We were lucky to catch up with Teresa Outley recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Teresa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Day to day the world can seem like a tough place, but there’s also so much kindness in the world and we think talking about that kindness helps spread it and make the world a nicer, kinder place. Can you share a story of a time when someone did something really kind for you?
The kindest thing someone has done for me has to be the day I received a set of custom $550 knives from a customer. Being a chef I’m always posting videos, pictures, etc. to social media. One day I received an inbox from a customer who told me, he appreciates everything I’m trying to do with helping our community to eat healthier. He explained to me that he’s been watching me for a while and he wanted to bless me. I honestly thought he was blowing smoke, but I soon started receiving links to look at various custom knives. He asked me my favorite color (blue) and my address. Maybe two weeks went by and I was soon delivered a set of the most beautiful. custom Quintin Middleton Knives. (If you’re a chef, you know Middleton Knives). I cried when I received that package, yes the knives are beautiful and I love them, but the fact that I made a impact on someone to the point of how they blessed me, is mind blowing. He still messages me periodically to simply send words of encouragement. It’s a blessing to know that I’m making a contribution to the world. My advice is to, Keep doing what you’re doing, you never know who is watching you!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I’m Chef Teresa Outley, my wife Cheareike and I own Next Level Flavors LLC and Outley Mobile Notary Service. While recovering from my second spinal surgery, God gave me a vision. That vision was for me to not only help myself, but others. After months of studying, researching and testing, Next Level Flavors was born in 2020. At Next Level Flavors, we make an assortment of no and low sodium seasonings. I myself suffer with various health issues, many of them were contributed to what I was eating. I learned as a chef to build flavor without using excessive salt. Salt is a major contributor to hypertension, especially in the African American community. We make our seasonings by using freshly dehydrated herbs, aromatics, spices and no added preservatives. Our ingredients are purchased from local farmer markets to help put money back into small businesses and the community. Our goal is to teach others that salt should be used in moderation and there are more ways to build flavor in your dish. Outley Mobile Notary Service is our newest business. We are a mobile general notary business that service Henry, Butts, Spalding, Clayton counties and Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. We notarize I-9, school and insurance forms, POA, Wills and much more. As we know, people are always busy and on the run, we want to make it convenient and easy for our clients to get assistance with their notarizations.
How did you build your audience on social media?
It’s funny how I built my TikTok audience. I was laying in bed, looking through my drafts and decided to post an old video I made comparing Old Bay seasoning to our Blazin Cajun. I posted the video and went to sleep, when I woke up the next morning, I had over 10,000 views on the video. I couldn’t believe it, as of now the video has over 60,000 views. From that point, I begin to really engage with my audience. I made sure I consistently posted and responded to comments to stay on the FYP and within the algorithm. It’s hard to own a business and create social media content, but it’s worth the work. The majority of our sales has come from social media; TikTok in particular. My advice to anyone starting to build a social media presence is to keep posting. Some days you may not get any likes, comments, etc. but that does not mean your content is not being seen. Also, having too many social media accounts can be a distraction, my advice is to limit yourself to 2-3 and build a dedicated audience on those platforms.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I’ve shared this story various times, because it’s my testimony. In 2018 I had my first spinal surgery, it was not successful. 2019 I had another spinal surgery and bone graft. Soon after the surgery, I was diagnosed with hypertension, Type II Diabetes and High Cholesterol , on top of being obese. This caused me to fall into a very dark depression. I thought my dreams of being a chef was over. I decided to change my eating habit and concentrate on my health. I loss 65 pounds, I no longer take medicine for hypertension and diabetes because they are now controlled. After praying and seeking God, we started Next Level Flavors in 2020. This business is very special to me, it was birthed from my pain. After 3 years of my spine not healing correctly, I was told I needed a third spinal surgery. My surgery was July 2022, we removed the hardware and metal from my back. Within this recovery period we were able to open Outley Mobile Notary Service. I refuse to allow anything stop me from reaching my goals. I have good days and bad days, I’m still going through therapy, I walk with a cane and a back brace, but I am determined to be the entrepreneur I know I want to be and God created me to be!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nextlevelflavors.info
- Instagram: nextlevelflavors_cheft
- Facebook: Next Level Flavors
- Other: TikTok: Next Level Flavors
Image Credits
Isaiah Jones