We were lucky to catch up with Latoshia Martin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Latoshia, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by sharing your thoughts about the pros and cons of family businesses.

As a wife and mother of two, I believe that it is important to include my children in the business that I created. My sons started with me at the beginning stages of my company’s creations. I was home during the covid lock down teaching through zoom. While at home, I decide to work on a passion that I had for years. I always wanted to write children’s books. I sat with my son’s Iry and Isaiah and brainstorms some names for the business. My oldest son Iry told me to keep it simple. We decided to use our last name as the company’s name. With their help, I started Martin’s Children’s books. Along with the creation of the business, my son’s helped me come up with the story line of my first book ” Black Boy Be You”. They also aided in choosing the best illustrations for the story.

It is important for your children to see you fulfill a dream. It shows them that no matter your age you can still switch careers and work on a passion piece. As part of the family business, every member of the family has ownership of the business. They are proud of the final product. A family business also teaches children about organization, improve social skills, hard work, and build financial literacy skills.

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.

Martin’s Children’s Books is a small family-owned business. I’m a veteran elementary school teacher. I have been teaching for sixteen years. The knowledge that I gained from teaching aided me in creating children’s books. I started my business in 2020 while I was home teaching on zoom. I always wanted to write children’s books. As a child, I always had a love for reading. I want to publish books that would encourage a love of reading in young children. My goal is to create stories with diverse characters. Growing up there weren’t many books that contained main characters of African- American decent. Every reader should be able to relate to the character in a story.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

As an independent small business owner, finding capital to fund your business is a daunting task. As an education major, I had no clue on how to start a business, maintain a business, or apply for business loans. I was learning everything as I went along. I spent a lot of time watching Youtube videos and sitting through seminars. Getting a business loan is still currently a struggle for me. I am solely funding my business. I have applied for small business loans, but I was denied for a lot of them. Banks are looking for a certain about of years in business, increasing income, and a high credit score. Education unfortunately doesn’t pay well. I had to learn to balance paying my bills, covering school supplies for my children, and purchase material for the business. My family has been a huge help to me. My father believed in my dream and gave me five thousand dollars when I decided to start my business. Without his help I wouldn’t have had the initial down payment for an illustrator and business fees.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Being a clientele list is difficult at first. You are starting at the bottom. As a new business, you have to get people to believe in you and your product. Customers were built through social media, paid advertising, participating in interviews, and going to events. New business owners have to build their brand by constantly showing your face. Readers needed to see my books everywhere first before receiving any sales. Everyone is used to someone trying to scam them, so honest people have to work even harder to grow their business. I take part in paid pop-up events in a variety of locations to reach more readers. Being out in public is great for networking. A combine of paid advertisement and pop-up events has allowed me to build my clientele list.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.martinchildrensbooks.com
• Instagram: @lmchildrenbooks
• Facebook: Martin’s Children’s Books
• Linkedin: Martin’s Children’s Books