We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lisa Harris. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lisa below.

Lisa , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think it takes to be successful?

To be successful is to be true to yourself and your vision. When you have drive to accomplishment something, it usually happens by unwavering belief in yourself. Being patient with yourself and understanding success is never an overnight thing. It’s your vision, your drive and focus that will lead you to success.

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

I graduated Aveda in 2014. After I graduated, I wanted to become a makeup artist so I worked for several brands to develop my skills. I ended up connecting with photographers and did tons of free shoots to build my portfolio. I eventually landed paid gigs with big brands like Netflix and Dia and Co. Although I was doing makeup, Permanent Makeup was always something that was in the back of my mind. Unfortunately, at that time – It was extremely hard to find someone to apprentice with back in 2017 as the tattoo industry was still kind of “gate keeping”, I focused on other avenues (lash extensions) until I could save up enough money to get into PMU and find someone to apprentice with. Finally! I ended up taking a brow course and got an apprenticeship at See Beauty. It was a very long road to get there and I spent every last dime I had to make it happen. To the point, I didn’t know where my rent was going to come from one month. I was so focused on what I saw for myself and I really had to walk by faith. Eventually I got into lip blush and after Tiny Tattoos which is where I am focusing my career now. I never thought I would be doing actual tattoos but here I am! Through all my struggles of developing my skills and seeing how trendy tiny tattoos are – I was almost pushed into tiny tattoo training. Now I focus on skills training for other artists wanting to add Tiny Tattoos to their services or incoming artists wanting to do Tiny Tattoos. I am most proud of taking such a risk to make my dreams happen. It’s a scary thing when you risk it all, literally and don’t know how you’re going to pay your bills but I knew this was for me and I also wanted my son to see me prosper. I wanted him to see as long as you stay focused, you can achieve anything. As a single mother, he is my driving force in my life and I want him to be proud of his mama.

Now speeding up to today, I dive deep into education on tattoos to teach myself, to learn and develop as an artist and to be able to train my students with high quality education. I give my all to my students and my clients and I absolutely love what I do!

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I have never had capital. With every business venture from makeup to tattooing , I have had to supply my business with everything it needed. It for sure brought challenges and I’m sure my business would of progressed further faster if I had the captial to put into supplies and marketing but I didn’t. I got innovated and leveraged social media to get my business out there. I offered referral discounts, loyalty programs, I would give clients discounts if they posted me on their IG stories or wrote my a review. I also became very frugal in my personal life to be able to get things I needed for my business. It was super hard at first but we’ll worth it!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth like most people. I grew up with housing instability, food insecurity, domestic violence. When I got pregnant at a young age I promised myself and my son I would NEVER give him the childhood I had and it drove me to become extremely independent. I took alot of risks at times I shouldn’t of to build a business, as most of my years trying to build my business I was just one paycheck away from going back to the homeless shelter. There were alot of failures in trying to move forward with my business. It was always 1 step forward, 3 steps back and it was so frustrating and heartbreaking to me that I couldn’t catch a break when all I was trying to do is secure my son and my future while being true to my dreams. I am thankful I never gave up and kept pushing forward. I don’t know where I would be if I let the roadblocks stop me from moving forward.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.flowcode.com/page/swankstudio
• Instagram: Swankstudio.mn

Image Credits
No credits. I took them all myself.