We were lucky to catch up with PATRICE MAULTSBY recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, PATRICE thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
You want me to be honest or give a perfect painted picture? I’ll be honest, this “idea” didn’t come to me til June 2020. That’s when covid was pretty present in our everyday lives. All I had at the time was a phone, an app, and youtube university. Graphic Designing was something I wanted to get into after High school. I didn’t know how I was going to get into it. I was just hopping that my dreams weren’t going to get crushed and it’ll some how happen…And it did. Out of no where. I created graphics for friends. Just for fun, without any thought that this will soon become an income for me. People started to see what I was capable of and decided to choose me to help them with their business. I remember my first client. I wasn’t all that great but she still chose me. Til this day she still chooses me and I am so grateful. First, for God placing me on her heart. Because I had someone believe me, I knew I had to go harder. She began telling her friends and her friends told another friend. Mind you, all I have is a phone, an app, and youtube to teach me these things. I then came across a friend who is also a graphic designer. He believed that I can take this to the next level so he bought me one of the best laptops in the world. A macbook! You can only imagine how I felt. I felt supported. I had to pay him back by doing my best that I can to show him that he made an investment. As you can see, God placed people in my life to get me to where I am at today.
PATRICE, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am Patrice but most know me as Turshai Patrice the model. Yes, I’ve been modeling since 2017 and knew something else was in store for me. That is graphic designing. I have a graphic/branding business called T and P Graphics. Where we design and help brand small businesses. We help with logos, instagram content, posts, websites, etc! You can find our work on Hairstylists, Make Up Artists, Barbers and more instagrams! At T and P Graphics, we enjoy seeing the transformations of most of the businesses we’ve work with! We can’t wait transform yours! Our goal is to bring potential clientele and “forever clientele” to your front door. We will be providing services such as Social Media Management coming 2023! Be on the look out for that.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
What I began to do is making sure small businesses were following me on instagram or any social media. After covid-19 began, everyone had/have a small business. What’s a business without any graphics? Boring, right? Exactly. I made sure to follow them as well and began posting on my story and showing the process of some work I have done. After this whole tik tok thing became a trend, people love seeing the process of things. I gave them that! You never who’s watching. Keep posting. Also, word of mouth. I give clients clean and attractive work. Nothing too crazy but just enough. Their friends see it and they’ll call me and because this I’ve had even celebrity clients come for work.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
This was a side hustle for me. I never expected it to be full time. I’ve tried working for others and it just didn’t work out. Not because I don’t like being told what to do or anything like that. They literally did not work and Graphic designing was always there when I turned around. I had to have faith in God and not in myself. For Him to provide for me and He does. He takes perfect care of me.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/tandp_graphics/
Image Credits
T and P Graphics