Today we’d like to introduce you to Tay’Shaun Lewis.
Tay’Shaun, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
So, I started as a young individual in middle school when I had to see my mom work so hard just so she can keep a roof over our heads. And that’s when I wanted to start my first business, which was with my best friends, and it was called ZTR Face Masks Aesthetics. We went through week with the business we made some money because at that time that was when Covid hit us. As weeks went by, we got in a lot of disagreements. So that was when I decided to start up my own. 2 years later, in February of 2021, I filed an LLC for Eco Apparel LLC, and that was the family business name that I was running. So then, eventually I was pretty much the maker of it, so I made a line called Grace By Tay. That’s when I collided Eco Apparel LLC x Grace By Tay and ran it and continued to release new lines and T-Shirts and hoodie ideas. Starting a business was the best choice I ever made because I’m able to put my ideas to paper and sell them out to the community so people can buy them. But most importantly being a young entrepreneur in high has taught me that’s when you have your friends, you can’t take all of them with you to the top because they always wanna hate on your business and tell you what and not to do. And then they tend to also turn on you and ghost you and like not talk to you. One thing you also have to understand with your friendships when you try to make it to the top, you have your real friends who are there for you and can call and talk to you and bond with you. And then you have those who are fake who don’t call you and don’t text or nothing and they just want you for money. So, what I’m trying to say it you can’t take everyone to the top with you, especially when you have a business and you are growing your brand/line.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not always been a smooth road. There were plenty of times where I had my sales drop for weeks, and quite frankly, at first I started off good, and then I went down. And when I started the business, it was very hard for me to get my name out there to the community, and it was hard for me to even try to do a pop-up shop because I didn’t have any physical products that I had bought because I dropped shipped people orders. I put a design on a t-shirt, and they order it from me, and I order it from the drop ship website, and they send it out to my customer. But what I had to learn was no matter what happens in your business, whether it drops or you get no buyers, you have to keep faith in your business no matter what because if you give up, you give up on everything you came so far for it like you’re giving up on your customers you want to lose money and everything and that’s not a good mindset to have. Every time a person starts up a business, they start all the way from the bottom, and they work their way to the top, and that was exactly what I had to do no matter what business I started. You have to maintain your business and work up to see more customers and more sales. So that is exactly why I wouldn’t say it’s been a smooth road it was plenty of roadblocks. Instead of giving up, though, I pushed through and persevered because I have a dream and goal I want to accomplish, and that goal is for Eco Apparel LLC x Grace By Tay to get big, and I want the name to get around to people.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
So, on the side of being a business owner, I am also currently an 11th-grade high school student, and I have a job on the side to make my money. At school, I am known for being in student council, running for homecoming and winning, and of course, being an entrepreneur. I am proud of being able to do many things in my life at a young age because it’s many kids in this generation who want to start something up for themselves but can’t because they don’t have time to do it or they don’t know where to start. Having a job and a business and going to school is kinda stressful because you have to make sure you can do everything when it needs to be done, such as school work and making it to work on time and also maintaining a good business so your customers can come and shop with you. But the main important thing with having a business is that you have to be able to multitask with everything, and you also have to maintain a balanced lifestyle because if you don’t maintain a balanced lifestyle, you will get stressed and things won’t be able to get done, and you will just quit because of stress. So that is really important with having a business and other things that are being done on the side.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I learned that starting a business during a global pandemic was not easy. Many people weren’t worried about buying stuff, they were worried about buying food and toilet paper, and masks to keep them stocked up and staying safe. Local small businesses such as clothing and shoe businesses were not really getting any business or sales. So back then, when it started that’s when my best friends and I started up ZTR Face Masks Aesthetics, and we made some different masks designs and sold them to the public. That was the first time I ever did something business-wise. And what I learned from that experience was that you have to maintain your stock, and you also have to be on top of your orders and make sure that they get out to your customers in a timely manner. If you don’t, then your customers will start to wonder where their order is and when they start complaining, that’s where your review come in; if your review is not good, it will make other customers look at it and then not shop with your business if they were to see package came late or never came so yea, I learned a lot of new business measures and techniques during the pandemic with that very first business idea.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://eco-apparel-llc-x-grace-by-tay.square.site/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/eco_apparel_llc?igshid=YzA2ZDJiZGQ=
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rayshaun.lewis.3
- Other: https://linktr.ee/official_typicaltay
Image Credits
Angel
