IAM275- Social Media Influencer, Model and Author Provides Loc Maintenance Tips and Products

Keisha Charmaine is a small business owner, social media influencer, model and author. She is best known for documenting her entire loc journey over the past 8 years on YouTube, providing loc maintenance tips. On her online shop, you can find organic hair growth products and hair accessories to adorn your crown.

• CEO Hack: Praying and meditating(guided by YouTube videos) every morning
• CEO Nugget: (1) Invest more money into the business from the beginning
  (2) It's going to take years to build you social media following so ensure you're passionate about it
• CEO Defined: An owner, a boss who is accountable for running the business and bringing an impact

Website: http://www.keishacharmaine.com/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/keishacharmaine
www.instagram.com/lovelightlocs

YouTube: www.youtube.com/keishacharmaine 
Book on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2oWr6Kf

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:30

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today, Keisha Charmaine of keishacharmaine.com. Keisha, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Keisha Charmaine 0:40

Thank you so much for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:42

No problem. Super excited to have you on and what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Keisha so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Keisha Charmaine is a small business owner, social media, influencer model, and author. She is best known for documenting her entire life journey over the past eight years on YouTube providing loc maintenance tips. On her online shop, you can find organic hair growth products and hair accessories to adorn your crown. Keisha, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Keisha Charmaine 1:11

Yes, I'm ready.

Gresham Harkless 1:13

Awesome. Let's do it. So the first question I had was to hear about what I call your CEO story, and what led you to start your business.

Keisha Charmaine 1:21

Well, in a way, I started my business by accident. Well, I went to college. And while I was in college, I decided to go natural. For those of you who are not familiar with what I mean by that, I had my hair permanently straight in for about 10 years. And I decided I wanted to grow up my natural afro and learn how to take care of my own hair. And while I was in college, I was doing that, and I was filming it on YouTube. So I was on YouTube, in college, starting my locs and giving my show my experience. And as I got more experience, I started giving tips to other people. And I organically grew a following.

And after college, I had difficulty finding adequate employment. And I was a social worker, and it was very stressful. I ended up quitting abruptly. One day, I just didn't go. And I decided and I started, I built a following, and it's time that I really monetize it. But then I had already been getting Google money. And a couple of sponsorships here and there. But I decided that I need to turn my followers into customers in some sort of way so that I can make a living. So that's when I decided to create an online store. And I've always been very artsy and craftsy. So I started making hair accessories. And they started selling and eventually, I expanded and I started selling hair wraps and creating Organic Hair products. So that's where I am now.

Gresham Harkless 3:05

Nice, I absolutely love that story. And a lot of times, you find that you just create something for yourself. And then all of a sudden you start sending it to one or two people then all of a sudden, those two, three people started sending their 10 friends, then it starts to grow. And like you said it gradually grows from that, but I love the fact that you document everything and the whole process and correct me if I'm wrong, because I definitely don't have lakhs or anything like that to know exactly what that is. But I feel like a lot of people do have I don't wanna say difficulty, but it is a process to transition from that into having your natural hair. So you've been able to document that. Do you feel like that's one of the strong reasons you've been able to grow organically?

Keisha Charmaine 3:46

Oh, definitely.Especially since I have videos from the very beginning. My quality wasn't very good back then. So I've often gotten the idea to delete those videos, because embarrassing, but I keep those videos up so people can see that, see where I started. So you can see that this is really a process. And if you are patient, you can cultivate your locks into looking how you want them to look.

Gresham Harkless 4:13

Absolutely. Yeah, I love that because there's a process to grow social media followings a process to have your locks grown too. So it's definitely something that I appreciate you for being able to keep that up and keeping that up so that people can see that transition because everything everybody sometimes thinks everything happens overnight.

Keisha Charmaine 4:31

Right. Yeah, definitely not the case.

Gresham Harkless 4:34

Yeah, definitely for anything. So I know you touched on a little bit. Did you have anything else more that you're doing to support the clients that you're working with? I know you mentioned your site. Were there anything that you didn't touch on or things that you have in the works?

Keisha Charmaine 4:49

Well, I wrote my book. I started writing my book initially right when I quit my job and the book is called More than a Hair Journey. And it basically details how my hair journey kick-started my self-love journey and I give tips on maintenance but also I have to prepare people who are starting their life journey on how it will definitely impact their view on themselves and the world. And people don't expect that when you think that your hair is not that important.

But for women, and especially black women, which is the majority of my audience, my customers are black women. Its hair as it says so much about one's self-esteem and sense of self really identity. And yeah, when you go on a lock journey, you're tested. And I talk about that a lot in the book, and I give my experience and my tips on navigating that. So I also have the book, but Instagram and YouTube are more like daily resources where you can get tips and, and get inspiration for your lock journey and just like styles and maintenance.

Gresham Harkless 6:16

Awesome, I absolutely love that. And I love the title of the book because as you mentioned, I had no idea or I've heard but for you cementing it that having your hair and parts of the outside sometimes do tie in with your self-esteem. So to be able to bring light to that for one to be able to kind of cultivate that through your social media, but also through your book is definitely something that's huge.

Keisha Charmaine 6:42

Thanks. Yeah, I definitely agree.

Gresham Harkless 6:44

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And you might have already touched on this, but I want to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this is what you feel kind of distinguishes you or your organization. What do you feel kind of sets you guys apart?

Keisha Charmaine 6:54

Well, I think that because my following is such a small niche. People with locks, I feel like don't really have many resources as far as you know, what to do what not to do, what products to use, and just different day-to-day maintenance tips and techniques and things and I find that there's not a lot of resources, even when it comes to professional stylists. There's a cosmetology school and stylists have to go and get licenses to do hair. However, there's no formal license to do locs. There are licenses to maintain natural hair like loose afros. But there's nothing for locs in particular. So that's why I think that my brand is very important. There are other people on YouTube who give their tips and tricks, but I find that I am one of the most consistent, especially since I've been doing it for my entire life journey.

And I'm almost nine years locked now. So I've been a resource for nine years so far. And yeah, my consistency, and my niche. I feel like that sets me apart. And a lot of times people pay for followers, they pay for engagement. But that I find to be completely unnecessary. All you really need is to be yourself. Put your personality forward at what that is, if you're a face if like if your company has had a facelift, which mine does, obviously, Keisha charmaine.com

And then I think that it's important that you engage with your followers, which is what I do very consistently. And yeah, make them feel comfortable, so they can trust you. And I think that's what sets me apart. I'm tangible in a way, people can reach out to me, they can email me DM me, and I'll get back to them. And yeah, I feel like I think that my audience, my viewers, my subscribers, they view me as an actual person. I'm not just a brand. So I think that's really important.

Gresham Harkless 9:09

Yeah, absolutely. In this day and age and definitely correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like when you are going on in the locker journey as you said because it ties in so many things, not just your hair, but like you mentioned your self-esteem and things like that. Sometimes it can be I guess nervous might be the right word, to go through that journey, and to have somebody you can reach out to like you said through social media or however is definitely something that helps you make the journey a little bit better.

Keisha Charmaine 9:34

Yes, definitely. And they tell me that all the time, Keisha thank you so much you are the reason why I started my locks you are the reason why I felt encouraged to keep it up and things like that. So those kinds of comments really helped me to stay true and push forward with what I'm doing. It makes me feel like there's definitely some value in my business.

Gresham Harkless 9:54

Awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, I definitely think there is and it's something that you're ahead of the curve of nine years, being able to document that is definitely a huge secret sauce. So I appreciate you for sharing that with us. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have. But it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Keisha Charmaine 10:15

Well, personally, I do struggle with anxiety and bouts of depression. So I'm being self-employed. And I actually don't have anyone beneath me either, like this is a one-woman show. So I have to hold myself accountable for everything. So that gets really difficult when I do have my bouts of depression or when I'm feeling really anxious. So what I need to do to make sure that I'm productive, and I'm getting my work done, like, every morning, I have to pray, and I have to meditate. And that's something that I've been doing. For several years. Now, I don't know how many years, maybe about three, four years.

And what I like to do is go on YouTube and search for a guided meditation, whether that be a morning meditation, or something more specific, like guided meditation to relieve stress or guided meditation, to anything just relaxation, li I need to do that in the morning, to put myself in the right headspace in the right mood, to feel like today's a good day, I'm gonna get everything I need to get done. And I'm good enough. Because sometimes that's also another issue that I have imposter syndrome, I feel like, you don't really deserve to be in the position that you're in. But that's really just your anxiety talking, that's not the truth. So oftentimes, I rely on my guided meditations and my affirmations so that I can stay in the right headspace to get everything done.

Gresham Harkless 12:06

Awesome, that makes perfect sense. And thank you, I think you definitely touch on a topic that is not really talked about a lot when you are starting a business or you are an entrepreneur, and you're doing your own thing, whether you're a solopreneur, or whether you have hundreds and hundreds of employees, it's really difficult. And a lot of times there are some down moments, so but to be able to implement some of those regular practices, like you mentioned, praying and meditating can not necessarily alleviate that, but it gets you in the right like you said headspace so that you can deal with some of the ups and downs and twists and turns and unexpected things that always seem to happen. And a lot of times if you don't have that kind of lean-on sometimes it can be really difficult.

Keisha Charmaine 12:47

Yes, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 12:48

Yeah, that makes sense. So I appreciate you for sharing that with us. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self,

Keisha Charmaine 13:01

I would tell my younger business selves to invest my own money more into my business. At first, I guess I didn't really understand what it took to start a business. I knew that I would have to put some money into it. And the issue was, at first, my sales weren't coming in as much as I would have liked, and the money that I was making, at the time, when I started my business, I was maybe 24-25 I was spending my money going to parties and hanging out and spending money on things I didn't really need to be spending it on. Yes, I had bills as I was paying my bills, but I could have been using a lot of that money to reinvest in my company.

So that might not be an issue for a lot of people. But that was definitely an issue for me, I would have definitely managed my money differently in the beginning, but I've gotten a lot better with it now. So that's how I know so I would have I would advise that to other entrepreneurs. Yes, there are definitely opportunities, you can get grants or you can get investors but people are more willing to give you money when they see that you're spending your own money. Okay, this person really sees value in what they're doing enough that they're putting their own money into it. That makes me want to support you.

Gresham Harkless 14:32

Yeah, absolutely. And then even for those difficult times, because you love to do it and you can't see yourself doing anything else. A lot of times that's what you have to fall back on. I myself can say that's been the case because it's definitely ups and downs, roller coasters in the journey. So definitely appreciate you for sharing that with us as well. So I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're having different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So, Keisha, I want to ask you, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Keisha Charmaine 15:00

Well, it was very weird to call myself a CEO. I don't go by that title. So it's kind of strange, especially because my business is just run by me, with no employees. But I would say someone who is an owner, first and foremost, but also someone who is a boss. I mean, when I say boss, obviously, I don't have any employees, but I would still consider myself a boss. Because I do have to take all the accountability and all the initiative, myself to run this business and my business. Although it was just me running it, I do impact so many people around the world. And when you have that sort of impact you see oh, and I don't want to be too modest. But I think that title is appropriate for me.

Eventually, I do see myself having more employees as my business continues to grow. I'll definitely need more help. Actually, I can use some more help right now. But yeah, yes, eventually I will have those employees and I feel more comfortable referring to myself as a CEO. But I can say that already, I am a CEO. And that's because I run this business. I'm the owner. I run it. I wear all the hats. And yeah, I'm impacting 1000s of people on a daily basis.

Gresham Harkless 16:37

Truly appreciate you and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Keisha Charmaine 16:40

Thank you so much.

Outro 16:42

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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