Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Keveena Slater. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Keveena , thanks for joining us today. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

DO I TAKE VACATIONS!?! AHA hell yea I do!! I strongly believe that time off is just as important when you are a business owner as the profits and sales. I have had those times when I worked, worked, WORKED, just to pay bills and stay afloat I was more stressed than ever cause I’m constantly asking myself when do I have time for me? I was always tired, body aches, and didn’t have time for my children and it was really bringing a lot of tension in my house ,ya know, so i started taking time to myself and my children. I was working more than I was paying attention to my business. When I first started traveling to pop up shops I went to Atlanta 2021 and I had the most fun I had EVER had. I know that sounds childish as hell but that’s exactly what it was. Even though I was there for business I used the other time to explore and see what the city life was like same as I did when I went to Memphis 2022. Most of the time when I’m on vacation I’m wearing clothes that I sell, LuhPopofKai Lashes and Lip Gloss, I’m my own walking billboard. Even if you’re not a business owner vacations are needed and should be taken. Vacation doesn’t mean you have to go somewhere, I’m sure we all to be able to leave our space but it’s not always possible, so taking a vacation from everyday life is just as important to keep balance. Always remember vacation is your time to wind down and decompress from the stresses of running a business and everyday life.

Things I like to do on vacation: sleep for starters, workout, meditate, self-care (cook, do my hair, try new foods, find a new interest), hang with my kids, ooh my fav is to sightsee.

When it comes to self-care it can be anything that you do for YOU! Something enjoyable!! Most times I find something NEW!!

Keveena , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Let me start with thank you thank you thank you!! I can’t believe I’m back for a third time, that really brings tears to my eyes. OK OK let me stay on task. If you haven’t read my 2 previous articles then you’re in for a treat. I am a mother, entrepreneur, CNA, phlebotomist, tax preparer, and in newer news a wife. Sometimes it’s hard to think about the beginning cause for me the beginning was very very rough. But at the same time it’s why I’m so humbled now.

When I first thought about becoming an entrepreneur I was actually supposed to be going to school to be a pharmacy technician, but that’s also when I had my second son so yeah that changed and very quickly might I add. I was working at Sam’s Club and one of my coworkers was a graphic designer with his own t shirt line and I talked to him about getting started, he gave me homework on it. Wait wait wait he actually came to me and asked if I ever thought about doing something like that and truthfully I had so I believe it was destined for me to be a business owner. I started with simple shirts with a slogan, being nervous and all I attended a few pop up shops but WAS NOT successful at all. And of course I got discouraged and wanted to give up but that’s not what I really wanted so I just took a break and found other interests like I started my lash and lip gloss line, shoot I had a lip scrub line, a lipstick line, I even sold clothes, shoes and purses so yeah I done dabbled in a lot trying to satisfy EVERYONE but I found my niche in lipgloss and lashes plus it’s what I was good at selling and formulating. Lipgloss and lashes for me are a way to show your individuality and that’s what my tagline (Kustomize Your Life) represents. Now when it came to my logo that was so hard for me mostly because I thought that everything had to be perfect the first time around and I couldn’t have been more wrong. I went through 3 logos so far but I also been in business since 2018ish 2019. One thing I learned about your business name/logo is that you have to research and make sure it’s not trademarked already; I was presented with a cease and desist with my first logo and when I tell you I was so proud of that logo then had to change it AFTER I already had it printed on lip gloss tubes, yeah talk about pissed off.

Another thing was I always wanted a cheaper way to do things and that doesn’t work for everything. I found myself wasting a lot of money because I was just jumping off into stuff. Hell I even started my son’s clothing line in 2021. But that was also put on hold for a while then I reintroduced it for his birthday this year. So that’s been going ok for us. The fact that I had to start over many times due to unfortunate circumstances makes me very resilient cause foreal foreal I could’ve given up after the first or second time but I didn’t. Meanwhile I also received my certificate for teeth whitenings and teeth gems, talk about a busy person. I had to find ways to try and prevent it again and of course had to find outlets for my anger with all the chaos that it caused. So yeah being a business owner is rough especially when you running it alone and still figuring out what you want to sell/offer. It takes guts and patience. Take your time, perfect your craft, and stay positive. I’ve learned that “If your target audience is EVERYONE, then your target audience is NO ONE.”

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

At the moment my business is fully funded from my own pockets, which means I do currently have to work in order to fund my business. That’s why it’s soo important for me to have a budget when it comes to business related items. I have to set aside a certain amount a month that I’m going to spend on anything business, whether it’s business cards or the product itself. Don’t get me wrong there are times where I’m not able to put any aside for my business but I’m ok with that my time coming. It’s much harder to keep ahead when you’re funding your business alone. You definitely don’t wanna be going over your budget every month because believe me when I say this you’ll be spending more time trying to play catch up rather than reaping the benefits of your profits. When I started I had about $300 and I ran through that so fast. I did not realize there was a lot of things I could’ve done on my own I just didn’t take the time to research it more than I had. I saw it as I can’t do that, instead of let me try it on out first.

If I could go back in time, I’d definitely take more time to brainstorm and put things in perspective. I do feel like I rushed into the business thing rather quickly, which is why I’m taking my time now to perfect my crafts.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

I wish I did but I do not manufacture my own products currently. When looking for a vendor it’s important to come with a solid description of what you’re looking for. I reached out to a few different ones before i made my final decision and I also had samples sent to me before. I also had everything written down, well tried to have as much details as possible. Having a budget will also help you when making a decision about vendors, you may have to up your budget or change your vendor, but whichever one it is you’ll know, hell it may end up being BOTH. I learned to not let them talk me into anything outside of what I’m requesting. You don’t want to go over buy products especially if it’s not something you’ll use or wear. When I first started selling lashes I bought 150 pairs and didn’t even sell half of them, believe it or not I didn’t even wear lashes before I started selling them. Now I ONLY want to wear my lash line, when i wear lashes.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Luhpopofkai
• Other: Tiktok: GemdbyKai