Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Johni Luellen . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Johni , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear how you think where to draw the line in terms of asking friends and family to support your business – what’s okay and what’s over the line?
Family and friends are always expected to be your support system, but I had to learn thats not always the case. I have learned that friends or family want to appear supportive but also dont expect to pay full price at times. Its ok to provide samples when you are starting out as I done in the behinning but at some point you are wanting their financial and emotional support. I have learned to accept it and have gotten 80% of my support from strangers through networking . That was one of the best decisions I ever made. I strive to host more diy events and networking pop up shops with more industry related guests and speakers to help inform those that may want to statt their own business one day.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Hello my name is Johni Luellen I am the owner of Envy Cosmetics formerly Envy Lipstick Collection a 100% Vegan Cosmetics Line . Im a full time mom of 3 kids 2 boys 1 girl – ages 19/ 14 / 12 on top of managing an online store . I started this cosmetics line September of 2017. I was wearing minimum makeup and lipstick at the time and was just getting into my girlie phase.
So I had a thought of how cool it would be to have my own lipstick ans I be the face . I started looking up some vendors and reached out to someone in Texas whom I purchased samples from. I set it up to have my friends try out the products and give me feed back then once I got the feedback needed I decided to create a name and purchase in bulk .
The next bulk order was Never shipped and I realized I had lost out on my money and products. I was upset and at that point thought this is a sign ror me to NOT move forward. After going throught the claims process I started looking up ingredients and “how to” videos and thinking I can make this happen still.
I then started ordering gloss ingredients and tubes and went from there.
Over the years I learned how to make lipsticks and lip oils, eyeshadows lipscrubs etc. using ALL NATURAL INGREDIENTS
Once I decided on a full cosmetics line I had my 12 yr old daughter start her lippie / gloss line Jaiona’s Lippies .
I trademarked it for her and gave it to her for 12th bday.
Our line is set apart from everyone because we use All Natural ingredients and we make our own products , fill our tubes label our tubes and boxes and shrink wrap each product to seal for preserving purposes
Im proud of myself for keeping my vision and not giving up and also proud of my daughter Jaiona for taking on the responsibility of a small business owner at an early age.
NOW today you can visit our website
www.envymycosmetics.com
Email : [email protected]
Social media-
Facebook-Envy Cosmetics LLC
Instagram- @Envymylipss
TikTok- @Envymylipss
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
There was no initial startup money saved up. At the time I was a mobile braider and used the money I made from my braiding clients to fund ingredients and tubes products etc.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
The most effective strategy have been Pop up shops and vendor slotlights. I have always gained a few new and renewed clients. In person is the best way to show off your items and answer any product info pass out business cards and fliers.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.envymycosmetics.com
- Instagram: @Envymylipss
- Facebook: Envy Cosmetics LLC
Image Credits
Shyne Brite Photography – photographer Diamond Lewis – photos Stylez By Srenae – Custom hoodies Models-Nikita Ware , Shavine Holmes, Quisha Richardson