We recently connected with Tolu Kamoru and have shared our conversation below.
Tolu, thanks for taking the time to share your lessons with our community today. So, let’s jump right in – one of the most essential skills for unlocking our potential is self-discipline. Where does your self-discipline come from?
Wow, I love this question because I am constantly talking about discipline on my social media platforms. I originally started my business in October of 2020, yes, I am a part of the pandemic born business chain, lol. But at that time of lockdown, I was honestly overcome with boredom, and I just fed into laziness and would spend my days lying in bed watching YouTube videos. I soon tapped into an unborn side of me with the help of my journey of getting closer to God. I became addicted to watching motivational videos on YouTube and was constantly feeding my spirit the mentality of “I’ll rest when I’m dead.” At the point I’m at right now, I don’t agree with that mindset because it led to one of my biggest burnouts, because honestly the human body needs rest, we aren’t robots. But at that season I was in, it triggered me to constantly work, and it taught me the art of self-discipline. I learned that you have got to be able to have enough self-respect to get something done, because you told yourself to do it. You don’t always need someone else to tell you to do something or a punishment/reward before you can listen to yourself and do something that you don’t feel like doing. If you rely on others or results to motivate you, you will get stuck in stagnancy and I refuse to stay stagnant.
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 am the CEO and Founder of my business known as Kamoru Kollections. Kamoru Kollections is an ecommerce business that provides handmade satin items to help the health, length, and strength of your hair. Kamoru Kollections is known for its KK Bonnets, but I do sell a variety of other products such as headbands, scrunchies, pillowcases, hoodies, shower caps, etc. The focus of this brand is to help grow the self-confidence of my community. I am a firm believer of when you look good, you feel good. So, I’ve created a variety of hair care products to help you protect your hair with ease so that it can feel better, look better, and ultimately creates a boost in your self-esteem so that you feel better as well. I use my social media platforms to spread this brand message while also just constantly motivating my audience. I love words, like I spend a lot of my day just reading motivational quotes because they keep me going and help me have a stronger mind which helps me stay happier, so I try my best to spread that type of energy onto my platform.
Stay tuned because Kamoru Kollections is working on some very exciting things. Shhhhh, don’t tell anyone but the satin lined hoodies are coming back with new designs and the highly requested durags will soon hit the website.
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?
Hmmm three most important qualities… I’d have to say resilience. receptiveness, and relationship. Wow, I really didn’t intentionally make them all start with R, but we’re going to run with it, the 3 R’s. First off, resilience is extremely crucial to success in the business field. Nothing about running a business is easy, there are so many obstacles that you’re hit with, so if you don’t have resilience, you will not get far at all. There were so many problems that I was faced with that were out of my control, for example when I got my biggest order ever, but it was then ripped away from me because when I shipped it out UPS lost the order, which could’ve made me lose so much money if I just gave up when I found that out. But I fought and kept trying to find solutions and it all worked out in my favor. Same with burnout, if I gave up after every time I felt burnout, or heard no, or got a bad review, I promise you I’d not be doing this interview today. Next receptiveness, you’ve got to have a good ear to make it out here. What I mean by that is nothing is coincidental, pay attention to everything. Don’t let the little things consume you but pay attention to the numbers, pay attention the “no’s”, find out why do I get more sales in the warmer seasons, why are all these people saying no to me, because I promise you, they’re not just all broke or mean, sometimes it’s a problem within. Lastly relationship, and by this I’m referring to my relationship with God. That isn’t necessarily a quality, but I wouldn’t be anywhere close to where I am right now if I didn’t prioritize my relationship with God in my business. He has revealed to me so many things that I wouldn’t see with my regular human eye, and He’s honestly the reason I’ve made it through every dark season mentally.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
Community, community, community. They can either be the propellant pushing you forward, or the thing holding you back the most. I pride myself on who I surround myself with but first I’m going to have to talk about God. He has been the most helpful in overcoming every curve ball my business throws at me. There have been so many days where I just felt sad and overcome with fear because I felt like my business has just been so stagnant. And transparent moment, that is what I’m struggling with the most right now in my business, is figuring out how to just make it elevate big time. But every time I get worried, God refuses to allow me to wallow in those thoughts. He sends a person, or a video to my social media feed that is literally always what I needed to hear. Sometimes He just implants a thought in my brain that I know for a fact was not of my own creating, and then I just get overwhelmed with a peace that makes no sense, that I know could only come from Him. My mom has also been extremely helpful, her words just do so much for me. She never fails to motivate me in a tough season by just telling me that I’m going to get through it and the blessing is closer than I think. Lastly huge shoutout to my biological sisters and my chosen sisters Ope, Akua and Lennea, they’ve honestly been a huge blessing to my business and my self-esteem, and I love them more than words can say.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kamorukollections.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tk.stylz/
- Facebook: @kamorukollections
- Other: Tiktok: @kamorukollections
