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

Hi Takara , thanks for joining us today. If you’re open to it, can you talk to us about the best (or worst) investment you’ve made. What’s the backstory and the relevant context behind why you made the investment

The worst investment I’ve made as a business owner would be any course that I’ve paid for as weird as that sounds. There are a lot of people that offer courses and e-books teaching you about marketing, branding and other business related things. Although they were helpful, I still ended up in the same place in terms of business, drained. When you’re just starting a business and running everything by yourself, there’s no way you can really give 100% to each area. On top of that, I was still working a full time job so you can imagine how chaotic my schedule was. If I could go back, I would invest my money in hiring experts who could take care of certain areas of my business for me. That way I would be able to focus on the creative side of things (the part I really enjoy). Teamwork really does make the dream work!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

One book that changed the game for me was Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. It changed how I operated in my every day life and eventually how I operated in my business. A business built with purpose can’t be stopped. Every little thing you do in your business has to have meaning, from how you connect with customers to how you package the orders. 10/10 would recommend that book.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I think that I when I first started as a makeup artist, I felt like I had to take any and every client at any and all times. I didn’t have a sense of balance and I ended up overworking myself. I felt like if I wasn’t doing something 24/7, I wasn’t serious about being an entrepreneur. Being busy is not the same as being productive. It’s okay to rest. You need boundaries in your business and it’s better to set them early than wait until you’re needing to prepare hundreds of orders or managing a team. Thank me later.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.takarabreannabeauty.com
• Instagram: www.Instagram.com/takarabreanna

Image Credits
Ceasar Stephens III – photographer