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

Britney, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

After graduating from Central Michigan University with my Bachelors in Elementary Education I was beyond excited to begin my journey as a teacher. After 5 years of pouring my heart and soul into shaping young minds, deep down, I knew I was meant to create something bigger and be my own boss. After so many long days and sleepless night with my husband Chris and dedication to our passion of marketing as well as my need to become a Youtber/Content Creator I opted on not going back to teaching and taking on the challenge, that my creativity and entrepreneurial spirit could flourish.

Although a very scary leap to take we Started our own company, Initial Brands Incorporated, in 2012 and never looked back! I also, took my creativity to Youtube and began creating videos to coincide with the business by filming videos advertising our company and from there created and amazing following for myself. I now hold over 3o,000+ subscribers on YouTube and we currently are in the process of opening up our own Custom Print Shop in Westland, Michigan!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

At times I tend to forget that many do not know my story and it always excites me when people ask about how we got started. I appreciate it, not only because it is nice to know people find me entertaining, but because it reminds me of how far we have come. As stated previously, I was an Elementary School teacher for 5 years and while teaching I was going home every night and continuing the day by building my company Initial Brands Incorporated with my husband Chris. At the time we were boyfriend and girlfriend, but knew that we eventually would be together forever and that it was smart to work towards our future. After graduation, we both knew that working for others was not going to be a long term goal and the creative that he is decided to build on his skills of graphic design and myself content creation! As crazy as it sounds they both actually work together and in return we started something amazing Initial Brands Incorporated. Now, we not only have the marketing company, but we have also started IBrand U our sister company that produces Custom Apparel and Full Print merchandise.
It is hard to find the words that describe how proud I am our successes. We started as two crazy kids with a dream and worked extremely hard to make it a reality. I would say my most exciting moment was when I hit 10,000 subscribers on Youtube and when we first moved from working the business from out of our basement to the first office building in Southfield, Michigan and actually had the funds to hire our first full time employees! An incredible feeling it was, but after 3 years there, we have elevated to opening our own store in Westland, Michigan. I just want to tell anyone who is reading this article that although it sounds so cheesy and redundant that never giving up and always believing in yourself are TRUE STATEMENTS!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Although teaching was not in my forever cards, it truly helped me grow and become the entrepreneur I am today. Owning a marketing company is extremely hard work and it takes building trust from your clients and having positive feedback from your work spread so more work will come. Honestly, the first serious website we had the opportunity to build was for the school I worked for. Thanks to that the positive reputation we received jump started our clientele. I would also add that we are very positive people who tend to attract other positive clients so in return we have built a family with Initial Brands by if you choose to work with us the numerous other connections we link you with are unlimited. We thrive on efficiency and speed so whenever we have an order or a client in need being set aside and waiting weeks for the job to get done is not an option.

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

When I first began creating videos and Chris and I told people even some close to us that we were going to start our business believe it or not many laughed and did not take us serious. I was being made fun of for videos I was uploading and even told it was not wise to have worked all the years I did towards my degree to stop focusing on teaching. Honestly, when you are told so many times that what you are doing is silly and nobody takes you seriously it can take a toll on you mentally. Fortunately, that was not the case for us! The more I was talked down to negatively and people laughed the harder I worked and the more videos I produced. Looking back I appreciate my resilience as much as the naysayers, because without them I wouldn’t have had as much fire under my behind! P.S. I also now have my Masters in Technology! ;)

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ibrandcorp.com, www.ibrandu.shop
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/britbratreviews/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/britneyslater/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFqWNOrLlnJp-i-4Iw_HmPA

Image Credits
Image Credits: Initial Brands Incorporated