The Key To Building a Business on Social Media

0:28Everything was so spontaneous. A viral moment on social media is amazing, but can you build a successful company around it? Today, I'm chatting with Karis Rogers, the founder of Flexin and My Complexion. Karis was getting bullied at school for her darker complexion, but her sister decided to empower her by taking her photos and posting them online. After their hashtag caught on, Karis launched her fashion brand and sold out of Flexin and My Complexion t-shirts in just under 10 minutes. Karis is here to chat all about turning negativity into positivity. Karis, welcome to the show. Yes, I'm excited to be talking to you.

1:14Oh my goodness, I love your story so much because your founding story is so important. taking something that was negative and building it into a positive community that you found online from that viral moment and that momentum. Can you talk to us about how you were able to engage with this community and really grow this audience into the business that you started? I feel like first starting Flexing My Complexion, the whole going viral, it happened out of nowhere. Nothing planned even starting a company wasn't planned at all but even keeping the momentum up it was like I was doing so much at the time so many interviews so many photo shoots traveling so much that it was keeping us relevant in a way and I feel like it was a good thing I'm glad that it worked out in our favor like that and just doing all that I feel like it kept us wanting to keep going more because we were always so busy and it's like the more you're busy the more you want to keep going because you're like, oh, yeah, this business right here is going to get us somewhere.

2:22And it did.

2:28And I feel like consistency is key. And so keeping people looking at you or having creative photo shoots and doing things like that, it keeps people engaged. And I feel like that's something a lot of brands and a lot of influencers should be doing. Especially that connectivity you have with the community, right? They're curious about what you're doing day to day. And I feel like by you sharing that, it allowed people to stay engaged and actually be invested in your journey as well. Yeah, I try to keep people in my life a little bit, but I don't be showing too much because, you know, got to have some things to yourself that you can hold tight, like different memories that you want for yourself.

3:10But I feel like I do pretty well with keeping people engaged with me. Yeah, yeah. There's definitely that balance, right? You want to keep some things personal and special to you, and then you also want to share as well. So you have this amazing viral moment, and you decide to start a fashion line. What did you do first to start the business? Okay, so once I went viral, it was the next day. I was like, why don't we just start a closing line called Flexin' My Complexion? And then we started it the day after I said that, and then it was a company. literally in a span of like two days and then it sold out in 10 minutes.

3:50So it was literally just no nothing, don't know anything about having a company. It just started. And I don't even hear a lot of people tell their stories like that. A lot of people playing these things out for years, decades. They've been having these ideas. Me, no. I was 10. I didn't care anything about having a company. I knew what I wanted to do growing up. I knew I always wanted to be a business owner, be an entrepreneur. nowhere. But I never thought it would be at 10 years old. Yeah. I mean, I feel like we all need to kind of channel our inner optimism, right? I think when we are younger, we have just like pure belief and trust and we're able to have that optimism carry us forward.

4:34What were some of the first steps that you and your sister took to think about this business logistically, design, getting the t-shirts what did you do first there wasn't a lot of thinking in there wasn't so my sister in college she used to draw a lot of different paintings so this was kind of her field on like doing stuff like this so my mom actually knew somebody that made t-shirts and he actually he just helped us and he gave us t-shirts and then boom that was just that and then my sister made the website. It was good for her first website. So she made the website and then we launched it. Literally, everything was so spontaneous.

5:19It just happened out of nowhere. And I'm grateful that it did. And I'm glad. Sometimes we have ideas. You just got to go for it. No one is going to stop you. Apparently, everyone around me was ready to go for it. And we went for it. And it turned out in our favor in a good way. And I'm glad that it did. Yeah. And I also love how family and friends all came together to really make this happen. Do you remember the moment where you got an order from a stranger from somewhere far away and you're like, wow, someone is actually giving their money and they love our design and they want to support our brand?

5:57Africa, Australia, all those places I've never been. I'll be like, how do you even know my name? It's just so crazy to me, like all these different opportunities and all these different people supporting me. It's like, it just came from being in this little tiny house in LA and one day having a company and just these little tiny ideas and just going for it. And so many people are being inspired by. And it's like people that say they're inspired by me, I'm inspired by. And it's just so crazy. It's still so real to this day. And the orders come in, then there's more complexities that happen. You have to make the shirts.

6:36You have to have inventory. You also have to ship them out. How did you figure out the logistical side of things? All right. So I was still going to school during this whole period being 10 to like, I think seventh grade, I stopped going to regular school in seventh grade. So we will be doing stuff exactly after I left school. We'll be having to go all the way back to Hollywood. And I live all the way in LA to do interviews or go have meetings and stuff like that. So we had a guy that actually stayed at my house. He was in the garage for hours straight, just making t-shirts every single day. And my grandparents will also be back there as well.

7:17It was really like a family friend business at first. And now that we're in the warehouse, it's so much easier to have inventory, create different designs and things like that. But we were literally just winging it, asking people to help us. It's nothing wrong with asking for help. A lot of people are scared to ask for help, but it's literally nothing to be scared of. When you need the help, go get the help. Yeah, yeah. Enlist the friends, ask the family members who are able to step in and help with production. And then what about shipping? How did you figure that out, the fulfillment of the orders?

7:52Okay, so we would just take everything to the post office and have them just scan things one at a time. And mind you, these are like hundreds of orders. These people were sick of us. It came to a point where these people actually knew us, knew our names, like, what y 'all got in for us today? How many orders we got? Even now when we go, we don't even go to that post office to deliver things anymore. Even when we go just to go to the P.O. box, Like, hey, how's the business going? Like, dang, I remember it still. Like, that's how bad it was. We had hundreds of orders going to them. They were like, you know, you could just give us a form and just scan this one little code and then boom, we done.

8:27We were like, that makes life so much easier. Like, you know, but now with the warehouse, they do everything for us. So we're kind of chilling and laying back now. How long were you doing the order fulfillment yourself before you realized, hey, this is something I can partner up with someone else and make this whole process a lot smoother, more relaxed? We started exactly right after COVID. And still, orders are so crazy at this point. Thousands of orders on these days at this point. And just that whole time, I'm like, why are we still doing this in the garage? This should be dangerous. People know where I live.

9:06So people can literally come back there and just take these shirts when they want to. So it was just crazy. So now being there is way more helpful. So many more people behind us, helping us with different ideas, keeping us on our toes. So it's way better now. So get the help, like I said. Yeah. Obviously, you were in operation for a few years before you were able to take that jump and work with a warehouse and have a partner in production and fulfillment. When you and your family were looking into this partnership, what were some of the things you wanted to look for in an ideal partner? Someone that had lots of experience.

9:47This warehouse, they've worked with people like her, Nicki Minaj. So, you know, they had the experience of having bolts of orders coming in every day. So we wanted someone with lots of experience, but also taking into consideration that we will be giving them lots of money as well. So I feel like we're investing a lot of money. And so it was just a long thinking process. Like, we got to get people this certain amount of money every month. And so thinking, I'm like, dang, that's a lot of money. But, like, you got to take the risk sometimes. And it's a great risk that we had to take. And I'm happy that we're still taking it and able to take the risk, even having a company that's been around for almost seven years, because I'm 17 now.

10:34So, of course, I love the fact that when you're thinking about these partnerships, you're looking at their past experience. You're also weighing the pros and cons of investing into this partnership. Because you were still in school, there were so many, I guess, like balancing acts you had to do. What's your advice for those who might be working full time, going to school full time, and they're also running a business? oh my advice would be don't stop there was nights I had to do school work essays and I'm like oh yeah I'm not getting this done but I have to get it done because at the end of the day there's things to be done there's people that are out there wanting their orders um people out there and I'm expiring there's things that I want to accomplish in life and when you have lots of things to accomplish and things you want to get done there's a lot of sacrifices that come with that, not having a lot of time to yourself, not being able to go out with friends as much as you used to.

11:36And so there was a lot that I had to take in for myself, especially being so young. And these were hanging out with friends is like the biggest thing. You know, this is my life. I got to go hang out with my homegirl on Saturday. No, on Saturday, I got to be in Washington, D.C.

11:59it was just so many things that I had to take in and just sit back and just be like okay is this what I really want to do and if this is something that you really want to do go on and do it because literally you're your biggest enemy you're your biggest hater so when you sit there and you're the reason that you didn't do something that you knew could have been big you need to sit there to reflect, write in a journal or do something because something that you want to do is inspiring somebody else and it's helping somebody else live. You're creating a new path for somebody to come behind you. Do the same thing you just did, maybe even better, but you're going to be proud that you did that because everything happens for a reason.

12:39I really enjoyed hearing your business and personal journey, and we're going to get into it even deeper. I would love to take a moment to thank our listeners for tuning into the show. Wherever you're listening now, take a moment and subscribe to Shopify Masters and share this episode with a friend. And you can also leave us a review with some feedback for today's episode. Thank you so much. So the brand has been running for over seven years and the team has grown as well. What are some tips for maintaining a healthy environment when you're working with your loved ones and your family, as well as incorporating those new hires onto the team?

13:26I feel like we keep everybody separate. Every team has their own thing that they're supposed to be doing. I have multiple management teams, multiple agents, multiple different people that work for the company. and so when we have all that I feel like it's easier to make different group chats you know everybody don't need to be blended yeah so I just feel like keeping it helps keep everybody on their toes everybody knows what they're supposed to be doing you're not supposed to be creating designs you're supposed to be sending out emails you know so everyone has their own different job and things that they're supposed to be doing and I feel like it helps keeps everybody organized and I feel like we have such a great team behind us and mainly at first it just being my sister and my mom and my sister was really the one doing everything she still kind of is but she has people that can help her and I feel like it's good to expand your team but people that you trust we've rent a lot of people that we was just like so I knew that that wasn't right but you know my sister and my mom probably was like no like they're good and I'm just like nah something something right about them something a little off.

14:38Which, you know, you're going to go through that multiple times. Don't let that one person stop what you got going on. You got to keep going after that. They ain't stopping nothing at all. It's all about the fit, right? You know, someone might be a good friend, but they might not be a good person to work together with on a school project or a business. And you kind of have to figure that out when you're running a business. So I'm really glad that you mentioned that as well. Of course, over the seven years, you have grown up with the business. And I think the journey evolves. Your community is also growing up with you.

15:13So how have you developed your storytelling or the brand as you've gotten older as well? Great question. I haven't actually talked about this with anyone. Me and my family, I talked about that a lot in the house. The story is supposed to grow with you. And growing up, my story was starting out that I was being bullied for my dark skin color. Now it's like, what do we do now? Because that was the story then, but you overcame that. You've grown from that. Your confidence is at a high now. What is it going to look like now? What am I like now? My confidence, my self-esteem is way higher. I feel like now I want my story to be more about self-love and being more yourself and not letting what other people say about you get into your head yeah and now that I'm about to turn 18 it's like people still see me as the sweet young innocent little girl and it's I'm still that but I'm about to turn 18 now and it's how do I venture from doing kid type brand deals and venturing out to doing more high fashion things and things I'm really really interested in now and that whole thing I feel like I'm still trying to figure it out a little bit time is moving so fast and then I'm struggling a little bit but it's okay because I'm gonna get through it and hopefully um when I do figure it out everything's gonna be all right

16:51i mean you're stepping into adulthood and i feel like your focus now about self-acceptance and self-love that's something that it's a lifelong process that we have to do so i think that theme is going to guide you to where you want to be next and it's going to be very special I know that this whole business kind of started because of social media. And I feel like for new founders who are already stressed out about running a business, they feel intimidated to also run different social channels. What is your advice for approaching Instagram, TikTok, starting their social media at the same time of managing a business?

17:36Stay consistent and do things that will catch people's eyes. people have short attention anything and I do I know I do so you need to do something that's going to catch people eye in the first five to ten seconds because when I'm watching something I like to be very interested right when I scroll and so a lot of things that catch my eye are funny videos or super creative videos that I see are very well thought out and I feel like that's very important, but you have to stay consistent. Don't be afraid of your content because some things that you think won't do well, be the things that do well. And I've learned that myself because I'd be like, that wasn't even that good.

18:19Like those photos wasn't that pretty. Like they could have been better. Watch that be something everybody like. And you just have to go for it. And don't think too hard on the content though. Because sometimes people can tell when you're thinking too hard about it and you're doing too much. So don't do too much, but don't do too little. Be right in between. Find your mark. Find what your followers or your fans are interested in because everyone's algorithms are different. Be authentic. Don't take other people's content. If you do, make it your own because I might have seen that video like three videos ago and I'm like, okay, I see what you did there, but make it your own.

19:03You know, use different sounds that are trending, different songs. There's new songs that come out every Friday. One of those songs is going to be trending. And just be very strategic about what you're doing, but be consistent. A lot of the times I feel like people think that they need to create content for a certain algorithm or what the general public like, but by you understanding your community and your followers and posting the content that you enjoy and they enjoy, I feel like that's allowed you to actually grow as well and build up this community even more. Once I realized the things that I liked and realized that other people were liking it as well, it made me more excited to do it.

19:45The momentum of it is like, oh yeah, that did good. Oh yeah, I'm about to eat child up with another one real quick. You know, go back to the drawing board, do something cute. We have so many photo shoots and different reels in mind that we're supposed to be doing and I can't wait for everyone to see them because it's things that I really like doing I just like I said I love being in front of the camera I feel like it's kind of my thing it's been my thing my whole life and now that I feel like I'm really really confident to sit there and post these photos knowing that someone wants to say something negative I ain't gonna care and I'm glad that I'm at that point because I wasn't like that a few years ago so I could definitely see the growth in me and in my followers as well.

20:24Yeah. And I feel like there's also a diversification within the content that you post, right? You're sharing about your speaking engagements, you're sharing about your modeling, and you're sharing about your collaborations with different brands. So talk to us about trying out different content on the different channels that you have. Being consistent with what you want to post in between, you know you have a brand to post at the end of this week. Better figure out what you're going to be posting before you post this brand deal and right after he posted his brand deal. Even in February, I didn't even, I posted a brand deal, but I didn't post after that brand deal.

21:01And then when I just posted something yesterday, it didn't do too well because I didn't post in between posting that brand deal. And so I had to, you got to realize when you peep little things, you're like, okay, I see what I got to do there. And now I know what to do different next time. Cause I know what's going to be the next time. And of course, the initial hashtag was on Twitter. And also a lot of businesses are experimenting with TikTok. What's your advice on those other platforms? I like TikTok algorithm. I wish their algorithm was like, was on Instagram. I wish they were the same algorithm.

21:35But you know, it's not. Sometimes you got to figure out how to work the algorithm. And algorithm changes, I feel like, every day. Yeah, constant re-evaluation, constant re-examination of your performance to your point, and then thinking about what to post next as well. and of course I feel like the beginning of your journey was all about sharing that vulnerability and sharing something that was very personal out with the public what advice do you have for founders who might be shy and they don't want to really talk about a lot of behind the scenes stuff but they know that it helps to actually build the business how can they be a little bit more open or vulnerable with their communities?

22:18Don't be afraid to speak. I'm not afraid to speak. I love talking, but that took me a long time to even get to this point. I wasn't, like I said, I wasn't always like this, being able to speak to people and being confident enough to even, you know, tell my story or still being sad about what I'm speaking about.

22:40you need to learn yourself a lot even therapy helped me a lot with being able to learn how to speak to people but I have really bad anxiety and you know a lot of other founders COs they have a lot of anxiety as well because sometimes they just feel like their ideas might not be as good or that their ideas other people may not like them and that could really give you a lot of anxiety and scared to put things out. And don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to talk. Don't be afraid to drop that collection. Don't be afraid to drop that company because it's going to turn out in your favor in the long run.

23:14Be consistent. Go ahead and do what you want to do. And even if you're afraid to talk, it's okay. You can do articles, you know, do a little email to ask and see you some questions. You don't write that down. But you have to grow out of that at some point. Maybe doing fake interviews with your friends can help. I did that. at a point where I was just scared. I was scared to even go up on stage and speak to people. But you know what I did? I went up there and did it because who else gonna do it? They wanna hear from you, not the people behind the scenes that are helping you with your company. They wanna hear from you, the brand of it all.

23:57Love it. Love also the exercise of having those fake interviews with your friends. I feel like that's how I started. So yeah, and I think a lot of our listeners are new to business and they might feel like they're not represented in a competitive industry or category, but they do have new ideas and they want to help solve a problem. What's your advice for them? If you feel like you're not represented in the business that you want to get into, honestly, sometimes that's a good thing because when there's no one like you, you have no competition but yourself and that goes into like the makeup industry when rihanna dropped fenty there was no other makeup brands that had so many foundation colors that she did she was her own competition and look at everybody everybody trying to do what she was doing you know so now she the leader of the pack so you know you just gotta go in and go and don't be afraid of what you're doing just go for it no one can stop you but yourself those people that are doing it and you coming in with something different, but in that same business, girl, oh yeah, it's going to work out real good too.

25:09And that's something I kind of didn't. There was no one like me that had a story like mine that took that negative and turned it into a positive. There weren't 10 year olds like that. There were 40 year olds, 50 year olds starting these companies that had these stories or writing these books. But here comes this little 10 year old. She knocking everybody down. So it's like, you're your own competition. And at that point, I'm my own competition, even still to this day. So don't be afraid and go out and do it and watch everybody. They're going to be stealing your ideas and you're going to be glad that they are.

25:45Yes. Love it. I love it so much. And I know that we talked a little about this throughout the interview where you've managed this company for seven years now. And I do sense that you are at a chapter of change where you're thinking about what you personally want to do next and what you possibly want to do with the company, what exercises are you doing for yourself to help you realize what the goals are for the next chapter? Well, to help me realize the next goals for the next chapter is definitely praying. Praying, praying, praying. When I feel like sometimes you got to sit there and you got to take time to yourself just to pray because I don't have all the answers, but I know there's someone else who does.

26:31And that's the one who knows what's going to happen next to me. And I just have to sit there to myself and just know I don't, I don't have to stress myself out about this 24 seven. I just got to keep going with the flow and just see what happens next and not beating myself up because I don't know what I'm going to do with my life or that I thought I had my life planned out, but coming down to it, I really don't. And I don't want to sit there and mope around thinking about that all day. I just got to keep going. And when I figure it out, I figure it out. I might not figure it out tomorrow, next week, in the next year, but I know one of these days I'm going to figure it out and I'm going to get down to it.

27:13And where I'm going to be proud, look back in the next five years like, dang, look at me. Like, I've really grown a lot, and I was sitting there stressing about something. If you're stressing about something for these five minutes, and you know it ain't going to matter in five years, don't even stress about it. Don't even. If you believe in God, just sit there and pray. If you want to sit there and journal, sit there and journal. Write down your thoughts. If you want to go talk to somebody, go talk to somebody. It's all okay. Hey, whatever your coping system is, go out and just go do it. Have those moments of reflection and also look for ways that could help you to not stress so much.

27:56Well, thank you so much for sharing your story with us, Karis. Yes, thank you so much for having me. Such a great discussion. That's Karis Rogers, the founder of Flexin in my complexion. Thank you so much for tuning in to Shopify Masters. Our show is produced by Gogo Zoger and Megan Coyle. Our engineers are Matt Shorts and Miku Betlam. Benjamin Gottlieb is our managing producer, and I'm your host, Shuang Esther Shan. Don't forget to come back every Tuesday and Thursday for brand new episodes of Shopify Masters. And if you're still listening, share this episode with a friend. Thank you so much.

28:40Thank you.