We were lucky to catch up with Kyara Betts recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kyara, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later

If I could go back in time, I would have started my business right after college. However, when I graduated high school, I was hell-bent on going to x-ray school and needed to acquire an associate degree before I applied for programs. By 2015, I was graduating and looking for a program, but instead, I was hired by the Internal Revenue Service. So, I began working until being accepted into the X-ray program. By 2017, I got accepted into the Einstein X-ray Program. I don’t think the staff understood that I had to work to put myself through college, and without a scholarship, I would not be able to afford it. They would always tell me to leave work because it might interfere with my studies. The program staff was not as helpful as they described, and I ended up being removed from the program as stated in the rulebook. In 2019, I started my business while working at the Internal Revenue Service. If I established my business sooner, I believe it would have taken off, and I would have a brick-and-mortar by now. However, I do think today that if I didn’t experience failure and learn tools like customer service and business-related accounts from the Internal Revenue Service, I wouldn’t be able to build my business correctly from the ground up.

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 Kyara Nicole; I am an Entrepreneur, Owner of KiKi Kouture Boutique, and a Full-Time Federal Government Employee. I started my business after being excused from Radiology School.
While finding another career path, I noticed strangers always had an interest in what I was wearing and where I found such unique pieces. At that time, I shopped at a store called Dynamite which I believed had such sophisticated and unique clothing. So, I said, “Why not create a brand with unique clothing to help someone else stand out from the crowd .” I want potential followers and fans to know that KiKi Kouture is here to provide unique statement pieces to customers’ wardrobes and encourage customers not to be afraid of standing out from the crowd.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

When I started my business, I was confident that I didn’t want any loans or credit cards because I didn’t want to be in debt before I started making profits. So I used my 9-5 job at the Internal Revenue Service to grow my initial capital to start growing my business. Using my bi-weekly paycheck plus overtime, I would save $1000.00 in a business account until it reached close to $8,000. Then I just budgeted because I determined I didn’t want to spend more than $8,000 on inventory.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

I didn’t have my products manufactured; I used wholesale manufacturers to resource unique products. When I started my business, I found it extremely hard to find vendors, but with an extensive google search, I found the right website. However, my search didn’t stop there. The website I found had over a hundred plus vendors in the Los Angeles Fashion District and overseas. I spent about a week searching all the vendors and reading the reviews from prior customers. A lesson I learned is that you win some, and you lose some. Most wholesale manufacturers I used were final sale unless items were damaged, so I had to learn to take chances based on picture quality and reviews.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kikikoutureboutique.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kiki_kouture_boutique/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KiKiKouture20
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyara-betts-8195b8209/