We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tokia Smith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Tokia, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
Inspiration is what keeps my creativity alive. Believe it or not, seeing new things drives me and channels my creative side even more. Something as simple as watching the seasons change with the trees going from green to a rust orange color during the fall, Visiting museums; both inside and out, tapping into another person’s world looking through their lens, and trying things I’ve never experienced before are all ways I am able to keep my creativity alive. I keep myself intrigued, no matter how good or bad my days are. Creativity is in every one, and it is all around.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
When you hear the name “Tokia”, makeup would more than likely be my number 1 title. I’ve been a freelance makeup artist for 8 years now, and about 2 years into my artistry I opened up a salon. I am now a salon suite owner as well as an makeup artist. I house my business in my salon suite as well; which gives me the opportunity to work and manage the building. I love life as an artist BUT, I am most known for my fashion sense. I am a fashion designer for fashion brand ‘Haut Niveau’, who specializes in custom pieces for women. I absolutely love fashion because I am able to keep my creativity alive through my craft. Fashion has absolutely no limits, which makes it even more FUN! Im able to express myself through both my artistry and fashion each and everyday.We will be relaunching your brand this summer and I have never been more excited to share what I’ve been working on with the world.
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 3 most important qualities that were impactful on my journey as an entrepreneur was:
1. Setting myself apart from the rest of the world: Setting yourself apart is one of the most important qualities to have. Simply because as an entrepreneur there are going to be so many other competitors that are in your exact field. You have to ask yourself how are you and your business different from anyone else in that field. Strive to stand out, be different, and set yourself apart from others.
2. Keeping my passion ALIVE & FUN: It’s so easy to get bored with your job, hustle, or hobby. What you have to do to keep the passion alive and fun is keep the fear away and add new services, new skills, a new routine, or simply take a break to reset. Never give up because you’ve gotten “bored”, or because its not bringing in as much traffic as it used too. Add new things to your skill set, take some refresher courses, take a vacation to reset, do some grounding but never give up!
3. Self discipline: Remembering your “why”, is the key to self discipline. Whether its related to financial freedom, or living a more peaceful life, you will always need to remember why you’re doing it. That will drive you to remain discipline through your savings plan, weekly workout routine, meeting your profit goal for the month, etc. Meeting goals = requires self discipline.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
The number one obstacle I’m facing right now is being way too hard on myself. I am learning to not downplay my accomplishments, and celebrate them instead; no matter how big or small. Everyday I wake up and take steps that bring me closer to reaching the goals I currently have set. That alone deserves self recognition. I have affirmations written down that helps me through those times that I’m overly tough on myself. It’s okay that you didn’t reach that Goal by the date you set; a delayed journey isn’t equivalent to a denied one!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thetkway.as.me/schedule.php
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealkialove/
Image Credits
James @hidefpixel
