Today we’d like to introduce you to LaChaya Terry.
LaChaya, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Since I could remember, I’ve had an entrepreneurial spirit. As a child growing up on the south-side of Chicago, I’ve always tried to find conventional ways to make money. I didn’t have plans on purchasing anything big at first, but I just wanted to go to the corner store to buy candy, chips, and a fifty-cent juice with my own money. My first businesses consisted of selling lemonade and frozen cups of juice, on hot days I sold water balloons, as I grew older I started a car wash business that consisted of washing my parents and neighbors vehicles. I then ventured on to babysitting and walking the younger kids in the neighborhood back and forth to school during my summer vacations. In a high school classroom, I remember drafting my first official business plan for a daycare center. I had hopes of opening one day. Not because I wanted to be a teacher, but because my aunt was an entrepreneur and ran a daycare center in which my cousins and I would frequent during the summers.
As I became a parent, the urge to find my purpose in life grew stronger. Pregnant with my youngest daughter I began writing a blog “One Haute Mommi” to moms who didn’t just want to be great mothers but wanted to find their purpose in life also. From there I returned to school to study marketing while working for a non-profit in Chicago. While there I discovered a passion for helping women and moms start businesses who never thought it was possible through Ground Floor Group. In 2014, my family and I moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in search of new beginnings and warmer weather and boy did we get more than what we imagined. I’m a graduate of Northern Illinois University, where I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Textiles, Apparel, and Merchandising and an MBA with a Marketing Concentration from Keller Graduate School of Management. I am passionate, creative, relevant and enjoy leading change and telling stories through influential brands.
My vision for Ground Floor Group is to provide my clients with exceptional service, both aesthetically pleasing and effective design work, and to create an emotional connection between you, your branding and your audience.
Has it been a smooth road?
This road of navigating entrepreneurship has definitely not been a smooth one and I never expected it to be. As I transitioned to where I am now, there has been plenty of days of uncertainty and self-doubt. When I first began consulting, I was afraid to actually start taking clients, so I wouldn’t actually share with many people that I started a business. It wasn’t until friends and family who knew how creative I was would ask me to help out with certain projects that I began to build up the confidence to begin working with other entrepreneurs. One thing I learned was that nothing could replace actually doing the work. It wasn’t until I moved past fear that doors began to open and opportunities presented themselves.
Tell us more about the business.
At Ground Floor Group Creative Studio, I help new entrepreneurs and small business owners develop their visual brand presence. As the lead consultant and brand designer, I help entrepreneurs answer questions such as where do I start and how do I grow my business? I specialize in logo design, website design, event graphics, flyers, signage. Everything needed to connect with your ideal audience and to effectively sell your products, events and/or services. What I am most proud of is the clients I’ve been able to work with. Their success is my success. It’s a very intriguing process to build a brand from the ground floor up and to first-hand witness the growth of new business to an established brand is rewarding. What sets Ground Floor Group apart of similar businesses is the quality of work I produce (no cookie-cutter designs over here), I’m available to my clients beyond the payment of an invoice or delivery of final files, and my clients consistently return for future projects because of the value they receive.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The branding industry is one that will forever be evolving. 2020 is the perfect year to revive your brand if you have an existing one or invest in your brand if you’re just getting started. 94% of the first impression of your business is design-related, which means your logo, social media presence, website, packaging and more has to be well-designed. We’re living in a bootstrapping and DIY era and nothing can replace professional branding to portray your brand in a visually compelling way that gets results and ultimately grows your business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://groundfloorgroup.us
- Email: lachaya@groundfloorgroup.us
- Instagram: instagram.com/groundfloorgroup
- Facebook: facebook.com/groundfloorgroup
- Twitter: twitter.com/groundfloorgrp
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