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

Samantha, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Honestly it took me a day I did not put much thought in it. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. Which gave me the first part of my name. Then I started thinking of what could come after Houston that would sound smooth and also be catchy. Since I was still unsure of what all I would be providing I went with One Stop. This made it easier for me in case I decided to change what type of product/service I sold later down the road.

Samantha, 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 just a girl that went for it!

I am a young mother of two beautiful children. I knew after my daughter was born that I needed to come up with extra money. I wanted to make sure that no matter what I could afford a good life for them.

That is when I created Houston One Stop. I provide digital invitations, custom goodie bags, custom shirts and onesies, tumblers, wood and acrylic signage, koozies and many more custom items. In addition I provide decoration services which includes shopping for your idea and making it come alive. I also help in the planning process of any type of event.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I started off with my personal Instagram and Facebook. I received a lot of great feedback from family and friends. Once I started realizing that I was adding to many strangers to my personal life I opened up a business page.

I have not received the same feedback unfortunately but I have an advantage to anyone seeing my work now and following me without needing an approval. I also realized that my hashtags are helpful when your account is public. They have given me new followers and more exposure. Posting is very important because it show your followers that your staying consistent with your work

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

My full time job is being an accounts manager for a trash company named Houston Waste Services. When I made the choice in starting my own company I told myself I have to keep selling accounts to pay my bills but now I have to sell even more to fund this idea.

I started saving on the side from each paycheck. Cutting back on shopping sprees, eating out a lot, etc. My goal was to buy everything cash and then pay myself back when the profit started rolling in. While I was saving up I got lucky one day because everything went on sale and I was able to buy what I needed to start up sooner then later. In that moment I knew I could not pass this opportunity up anymore and ran with it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: _houstononestop_
• Facebook: _houstononestop_

Image Credits
Myself and Gina Medina

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