An entrepreneur believes that Black women must travel so the world can “see them in all their glory.”
Since opening her business, Brazen Boutique in November 2018, business fashionista, Jance Staten has made over $2.5 million. With multiple streams of income from her boutique, coaching services, and monetization from her YouTube channel, the entrepreneur is running a fast-growing empire.
Staten’s early career consisted of
retail positions in high school. Her retail experiences, along with majoring in communications in college, helped her to become a store manager for a clothing boutique. As manager, she took on responsibilities that included employee management, merchandising, and inventory. A life-changing business trip to the L.A. Fashion District exposed her to the behind-the-scenes elements of heading a boutique and made a massive impact on her view of the fashion industry.“I didn’t have a business mentality until I went there and saw all this opportunity and the type of decisions that have to be made that would ultimately impact the business’s bottom line,” she said, according to Travel Noire
.The boutique where Staten was employed shut down in 2018, but the pivotal ending was only the beginning for the fashionista. She launched her YouTube channel, which attracted a large pool of viewers, where she shared transparent experiences about her journey in the boutique business. Her audience consisted of people who were invested in learning how to run their own boutiques through her coaching services.
Staten launched Brazen Boutique and invested in travel to network and expand her brand. Her attendance at conferences, events, meet ups, and trade shows across the country exposed her to new fashion technologies, previews, and suppliers. In addition, the fashion mogul was able to meet like-minded business owners.
“Traveling plays a huge role not only in my business but also to connect with the right people,” she stated.
Every trip Staten invested in propelled the growth of her company. The more places she visited, the more she saw her funds increase.
“Every time I took a trip somewhere, I came home with either a new idea, whether business or personal, a new sense of inspiration and a new reason to try something in my business.”
“The world needs to see that we exist,” she said.
“I think we think the internet is how people hear from us but sometimes you need to be in the room.”
Staten’s book, Boutique Business: A Guide for Budding Entrepreneurs Who Can’t Find Answers on Google, answers a multitude of questions for future and current boutique owners.