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

Hi Tiffanie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

We were mid Covid-19. I had been laid off from my job with the hopes of returning after covid allowed everyone to go back to work. I then received word that my job was already back working….without me. I was devastated. I was depressed for a couple of months. I found myself having a glass of wine (or 2) mid day more then I’d like to admit. One of my best friends told me straight up, ” What are you over there doing? your life is passing you by! You need to get your stuff together and do something.” The conversation was actually a bit more vulgar then i’m describing if you catch my drift haha. I was mad at her but after a few more days of sulking, I realized she’s right. So I hit the internet. I began to search for business ideas. I came across a day planner and thought to myself, hey I love planners I can totally make one. I thought why not make it a slang talking planner. I wanted the planner to talk to women as if they were talking to a girlfriend. I also wanted to make the planner budget based. Budgeting and saving money is something so many people struggle with. Especially women. I searched the internet for a budget planner that catered to the urban crowd. To my surprise there weren’t to many. It was an untapped market. I have always been the type to do what everyone else is not doing. So it’s only right that my business had to be a unique one. In my head I knew it would work. In my head it had to work. It was either this……or it was this. The rest is history. Fast forward to 3 years later. The company has grossed over 3,000,000 and we’re excited about growing and becoming a household name. I owe everything to God and my friend Charity for giving me the talk I didn’t want but needed!

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

My name is Tiffanie. I am a mother of a 5 year old wild boy and 2 fur babies. I’ve been on my own since I was about 17 so my guidance with money and credit growing up was pretty much non existent. I was horrible with managing my money. I couldn’t save a dollar to save my life. Same with credit. I wasn’t sure how credit worked so my score stayed in the 500’s consistently. It wasn’t until I turned 30 years old where I was like, ok…somethings gotta give. I started researching how to raise my credit. I joined credit groups. I did whatever was necessary to bring my credit from the 500s to the not 750+. Same with finances. I started researching budgeting techniques. Started using saving challenges and eventually my relationship with money changed. So when the Idea presented itself to start a business I knew it had to be something with finances. I wanted to turn my pain into someone else’s blessing. God truly works in mysterious ways but for the greater good.

My company I Am Her Stationery is a stationery business with a twist. We provide high quality products centered around helping women, men and even children save money. We actually just introduced a book solely on credit for the girls who have major credit goals. I’m actually in love with the title it’s, VIP Status Her Guide to First Class Credit haha.

The thing that sets us apart from our other budgeting counterparts is our ability and drive to be different. Our products are very unique. Most of our designs are custom drawn making them one of a kind. The language inside of our books can have you feeling like your at church one minute, talking to your homegirl the next or even being motivated to hustle hard like you was listening to a Jeezy CD. The main goal is to keep our customers inspired. We also give them the reminder that with God anything is possible and they can do anything they put their mind to.

I would say i’m the most proud of the 1000’s of reviews and dm’s that I’ve received about I Am Her Stationery. So many men and women have reached out letting me know how much my books have helped them. It often brings tears to my eyes to know that people are working on their financial freedom using something I created. See, it’s not the book that’s doing the work. It’s them. All they needed was the motivation and community to get things started and to keep going. We all need to be inspired at times. I believe my books do that for people in a way they can connect with. I believe that’s why they’ve been so popular. So come check us out :)

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

I started my business with about $3,000 to my name. I ordered small amounts of inventory, sold it and invested everything right back into the business. I did this for 1 year straight. Any profit went right back into the business. My first inventory purchase was around $160. I built a website that cost $10 a month. So me starting my business was self funded. I Didn’t even have enough money to get my planners printed (Keep in mind this was my initial vision “Budget Planners”) I had to start off with printing notepads and customizing pens. A year later I finally had enough money to get my planners. I also took a small loan/gift from a friend. After that the rest is history.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to unlearn was my bad relationship with money and credit. If I never would have went through having bad credit or having bad money management skills. Then I never would have realized how much pain it can cause you. If I never would of decided to change my mindset then I probably wouldn’t be doing this interview right now. It’s because of that lesson I now teach others. It truly was a blessing in disguise.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.iamherstationery.com
• Instagram: @iamherstationery
• Facebook: @iamherstationery
• Other: tiktok@ iamherstationery