We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kristen Johnson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kristen , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?
I am the happiest I’ve ever been! I have had ALOT of jobs. That was part of figuring myself out & what I wanted to do. No matter what job I had, I always would be left with the feeling of something missing. I knew what it felt like to have a job & I never truly enjoyed working for someone else. My latest job was a sushi restaurant & I knew that this job would be my last because I had to put more time into my business. I told myself on the new year of 2023, I would work for myself & now I do!
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?
Hey everyone! I’m Kristen, the founder, self-taught chemist, social media manager & customer service rep behind Kiss of Silk. Kiss of Silk is a plantbased + handcrafted skincare, feminine care, aluminum free deodorant, lip gloss & wax melt line that has been curated from scratch since 2017. I started Kiss of Silk to help heal skin from the outside & regain confidence starting with your skin health. I am most proud of how I have been able to start & grow my business without any prior business or skincare knowledge when I was in highschool , just the drive to continuously learn & improve.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn everything taught in school about school. You do NOT need to go through college to get to your dreams (unless your career goal requires it). Growing up, I was always told to go to college, get a good job, retire & live out my life. I never really heard about the path to starting a business, it was always working for a business instead. I didn’t want that for myself so I had to unlearn the whole college= success lesson.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
From 2017 to the end of 2022, my business was being funded by my jobs & events I attended until my business could fund itself. It takes alot of balance, patience, budgeting + some extra stress, when you’re trying to pay bills, fund your personal needs, put into your savings & fund your business on the side with what you had left after your priorities are taken care of.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.kissofsilk.com
- Instagram: Www.instagram.com/kos.silk
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KissofSilk?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@KissofSilk?si=Y6M1HM4dk-hFOjop
- Other: LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/KissofSilk?fbclid=PAAaa0JvSxkJD4Uhda0hYBiAp9oMhykj7-Fodo5emP64Baecr0WvIz1fgzWCU_aem_AU1arazVZ3xq-Qv0sTRd4VSUiu8oJzPUXEi42n_Dmgh_JB18K6vmpWtb4m-iWomWFbs
Image Credits
Photos by Kristen – Kiss of Silk