though I’ve been purchasing hair from the same 3 vendors since the beginning of time it was time to venture off and find better due to the quality, customer service and, terrible communication when it comes to the inflation of prices I went through 6 vendors until I found him my person. It may sound like we’re in a relationship because we are he gives me the heads up a month in a advance when it comes to price changes or promotion, responds efficiently, and is very helpful we been working together for a year and I wish I found him years ago because, when I say he helps he very helpful from shipping delays, to customer feedback he has helped with just providing customer service as a vendor. I feel every business owner should build a respectable relationship with their vendors to find the best alternatives when it comes to their business. Ask questions if they cannot answer then that’s your first red flag.
How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.
I’ve been on the web since October 2018 and it’s been a game changer since I recommended anyone with a business either selling products, or services to have a website. Theirs over 1 billion individuals in the world and the world is run by technology meaning everyone from around the world is on the web browsing. I started out with big cartel then switched to WordPress w/ woo commerce now to Shopify and each differ from one another but they have one thing in common and that’s great opportunity for more sales.
2018-2019 big cartel it’s good when first starting off as a business it’s affordable, and easy to design. Pros: easy to work with, simple but efficient design, and low monthly fee cons: cannot code or decorate for a beautiful website design, and lack a lot of features and apps.
2019-2021 word press w/ woo commerce I love it this is my number one platform to use it’s easy if you have at-least some type of computer knowledge and affordable for yearly pricing if working under a company that host. Pros: beautiful layout design, easy to design, and great integration features. Con: my website was always getting hacked or having a virus I truly don’t know if it was the hosting issue or the actual platform but countless times my site would be down for weeks to months.
2021-Present Shopify Shopify comes second after woocomerce only because of the monthly fees due to the type of product I sell that’s consider “HIGH RISK FRAUD” which is true a lot of business owners like my self occur chargeback on hair merchandise and it can really set anyone back overall I love this e-commerce if it didn’t have so many fees. Pros: beautiful layouts, easy to operate, constant helpful tips and tricks on the unimaginable, different checkout options, 24/7 customer service cons: fee, and not able to use shop pay
Before picking a e-commerce look at the features as well as if it fits into your budget. Everyone wants a beautiful website but cannot afford it and cannot keep up with it… Find what will work for you and build from there.
Contact Info:
- Website: Thequeenexp.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thequeenexp_/shop
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thequeenexp1/