We recently connected with Yahaira Stewart and have shared our conversation below.

Yahaira, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Prior to the Pandemic, I curated Vendor Showcases in and around our Community. We had monthly events, showcasing small Businesses’ products and services. As many know, with the pandemic, everything social came to a screeching halt. And during this time many Businesses either survived with drastic changes or unfortunately didn’t survive at all. We chose to pivot and create a virtual platform that would essentially mimic the experience of going to a local Vendor Event. It was actually my partner’s idea. He said, Yah…you build websites, why can’t you build a website to simulate an event? Virtual Suites/Booths and integrate Zoom so Business Owners have the opportunity to share what they do. And, so I did! I created it. It took some time but I worked on it tirelessly until it was perfect. We did events monthly for about 14 months, from November 2020 to December 2021. January 2022 – we decided to take a break as it was no longer growing and very steady in numbers. And of course, as this happened, the interest started popping back up. Hey, are you still doing Virtual Events? I want to get in on it. Le sigh.

Needless to say, we got the itch to do it again and wanted to make it a little bit more purposeful. So tapping into a little background, my reasons and intention in designing websites, marketing, and Vendor Events are always to share my knowledge of 20 years of Business with others, from mistakes to opportunities and everything in between with small Business Owners. The goal of The Online Popup is to allow Business Owners an opportunity to share their products/services beyond their local area, across the US, and beyond. Granted they may have a website, Etsy, Shopify, or what have you, but we drive traffic to our site using many free outlets as well as paid advertisements as well. We share that we are for both consumers and Business Owners. Consumers who want to shop and support small Business Owners, and Business Owners looking to expand their reach. In the day and age of online shopping/e-commerce, we feel that this allows Business Owners just an extension of their marketing to be seen! Lastly, as we did before, the Business that chooses to Partner with us, not only has options such as directory placement or a Virtual Suite/Booth, but they have the opportunity to share a workshop/seminar on the second Saturday of every month. We will add more days as we grow! The accessibility to connect to our Platform is pretty simple, all you need is a device that has access to the internet, and voila you are connected.

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 am a mom of four amazing children, ages 24, 21, 7, and 5. During the time of my adult children, I was a teen single mom. The biggest thing about the struggle during that time was I ended up homeless and had to enter us into a homeless shelter. Out of everything in order to NOT become a statistic, I wouldn’t give up my education. I was able to obtain both my Associate of Science and Bachelor of Science. Although my profession is not what I went to school for, I still feel that there are parts of my degree that have benefited me and where I am in Business. I have been a serial entrepreneur since the age of 16, and definitely have had my ups, downs, and around! I am now an owner of a Licensed in home daycare, Yahya’s Busy Bees, LLC with a secondary Business helping small Businesses, called Ntcher Solutions, LLC. Ntcher Solutions is the Mother to The Online Popup. As mentioned before, our goal is to assist small Businesses with affordable and accessible marketing. All in all, I am proud that I have been able to not allow my circumstances to determine my success, and able to help others along the way.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I believe being one with the community helped. When it came to our events, we had to know our audience! We had to know our community! I joined the local chamber and engrossed myself in events that allowed me to show my face, who I am, and what I do. This led to a nice following, as well as people who like, know, and trust me. When I started doing family events in the community, they either knew me from my daycare or were part of the chamber. I am big on doing and being in things within my community. Absolutely love that I am the one that gets the phone call saying, hey such and such told me to reach out to you because you would know the answer or know who you could reach out to help.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Being authentically YOU! No need to be anything besides yourself. When it comes down to your business/profession. There might be so many in your niche, but the biggest thing that might set you apart is nobody can do YOU better than YOU, so be yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ntchersolutions.com / www.theonlinepopup.com
• Instagram: @ntchersolutions / @the_onlinepopup
• Facebook: @ntchersolutions / @theonlinepopup

Image Credits
Liz Strom Eileen Carlucci Endira Stewart Angela Schwartz Rebekah Bersin Chandra Glass Mary Bowser Carmen Musick Carylee Carrington Chenise Caison Ruben Gonzalez Eleanor Goldstein