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Today on MMB Media TV, we have Mrs Kimberly Mitchell-Waters, the founder of K Mitchell Collections, Growing With Luxury.
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Thank you so much for being on with us today.
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Thank you for having me.
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Absolutely.
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You're welcome, kim.
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We wanted to have you on to talk about your journey in becoming the founder and CEO of K Mitchell Collections Growing With Luxury.
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So let's start off with this question what inspired you to start your own baby and children's brand?
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let's start off with this question what inspired you to start your own baby and children's brand?
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When both of my daughters surprised me that they were both expecting at the same time and my grandsons was going five days apart.
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Wow, can you describe the journey of launching your own brand?
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The journey has been tough, but I knew I wanted a legacy brand.
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So when my grandsons was born, I just automatically knew I wanted them to grow into a legacy brand.
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That's right.
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So that's how the inspiration started, but the journey has been.
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It's been a blessing, but it's also been hard.
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Wow, wow.
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You talk about legacy.
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I like that.
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It's not just about you, but it's about your children and your grandchildren coming after you.
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You want to leave them something.
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Yes, I do, yes, I do that is, that is one of my goals.
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Yes, so let's talk about the name.
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How did you come up with the name for your business?
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The name came about because Mitchell is my maiden name and with me leaving a legacy.
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That is where the legacy started, so I definitely wanted to add Mitchell in it.
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Growing with luxury, because I feel my brand is a luxury accessible brand, so I feel luxury should not break the bank, right.
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So all children deserve luxury when they first come into the world.
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So that's exactly how I put those two together Wow.
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You talk about the name Mitchell, so did you have any family members in the past that were entrepreneurs, that had their own business, or are you the first one?
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No, my great uncles were entrepreneurs, but my immediate family no, everybody in my immediate family is more corporate, but my great uncles, all of them, were entrepreneurs.
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All of them had businesses.
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Wow, so they started their own.
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Yes, wow, so it was in the blood.
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Yes, it is.
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Wow.
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So what are some of the biggest challenges?
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You talked about challenges.
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What are some of the biggest challenges you faced when you started out with K Mitchell Collections?
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Just, I had to learn how to be an entrepreneur.
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Um, I had to learn the industry.
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Things have changed since 30 years ago, since I gave birth, so I wanted to.
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Um, I wanted my brand to be strong, so I took the time to do the research, found out what the industry standards were and you know, I just had to dig in deep.
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I didn't want a trendy brand, I want a legacy.
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So I want it done correctly.
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So moving slowly is fine with me, as long as it's done correctly, wow.
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I like what you said.
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You did the research, yes, and so some people think that you could just have an idea and you could just start something, but you have to do the research first, yeah, find out what you're getting into.
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Yes, you do.
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Wow, Wow.
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You talk about doing the research to make sure it's a legacy brand.
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So, with social media being a big part of how we market our product today, how do you market your brand and reach your target audience?
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Well, I'm on all platforms but, at the end of the day, social media is so boggled.
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It's so it's, it's a lot, but um with me, with me starting out, um just learning the target audience.
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You know I want my target audience, of course, um first time moms, parents, um parents, expecting moms, grandmothers, Um, a lot of people look at my page and think my grandchildren are my, are my children, but they're my grandchildren.
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So you know, I want to build a community of grandmothers.
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That's fabulous.
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And, of course, expectant mothers and seasoned mothers as well, wow.
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So is it like just in the country, or do you go out of the country?
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Yes, I will ship internationally.
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Yes, Amazing.
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Yes, wow, I love that.
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So what has been the most rewarding part of running your own business since you started, you know?
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I can say the most rewarding part is seeing my baby grow.
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Came into collections.
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Going with luxury is my baby.
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So seeing from where I first started, from where I am now, that is so rewarding.
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Even with the pitfalls, even with all the controversy that comes with entrepreneurship, that is the most rewarding for me, you know staying consistent and just continue to see her grow into a multi-million dollar brand which she will be.
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I love it.
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So what does a day look like when your feet hit the floor?
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What does a work day look like for you?
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The first thing I do is give thanks.
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Wow, I open my eyes and I give thanks.
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I pray, I meditate.
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I'm going to pray over my business.
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That's exactly what I'm going to do.
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After that, I'm going to check my emails.
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I'm just going to start my day.
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I'm going to let it flow.
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I check my inventory.
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Going to start my day, I'm going to let it flow.
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I you know, I check my inventory, I answer all my emails and I just continue to go if I have any meetings.
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But you know packaging orders it's a lot.
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But you know, the first thing I do when I wake up is I thank God for even having me here.
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Amazing.
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I love it.
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I love it.
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So many people have baby clothing brands out here.
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What makes you so unique among so many others?
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K-Metri Collections Growing With Luxury.
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It's a perseverance brand.
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If you look at me, you will be able to do anything.
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You will be able to do anything.
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Just like I said, we're into uniqueness and with K-Metri Collections Growing With Luxury, I'm blending luxury with accessibility, so that's what makes my brand different.
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Wow, looking at your office, I can see excellence.
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You're about excellence.
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Yes, I am Making sure things are right, not trying to be perfect, but you're.
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You know you want to make sure what you're selling is excellent and I see that, yes, in Kay Mitchell Collections.
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Yes.
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Thank you, thank you, I love it.
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I love it.
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So, with having challenges, what have been some of the setbacks that you've had and how did you overcome them?
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A couple of setbacks.
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When I first started I was, a cease and desist letter came.
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It came in formal in my DMs, which was kind of surprising because I'm like, I'm a new brand, but that was that.
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It kind of discouraged me.
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But then, on the other hand, it made me say, ok, I may be small, but I'm a, I'm powerful.
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So you know, that was.
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It was a lot, but it let me know, like Kim, ok, it's time for you to step your game up.
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It's people that's looking at you.
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Even though they might don't like you know, like or share anything, it's people that's looking at you.
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So when they look at me, yes, I want them to see excellence.
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I definitely do so.
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That was one of my first obstacles that I definitely had to get over, with me just being a startup brand.
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But I came through because God had me and at the end of the day, it made me stronger.
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Amazing, amazing.
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So you learned from what you went through.
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It made you better.
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Yes, Amazing, and that made me start my trademark process.
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Wow, wow.
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That's good to know.
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So can you talk a little bit about when you talk about trademark, because you never know who's listening, who wants to start their own business.
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So when you talk about trademark, how important is that?
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Trademarking your business, your brand, is very important because you can go and get you know a name, an LLC.
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But if you want to build, you have to make sure it's not nationally, and that's what I wanted.
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So you have to.
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It's going to cost money, but it's going to cost you even more.
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If you put all your money in your branding and someone sends you a letter stating that this is my name and I had it first by law, you could literally lose everything and you could literally have to start all over again.
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So that was one of the main things.
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I did not know anything about it in the beginning, but when the obstacles started coming, I had someone try to take possession of packaging.
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I had to learn how to get copywriting for my packaging.
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So I had to learn how to protect myselfwriting for my packaging.
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So I had to learn how to protect myself.
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So I went and hired an attorney and, like I said, it's not cheap.
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You have to pay for the trademark and then you have to pay for the classes.
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A lot of people don't understand the classes that go under the trademark.
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So I just wanted to make sure.
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Like I said, I'm building a legacy.
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So my brand, I want my brand here, even after I'm gone generations afterwards.
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So I don't want anyone to be able to come take anything from my family that I have built absolutely on my back, absolutely.
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So that's why you know it's going get trademark going.
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Go and find someone that's gonna trademark your brand.
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Wow, it's good information about that, because sometimes in a business I believe listening to you, that sometimes you have to use your own money first.
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Yes.
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That that the return doesn't come automatically.
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Yes, yeah.
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Yes, people think that when you start a business you're going to automatically get money.
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You know money is going to automatically flow and that's not true and I can't say that for all businesses, because some businesses they want to make fast money and it's nothing wrong with that, but my money is going to come slowly because I want my.
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My brand is a legacy, so I want it done correctly.
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When you see K-Metri collections growing with luxury somewhere, you're going to know it's a brand that you can trust.
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Wow, and you're getting what you're paying for.
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Wow, wow.
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So what would you tell a young woman who's inspiring to start something new, just like you have?
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What would you what?
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What encouraging words would you give them while they're starting out?
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Um, pray about it.
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Pray about it and don't let anyone tell you it's not possible.
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Wow, um, you have a lot of people that you know that might look at you and say what is she doing?
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Oh, she's not going to be able to persevere through it.
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You have to let the naysayers go.
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Entrepreneurship is not about what people say.
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You have to be out of your mind to start a business, but you know it can be done, because you're gonna have good days, you're gonna have bad days, and all of those bad days you have to keep moving.
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You have to keep moving.
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Do not stop, and I have had plenty of bad days, but I wouldn't give it up for nothing in the world.
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I wouldn't trade it.
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So what encouraged you to keep going?
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My children, my grandchildren, my husband.
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It's plenty, I'm done, but they're like you have came too far.
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I don't even want to hear that in your vocabulary.
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So now I'm really testing myself to say, kim, stop saying you can't.
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It's hard.
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So I don't even try to put that in my vocabulary anymore.
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It's, I can do it.
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I can do it and I'm going to get it done because Kate Mitchell Collection is going with Luxury.
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It will be a multimillion dollar brand.
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Wow.
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So A mental collection is going with luxury will be a multimillion dollar, wow.
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So listen that you say excellence um legacy, and I believe that the one that you can, that you just really talked about was having the right people around you in your corner to encourage you.
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Yes, when you definitely need a circle you definitely need a tight circle, you definitely need a brand circle.
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I always say that um, you can tell when people ask you questions who you're speaking to.
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You can see if you're speaking to someone that really doesn't know anything about business.
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When you're speaking to someone, you know if they know about business, because I get asked questions all the time how is your business doing?
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I know you're making money and then I have other people say, kim, you are doing good, keep going, keep doing.
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I know you're making money and then I have other people say, kim, you are doing good, keep going.
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Right, keep going.
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I know it's hard, but keep going.
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So they are the people that I listen to, because I don't listen to people that have not walked in my shoes.
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I like that.
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Yes, I like that.
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So do you have mentors that help you, or do you, you know, learn on your own?
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Both.
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Okay, I do have a couple of mentors, and I have had a couple of mentors, believe it or not.
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One.
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Most of them were men in the beginning, but eventually I think God is going to send me the proper mentor that I need.
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But as far as me, I'm a go-getter anyway.
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Right, so I'm going to get it done, right.
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You know, even nothing is a mistake, right?
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All everything I done made a mistake.
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God has always made it bigger.
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Wow, it was a lesson, so I know not to do it.
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Some of them was costly, but I made it, wow, wow.
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So what do you see your brand in the next two years?
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Um, I see K-Metriions growing with luxury and major retail stores.
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I see us being a multi-million dollar brand.
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I see us giving back to the community.
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Community is a very big part of my plan for my legacy.
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K-metri Collections will be.
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It's going to be huge.
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I feel I have a lot to give back.
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Wow, wow.
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So you see yourself expanding, expanding.
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Yeah, expanding beneath, beyond what I believe Great vision.
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Yes, I love it.
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I love it.
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Yes, I love it.
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Do you have any new products coming out?
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Yes, yes, I do, yes, I do.
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My brand is going into eco-friendly, so I definitely have a lot.
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I definitely have collections coming.
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When you come to my brand and come to my website, you will be able to see.
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That's why it's going with luxury so you will be able to have just your basics and then your child can also grow with us and have a piece of luxury as well.
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Wow, so you said come to your website.
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Can you, can you share?
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How can people find you?
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Yes, you can find us on Instagram, pinterest, facebook, but you can also visit our website at wwwkmitchellcollectioncom.
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Wow, so you're looking for future customers.
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I'm looking for future customers, just saying A future community.
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Come and join our community.
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I love that, what you said A future community.
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Come join our community.
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All the families, grandmothers, seasoned mothers, everybody, parents, all look, come join our community.
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Got you.
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So, in your own words, how would you describe your brand to your future audience?
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My brand is, like I said before, one with luxury.
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You have basics and then you have the luxury, but all of our products will be eco-friendly.
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I will have 100% cotton, bamboo.
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Everything is going to feel good on your baby and your toddler.
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But one thing about it when you purchase from us, you will be purchasing from a brand that you will definitely be able to trust.
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Amazing, amazing, amazing.
