ALL THINGS BUSINESS: How To Start Your Own!

this one i'm nervous what's up you guys i don't know i haven't done ata in like how how long ago did you leave over a year well what no i didn't leave you a year ago i left you three months ago no you left me in september it's still not a year what's up you guys i am so excited for this episode one because lana's here with me and two because i hope that this episode inspires you so many have hit me up asking me how did you launch your brand how did you start your company and today lana and i are gonna give you some tips on how you can also be a brand owner [Music] i have to be honest i don't know i know for sure that one i would never be as successful as i am without you and two i recognize that you really are a business genius just the way your mind thinks when it comes to numbers i'd say i'm definitely more creative and you are definitely more business oriented you are numbers i am the numbers you are the art for sure so i love that and i just wanted us to kind of run you guys through how we started our brand levute obviously we actually partnered with another company for xixi but the first time we ever launched a brand just on our own from the ground up right here it was lavoo so what would you say is step one i think step one you need to know what the company name or what the brand name is going to be which you had a really good idea about because we initially started as handbags yeah and you were like oh a handbag is a woman's vault so let's name it lavoo because you know she's so parisian and loving french like we oh she came up with the name when the nail ring you got me interested sorry but okay lana you're really smart in this way and really business savvy the moment i tell you that i have a name that i have in mind what's the first thing you do well the first thing i do is i google it the first thing adrian does is go on instagram to make sure the name is available i'm like you know instagram is not a government agency that could just protect your rights so she was like the name is available grab it now so we grabbed the name one google it to make sure that no one else has the name that you're looking then instagram then check your socials make sure that you have instagram especially if you're going to be a direct to consumer company like we are our instagram really is the place instagram twitter facebook those really are important for our sales social media is definitely it's an important marketing tool for sure we always go with shop because shop xix i worked out first so i like to keep that continuity continuity is like when you're branding something you want to make sure that you keep it the same for everything because that just helps people remember i think like le boot lounge was 199 shoplifu.com was probably like 10.99 so it worked out right now if you are sitting wherever you are and you have a desire in your heart to launch a brand whatever your passion is and you're like okay i have this name in my mind i have this idea for what i want it to be you have to have the concept ready i love going to home goods or like just any kind of store like that and you buy those journals that have like inspiration on the front of manifest queen yes so i will get a journal and literally write my bootleg business plan this is the name of the brand this is how i see it growing with like an umbrella above and just how it works so i know the boot was the brand and then that became the umbrella or the hub for all the things i wanted to do in fashion and i don't know maybe even beauty one day but it really can encompass all of those things levoot started with vegan handbag luxury line which i was super excited about that was going to be affordable and super chic and high-end at some point we looked at each other and we're like we've been wearing loungewear at the beginning of the pandemic and then we're like levoot lounge like it's a lounge that you chill in and that's the clothes you wear and then i had the third idea which was to launch levoot suits coming stay tuned when we first did handbags i was like okay cool this is great when she wanted to do loungewear at first i was like okay and i didn't really take the idea seriously then like the next week she called me she's like so where are we with lounger and i was like oh you were serious like we're actually doing laundry and she was like yeah i want to do lounger so then that whole thing just rolled out and la boot lounge was the like greatest experience i just didn't realize so many people wanted fashion from you at an affordable price it's very affordable and that was really important to me always with both my brands from xixi to lavoo that we actually do things that even if they were luxury they were accessible and attainable so that to me was really important because i know what it feels like to be that girl who wants to watch something you just yeah i'm in the projects i can't afford this projects you know i believe in a poor man's trademark lana believes in a real government trademark i reached out to a um an attorney so she could trademark our brand so she tried to trademark levu on its own but there was a little bit of a conflict so if we trade mark lavoo by adrian houghton that we were completely in the clear because nobody could own her name so that in fact you guys no one could ever own it ever own your name they could never trademark your name unless you sign a document that allows them to trademark your name unless they have the exact same name as you how does that work oh i'm not sure that's a very good i mean i would have to ask natalia you guys if your budget doesn't allow you and let's just be super realistic here if you are not in a space financially where you can obtain a trademark lawyer then i'm just keeping it real with you there is something called a poor man's trademark that a lot of people actually use in music publishing and just in general and here's how you do it you got an idea you write it down you write down your business plan your thoughts your ideas what it is how it works especially specifically when it comes to like inventions or something that no one's ever seen before be as detailed as you possibly can be and write the date and write the date on it right you're gonna fold it up you're gonna seal it you're gonna put a stamp on it you are going to mail when i say mail like an actual usps usps mailbox you are going to put in the mailbox and mail it to yourself the key is that it's going to be post stamped with the date and the year on it and the key is do not open it you hold on to it and you just keep it sealed because guess what that actually stands up in a court of law that if someone ever takes your idea or your brand you can actually say no i've had this idea in detail written out and it is postmarked and stamped if you open it it will not stand up in a court of law that means you could have made changes to it added to it and i would say only do that for the shortest period of time until you do raise the funds and the financial backing to actually get yourself a proper trademark and now there's so many affordable places where you could do that like instagram does it for like 200 bucks so i really i think you should always at least you should email a lawyer saying hey i have the plan to trade like this what is that called the paper trail yeah there's also something called local trademark which means that you can operate your business in your local state and while again while you're getting the funds to expand you can actually hold on to the name just in your local state so that goes for like what like 75 and you don't have to wait for a trademark our trademark was in process and we were already selling loungewear like that's true not the smartest thing to do but it's the application is there no one can try to take the name until unless our name is denied or something so not which it was not denied but the application was there so we had full rights to use it yeah so if you're not getting a response quickly don't worry we too had to wait a very long time yeah we there's no shortcuts i was the person stressing lana out like did it come here no and when it finally came i'm like here's your certificate and we just got xixi the other day too yeah super exciting so now that you've got your brand and your name and your trademark out of the way you gotta actually make it happen you actually now have to create whatever it is that you're selling or that you're making with your brand the next step is finding your manufacturer so initially i went on google and then from there i reached out how did you find the manufacturer it's like well i put like a handbag manufacturer in google and there's a list of them that show up i reached out to over 20 before i found the one that we wanted to work with we got a lot of samples because i used multiple manufacturers to see exactly what we wanted quality-wise that was really important to me was the quality but how much does that initially cost to get those samples i think like for a startup you should have maybe like 400 500 set aside and the great thing is as soon as you receive a sample and you don't like it they'll send you a second sample or a third sample because these people want to gain your business exactly you don't need them they actually need you with or without you like they're still operating but if they have a plan to make more money that's obviously works in their favor so i feel like as the buyer you actually have the upper hand because you could negotiate and that's kind of what we did with our manufacturers because there was someone that came up at a really high price and i was like well that means we would have to sell it for way more and we want to make this affordable so that's pretty much yeah and as soon as you go into production they'll actually deduct your sample fees remember that and don't let anybody hustle you otherwise don't get hustled because ultimately their goal is to have you do a huge order they want you to then say okay i love this sample this looks amazing now i'd like to order 500 of this bag so that's what they want they want that big bulk order from you so be picky pay attention to details find a manufacturer that pays attention to the details that are important to you to me i was like it looks great no she was like no mine was i wanted elevated hardware we're talking zippers we're talking the inside lining those things really really matter to me because that's what makes a luxury brand luxury i feel like we had for bags we had like two trials uh three trials three trials and then for clothing lord prepare for that that one i was like adrienne i don't think loungewear is meant to be ours and she was like no you're going to get it right now i promise you it's okay if we don't and then when we launched i was like oh my gosh i cried my eyes out why are you crying it's not funny because i just get happy this is this is your dream come true yeah stop i love you congratulations congratulations and happy birthday happy birthday to me people have no idea how how much work resilience time effort energy that we put in to our brands so um just seeing it literally sell out in one day on my birthday was not even one day like hours it was just unreal like i was overwhelmed with gratitude and then i was also overwhelmed because i was not prepared that definitely is super important find your manufacturer reach out to them um if they are overseas making sure that your communication is good find someone that you feel comfortable talking to i probably talk to them more than i talk to my own friends and family like that's just real life yeah and we i stay up late because there's like a time difference yeah but it's also really important as well we're instagram friends i know this sounds weird you also want to create a a work relationship that stems from respect and now we have such a great relationship that we're just like hey we drew this up really quick can you see what you could do with it and then we just received samples daily like it just doesn't stop it doesn't seem like it because we don't launch often but it seems like it's alana because i'm the person saying hey i have this idea and it's like all of these ideas are accumulating and i'm like hey when do you plan to launch this like did you coming soon it's because i'm extremely picky but i think that that's what makes you know a great brand is you're not just throwing just anything out there but you're paying attention to the details like she will wear it we wear our pieces like currently i've been rocking our knits which are which are coming soon but i've been wearing them non-stop for the last few weeks yes she has over 70 samples i'm like hey do you want to pick your top ten i'm still testing them out yeah because i think it's important okay yesterday i wore one of the pants i tied it and i could see the white from the from the holes from the band and i'm like this needs to be corrected materials i hate itchy um tags yeah we just changed our tags again for like the millionth time because i am i'm really picky but i feel like you know i think you're just a standard of excellence not just for yourself but for your customers the next thing would definitely be budget and what people have obviously we can't tell you exactly because every company is going to be different and what their need on a budget level you know fluctuates but here's what we think i think instagram is free obviously that's zero dollars a domain should be less than thirty dollars if you're trying to buy a domain that's unavailable do not try to broker it you're never going to get the domain let it go figure something out pivot pivots i like that word shopify you could build your own theme in there and then it's less than 20 a month for a basic package there's no reason why you need as a small startup the ultimate package that's just the truth you don't need to pay a marketing company literally lana and i have been model photographer marketing we're sitting there working on canva creating our own building websites like and i just found and i did tell adrian that's the one thing that i love most starting from scratch and creating something and seeing the finished project and i'm like okay i'm done now you guys handle the rest but that's the most fulfilling part for me to see in this launch yeah but a lot of people at home are probably saying well i don't have a background in website building you don't need one i literally have a background in websites i built all the brands websites like there's nothing actually i didn't build xixi then we modeled you built israel a new breed then the future one coming yes i really do believe in investing in yourself especially as a woman of color and especially because of my upbringing my humble beginnings the moment i really was in a financial position that i could invest in myself i had opportunities to partner with people and have them have ownership in my company now that's the thing we're not partnering with anyone you have the means you can partner with anyone so there's no reason why someone should take 50 of your hard work that just doesn't make sense and your vision and your vision and your name yeah so we are super hardcore in believing in self-ownership especially for minority women just how important that is to be self-owned self-contained yes it means you're gonna have to work ten times what i was just about to say it's not easier it's it's actually harder harder yeah because you are a hundred percent uh accountable i looked up what small business means and a small business according to the government is a business that uh has less than 250 employees levute actually has five people that work for them i'm ceo lana's the cfo mariah is the creative director and social media marketing then we have two family like literally people that are like family to us are the people that run our fulfillment center it being just this tight group of people makes it so much more special because i love it because they actually care about us literally the day we launched the person that was fulfilling the packages was myself lana lana's brother laith who we love my mom and latest relationship and papa joe and israel there's something also about that security of knowing what your customer is receiving like i know exactly what you received because i packaged it that's why when people like oh my order was messed up i'm like trust me your order was not messed up because or sometimes you're like adrian was packaging your order may have been messed up adrian even signed it i'm like oh for adrian financing orders it's definitely wrong i love that we did this together because like you just said you really can't pay someone to care at all at all you can pay someone but either their heart is in it or their heart isn't in it i truly believe with my whole heart that where there is a will there is a way but adrian does this little thing i believe in you you could do it i'm like yo she believes in me i have to do it i'm like build a website you got this no but seriously there's other things too where you're like oh i don't think that's gonna be possible and i will stay up all night and figure it out yeah that's very true that's very yeah but i'm very strong-willed and that's what makes this whole operation successful as much as she wants to say oh i couldn't do it without you i'm like i would not this person without you to the point where i'm like if someone can't get something done i'm like they just don't care go watch a shopify build a website tutorial right after this it's it's so easy so smart yeah with that being said you guys our headquarters had actually gotten a little bit of renovations done to it we moved into a different space what's up you guys it's me again please don't log off i promise i'll make this super quick welcome to our headquarters where almost everything goes down so come on in before adrian moved to new york we actually used to have great grand meetings on this table that's why there's only two chairs because the only people that were ever in the meetings is april night and sometimes on facetime someone from our fulfillment team can sit out here reply to emails print the packing slips print the shipping labels on our handy dandy diamond we used to have a keurig in here but the girls have gotten a little bougie and now we have an espresso machine now we go into my favorite place in the world when we first started there was like eight racks and now we are at like how many rocks are in here we're at a lot of racks that was all of the boot lounge this is more la boot lounge more handbags down there um so let's start packing so you guys can see how many branded items we have once the order is completely picked they hand it over to what another team member who will start packing it so we have upgraded our packaging with new labor tissue paper so you know we're learning as we go in case you guys didn't know we are in the boot so this person ordered a bralette and a cold shoulder top both in the color snow so everything gets steamed so our customers don't receive wrinkled items yo i have not done this in so long i actually respect you guys so we're going to pack this at some point we're going to need to move again and expand because suits are coming knits are coming lavoo x home is here and we are just we're doing our best so um this small business turned really big really quickly which we're so grateful for all right you guys i hope that this was helpful i hope it inspires you i hope you learned a little nugget how do you feel i feel good i really hope to see more small businesses grow from this and i i really that was our initial intention was just to be a small business but because of you guys and just your support and how you make our dreams come true blows my mind on a daily basis i want to refer back to an old video of ata where i said i hate fashion honestly god bless people that work in fashion that's just not my field and i don't like it now i'm like hey what do you think of this this is cool i love you i love you i appreciate you love you guys don't forget to subscribe and make sure that you hit the notification button so that you are always notified when there's new episodes of what all things lana all things [Music]

Channel: All Things Adrienne

Views: 190,981

Rating: 4.9644327 out of 5

Keywords: Adrienne Houghton, Adrienne Bailon, All Things Adrienne, All Things Adrienne Houghton, Adrienne Houghton Youtube Channel, Adrienne, Kin Community, Lifestyle, Fashion, How To, tips, Tutorial, business tips, business advice, business ideas, la voute, xixi, small business, small business tips, small business ideas, how to start a business, how to start a company, how i started my business, business start up, start up, lana hawatmeh, ceo, cfo, loungewear, xixi jewelry, handbags, bag

Id: qUNMmfTBegs

Length: 20min 34sec (1234 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 02 2021