We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lisa Freeman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Lisa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?
I hope that my legacy would be that people knew how passionate I am about being true to yourself. Being happy & content even if you don’t always feel like it or look like it. I actually don’t want my legacy to be about how much money I’ve made or about houses, cars etc… I want it to be about the lives I’ve actually helped & impacted to live free!
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 Lisa Freeman, I am 50 years old, born & raised in Richmond, Virginia and now reside in Raleigh, North Carolina. I am happily married to the love of my life, Jerry (aka Len) Freeman. We met in 1991 and married in 1994. Together we have 3 adult children and 2 grand children. My family especially my children is the reason I chose to set my life apart. My desire was to live out my dream as an entrepreneur in hopes of also inspiring them to see the benefits & freedom I have had the privilege of experiencing.
When I was a little girl my father, Waverly L. Williams Sr. inspired me to become an entrepreneur. He was a well known Photographer & Business Owner for over 40 years. I used to watch how he moved in business, meeting people, making his own decisions & enjoying his profession, I remember saying, One day I want to be able to make my own decisions like that. So my first entrepreneur journey started with becoming a Professional Hair Stylist. That passion started when I was around 13 years, when I was sitting waiting for my turn to get my hair braided. I remember intently watching every move the stylist was making, I thought to myself, I could do that & so I put my faith into practice and started braiding my friends hair & other little girls in my neighborhood. After practicing that I always had the desire to want to style hair. Years later I pursued classes & became certified and began my first professional career in 1996. One of the most popular things I learned to master was the art of hair cutting. It always amazes me to tell this part of my journey because hair cutting was “the most” fearful technique I had to overcome. I use to always cringe when a new walk in client would come to the salon. I just always feared I would mess up. Until one day I realized all I needed to do was to calm down, take my time & believe in my passion. I ended up being a stylist known for my professional hair cuts. It was pure joy after I embraced what I knew what was inside of me. It also blessed me to see my clients happy & satisfied. Happy clients become returning clients & returning clients will always speak highly of you. You just need to continue to provide quality work & excellent customer service. When you love the gifts you have been blessed with it comes natural for you to want to give great service!
Next on my entrepreneurial journey was my passion for fashion, I have always loved to shop & love being creative with my clothing. Shoes are one of weakness, as sometimes I will purchase shoes before I have anything to wear with it. I love bold, unique classy footwear. I love making my pieces feel original & different. It just makes me feel good on the inside & out because being fashionable allows me to tap into the creative gifts on the inside of me. When I was a little girl, I use to get teased for my shyness & being least popular, I could care less about the popular part but it really did something to me to feel like i was living in a box because I always felt different. I always felt like people over looked me because they were too infatuated with being seen by others. I’ll never forget those feeling of never wanting to be liked so bad that I would go so hard for somebody else’s s attention. That made be want to stay being different. One of the things my Dad use to always tell me was to that I can do absolutely anything I put my mind to. So I did just that! While I was enjoying my hair styling career, I started researching how to become a Boutique Owner. I wanted to provide classy & chic fashion for women of all sizes who wanted to feel fashionable, chic & unique! I remember sharing my vision with my husband & children & the rest is history. I began with the name Lady Lisa’s Chic Boutique, where all things were cute, classy & chic! I started the online Boutique in 2015 and it is still very successful today. I have even tapped into designing/altering some pieces that have actually sold out quicker than some of my vendor pieces. Fashion & Styling is really”My Thing” and being the CEO of it all is such a blessing.
Shortly after I launched the online store, I was also introduced to a health & wellness company where I saw another opportunity to one; build another business with my husband & two be able to help even more women with their health. I figured if I am helping them with their hair & fashion goals for looks on the outside then it would be even more satisfying to help them with goals from the inside. We joined the company, built an amazing team of business partners and became 5 figure earners. Not only that together my husband & I took our health more seriously and together both of us got rid of 75 pounds of weight loss! We offer detox teas, liquid multivitamins, energy supplements & so much more! It has been one of the most best decisions of our lives. The information we have learned from our company & the products we offer has been so life changing for us. We work out together at least 4 to 5 days out of the week, I can not start my day properly without walking or doing some sort of workout regimen. It is now more like an opportunity to me now because I love how working out makes me feel mentally & physically. This is where life & business started to shift for me. I kept feeling the need to do something different with my businesses. I had a lot of services & products to offer & I needed to find a way to bring them all together. So I began to pray about my nexts, I knew my business was based upon faith & family with fitness, finances & fashion as branches of that. So I came up with LOOKS by Lisa Freeman. Offering different looks of fashion, fitness wear, wellness products, lashes etc… all in one store. So that’s what I changed my business brand to, LOOKS by Lisa Freeman a one stop online shop for all of your fitness, fashion & wellness needs.
In 2018 I was able to also open my first brick & mortar location which was also another realized dream. That was like the top of my goals to be able to have a location where I could style my clients and have clients shop our Looks. It was the best feeling to drive up everyday to my own building, make all the decisions for our goals & serve the community where we were located. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience, it was truly God led. Until 2021 after Covid & other significant changes in our business model, I made an executive decision to retire from the hair business & close the store. It was THE BEST decision for me at the time. In February 2020 I lost my Dad & things were never the same for me. I was torn into a zillion pieces & mentally I just needed a change. Through the transition, I could here my Dad saying, Be the Change, dont give up, you are not what they see! He was reminding me not to get twisted up in other peoples opinion of me. During that time I went through one of the most painful experiences of my adult life with my siblings. There was so much tension & disagreements about my Dads estate that I literally had to fight for my sanity.
One of the things I am most proud of is that, I did not quit & give up on of my purpose. I know I am called to be the change, so I wrote about it! I published my first book called “Be the Change” Breaking Limitations and Pursuing Confidence for Bigger & Better. My life has been a book of change, breaking limitations but in a pursuit of always learning & expecting bigger & better! It was hard to talk about some of the stories I shared in the book but “I did it”! I did it for all the people who felt like an odd ball, who felt prejudged, mistreated, suffered in silenced etc… I also did it for my Dad, who was the one who inspired my entrepreneurial journey all my life. My mom & dad supported everything I ever done. When you have supportive parents who believe in you, labor with you, support you up close & a far you are truly blessed. I feel grateful & blessed to have both of my parents instill so much in me. So now I want to be that same inspiration to my children, grands & any one else that watch me up close & a far. I was also able to co-author my second book with Juanita Woodson, called “Moments for Moms” A 15 Day devotional for women to relax & take a break for themselves. It was a pleasure sharing a part of my story in this collaboration.
Our most recent assignment where we have the opportunity to inspire more people is our men’s & women’s gathering we are hosting soon. The first one is for women only, it’s called, Let’s Build Her Up on June 2-4, 2023. The next event is, Let’s Build Him Up & Couples Edition on November 3-4, 2023. Both Gatherings will be geared around spending time together to encourage one another. There will be panelists, activities, vendors, food, connections & a refreshing time to help one another move to our nexts!
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I built my audience by being my true authentic self. Social media can make people lose themselves trying to fit in & do what they see others do. While its okay to get a point of view or get inspired by others, you still have to find your flow too. The way I found my flow was to make sure I talk the same way I would if you were to meet me in person. I am not changing my voice or my personality for social media! I want people to know the real Lisa Freeman so when they do meet me there is nothing extra I need to do. I love being me so when I show up on social media it’s that same Lisa Freeman in real life. When I go live, I have learned that mistakes are going to happen & technology will change up on you in a minute. So I prepare myself, if I miss a word or two, I go with the flow. I let people see I am not perfect & by the way I love to laugh so that helps keep me flowing. I also have mastered reels, I love editing & being creative with reels which has been the most effective way other than going Live that has helped build my audience. Then it is also my following who actually support & share my brand as well. My advice to those just starting is to just start! Don’t wait for the perfect time to go live you will keep putting it off. Your audience & ideal clients are waiting to meet you! They want to see the person behind the brand! They actually want to get to know you. Be prepared as in what you want them to know but don’t stress about trying to perfect, Next I will say take good pictures of your products, well lit, professional is always a plus (but always necessary) your phone & good editing apps will be your best friend. Then just go for it! Always think, what is your purpose & what goal are you trying to meet.
Have you ever had to pivot?
When I wanted to rebrand my business I hired a company to help assist with rebranding my site. I wanted to support her because I wanted to offer her the opportunity to expand her name as I would have highly recommended her if she would have followed through. I have many connections & business owner friends who would have loved to also support. Unfortunately she did not take me seriously & mishandled my expectations. So I had to make an executive decision & learn to do the rebrand myself. I contacted customer service of website server, asked all of the necessary questions I needed to ask & after about a week, I rebuilt my own site! I learned from that experience that everyone is not built for business & thats that, but you have to brush it off & keep the focus on the focus!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.looksbylisafreeman.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shoplisafreeman/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LadyLisaFreeman/
- Other: Email: [email protected]