We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lisa Harris a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Lisa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

To be successful is to be true to yourself and your vision. When you have drive to accomplishment something, it usually happens by unwavering belief in yourself. Being patient with yourself and understanding success is never an overnight thing. It’s your vision, your drive and focus that will lead you to success.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I graduated Aveda in 2014. After I graduated, I wanted to become a makeup artist so I worked for several brands to develop my skills. I ended up connecting with photographers and did tons of free shoots to build my portfolio. I eventually landed paid gigs with big brands like Netflix and Dia and Co. Although I was doing makeup, Permanent Makeup was always something that was in the back of my mind. Unfortunately, at the time – It was extremely hard to find someone to apprentice with as the tattoo industry was still kind of “gate keeping”, I focused on other avenues (lash extensions) until I could save up enough money to get into PMU and find someone to apprentice with. Finally! I ended up taking a brow course and got an apprenticeship. It was a very long road to get there and I spent every last dime I had to make it happen. There were times I wasn’t sure how to pay my bills but I kept true to my vision for myself. I was so focused on what I saw for myself and I really had to walk by faith. Eventually I got into lip blush and Tiny Tattoos which is where I am focusing my career now. I never thought I would be doing actual tattoos but here I am! Through all my struggles of developing my skills and seeing how trendy tiny tattoos are – I was asked by several people to train them. I was very reluctant but I ended up training and so thankful I did. Now I focus on skills training for other artists wanting to add Tiny Tattoos to their services or incoming artists wanting to get into the Tiny Tattoos world. I am most proud of taking such a risk to make my dreams happen. It’s a scary thing when you risk it all (literally) and don’t know how you’re going to pay your bills but I knew this was for me and I also wanted my son to see me prosper. I wanted him to see as long as you stay focused, you can achieve anything. My son is my driving force in life and I want him to be proud of his mama.

Now speeding up to today, I dive deep into education on tattoos to teach myself, to learn and develop as an artist and to be able to train my students with high quality education. I give my all to my students and my clients and I absolutely love what I do!

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I have never had capital. With every business venture from makeup to tattooing Ive had to supply my business with everything it needed. It for sure brought challenges and I’m sure my business would of progressed further faster if I had the captial to put into supplies and marketing but I didn’t. I got innovate and leveraged social media to get my business out there. I offered referral discounts, loyalty programs, I would give clients discounts if they posted me on their IG stories or wrote my a review. I also became very frugal in my personal life to be able to get things I needed for my business. It was super hard at first but we’ll worth it!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth like most people. I grew up with housing instability, food insecurity, domestic violence. When I got pregnant at a young age I promised myself and my son I would NEVER give him the childhood I had and it drove me to become extremely independent. I took alot of risks at times I probably shouldn’t of to build my business. Most of the years I spent trying to build my business I was just one paycheck away from going back to the homeless shelter. There were alot of failures in trying to move forward with my business. It was always 1 step forward, 3 steps back and it was so frustrating and heartbreaking to me that I couldn’t catch a break when all I was trying to do is secure my son and my future while being true to my dreams and do what I love. I am thankful I never gave up and kept pushing forward. I don’t know where I would be if I let the roadblocks stop me from moving forward. Don’t ever stop working towards your vision, even when things feel impossible.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.flowcode.com/page/swankstudio
• Instagram: Swankstudio.mn

Image Credits
I took them all myself.