We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nijayla Aiken a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Nijayla, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
I believe that a big risk that every Entrepreneur has to take one way or another is stepping out on faith. Weather it be quitting your job to be a full time entrepreneur or moving to a different city and rebuilding clientele. My biggest risk I’ve taken so far being an entrepreneur was quitting my job and deciding to do makeup full time. The summer I graduated, I decided to to pick up a job because business was very slow and I also needed a mental break. After a while working at that job I realized that I was working there more than doing faces and I grew fear that I would lose the clientele I built since my junior year of high school. So I sat down, made a steady plan, and put in my two weeks notice. I also realized as an entrepreneur we cannot get comfortable with the steady biweekly paycheck. We have to make sacrifices for things much bigger! Ever since then, I’ve gotten so many new opportunities that I cannot wait to share in the future!
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
Well, it took my brand a long time to get to where it is! I’ve been doing other’s makeup for 2 years now! I’ve been into makeup since my freshman year of high school! I remember when I use to put other people’s lashes on them in the restroom in between classes lol. JW’s Artistry has been around since 2020 but that wasn’t always quite the name. When I first came out to do faces it was YMP Beats. Branding was always an issue for me because I wanted something to really stick! When I was figuring out a steady name for my business I was also trying to figure out a name for myself until my sister gave me the Idea of “Jayla Wayla”. Ever since I’ve stuck by Jayla Wayla or JW. After that the name for my business was pretty easy. But, a name wasn’t the only thing you need for your business. As an entrepreneur you have to have some sort of discipline. Being in the world of business it has really good days and really bad days but you have to know how to go about the good days to cover the bad. For instance, just because you made your daily goals in sales/clients doesn’t mean go on a shopping spree! Save it for the bad days when sales/clients are low. It’s going to benefit you in the long run. Also having self discipline would benefit a lot as well! I typically use Sundays as “Planning & Promotion” where I start my Sunday morning and map out my week! See what times I’m available to bring my brand ambassadors in for new Advertisement/Content, business reflecting (Seeing what works and what doesn’t),or Calculating how much I’ll make for the week. Doing that helps my business run much smoother. JW’s Artistry offers a variety of beneficial services! I do all types of glams to glitter glams, soft glams, natural glams, or creative glams. Soon I will be launching a separate business for brow waxing, tint, lamination and eyelash extensions called JW’s Beauty lab! Expect JW’s beauty lab to expand much more later down the line! I think what sets me apart from others is my marketing! When it comes to marketing I try to be as authentic as I can. I believe that is what draws my clients and supporters in! I’m really most proud of the clientele I’ve built since my junior year and seeing my loyal client base grow more and more each day! One thing I want my clients/followers to know I am very grateful for the support and very blessed to know that there is people watching! I love each and every one that supports me and shows me love!
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
My most effective strategy for growing my clientele would be content creating. I jump around from platform to platform making content seeing which ones works best for me. I usually jump between platforms that are more nationwide like Tik Tok or Instagram. Im mainly on Instagram because it a wide audience but it still targets my area to where I can have people from all over the country seeing my content and still bring in more clients. Most of the time it just depends on what Im really reaching for at the moment. for example If my target for the week is to bring in more clients then I am going to be on facebook and instagram more. I would still be consistent on other platforms but there would be a change on how often I post on there a day.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
One lesson that I had to unlearn was that you cant please everyone. No matter how good your work is, your customer service, or your products. You will always have at least one dissatisfied customer. I remembered during Prom/Grad season I experienced my first unhappy customer. She didn’t like the eye work and she kept showing me a picture of someone with a different eye shape than hers and I let her know that her eye shape was different than hers so it wasn’t going to look exactly the same. But she kept repeating that she wanted it exactly like that so I handed her the mirror and I outlined everything she wanted me to change and I fixed it for her and she really didn’t like it because it wasn’t fit for her eye shape. I felt terrible for the rest of the day that I couldn’t satisfy her but then I had to realize that when it comes down to makeup that sometimes people aren’t realistic with their needs.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Jwsartistry.as.me/
- Instagram: @_therealjaylawayla
- Facebook: JW’s Artistry
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JWtheMUA