We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tatiania Jessie. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tatiania below.
Hi Tatiania, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
I definitely didn’t wake up with it, LOL! It was a true journey to become as confident as I am in myself to even start a business and be the model or face of the business. However, they both develop from the same place..God.
First thing first, I let go of jumping into one relationship after another relationship with guys and cut off all friendships that made me feel indifferent. Now with this new free time, I began my self love journey. I remember watching hours of self love videos on Youtube and listening to podcasts. I took notes like a college student, and began to read them over and over again. I ask myself, what stood out to me? What about myself do I need to change? Where do I desire to be? How do I get there? Most importantly, how can I implement this in my life right now. So my wardrobe did a whole 360 right along with my thoughts about myself. I began to believe that I am beautiful, just the way I am. I began to think I have more to offer than just what people can see physically. I enrolled in college at the age of 26, and began working on becoming the person I desired to be and creating the life I saw myself living.
However, it was hard, very hard. I soon realized that I only know what I know and needed more resources to keep growing and going in this change when the struggles of everyday life are happening. So one day, my coworker invited me to attend a young adult church service with her. I had nothing to do, so after we got off of work and grabbed a bite to eat, I went to the young adult service with her. It was something I never experienced at a church before. It was a medium size room that could seat about 30 people. We were all in the age range of 25-30, men and women, with the pastor at the front of the room with a microphone. Literally after he ended prayer, people began to raise their hand and ask questions I wouldn’t dare say to a pastor! But, it was so transparent and honest about what we were dealing with at that age. Questions about being attracted to the same sex, fornication, back sliding, lieing, stealing, like it went on and on. For 3 whole hours, the pastor answered every question and backed it up with scripture. After providing context, he broke it down in a literal sense of how to apply it in our life right now. And that’s what I needed! Not only did it helped me with growing in my relationship with God but from then on out, every Friday, rather my friend attended or not, I went to young adult night. Which led me to go to bible study on Wednesday, which led me to attend on Sunday and later join One Community Church. All it did was create a ripple effect for me to get in tune with my creator. Once I did that, it unlocked the door to true self confidence. I knew who I was because I knew who created me and who my creator said I am. Boldly, I began to walk like it and talk like it in all honesty even when I didn’t believe it. But I said it to myself so much until I began to believe it. Then my spirit began to give the messages I heard in church back to me. Messages like, “I can do all things through Christ” and “I am the head and not the tale.” So when I received the vision to start Belle Allure Designs, I did it in full force, never doubting myself even though I didn’t know what I was doing lol. But I knew that God got me and still got me. So after a full self love journey, I am still learning different things about myself of who I am now as a mom and a business owner. My self love journey led me to God and knowing who I am by my creator is what gives me self confidence to begin, continue and be the face of Belle Allure Designs.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I own and operate a curvy online boutique named Belle Allure Designs. My goal for this brand is for curvy women to feel beautiful on date night and everyday wear. As a curvy woman myself, I know how hard it is to find quality clothing that stretches and fits our curvy figure in a flattering way that doesn’t break the bank. I have been doing so diligently for 2 years now.
Outside of our curvy fashion, we have a curvy community that women can join by signing up on our email list. Here, we talk about all things being curvy. From how we feel about our bodies and things to do to boost our confidence to assistance with how to dress different body types. It’s pretty cool to have the support that you’re not alone with what you’re dealing with about your curvy figure. It’s bigger than fashion!
We’ve recently released our Bring The Heat Collection for all the curvy babes headed to their next vacay! It covers the 3 most important things when selecting outfits for vacation: looking good, staying in the latest styles, and outfits that boost your confidence. From dinner by the beach to walking down the boardwalk, this collection has you covered and ready!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The most impactful for any online business in my opinion is marketing. You want to learn and master marketing, or no one will ever know you exist. Take advantage of all areas of marketing: social media, email, text, influencers, publicists, and word of mouth. I would recommend for someone new on their business journey to start with one area, and keep working your way through the list of different marketing. If you don’t know where to start, always start with free tools like Youtube, Google, and marketing books at your local library. Do what needs to be done to teach yourself as a business owner how to get your brand to the public in a pleasing way.
Secondly, I would say dedication is a very important quality I had to get far in business. It was not easy. I spent a lot of early mornings and late nights to get the results that I desired for my business. Dedication was a requirement in order to have the willpower to sit in my business and figure out what was working and what was not working. For my new entrepreneurs, analyze how much time you really have available to invest in your business. With that number of hours in mind, delicate your time as needed instead of spending it all on low impactful tasks that won’t get you as far as things that truly matter in your business.
Last but not least, I think it was pretty special to know that my knowledge in business was only so much. I had to stop and learn the things that I did not know. I took advantage of having an e-commerce coach to really teach me the things I needed to know about having an online business. I wouldn’t say to start out with a coach because you can teach yourself some of the things you need to know about your business. However, if you don’t have the time and what you have been doing so far is not working, a coach will get you where you desire to be in your business faster. Spend time following this coach and determine if the information they provide for free gives you value before giving them your money to share more.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
Yes, lol! The challenge that I am currently facing is developing a system for my business to operate instead of me actually having to do it. I’m trying to add apps and utilize tools that can post for me automatically, already have my emails created and sent, blog writing, social media marketing, just all the things that’s necessary but also time consuming. I would always like to package the orders so I can continue handwriting personal notes to my ladies and modeling for my business because it is something I enjoy doing. Just having some things running on a somewhat auto pilot mode so I can do more of the things I enjoy. It’s a work in progress though lol.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bellealluredesigns.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/bellealluredesign
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/bellealluredesigns
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/belleallures
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/tati_renea
