We recently connected with JaLahn Smalls and have shared our conversation below.

JaLahn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

To be successful, I believe it takes a combination of grit, grind, and structure, as well as a commitment to turning your vision into action. My favorite quote is from a Kevin gates song , and he says “a vision without action is merely a dream; it’s the grind, it’s the hustle, it’s the persistence,” . It’s important to live by this philosophy and be unapologetically yourself in the pursuit of your goals.

Success often requires setting clear goals, staying disciplined in your efforts, and maintaining a strong work ethic. It’s about pushing through challenges and setbacks with determination, which is where the grit comes in. Your dedication and persistence are the driving forces that can transform dreams into reality.

It’s not on you it’s in you.

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?

I started in the industry at the age of 16 when I started selling hair , I knew beauty was just something I was into ; I wouldn’t say vain but I’m a person who’s VERY into her looks so starting my brand was right up my alley.

The discipline in business is what they don’t tell you about. Yes , it’s hard to be a worker as well but to be a business owner is 10x harder. You’re the CEO, HR, Customer service, loss prevention , team member, payroll all in one person it’s a heavy task to do. I wish someone would’ve told me structure goes a long way. I made so many mistakes because I didn’t have the structure I should’ve had.

I ended up taking a 2 month break from selling hair and just started back up. I’ve been featured twice in this magazine so if you’ve read my stories before you may know me as the owner of envious hair or AmyaJco however I’ve reformulated my entire brand into “posh files co” I lost sight of my true purpose and passion trying to keep up with the hair industry because y’all know the saying if you snooze you loose. I was afraid of not being able to supply the newest trends , keep up with all the new textures & styles then I realized I did this for me. With passion and determination comes money , you’ll have your designated target. I started focusing on quantity and not quality. But all I can say is I’m excited to see where my journey will take me, I think this is written in Gods plans for me and even if it’s not I wanted to leave the game knowing I gave it my absolute all. When I first took my break I felt like I gave up, I knew I was slacking. I felt like it wasn’t apart of me but in actuality I was being lazy. I wasn’t tapping into that grind side of me. I’m my worst critic so I can say I wasn’t hungry anymore, & that’s the worst feeling you can have as a business owner because this a cutthroat game. It’s people out here who’s STARVING to make i, you can’t slack.

I feel like what sets me apart is that I am a hustler. I can sell salt to a snail , I’m not a fake grinder. I don’t halfway do things. You have to know who you are as a person , your weaknesses your strengths. There is no perfect business owner out here but I’m striving to be close.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

This may sound cliche but the Bible. With business you have to be grounded. You can’t get away from yourself or loose touch. I felt like I did , I strayed away from what I knew best. Reading the Bible. Becoming one with yourself and truly believing will open doors you never thought you’d have the key to , you have to be rich in mindset. When you put God first who can be against you? You gain clarity by putting your all into your faith. It’s either faith over fear or fear over faith and I’ll never put my fear before my faith because 1 thing for sure My God don’t play about me.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I touched on it earlier but actually breaking myself down to build everything over again. I felt like I was at my end. I put out flyers saying I’m out the game and lost touch with myself. But to pick yourself back up regardless of what you went through and come back and hit harder says a lot.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.poshfileshair.com
• Instagram: Theposhfilesco

Image Credits
@marcjphotography