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

Daleesha, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

Back then, I would’ve said they did everything wrong because I wasn’t able to do exactly what I wanted to do. But looking back at how I was raised now, they did everything right. Although I wasn’t in a two parent household, I was still taught lessons from each side. It was just me and my Mom for about 11 years. She worked 24/7. I never wanted for a thing, not saying we never struggled through times but you would’ve never known because my Mom made everything happen no matter what. I had decent clothes. Clean shoes. I kept the latest phone. So seeing that, I knew I had to put in work for everything I desired because that’s all I saw her do was work and provide.

Now my Dad was a great guy, quiet but full of knowledge like an encyclopedia. Every visit with him was like a trip to the Museum featuring a Ted Talk you know. He was always teaching me logical things. How people think. How the world works. Smartest person I knew. Rest in Peace. But so my Dad was an entrepreneur, a Florist as I’d call him. He taught me that I could be anything I wanted, well not just anything EVERYTHING I wanted. I’m quite like him! I am talented in so many things it hard to just pick one because you can do it all and that was him. He did it all. He worked. He researched. And he always had a solution.

One more person I’d like to mention, my grandmother Mary Ruth Rogers.she’s was married for 32 years to my grandfather. They owned an Adult Foster Home for 10+ years, I lived with them 3 of those years. I watched her take care of others day in and day out. My grandfather worked 12hrs a day. He enjoyed working. She had a passion for helping others. I saw that. I took heed in that.

So coming from a broken home with great parents along with amazing grandparents, I still turned out awesome! I took the things I saw and those situations created lessons that either said “That’s ok.” Or “That’s not okay.” And I live by that. I know right from wrong. I listen to my intuition always.

And when I say all of this it’s helped me to start and go far on my entrepreneurship journey because dealing with people you have to know and give respect whether it’s earned or returned. I enjoy indulging into Real Estate, STR and Rentals because I’m providing a space. A safe space at that. For families. Singles. Couples. Artists. Sports players. The list goes on. They come here. They have a great time. Great views. Great service. Their expectations are met. They compliment me and my services. My day is made! I now enjoy making other happy. Making sure others are well taken care of. Others needs are met. Not just because I can but because I want to!

Daleesha, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Daleesha Nelson, I go by Lee. I am now a Real Estate Agent and AirBnb Host/CoHost. I’ve been in the business since 2019. Providing travelers with Short Term Rentals in Kalamazoo, MI. My spaces provide more privacy and better accommodations than a normal hotel stay which is what sets this business apart from others. It’s amazing how I got this far, but I am here by grace and patience along with hard work and research. I decided to start my business one evening, listed my place that I had at the time and within 48 hours it literally took off and has been book ever since. I’ve been gratefully going strong, all while perfecting my craft. I started off selling false eyelashes and doing simple graphics for locals but I had a passion for something else…

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

As far as building a reputation, I already had that. I’ve been really big in the community, behind the scenes helping and sponsoring others. Also with my first business I had been networking and putting myself in rooms with people who were already where I wanted to be. They saw my hunger. My passion. My hard work wasn’t going unnoticed although you’d think it was but someone is always watching. Someone is always willing to support whether it’s someone close or not. And so when I did decide to go public, it was all love! People were so interested, wanted to learn, wanted to book. They wanted to know How, What, When, Where… you know! So instantly, I had clientele, I had sponsors, I had people who believed in me and what I was doing and what I was capable of.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Networking! If you don’t do anything, NETWORK! But those tickets to those brunches, business talks, community meetings. Put yourself out there. “Scared money doesn’t make no money.” And that’s the truth. People expect clients and profits to just fall into their laps after starting a business and that’s not how it works. Influencers, Content Creators, Restaurants, Lawyers, Etc. They all had to build their clientele whether it was from marketing strategies, promotions, word of mouth, consistency was the key! They put themselves out there to be noticed. And that’s a huge part of running a business you have to be willing to do things you deemed impossible. Clients will come!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Vitamin.ddd
• Facebook: Daleesha Nelson

Image Credits
Steele Candy Photography- Otis Wilson Mario Jurell Photography – Mario Campbell She’s Ideal MUA – Idea Beckham