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

Hi Deja, thanks for joining us today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?

Okay! So the craziest thing that’s happened to me and my business…..

Is getting to custom color some units for Tia Corine. a very popular NC artist. She is so superrr sweet and cool and I am so happy she gave me the opportunity as a supporter of her personally to show love with my small business Service By D Co.

This whole interaction sparked one day when I was mulling over ideas of how to try new things as a business owner and as such I wanted to find some creative and expressive individuals to work with as a small business just to try and get my new talent out there. I was experimenting with coloring hair units and wanted to really test myself. I was already a follower and supporter of Tia Corine and her music so I was viewing one of her lives on IG back during the summer of 2022, and got the random idea while she was talking about hair for shows to message her and ask her if I could do something for her! She was super cool and responded and so I got to planning and worked as much as.I could my spare time to practice and learn how to complete this project and when I got it done , I packaged it and sent it off to it’s new home!

When Tia did receive the wigs, she was super excited and supportive and posted about the items on her story and even did some tik toks with an amazing stylist Leandrea Brown and now the amount of people that have seen my growing potential is at 950k and growing and I couldn’t be more thankful to those amazing ladies.

I’m always so Grateful when God blessed me or my small business in amazing and meaningful ways. I’ve been able to explore working with the NBA Pistons, MiLB Hi-Toms, in my fitness career to accomplishing things like working with Tia Corin with my small business. I’m very hopeful for. the ways that I will continue to grow and learn both as a individual and a business.

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

My business started because I wanted to find ways to create opportunity for myself with my various skillsets.

I’ve spent several years working for franchise gyms and have a degree for sports science and enjoy lots of forms of fitness as well as think that practicing wellness is important.

I also had a self taught skill of braiding that I developed over time sometimes accumulating clients to bring in some extra money when I was in college earning my B.S. Kinesiology.

So I kind of just ended up making an umbrella company that I could explore my own talents I have to offer and services, that way I can combine the things I enjoy without feeling limited

I feel very blessed and happy, I have learned how to do things like purchase from vendors and how to set up a store on amazon with my business account to offer products there as well, so I’m super happy. I also am working on organizing a website where all of the products and services I plan to release in the coming years will be available.

Building my brand slowly while working is rewarding when I get to experience moments like this one and I can’t wait for more and work more with these amazing ladies and anyone else that would like to work with me.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn this idea of “when” I should have things done as a part time employee and a part time business owner because balancing working, and owning, and living, can actually be a bit, and I don’t have to be as hard on myself as I am all the time.

The backstory to this is just realizing that since I started this company a few years ago and even though I am not fully where I wanted to be, I am happy for where I am at. It’s easy to see so many companies that are small businesses offering talents and products, and no matter how many things I want to bring into development, all good things take time. Rome wasn’t built in a day right? So you can’t build a legacy overnight. At least in my own experiences I’ve learned Its best to take your time and put in your best effort than to rush yourself and cheat yourself the knowledge. of the experience. Your always gonna make mistakes and that’s great because it only makes room for growth.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

One book I like to go to is the Bible , there is literally a bunch of information regarding things such as finance and harvest, so I think those things go hand and hand and a lot the parables and scriptures are applicable to real life instances and situations where. I might need information and guidance.

Another good tool is Dave Ramsey and his financial tools, my church was nice enough to get the membership access for me, so I have taken notes and want to take that resource as serious as possible to I and receive the increase in my stewardship.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @service.by.d.co
• Facebook: service.by.d.co
• Twitter: @dejawins
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx7sVZoe6YLFTLhts_Pbzkg

Image Credits
@ceegeewiththapic – Cee Gee