Today we’d like to introduce you to Xanquila McKinnon.
Hi Xanquila, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I just wrapped up my first year of law school when I decided that I wanted to start my own business. As a full-time law student who spends the majority of their weekdays studying, I was only able to work a part-time job. That wasn’t enough for me. As crazy as it sounds, I literally woke up one morning (September 15th, 2020 to be exact) and thought up my entire business plan before I even got out of bed. It felt like a fire had started inside of me. That fire was passion. That’s the day that X.A.N was born. The name X.A.N comes from my own, Xanquila (or Xan). I wanted my business to be a reflection of me. A reflection of my values. Having my name on a business makes it so much more personal. It motivates me to grind harder and to give my customers a top-quality experience every single time they shop. It’s been almost two years since the launch of X.A.N and although it’s still growing and evolving every day, it’s nowhere near where it was when I first started. Since then, X.A.N has expanded into two flourishing online businesses and for that, I am so grateful.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has been everything except smooth. I think a roller coaster would be a better way of describing it. Starting up a clothing business can be expensive and very time-consuming. You have to stay up to date on all of the newest fashion trends, post on multiple social medias consistently, pay for advertisements, and for my boutique, I have to model all of my own clothing and edit all of the pictures afterward. This can take an entire day. Although it is a lot of work, there’s no feeling like seeing how beautiful the end results can be!
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
If I had to give advice to anyone that was looking to start a business, the first thing I would say is “Start it.” Stop second-guessing. Stop overthinking. Just do it. The uncertainty may feel scary, but your future self will thank you for taking that big first step. Lastly, I would tell them that it’s going to get hard. Like really hard. You’re going to have those days when you feel like throwing in the towel but don’t. Whenever I started to feel this way I would always remind myself of two things.
1)The reason why I started and that
2)Anything worth having won’t come easy. Remember these two very important things, and nothing will be able to stop you from achieving your goals.
Contact Info:
- Email: sales@xanofficial.com
- Website: https://xanofficial.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/x.a.n.official/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/XANofficialclothing
