Today we’d like to introduce you to Keisha Y. Hilliard.
Hi Keisha, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hello Dallas, I’m Keisha Y. Hilliard, owner of Outta Control Kuztomz. I was born and raised in Texas, and have never lived anywhere else but Dallas, TX. I am a mother of four athletes, a wife of a coach, a creator, and now a business owner.
My story of being a creative goes way back to my childhood. The second oldest of five, I was always creating ways to keep myself entertained from making up dance routines to remixing current songs on the radio, creating new hairstyles, writing, taking different ingredients making up recipes, and literally anything to keep life interesting. Well, as I got older, I also wanted to create different ways to make money and I wanted my own business so that I would not have to depend on my job for financial security.
So when the trend of t-shirts with phrases on them came about, I knew creatively that this was something I could blossom with. There were not a lot of products out there with images that looked like me, so I believed I could start there and expand my brand and audience. I started with a Cricut machine that I let sit in a corner in the box for about three or four months because like most, I was intimidated by actually taking that first step to simply start. Once I opened the box, I never looked back. It was hours and hours of sleepless nights, watching video after video, and so much trial and error trying to teach myself how to craft. I joined a lot of Facebook crafting groups, and started networking with other crafters learning and building business relationships. Once I started taking orders, and getting feedback from customers, I became overwhelmed with orders trying to maintain my nine to five job, and the many duties of a wife/mother.
My Aunt, known as The Boss Up Coach on social media, who was already teaching courses on social media marketing and e-commerce, introduced me to the world of print on demand and drop shipping. She took me under her wing as her protégée and trained me for free. Here I am today, crafting from home, fulfilling custom orders online and in-house, creating custom designs with print on demand products for my website, and creating digital designs in my Etsy shop.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The initial challenge was always time. Being a mom of four athletes, making practices and games, holding down a job while trying to start a new business, and still maintaining my household duties was, and still is, a challenge for me. Another challenge was finding my niche and what it actually was I wanted to focus on as far as crafting. Did I want to focus on crafting with HTV, or permanent vinyl, or sublimation, or resin art, and etc. I was all over the place for a while trying any and everything I saw other crafters doing. There were also challenges with finding the right equipment and products to purchase that were of good quality and were not too costly for my budget. With crafting, there is so much equipment, and products you can choose from so you literally have to study reviews and test things out yourself to see how they will work for you.
The inevitable struggle in business will always be the amount of research involved in making any business decisions. At times I would find myself becoming more and more indecisive about things based on other crafters opinions and experiences with their business they would share.
Launching my online store took a lot of the pressure off of me because all of my orders did not have to be made by me in house, allowing more time to develop other areas of my business. Launching a website was indeed a challenge because it was something new that I had to also learn from scratch, but it was also a blessing because it cut down my physical labor time, which I needed because I want to continue to expand my brand and I needed to free up time in order to do that.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Outta Control Kuztomz, also known as OCKUZTOMZ across all social media platforms, specializes in creating custom designs for products such as apparel, drinkware, purses, bags, totes, shoes, notebooks, office supplies, and more. Some of our handmade products consist of items made with HTV, permanent vinyl, sublimation, heat transfer paper, and resin art such as my custom made dominoes. I create designs and also accept orders for personalized designs for products as well. Outta Control Kuztomz is known for taking your vision for a design and putting it on to a product for you to enjoy. The part that makes me the most proud is the customer’s satisfaction and gratitude after receiving their order.
The loyalty my customers show me is a true blessing. All the referrals and reviews bring me new customers and motivate me each day to get up and get going because I know I am just one sale away from making another customer happy with one of my products. What sets Outta Control Kuztomz apart from others is that I am not just looking to create a product for revenue. I actually want to give my customers an experience of having something uniquely made for them that they enjoy long after they have spent their money on the product. I want them to look back at their shopping experience and feel good about the decision they made to where they will shop again, and tell a friend.
My customers push me to grow and develop my designing skills hence my new endeavor with my Outta Control Kuztomz Etsy Shop, where I only create digital designs such as journals, planners, to-do-lists, calendars, and so on. I am also setting up a new venture where I offer virtual trainings on how I create my designs, the apps I use, softwares, tools, tips, and etcetera. I am constantly trying to give the people what they want, ockuztomz is all about the people.
Pricing:
- 10% OFF For ALL NEW Subscribers
- 20% OFF ALL Apparel with code: APPAREL20 (limited time only)
- BOGO Deal Buy One Mug, Get 30% OFF Next Mug (limited time only)
- 30% OFF Shoes Collection (selected items)
- $10 Designer 4ply Face Masks, Mesh Interior
Contact Info:
- Email: ockuztomz@gmail.com
- Website: ockuztomz.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/ockuztomz/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/outtacontrolkuztomz/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ockuztomz/
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/OuttaControlKuztomz
Image Credits:
Placeit.com for mock-ups
