We recently connected with Jada Ingram and have shared our conversation below.
Jada, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?
When you’re a small business, you tend to appreciate your customers a little more than the average business. Everyday, I worry about the possibility of “flopping” or disappointing my customers. So, as a result, I like to show my customers a little love because each one is special.
I do this by giving each customer a handwritten “Thank You” card. Now, in retrospect, this may seem small. However, you’d be surprised how big it is. Receiving something handwritten adds a level of connection you can’t achieve with printed things.
I make sure that each “Thank You” card is different. I use different fonts and different messages. This allows me to feel good and it allows the customer to feel good. It allows me to show the customer that they’re doing as much for me as I am doing for them.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Every time someone asks me “Well what do you do?”, I overthink the question. Simply saying ”I paint shoes.” feels too minimal but saying “I’m a custom shoe specialist.” sounds hyperbolic.
My answer this time is going to be that I customize shoes for a living. That seems like a decent response, right?
I run the business myself. I’m my own boss, my own media manager, my own website builder, and whatever else you could possibly think of? Yeah, that’s me. Of course, I look to my mom for guidance when I need it but as time goes on, managing everything becomes easier.
The biggest thing I’m known for is starting my business at 14, but most know me for hand painting everything. However, in the future, this will change as my popularity grows.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
When you start a business at such a young age, you’re bound to make mistakes. Granted, with this type of business, it’s easy to fix them.
That first year, everything was easier. It was the pandemic, so I was at home. It was also my freshman year, so my homework was at a minimum. I had time to practice and focus more on my business.
Of course, as time goes by at the speed of lightning, I’ve had to rearrange some things. It’s my junior year now, the “hardest” year, and I’m going to school every day, going home and doing hours of homework, and usually working on the weekends. Because of this, I’ve had to pivot my thinking and my management. Time management seems ten times harder when you feel like 24 hours isn’t enough.
There’s been times where I thought closing the business temporarily would help, but that’s not something I would do. I’m better and stronger than that. I’ve practiced resilience and seeing how much people support me and the business makes me want to keep going.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Always. Say. Yes
This is simply a fairy tale I swear. You gain nothing from saying yes all the time. You have to be able to identify your limits. I get a lot of customers at the same time after periods of not getting any at all. I’m not sure why that is but that’s how it’s been.
Because of this, I had to learn how to say no. At first, it was difficult because I saw the money walking out the door, but in the long run, it was beneficial because I avoided burning myself out. If I know I can’t do something skill-wise or time-wise, I say no. I only want to provide my customers with the best, and I can’t do this if I’m ignoring my limits.
So please, add the word “no” to your vocabulary.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://justkicksbyjay.weebly.com/#/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/justkicks_byjay?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jada.ingram.7967
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@justkicks_byjay?_t=8WyECEsCt4M&_r=1