Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mercedes Brown. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Mercedes, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I actually started my business from writing everything down physically in my journal & then bringing it to life. It was months before I actually executed my plan. I’ve always known how to do makeup on myself, but it’s very different from doing it on other people. There are so many different things you have to know & factor in. I took 2 classes & became a Licensed Makeup Artist after that I really had to put faith in myself to trust that the more clients face I do, the better i’ll become because practice really makes perfect. I had to get everything together as far as a location to work at, inventory, business strategies etc. But once I started up I just prayed that my clientele would grow as I grow & become better.

Mercedes, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I got into this industry because I’ve always had a passion for makeup, I just love being all glammed up. In this industry you really have to be discipline, & you must be able to motivate yourself because everything is on you & everything matters! You must always be professional even if you are having a bad day you can not let your emotions affect how you are with clients, because at the end of they day without my clients my business would not thrive so I always make sure I can accommodate them to the best of my ability so that will want to come back, so that they can tell others about the fantastic customer service i provided. What I think sets me apart from others is that I’m always willing to do things out side of the box.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing my clientele has definitely been using the “reels” feature on instagram. I use it with a song and hashtags & it really pulls people from all over the world to your video or photo. I did a sfx look creating avatar and a few people from russia followed me from the hashtags & reposted my picture, that’s when I knew it was a very effective technique.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Every once in awhile i’ll start feeling overwhelmed from work & i’ll want to give up. But the thing that helps me the most is visualizing my future… how I want to live, the things that I want. So then I push myself and i’m honestly willing to continue pushing myself until I get exactly where I want to be in life because I firmly believe that I deserve everything. However, I know that having everything is not easy and it takes hard work to get there & it takes going through many ups & downs so I tell myself if I just keep working at it, everything I want I will have & I speak it into existence.

Contact Info:

• Website: linktr.com/facedbysay
• Instagram: instagram.com/badasscedes