We were lucky to catch up with Tamesha Calhoun recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tamesha , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your business and how did you resolve those issues?

Initially Princess Lash was intended to be an e-commerce site that utilized the drop shipping method. In 2019, I was working so hard to set my site up properly and ensure that I had the best products . I spent a generous amount of money to order samples to test products, restocked on current products, invested in marketing, website design and etc. Then, the pandemic happened. Everything I had done in order to officially launch and run my brand came tumbling down so fast. My entire business model was no longer feasible. Covid-19 came and people were no longer outside, shipments from China were being stopped, and the idea of drop shipping ceased.

However, I look back to this time of feeling defeated and at a loss, to now being thankful that this happened early on in business. I now look at my experience as a blessing in disguise because I learned really quickly that this wasn’t a “safe” business model. All could have been going well for my business, but everything could come crashing down in a matter of seconds.

This caused me go back to the drawing board. I had to rebrand, eliminate services, diversify product offerings, etc. This was the move I needed to make in order to build a solid foundation.

From this moment forward, Princess Lash Cosmetics + Boutique was formed.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Tamesha Calhoun. I am a University of Memphis Graduate and a corporate drop-out of almost 13 years in corporate America. I am also a God fearing woman, fiancé, mother, and serial entrepreneur. I created this business/brand in 2019 in hopes to create generational wealth for my family.

I grew up in the hard of North Memphis (Hollywood), TN, in which I always knew I wanted more than what I was surrounded by. I’ve always had this hustler mentality ever since middle school. Fast forward to present day, I’m now the owner of a venue space and three separate businesses, which includes Princess Lash Cosmetics + Boutique, PLCB for short.

My business is a women’s fashion brand that caters to the working woman, casual woman, and the woman that enjoys a night out on the town. I offer a variety of items to support the everyday woman that can work, be casual, and step out looking super sexy all in one day. Not only do I offer clothing for women sizes small- 3X, I also offer strip lashes, footwear, accessories, and our signature lip gloss to compliment your looks.

In the future, I am striving to incorporate more natural, handmade products such as hair growth oils and serums for women, men, and children, body butters and oils, and soaps. I currently do have a body butter available on my site that specifically assists with burns. The cream is AMAZING and works well with healing the skin to get back to normal.

Our primary goal is to make sure you look good and feel confident in any attire, but we also recognize that hair is so important in my community, so I want to assist other women in aiding them to grow their natural crowns and improving their skin from dark spots and hyperpigmentation. The addition of natural products will align with our mission to enhance our outer beauty, but to be sure our inner beauty radiates from the confidence we can assist in providing.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

In November 2021, I was feeling so discouraged and experiencing signs of burn out in my business. I was suppose to be focused on executing my Black Friday goals, but instead I was getting the bare minimum of things done. What I did have done, felt like it wasn’t enough or the marketing wasn’t good enough for me. I got so discouraged that I briefly called off running any sales for Black Friday. I was so over it, that I even booked a trip to get away over Black Friday weekend. Crazy right?

A few days before I left, I had a conversation with a business friend and prayed to God to allow me to get out of that emotion of feeling defeated. I decided to just post what I had together at the moment. I wasn’t going to stress myself out any further striving for perfection. In the words of Nike, “JUST DO IT”.

So, that’s exactly what I did. On the day of Black Friday, I was traveling to Miami. My phone had died in transit from the airport to the hotel. When I got to the hotel to charge my phone, I turned it on and all my notifications from my Shopify account started ringing in. I DID IT! GOD DID IT FOR ME! This was the first time I had reached a $1k day in PLCB.

I was so excited and emotions were running high because who would have thought this would happen. Just imagine if I didn’t post anything about the sale?!

Now I always tell myself and others to go through with what you have. Perfection can be obtained later. JUST DO IT!

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

I sell on my site and other ecommerce platforms. My top choice is Shopify, as they have pretty much everything an ecommerce business would need in order to do well in business. The only con I would say is that you can’t integrate all products across some other ecommerce sites. Everything else is perfect.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://princesslashshop.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/princesslashshop2/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/princesslashshop
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@meshacalhoun