Every lip gloss you buy from LovelyLai Cosmetics helps a young woman pay for college in the future at HBCU, Howard University

Help LovelyLai Cosmetics Reach Howard University

LovelyLai Cosmetics is ran by 13-year-old entrepreneur and future college graduate, Laila Hasben. Her lip glosses are organic, cruelty free, and made for everyone who likes to make their lips pop with color and shine.

Find out how she started her business with birthday money, how her college fund is looking, and the business lessons that she has learned along the way.

Q&A with Laila Hasben

Do your parents help you run LovelyLai Cosmetics?

My parents support me and help me when I ask or need it, but I do the packaging, content creating, product photography, and everything else that comes with managing a business.

So, overall they are there when I need them to support me 24/7 and help me whenever I need it. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for my parents. It’s mainly advice on what new products I should add or anything like that.

I do all of the actual work but they help with the business plan and help me stay motivated to get more orders and everything. I am super grateful for them and they’ve been a tremendous help.

What are some of the most valuable things you have learned about business since starting your own?

The most valuable things I’ve learned about business since starting my own have been plenty. One valuable thing that I learned while starting my business was reinvesting. Me being a child, I used to spend all of my money on clothes or shoes but my parents have been teaching me that reinvesting works.

I never thought it would work this well. For example, I can take my birthday money and turn it into something more for a better cause. So I learned that reinvesting really can work with faith, consistency, determination, and belief.

Another valuable thing that I learned is that it’s true that there are people out there in the world who will support you, who love your products, and who can help turn your business into something bigger. I’ve had lots of people, strangers at the time when we first connected, who wanted to support my business and show love. They would donate, buy products, and refer me to their friends and family.

The last top three valuable things I learned was that you can literally do anything if you work hard, stay consistent, and take a big leap of faith. When I first started my business I used all of my birthday money, around $500, to start my business.

I took a leap of faith because I didn’t know anything about running a business and I took the money and dumped it into starting my business. Every time I got money for a holiday I reinvested it. That was faith because I wasn’t guaranteed that I would make my money back or make more but I believed that I could do it.

For the hard work part that was a 24/7 thing I had to pick and choose the things I was going to do with my time because there’s not much of it.

Researching was the hardest part of it all. I researched day and night for information about running a business, making an Instagram to promote, and so on. One night I remember vividly I wanted to watch this new Netflix show but I had to choose to either research or watch the show and I choose to research by watching videos and articles about business and I also read books about it.

I was happy researching. I was enjoying this new world of knowledge. I’ve always loved school, asking questions, and learning new things. I was beyond happy learning and I knew it would benefit my business overall.

What inspires your color choices and other features of your cosmetics?

The main thing that inspires my color choices are my customers/supporters. I always keep in mind my customers ages when choosing colors. Sometimes I choose colors for my younger group then sometimes I choose colors for my older group or sometimes I choose colors that are for both groups.

The other way I find out what they like is by posting polls or asking them in posts what new colors they would like me to add. Then I see which had the most votes or what they liked the most then make and sell that color. So, my customers are my main inspiration when making my color choices.

The other features you could say are my choice of quality of my products. I’ve done one rebrand since I started and that was a hefty expense but I knew that whenever more people hear about me and see my products they’ll appreciate the effort.

I chose see-through wand tubes with my logo pressed onto the tube, not sticky labels. My old ones used to be that way which is why the wand tubes are more expensive than the squeeze tubes. Another feature are the boxes that the lip glosses are shipped in because it’s typical for bigger brands to have separate boxes for each lip gloss. The boxes also have a glossy finish with the ingredients on the back and my brand logo on the front of them. They are all custom made and pressed so the writing can’t come off.

I pride myself on having the best products I can even if it is a little more expensive, but you have to spend money to make money. So, overall my customers and supporters are who inspire color choices, and my mom comes up with ideas also.

Do you have plans to expand the LovelyLai product line?

Yes, I’ve had plans to expand the LovelyLai Cosmetics product line since the beginning. I will expand when I have steady orders coming in so I know that I can and will make that money back. I plan to expand into lip liners, lipstick first, and maybe even skincare.

I feel like the right time to expand is coming soon and that time will be when my business gets the recognition it deserves. I’m keeping the faith and belief that my business will be a household name soon!

How’s that college fund looking so far and what college would you like to attend?

The college fund is looking as good as can be. Not even halfway or a quarter of the way there but it’s progress that I have to be grateful for.

Overall the cost of college will most likely be, including financial aid, about 40k. Yes, that is huge goal but I feel like I can do it. I’ve got about five years to reach that goal but the sooner the better. I’m about 2.5% of the way there at the moment. It’s not at the highest but it’s more than what I started with so it’s progress which I can’t complain about.

I have a long way to go to reach my goal but I will get there. I would like to attend Howard University. I know if I keep up my grades and getting on the honor roll every semester then they won’t have any reason to deny me. Even while I’m in college I would still be running my business so I could sustain myself in college.

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