We recently connected with Davida Bonney and have shared our conversation below.

Davida, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I have always wanted to start a business, but I did not know what business to start. My business Godly Totes first started as a T-shirt business, well in my mind I did not officially start it but I made so many designs waiting for the right time to start but the right time never came and the t-shirt business became so popular, it looked like everyone was starting one, so me being me I decided to look for another thing to do, I was scrolling on Instagram one day and I landed on a totes bag page and it hit me, maybe I should channel my designs for the t-shirts to tote bags instead, and the funny thing is I never liked tote bags still I started making them, now I’m in love with them. So I ordered one of the tote bags I saw just to feel the texture of the material, and how the owner went about it, because the is nothing new under the sun, what you want to do has been done already you just have to learn it and correct the mistakes and make it your own and that is what I did. I used that bag around for a while just to get people’s opinions about it and they loved it and I said to myself if this is not a sign to start my business I do not know what is. I told my sister about the idea and she basically pushed me to start and showed me where I could get the fabric and printing materials. There were a few setbacks I did not have the machine to print my product so I had to rely on a third party which caused so many delays and produce low-quality products, the financial state of the economy was not stable prices of goods just kept increasing and I ended up losing money instead of making money, so I had to put the business on hold for a while and re-strategize. Godly Totes started in August 2022 but was officially launched in March 2023, I have been able to get the necessary equipment and I now make my own products, by the Grace of God.

Davida, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi my name is Davida from Ghana, a recent university graduate. I officially started my online totes bag store in March 2023, I make customized tote bags for everyday use, suitable for school, work and certain events. I am the owner, social media manger, content creator, sales rep and accountant. I started this business because you cannot possibly live in Ghana and survive on one income source and I wanted an avenue where I can show my creativity, growing up I was not the most creative person I could barely draw anything at all and I mean anything, so being able to put a design together that someone like means a lot to be, I mean I’m not the best but I can proudly say I am not the worse either. I am very proud of how far I have come, everyone talks about how you should start a business but no tells you how hard it is, starting a small business is not easy at all regardless of the word small there, it takes a lot of learning, un-learning and re-learning. One of the things I am proud of it that my business page almost has 500 organic followers and we only started in March, I am really grateful for this.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

I would say the most effective strategy that works for me is having an online social media presence. I have an active page always on Instagram, posting frequently that is main posts and stories as well, not just to keep the page active but also to show my followers and people visiting my page for the first time that there are a variety of designs they can choose from or get inspiration for their customized designs. I also do a lot of sponsored ads so that Instagram can show my products to the right people, which has worked great for me. I have also found out that my followers particularly like reels because they see what the actual product looks like as compared to pictures, so I try to post more reels. Another thing that has worked great for me is asking my clients if they received their package in one piece and if the product turned out how they wanted, just to get feedbacks and reviews to also post to show others that we are a legitimate business and we deliver as promised because even though social media has its positive side, there are a lot of scammers out there.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I have to learn that success takes time, when I first started I thought my business will kick off immediately with at least ten orders a week, this ideology is laughable to me now because a week could go by and I would have just a single order which frustrated and devastated me, I wanted to quit several times. I had to learn to be patient, read books on business, learn from some of the online businesses that had made a name for themselves, and just allow God to do His thing. Still not getting ten orders every week but I am learning to appreciate my small wins.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: [email protected]
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidabonney/