Meet Deborah Bonsu

We recently connected with Deborah Bonsu and have shared our conversation below.

Deborah, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I believe throughout the years, the Lord has allowed me to build up my resilience through reading and meditating on His word. As it says in Proverbs 24:16, “Though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again”. What this means to me is that yes, in life, the trials, tribulations, road bumps and hardships will come and knock you down or cause you to stumble, but ultimately, what really matters is how you get back up and your ability to keep moving forward, regardless how many times you’ve fallen. Additionally, there were many moments or seasons in my life where things weren’t going my way, mess up or felt that because I wasn’t doing enough, I was failing or disappointing myself. But I realized that those were all minor setbacks that were preparing me for something greater in the future. Even though it was hard, I still kept pushing because I knew in my mind that the Lord did not bring me this far just to bring me THIS far. I knew that there was more in store for me in front of me than behind me, which has allowed me to realize my potential and capabilities. It reminded me that if I am able to get through these seasons of my life and still stand strong on my own feet, then I am more than capable of doing and getting through anything that I set my mind to.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Well, to give you guys some context as to who I am, I’m Deborah, I’m a content creator and I have been in the creative space since 2018, so I would say I’ve been in the game for some time now and it has been an interesting, but amazing journey to say the least. The content I make is based on my own personal likes and interests, specifically about my faith (Christianity), lifestyle (school, personal life), beauty (skincare) and brand marketing. Having this platform has given me the freedom to be my most true and authentic self. Through the content I post, it allows me to tell a story about some parts of my life while getting to inspire and motivate others to feel confident and embrace who they are and utilize their God-given gift, ability or talent in the same manner. Some may see this as a chore, but to me, I see it as a hobby because I love it. I use content as a form of expression and creativity. Being able to use different effects, colors, themes, transitions and backgrounds makes my content more fun, engaging and and vibrant for my audience, which makes them want to engage more on my platform. In the same fashion, I’m a brand marketing strategist, which means that I help individuals in the creative and business space to push out the vision that God has given them in order to help their brand and/or business to grow. I assist them in creating an identity and personality for themselves that reflects the mission or objective of their brand or business, at the same time, it resonates or aligns with the likes and/or interests of the person and their specific target audience.

And last, but not the least, I have a brand marketing business called “Let’s Talk Business”, or LTB for short, which was established back in February 2020. At the time of its inception, it was originally named “Let’s Make Moves’, which was a “spin-off” of my former nickname, “She’s Making Moves”. I was always seeing people within my age group with their brands and businesses, making a name for themselves, which I thought was very impressive. And as many of us know, starting a business is one thing, but maintaining and keeping it running afloat is not an easy job and I didn’t feel that they were getting their shine or recognition they deserved for the work they were doing. And then that’s when it hit me: why not create a platform for others to share their gifts, talents and businesses so that they can receive their recognition? And that’s how LTB, formerly Let’s Make Moves, came to be. The main purpose of my platform was to not only give people and their businesses their shine, but to share the importance of supporting your own people. After some time, I expanded to promoting minority-owned business (Hispanic, Asian, Black, etc.) and then in May of 2023, I rebranded and relaunched my business, now known as “Let’s Talk Business” where now I assist creatives, entrepreneurs and business owners in building their brand, creating their target audience, setting the tone and voice for their platform, advertising their products and/or services, making engaging content and so forth. In the same fashion, I added six additional services at the time of the rebrand, such as brand marketing, graphic design, advertisement, products reviews, assistance with content creation and 1-on-1 consultation. I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to help other creatives in this capacity and that they are entrusting me to execute their vision along with them. It truly means a lot to me and I’m excited for LTB.

By the grace of God, in October, I had officially released my first product through LTB, which is called the “Kingdom Visionary Digital Planner”. The KV planner is a Christian digital planner designed to help you plan ahead and stay on track with your goals and daily obligations (work, school, family, business, etc.), as well as being intentional and staying focused in building your relationship with God. By the leading of the Holy Spirit, this planner has been customized to give you encouragement from the word of God (monthly scriptures, Biblical motivation, opening/closing prayer, etc.) to give you the drive and determination to tackle any challenges you may encounter in your day-to-day routine while improving your consistency, organization, time management, planning and discipline, all with the help, guidance and provision of the Lord. It is made for both men and women and are now available for purchase on my website, payhip.com/letstalkbusinessco.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I believe there are many qualities a person should have in order to grow in all or certain areas of their life. But personally, I believe that these three qualities has helped me and contributed towards the growth and development of my character and personality, which was having intentionality, discipline and consistency.

Being intentional means having the drive or determination to accomplish whatever it is that you set your mind to. I knew exactly what I wanted and how I was going to execute my goal or vision and it is a factor that I believe is very essential. It shows that you are willing to put in the effort to wanting to grow, improve and/or develop as an individual. For me, when it came to both my personal brand and my business, I had to be intentional about creating content and taking advantage of opportunities that could help to grow or elevate my brand. As far as working or collaborating with other brands, they also notice if you are someone that has the drive or passion to create, so keep that in mind for the future.

Discipline is another factor that plays into your growth not only as an individual, but as a creative. When you are someone that is disciplined, you are able to have self-control over your thoughts, feelings and behaviors. You have the ability to push and motivate yourself to stay on course, regardless of any distractions. For me, I grew up in a household where I was always taught to be disciplined and practice self-control, so disciplining myself was never a problem for me. I knew that having this quality would be beneficial because it would allow me to sit down, plan everything out and make sure everything is structured. As a creative, this is a very important quality to have because it will allow you have structure in your routine and stick with it.

Lastly, being consistency is an essential factor. Being consistent means that you are regularly accomplishing your goals, tasks, obligations and/or priorities in a timely manner. As far as being a content creator, it means that you are showing up and showing out on your platform regularly by posting content (reels, photos, Q+As, etc.) and finding creative ways to interact and engage with your audience. For me, being consistent is something I strive to do daily because it builds by brand’s visibility and engagement with my target audience. Along with that, it gives me a higher probability of being noticed by a particular brand or company within my niche (faith, beauty, clothing, skincare) and reaching out to me to for a potential sponsorship or partnership. However, it will be harder to maintain consistency if you are not intentional about your work/craft, so it’s important to have the mindset that you want to build yourself, learn more about how to perfect your craft and want to do better and succeed as a creative.

And for anyone who is starting out as a content creator, influencer, business owner or any other job/occupation you are doing, my advice to you would be to first, if you are religious, commit all you plans unto God. In Proverbs 16:3, it says “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” As He has instilled in you the gift, ability or talent within you, we must remember to commit it back to Him. It shows God that you are willing to surrender all of your plans to Him and rely on His direction for your life because you trust and believe that He knows what’s best. As a result, God will guide and establish your plans, according to His will and in the end, His name shall be glorified.

Secondly, plan ahead and write everything down. Write down your goals, propositions and steps as to what you’re going to do to execute your vision. Take time to write down all your ideas and figure out how you are going to accomplish each step of your plan. Once you finalize everything and feel confident enough to get started, GO FOR IT!

Ask questions and never be afraid to ask for help. Starting out on a new endeavor, you may be curious about other things or may need some guidance or clarification on how to get started. Reach out to people, get tips and advice from other people who share the same likes and interests as you.

Take the time to invest in your craft. Do your research. As mentioned before, ask questions. Learn new ways to improve your skills. Know the right kind of skills, tools and/or equipment that you need as you getting started. However, do not feel the pressure to do exactly what everyone else is doing. Find what works for you, is within your means (physically and/or financially) and manage it the best way that you can. Once you do that, stick with it and go from there.

And lastly, do not be discouraged or disappointed if you don’t see the results right away. Do not expect to have all the opportunities in the world knocking at your door the minute you start. Do not compare yourself to anyone you see on social media. Unfortunately, nowadays with social media, it’s very easy to compare yourself or make you feel that you’re not trying hard enough because you don’t see your business or platform growing or getting opportunities as much as others are. But it’s important to know that everyone’s timing/journey is different. Just because it happens (or has happened) for another person doesn’t mean it won’t happen for you. Delay does NOT equal denial. You may not hit 100 or 1,000 followers on social media right away and that’s okay, keep going. It is easier said than done, but in due time, it will happen, but it takes time. Not only that, it takes a lot of effort and sacrifice. It will not always be easy, but as long as you are patient, remain consistent and continue to do what you love, in due time, you will get to where you want to be. If it helps, remember the reason why you started. Remind yourself why you decided to embark on your journey and use that as your fuel to keep the engine running.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

I would say my biggest area of growth that I’ve witnessed within the past 12 months is the way I’ve been able to push beyond my limits personally, professionally and academically as well as breaking the limitation mindset. Since I was younger, I didn’t like the idea of limiting yourself or staying in my comfort zone. While yes, everyone is built at a different capacity, so what may be doable or easy for me many not be the case for someone else and vice versa. But by the same token, it can be intimidating or uncomfortable at first to step outside of your comfort zone because it’s not something you like or used to, but what I’ve learned is that once you take that first step, you will begin to build up your stamina/capacity, reveal what your strengths and weaknesses are, become more bold in facing your fears and challenges and propel you to do more than what you believed you can do. There’s a lot of opportunities out there that I want to take advantage of because I know it will help to break boundaries and will not only push me to be my best self, but allow me to grow as a Christian, student, individual and a creative. I know that there is more ahead of me than what is behind me, which is why I push myself so hard because I know what I am capable of doing and by His grace, I have been able to make it this far because I chose not to limit myself and I knew that I could accomplish more than what I thought I could do before. I’ll be honest, it was far from easy, but throughout it all, I’ve been able to learn so much and I’m grateful to God for it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://payhip.com/letstalkbusinessco
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/itsdeborahbonsu
• Other: https://instagram.com/letstalkbusiness.co