We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Samantha Michel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Samantha below.

Samantha, appreciate you joining us today. Any thoughts about whether to ask friends and family to support your business. What’s okay in your view?

Honestly, I’ve been blessed to have really supportive friends and family. They were my first customers and are my most loyal customers right now. So, for me, I really didn’t have a problem asking them for support because most of them motivated me to even start the business. In terms of what is appropriate, I believe that asking for feedback is appropriate; but, I always told myself that I would never be that person that forces or guilts family and friends into supporting my products because I only want authentic and genuine support and interest in my business. And the best part is that none of them have EVER asked for a discount. I really have the most elite support system and I thank God!

Samantha, 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?

My name is Samantha K. Michel and I am a Creative Entrepreneur. I currently own two businesses, Bèlla Beauty Vegan and The Homie Space. The Homie Space is a cleaning and home organizing service-based business that I recently launched. And Bèlla Beauty Vegan is a vegan beauty and wellness brand dedicated to creating clean and effective products that nourish the body externally and internally. We’re committed to educating our community about healthy skincare, haircare & wellness practices, that are guaranteed to feed the body with quality ingredients that help your skin glow and your hair grow.

I want you all to know that I am super passionate about creating and growing businesses and I aspire to own multiple businesses as well as real estate. I put all of my effort into providing amazing products and services, while prioritizing great customer service. My life’s mission is to create shelter for the underprivileged and I plan to fund this mission with my entrepreneurial ventures. I am the most proud of the products that I have created with my hands, from scratch that have helped many people’s hair grow and skin clear up.

All of my brands are meant to help individuals create the life that they desire while spreading the good love of God through my products and services.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I can’t remember how much it was exactly, but I do remember that it did not even take $50 to start my business. Now, this was well before I perfected my recipes and changed certain things, but the very beginning was small, humbling and really educational for me. I had been making my own body butter for a few years and my friends just kept telling me to sell it, but I didn’t want to because I honestly didn’t think that anyone would want to buy from me. But they wouldn’t stop talking about it and one day I just went to the store, bought the items and posted on snapchat that I was about to create a body butter and asked if anyone wanted to sample them. I immediately got like 7-10 people to say yes and the rest was history.

Moral of the story is: JUST START!

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I currently sell on my website that is hosted on Shopify and I love it! I’ve tried Wix and Squarespace before and really did not like the interface at all. Shopify gives you so many options, flexibility, add-ons and creative freedom to build your website to your exact liking. I chose not to use Amazon, Etsy or Cratejoy because I wanted to avoid paying the fees associated with being on these platforms; but, if I could do it all over again, I would start on one of those sites and then build out my website once I have a solid customer base. I find that it helps especially if you are thinking of cutting down operating costs for your business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bellabeautyvegan.com
• Instagram: @bellabeautyvegan
• Facebook: @bellabeautyvegan
• Other: TikTok: @bellabeautyvegan