Editor’s note: Made in Tarrant is an occasional Q&A series on small businesses started in Tarrant County. Submit your business here.
Who: Saria Hawkins-Banda
When: August 2020
What: Manifest Your Purpose is a luxury stationery business with the goal of being the premiere stationery company for Black millennial women.
Employees: One part-time employee, three contracted – a lawyer, accountant and digital marketer.
Website: https://manifestyourpurpose.co
Fort Worth Report spoke with Saria Hawkins-Banda about the business. This interview has been edited for content, length, grammar and clarity.
Seth Bodine: Where were you in 2020 when you decided to start this business?
Saria Hawkins-Banda: I was still working full time. I’ve worked in ed tech for about a decade. And I also was in a Ph.D program at University of North Texas. I still worked at UNT at that time, in the department of e-learning. And when COVID hit … I had more time on my hands. I never really had time before, being a mom, being a wife, working full time.
But being at home all the time kind of put me out of balance. Because I’m an extrovert. I like being around people. And then having my husband and my daughter at home, while I’m trying to work. That was a challenge, right? So from a planning perspective, or like staying on top of things, I just felt like I wasn’t there. And I’m always on top of those things.
So I kind of created a system by which I use every day to help me stay on top of things. And that’s how my first product came about, our daily planner. But also, just from a representation standpoint, I’m someone who’s always loved journals and stickers. But I never saw things that looked like me growing up. And so when the wheels started turning, as far as starting a business, I knew that I wanted to put a priority on making products for women who looked like me. Because we’ve gone so long without that privilege.
Bodine: Was there anything that surprised you about starting a business?
Hawkins-Banda: I think one thing that surprised me was how different it was from my formal training because my background is in public policy. But business was also one of my major areas in college. I felt like I learned how to make money for other people, but not necessarily for myself. So there were just so many aspects of having my own business where I was like, I have to do that?
For example, legally filing for a trademark for my name. I learned that the hard way because somebody else tried to file under my name, and had no claim to it because they didn’t have … anything that had to do with Manifest Your Purpose. I just had to learn a lot of hard lessons, which I feel all entrepreneurs do. I at that point had 2.5 degrees and I still was not prepared at all to start a business. Kind of like a live-and-you-learn thing.
Bodine: Was there anything that surprised you about starting a business?
Hawkins-Banda: I think one thing that surprised me was how different it was from my formal training because my background is in public policy. But business was also one of my major areas in college. I felt like I learned how to make money for other people, but not necessarily for myself. So there were just so many aspects of having my own business where I was like, I have to do that?
For example, legally filing for a trademark for my name. I learned that the hard way because somebody else tried to file under my name, and had no claim to it because they didn’t have … anything that had to do with Manifest Your Purpose. I just had to learn a lot of hard lessons, which I feel all entrepreneurs do. I at that point had 2.5 degrees and I still was not prepared at all to start a business. Kind of like a live-and-you-learn thing.
Bodine: How did you fundraise for your business?
Hawkins-Banda: Like most Black women, I bootstrapped. So everything to start my business came from my personal savings. And then once I was able to start generating revenue, which luckily we had a really good launch, I just kind of paid myself back from that, but didn’t really pay myself back. Because everything kind of went in a loop. So the more I made, the more inventory I produced. I just kind of used that initial investment that I made to keep my company going.
Bodine: You competed in the Fort Worth Business Plan Competition and won second place. What was that experience like for you?
Hawkins-Banda: It was great. I had like a very beginner-level draft of a business plan from an accelerator program I did last year. But we’re getting to the point where I’m trying to get venture capital ready. And I knew I needed a legit one. So I just love the structure of it. I’m someone like if I get into competition, I’m going to go 1,000%. So I love having the structure of like, OK, you turn in your first draft on this date and turn in our final draft on this date. And I took the revision and the feedback I got very seriously. So just the fact that I have a viable business plan that I know that I could present to investors was perfect. But, of course, when the money on top of that was like icing on the cake.
Bodine: So your next step is trying to find venture capital for investments in your product?
Hawkins-Banda: That’s one way that we’re looking to raise capital. I do a lot of pitch competitions. Because that’s non-diluted funding, which means I don’t owe anything back.
Bodine: How many pitch competitions have you done?
Hawkins-Banda: That was like my fifth. I actually just started pitching last November. I have a lot of experience in public speaking. I like it. It’s a way to always get more awareness for my brand and something great comes with every competition.
Bodine: What advice would you give to people who want to be an entrepreneur or start their own business?
Hawkins-Banda: I would say, never lose your passion, and educate yourself as much as possible. I’ll say a majority of what I’ve learned has been free. So, Youtube, Instagram. I would find my virtual mentors, like businesses that I admired, never met the owner before, but I’m like, oh my gosh, I love how they run their business. I would sign up for their email list, kind of see what their marketing funnel was like. And that was free. That was something that I didn’t have to pay for. But modeling a lot of my favorite businesses allowed me to kind of build a system for myself.
Not losing your passion, you just have to stick with that, because it’s not easy. It’s not intuitive. Like no one is just born being an entrepreneur. That’s why even young people who are born into a lot of money can still mess it up really bad. So remembering your “why” always helps you to stay focused, even when it gets hard.
Seth Bodine is a business and economic development reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at seth.bodine@fortworthreport.org and follow on Twitter at @sbodine120.
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