We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Maranda Johnson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Maranda, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

A big risk I have taken since becoming a business owner is getting into a contract with a huge storefront in New York City called Flying Solo. Flying Solo is a business located in Soho New York that allows other small businesses to sell their products or merchandise out of their store front and online store. Was I scared? Of course I was. Here I am all the way in Georgia shipping hundreds of dollars worth of products to another state that I had never even stepped foot in allowing others to be in control of my business an money.. Well I did it, I took the risk an packed up my products an shipped them off until I ran into a huge problem during the process. I shipped the products to the wrong address my first time sending them out. Omg !!! Did I panic YES! I cried I was livid but thank God we still have good people in the world they returned them an I reshipped them to the correct address this time. Finally they received the products an business was good to go. I had to pay a monthly rent of $500 a month just to have my products in store an online whether they sold or not. Which was a huge toll on my pockets at the time an a big risk but I did it. My first month was amazing my advisor was calling an emailing me saying they needed more products because Seven Lux Cosmetics was doing so well. My business was booming in New York City I was so happy it was like a dream come true. I flew to New York for the first time to visit the store in person. That was the most beautiful experience ever to walk into this huge store front and see my products on shelves and seeing people actually come in an walk up to my products an purchase. I felt like a celebrity when they were asking are these your products. I smiled so hard this moment was very special to me. During this time I learned that taking risk is not that bad after all you have to believe in yourself in order for it to work.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

In the process of starting my business I was working part time barely making any money. Every penny I earned I invested it into business because I was determined to have my own cosmetic line. I saved up $1500 an my business started from there.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I built my audience on social media by showing more of myself actually wearing and promoting my business daily Sunday-Sunday. Whether I’m posting the same products or post everyday you have to stay consistent in order to succeed. People want to see visuals of your brand. Marketing an advertising is key to a successful business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sevenlux.co
• Instagram: Sevenluxcosmetics
• Twitter: Sevenluxcosmetics