Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jalahn Smalls . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jalahn, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?
Still to this day I remember my first customer. She was from Chicago at that time when I first started selling hair I wasn’t totally confident in myself and what I was doing so I did all social media promotion and my thought process was “whoever comes , comes” I knew I was selling quality hair but I just didn’t know how to market myself. So I didn’t have a lot of customers from my hometown. I probably can’t disclose her name but her sale meant so much to me because she spent almost $600 on a upcoming brand , no reviews or anything to go off of. When I got that first sale in my head I’m like oh I’m popping now I’m out of state with it (lol) and that right there made me go SO hard because In my head I was like if people can take a chance on me why not bet on myself. One of my favorite admins always told me that fear is false evidence appearing real and that’s stuck with me so much and he probably don’t realize how much that stuck with me because often times in the business industry your scared you don’t know if your next move will be the best or worst move. But once you let go of that fear the world Is your oyster.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Ja’Lahn , I got in the hair business by just watching my mom. I knew I didn’t want to do hair yet and I say “yet” because now I do hair. But I knew I loved beauty so I wanted to do anything in that area and I knew I was destined to not punch a clock for a dollar.
My discipline itself probably had to be my mom. She was the brains behind a lot of my wild ideas and she was like Lonnie just stop and think. She taught me how to understand the industry. When people seen what I was doing it looked like your getting money and everything is always glitz and glamour , however it’s not you have really slow months whenever your dealing with hair. Especially weaves. And my mom was the one to teach me all of that.
The biggest thing I’m proud of is continuing what I started while being a full time college student pursuing cybersecurity. It’s a lot but when I look at the things I’ve accomplished it fills me with a purpose because it’s like you came this far what’s stopping you now.
Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?
My favorite marketing / sales stories is me first starting and back then Twitter challenges was popping so I told my friend I’m like I’m gonna try it. It was if you can get this many likes you’ll win etc. and it was during prom season so the girls was ENTERING although I gave out many bundles for free the sales I got back in return was crazy. I was literally getting dms sale after sale .
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I built my Audience on social media by putting my brand out there. I would go through people tweeting from other states saying they’re looking for hair and comment my link. I would have giveaways I would have pop up shops. I was doing anything so when people seen me they knew what I was attached to. If your just starting I say just stay true to your business don’t think all your friends are going to support because the hard truth is they’re not. It’ll be the ones you least expect. I still have people super close to me who’ll post everyone’s brand but won’t think to post mine , before I use to take it personal but everyone don’t understand your vision and what you doing .
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.theAmyajco.com
- Instagram: Amyajcompany
- Youtube: Arrogantamya
Image Credits
@shotbydonosorio