so not all businesses are successful
when they start and I'm here to make an
example because my business was one of
them what's up good people it's your
girl Alex here welcome if you're new and
then welcome back if you've been here
before so I know that we all see a lot
of people pretty much talking about how
they're getting it how their businesses
are making five six even seven figures
okay when it comes to sales but when it
comes to the percentage of businesses
that are not making it I actually want
to shed some light on that because my
particular business was one of those
businesses that didn't make it and I
failed so if you are new here then I'm
going to go ahead and share my story on
what happened when it came to me running
my business and why it honestly didn't
work so I was just like you I was
working in my nine to five I felt like
my life was pretty pretty simple right I
go to work come home occasionally I go
to happy hour talk to my family talk to
my friends and then just rinse and
repeat and at the end of 2019 I was
pretty much just completely fed up with
that like I just felt like I was doing
the same thing if you're anything like
me I get bored and when I get bored I
get frustrated too so I really wanted to
switch something up so the idea of
actually starting a business was the
first thing that came to mind right so I
did all the research I was looking on
YouTube watching videos watching
tutorials and so it all came to me that
starting a t-shirt business seemed like
the most easiest kind of the most cost
effective and something that I was
willing to put my all into and risk a
few things when it came to starting a
business I had no business experience
okay so this was my very first business
prior to this your girl had did the
whole Black American dream okay got good
grades went to school made my family
proud and that was it I really wasn't
doing anything for myself to be honest
with you because I felt like I was
pretty much living someone else's life
in my family I wasn't really living my
own so I really was trying to knock down
that wall and figure out what the heck
am I gonna do with my life because I'm I
need to figure this out I'm young I
don't have any kids so I feel like now
is really a good time to make something
shake so at the end of 2019 I filed my
LLC I did all the things that I had to
do when it came to legally you know
getting everything right on my business
documents setting up my Ein business
bank account period okay I did not have
um the capital to be honest with you so
I was pretty much taking my paychecks
that I was making in my nine to five
putting a little bit to the side
portioning things out and also one month
I actually moved my car note back a
month so that way I can buy my very
first heat press I never forget I called
my auto loan provider was like hey can I
move this car loan back to this month
and I just used that money and that's
how I got started and then here and
there I was just adding everything else
so like t-shirts vinyl eventually I got
the Silhouette Cameo which was what I
was using to actually cut the vinyl and
so on and so forth okay so by this time
we're nearing 2020 and this is when the
pen endemic was actually starting to
become bigger news so now this is about
March 2020 when I actually decide to go
like okay I'm gonna go ahead and you
know dive more into my business I
eventually I want to quit my job so I
have this whole glamorous plan about
leaving you know my corporate job and
then having a full-time entrepreneurship
life because I thought that that was
just so cool I had seen people online
especially on YouTube and Instagram
talking about how they're really making
all this money from either selling
T-shirts or selling some type of product
whether it was digital or physical and
so I wanted that so they had pretty much
sold me the dream and I believe that I
can do it too so now we're in 2020.
here's the pandemic I'm at the time
working from home so I have a lot of
flexible time to learn how to make
t-shirts work my job have that balance
so like I said I was just like you I
believe I'm special but I'm not special
when it comes to starting a business and
figuring things out I'm doing that just
like everyone else so when it came to me
figuring out how to be successful that
took me a couple of rounds to really
getting it okay so what happened was is
that I launched my business I started on
Etsy I dived into print on demand so I
was getting into that learning how to
make like t-shirt graphic designs and I
was like okay cool I'm pretty good at
this what more can I do with that so in
the year of 2020 as I had my t-shirt
business by the end of the year so
around like October November I was like
okay now it's time for me to do
something more and that's when I started
my YouTube channel so after I started my
YouTube channel which was in November
2020 I fell in love with being able to
create content that taught people how to
do exactly what I did and the switch
came on that it was something that
pretty much brightened up my day I was
looking forward to making content I was
looking forward to making the impact I
love how I was like building this
community online I had never done this
before so I was like okay this is pretty
cool let me me see where this can go so
I had my full-time job I had my t-shirt
business and I had my YouTube channel so
at that time this was around again
November 2020 until January of 2021 I
was running everything by myself
handling everything trying to figure it
out I was getting stressed I was anxious
I was nervous I was scared but on the
flip side I was seeing growth I was
learning how like the YouTube algorithm
work and online presence worked as well
so it was a lot of feelings that was
happening at the same time so now fast
forward to early 2021 and by March of
2021 I had got monetized now if you're
completely new with how getting paid on
YouTube works then monetize just simply
means that you are able to get paid off
of your videos now I was able to get
paid off my videos and in my mind that
led me to believe that I can go ahead
and quit my job so this is where things
started to get a little bit uneasy I
definitely took the leap of faith okay
so I can say that I left my job to
pursue my business and and hope that
that would just really work for me and I
would never have to return to a job
again
shortly after I quit my job I realized
that I had made a mistake I had made a
mistake by not having the proper
automations systems teams in place when
it came to helping me run my t-shirt
business I was fully operating on a
winged type of lifestyle and please do
not do that when it comes to leaving
your job so you're leaving a consistent
structured income and going to an
inconsistent unstructured income so that
was me and that was one of my biggest
mistakes that I've made I feel like we
see more people showing their wins than
more people sharing what they're doing
wrong and what they have not done and
what they've not been successful in and
so it's my mission with this video to
make sure that whoever it reaches
honestly I don't care about the likes
and the views for this particular video
because this is a part of my story and
how I'm turning the page on where I want
my YouTube channel to go from here on
out so this video similarly just let you
know what it really takes to running an
online and business because if you
really want to do this then you want to
make sure that you have a lot of things
in place so that way if there's any days
you don't feel like showing up you have
systems in place you have a team you
have somebody they're helping you and
you know this that in the third so I was
pretty much operating all by myself I
didn't have a team I'm learning as I go
which that's just life so I can't really
say that that's a part of my failure
because that's just really how we all do
it we learn as we go but I honestly
wasn't doing it correctly I realized
that I didn't have a business Acumen
which that just simply means like I
didn't have the knowledge to start and
sustain a business so that way in my low
Seasons I'm still staying a float as far
as covering my expenses my inventory and
things like that so now I'm kind of like
in the middle of 2021 I'm seeing sales
I'm running Facebook ads but I started
to realize how much of this business I
did not want so it started to become
more of a job to me which in red spec
your business is your job if that's what
you do full time but what I mean is it
started to feel like a job I no longer
wanted so I was really just showing up
honestly on autopilot because it's what
I told myself I had to do now just keep
in mind the statistics do show that a
lot of businesses don't make it you know
past the one-year Mark and especially in
the five-year Mark a lot of businesses
fail now although I was super determined
to make it past the one year mark the
reality is I did it so I wanted to just
come on here and just let you know that
not all businesses succeed because it
has to do a lot with financial
situations if you have a team if you
have the right set up there's so many
factors that play a part in running a
successful business and that's what I
want to talk to you guys about today so
when it comes to running a business the
very first thing you want to make sure
that you have is your mindset has to be
on point okay now what I mean on point
I'm just simply saying like you have to
make sure that even though your darkest
emotional day days you are still willing
to show up for your business even when
things go wrong you are still you know
on the front lines of that business
because that's how much it's important
to you that's one of the things that
when it comes to running a business I
don't feel like a lot of people talk
about I think a lot of times people
focus on a lot of the quantitative
metrics so when it comes to your
marketing your data your percentages how
many people are shopping how many people
are returning but I don't see a lot of
people talking about your tenacity your
mindset are you emotionally strong to
run a business and be okay when things
go wrong okay so that's what I mean when
it comes to mindset it really does play
a significant factor when it comes to
you making sure that your business is
going to be successful it's going to
stay afloat even when things are looking
like they're not going well in that
moment another thing you do want to make
sure you have after your mindset is
established if you have the budget to
have a team or at least be able to hire
in the things that you you do not know I
took it upon myself to be a one-woman
teen so I was doing everything I was
marketing I was running my Facebook ads
which is a part of the marketing
strategy I was making my t-shirt designs
I was learning how to make t-shirt
designs occasionally I Outsource on
Fiverr and I use like a graphic designer
but 98 of the time the t-shirt designs
came from me so I was doing a lot of the
creative work a lot of the admin work
and then on the flip side I have my
YouTube channel so I'm giving tutorials
I'm editing those tutorials to make sure
that they come off in the best way
possible to make sure that they reach
who they need to reach when it comes to
showing you how to make some type of
t-shirt design or whatever that was
related to the topic of the video at
that time so I was doing a lot and I
burnt myself out very very quickly so in
2021 as soon as I felt like I was really
getting myself started with my t-shirt
business I also quickly realized how wow
I didn't want this t-shirt business as
much as I thought I did I don't feel
that I would have not been successful in
my t-shirt business but what I'm saying
is I feel that God opened my eyes to
something greater that wasn't
specifically selling anything what he
allowed me to see was that the content
that I was making was making a bigger
impact than me selling T-shirts so that
being said my YouTube videos were
growing by Leaps and Bounds I was really
increasing my subscribers everything was
growing people were standing my videos
longer and so I started to really feel
that I needed to start my t-shirt
business because that way I can start my
YouTube channel so you guys see that
there so God showed me that you start
your business because what you have
taught yourself now you can put this
information back in making content and
then what that allowed me to do was have
this door open where so many more
opportunities were brought to me outside
of just having a t-shirt business by
itself so although I consider myself a
failed business owner and I am not
ashamed of that I think that that f word
is something that people are afraid of
right fail so you don't want to you
don't want that attached to you but what
I'm saying is the first path that you
start on may not be the path that you
end on and that's really what my story
is like I said I was just like you
working my job trying to figure out what
I can do for myself I was really getting
bored I was burnt the hell out I was
trying to make everybody else proud but
I wasn't really turning Inward and
figuring out what was going to be the
best thing for me to do for myself to
level up to not live off paycheck to
paycheck anymore because at that time I
think I had like a few loans out I was
behind on some bills and so I was really
trying to get it like y'all y'all don't
understand I literally was trying to get
it the best way possible and trying to
figure out that process wasn't always
easy and it didn't happen overnight so
when it comes to things you need to know
about running an online business your
mindset definitely has to be there there
and I pray on top of that your passion
is there because if you don't have the
passion that you need to stop right
there and that's going to lead me to my
next Point as to why I failed I realized
that my passion was so much more
profound in my YouTube channel and the
content that I was making because I'm
pretty good at sharing information
explaining things giving tutorials so I
had to act on that and I'm so glad that
I did because you wouldn't see me here
today but at the same time I wasn't
passionate about selling T-shirts I
realized I was more passionate about
making t-shirts and showing you how to
do them but I wasn't passionate about
selling them and really like working on
my marketing strategy I had no clue how
to Market I taught myself what I needed
to do yes I bought courses but I'ma be
honest that still wasn't enough for me
to realize I can do this for the rest of
my life and leave this as a legacy when
it comes to having a business I just
strongly encourage that wherever you are
whether you're just getting started or
you started and you hit a rut please be
sure that you check your heart make sure
that it's something that you genuinely
want to show up for day in and day out
okay and so for me when I realized that
not gonna lie to y'all I had a lot of
guilt behind that because I was helping
people outside of my YouTube videos so I
had consultation calls and if you've
been here for a while then you know I
had consultation calls you know that I
was setting up time just to have
one-on-ones which I love that although I
love making content for the masses I
truly love having one-on-one time
because it's just nothing like having
the undivided attention and you and the
person can really connect and you can
help them solve their problems so I
really love having my consultation calls
but I felt like an imposter I felt like
how can I teach people and I don't like
selling T-shirts like that you know so
going back to God showing me what I was
good at I had to let that go and just
you know go back to the drawing board
and what that meant for me was I got a
job again I had to just bite the bullet
and be real with myself and go back to
working a job which you guys probably
see on my channel I have some Vlogs
talking about how I started a new job
getting back into the swing of things
because I wanted to document how
sometimes it isn't always what you
expect when you start a business after
that I realized I wanted to really
amplify my YouTube success and my
YouTube career because that's what I
realized I can show up for all the time
I love doing it I'm here like I don't
care if I don't have any makeup I just
want to you know talk to my people and
share with them what I want to know and
things like that so my YouTube channel
was what I felt like God showed me I
needed to see right in order to leave a
legacy in order to break generational
curses that I am so strong about
breaking and just learn so many things
about making money online that doesn't
require having a physical product
business so I say all that to say y'all
when it comes to having a business don't
be afraid to have to check yourself you
know as you're going through the
business check to see if it's something
that you want because you see it good
for other people or check to see if
there's something that you want because
you know it's good for yourself me what
I realized was that I was good at
learning something and putting the
information back out there okay and
that's exactly what I'm doing here on
this channel now it's my mission to make
sure that I can learn information about
making money online helping you start
your YouTube channel if you're a Creator
and things like that and putting
information back out there for you so
you can Define your life I don't need to
have a business to do what I feel like I
was called to do what I realized is my
calling was always there I just had to
learn what it is and work on that all
right you guys so that's pretty much it
when it comes to my story okay my failed
t-shirt business how I did not have a
successful business when I started but
what I realized that was so much greater
for me was my YouTube channel if you
guys like this video then let YouTube
know okay I hope this helped you I hope
that this can motivate you so thank you
all so much for watching as always don't
forget to drink your water mind your
business and I'ma catch you in my next
video bye y'all