We were lucky to catch up with Estela Guajardo recently and have shared our conversation below.
Estela, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us a bit about who your hero is and the influence they’ve had on you?
My Abuela is my biggest hero. She passed away in 2008, but the impression she left on me I hold close to my heart, Growing up, I admired this woman and was so amazed how she could juggle being a stay at home mother and grandmother while still running her side hustles. I remember sitting next to her while she would sew for hours and then take a break to cook lunch for my cousins and I, I still have the goodie bags she would sew for our parties that would coordinate to the theme of the party. I was 12 when she passed away, too young to fully process what was happening, but here I am almost 30 and able finally understand. I am my own worst critic because I know perfection exist and “good enough” is not an option when I have high expectations to live up to.
Estela, 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 Estela. I am a mother of two crazy kids. I have my I started my business in Nov. 2019 with a group of friend who had different paths and thats how Once In a Black Moon. Co was created. Growing up I was surrounded by small business owners and entrepreneurs like my grandfather who owned a Tire shop, and grandma who created a hustle with her skill of sewing and crafting. It influenced me so much I ended up receiving my Bachelors in Business Management. I started my business offering apparel and sticker decals soon after I took an interest to resin. I knew I found my medium. Once I started getting comfortable I moved up to making tumblers! I try to be intentional with my resin and offer products that are functional. I suppose my proudest moments are customer reactions to my work that I put a lot of love and time into.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I’ve had to build my social media audience twice, when I first started Once In a Black Moon.Co and when my account was deleted from instagram regardless of my appeals. I remember sitting on the couch calling my best friend crying trying to see if she could see whether my account was hacked. During that time a lot of small business owners were losing accounts due to hacking. I felt that gut wrenching feeling when she said my account didn’t exist. I received an email from Instagram saying my account was deleted due to copy right infringement for a tumbler of “pickle rick” from the show Rick and Morty. Are you serious? I was fuming! This dang pickle cup really made instagram delete all of my hard work, not only that I had custom inquires for order, and market information. Right then and there I wanted to give up and throw in the towel. I took a few hours to wallow in my self pity and then it was time to girl boss. I rebranded, promoted my business at markets trying to gain my audience and just trying to stay consistent. In a year i was able to surpass my target goal by doubling my audience on Instagram which was more than I was able to do when originally starting my account.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
My sidle hustle did turn into my full time career. I was working for a company full time doing digital content moderation. When Covid hit we were sent home. I was 4 months pregnant with my son, and my daughter 4. I remember sitting at my desk with my newborn sleeping next to me while working. on my breaks I would multitask and work on orders, It was so stressful trying to balance work, business, and home life.I believe everything happens for a reason. I was put on hold from my full-time job while they looked for a campaign I could join in the mean time I focused on growing my business and being more present for my kids. 6 months later the company I was employed with remembered about me and decided to let me go. Fortunately my business was growing rapidly it made no difference whether I worked or not and it worked in my favor I could be present for my kids and not miss out on their milestones.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onceinablackmoonco/?utm_medium=copy_link
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OnceInABlackMoon.Co/
- Other: https://linktr.ee/onceinablackmoonco?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=051b1763-ca04-4da1-af5a-54552ceb7eaf
