Ayomiposi Makinde of iLOMANYY: From Avocation To Vocation; How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career
An Interview With Jason Hartman
To find someone you could always talk to at any moment in time. I think for me, it was my fiancé. Even though I initially thought his views would be biased just because he’s my fiancé, I think that is what makes them so different. He has never really tried to comfort me; he just says the right things, which I love about him. He has always wanted to give me constructive feedback. And I like that for him. So, just find one person you can confide in and talk to every time. Whatever they suggest, try to take their suggestion and then see what other people think. If you could have done things differently, all that’s fine.
As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ayomiposi Makinde.
Ayomiposi Makinde is a visionary entrepreneur with a passion for redefining the world of fashion. In 2021, the Nigerian business woman decided to take a hobby and make it a business when she founded iLOMANYY. This brand goes beyond fashion to cultivate a community of enthusiasts who appreciate unique luxury statement pieces. Specializing in exquisite handbags, iLOMANYY crafts each piece as a masterpiece, meticulously designed with attention to detail and using only the finest globally sourced materials.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?
I was born in Nigeria into a family of four. I think I’ve always had a thing for fashion and design. I can remember when I was, I believe, eight, my Dad would dress up and still ask for my feedback on whether the outfit was good or not to wear. Everything that had to do with decor or designing was always left to me. My parents, if they were to buy something related to the home, put me in charge of taking care of all this. This occurred to the extent that my neighbors and family friends would ask my parents if they would let me come decorate.
What was the catalyst for transforming your hobby or something you love into a business? Can you share the story of your “ah ha” moment with us?
I moved to the United States in 2012, and the first store I worked at was Macy’s. Macy’s really opened my eyes to the fashion industry. I realized this when I decided to pursue it as a business. I think a lot of the things that I put into iLOMANYY are things that I’ve seen from working at Macy’s, looking at different brands, their style, and consistency. That helped me see how I could build a brand.
There are no shortages of good ideas out there, but people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. How did you overcome this challenge?
There is no shortage of ideas out there, that’s true, but I think what scares people most is failure. People are scared to feel defeated, which is why so many things never get started. So many crazy ideas never get established. I have realized that failure is just a normal thing; you fall, get back up, and learn how to do it again. That’s what I did to overcome the fear of failure and learn to just keep creating. Knowing that failure is no more than part of growth and getting started is easy to say but not easy. Also, it’s an opportunity to improve. Be prepared to check your stuff, go back and see why you failed, and try to see if you could actually figure out what could make it better.
What advice would you give someone who has a hobby or pastime that they absolutely love but are reluctant to do it for a living?
I could never have anticipated founding iLOMANYY in a million years, especially in those years just after graduating from college.
Especially here in America, and I think almost everywhere actually, as much as I would have loved to launch iLOMANYY with funding, one thing I was sure to do initially is that I still had a 9 to 5 job supporting the company overhead. Sometimes, it takes your own personal capital to start some of this. It’s not immediately that you start making money. I realized early on that I would keep working a job while I was doing this on the side and having people support me and making sure I could do this. I think I also needed them so that this could turn into something I could do for a living. An understanding that a hobby has the potential to become amazing the brand is also the acknowledgment that with that comes the business. Running a business means not doing as much as you would expect of the hobby, which might derail your joy in doing it.
It’s said that the quickest way to take the fun out of doing something is to do it for a living. How do you keep from changing something you love into something you dread? How do you keep it fresh and enjoyable?
It’s all about your passion for it and just going from there. I genuinely believe this, I think at the beginning I was getting close to dreading it and not having fun with what I was doing because I was the only one doing everything. It was really draining, especially when you’re in charge of creating the design, being a content creator, and everything else. Then someone told me, “You don’t have to do it all. You can’t be the master of all; you will need help, and when you do need help, you need to speak up.” Once I realized this, I learned to determine things for others to handle; for example, the content creation, was not my thing. I said to myself, I guess I have got to find a person, and doing this I have to put myself out there every time. It doesn’t always come naturally to get someone to manage it, but it was a huge relief and made the whole iLOMANYY page 10 times better. I could contribute my two cents about content even more clearly because now I have more time to think, and I have more time to see what the content she has done is created and how to afford to think about something else that could impact the page. You know you could be getting drained from something you love, try not to do everything by yourself. I changed for the better and could keep doing the part that I love and actually enjoy.
What is it that you enjoy most about running your own business? What are the downsides of running your own business? Can you share what you did to overcome these drawbacks?
I think it still goes back to the previous question, what I enjoy most about running my business is actually creating things. This is the most enjoyable part; I think if left to me, I would just create. Behind that is the business, so one thing is just learning how to actually run the business; it makes it different from when you have a hobby. It’s entirely different running a business; there’s so many things you need to learn to run a successful business. You can have the best idea, really, but that’s not enough. I thought I had to learn about this and started going to different seminars to talk to different people that had a business just to get their ideas and what they do and all. I think this is a lesson I needed to learn and try to overcome. I suggest learning how to run a company; I think that’s one thing when it comes to spending money. Where you want to spend, how you want to invest, knowing things that could actually benefit the company once you’re running the business. I’m still growing and learning about the business itself.
Can you share what was the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?
I think before I started, I thought it was just going to be the design and drawing part. Over time, I had to realize that there are so many things that come into running this business. Figuring out Instagram and Facebook, running ad campaigns, and being your own product designer and graphic designer were things I didn’t know much about before. Once I got into the business, I knew more about it. So those were things that were so different in my thought process until I created my first design. Then I also saw the market competition and how brands were doing things differently to get themselves out there, and I just understood that part. Yeah, that was big and tough. Still learning, and I like to think everything gets better with time. That’s one thing. You learn from your mistakes and try not to do it again. That doesn’t mean no mistakes, but at least it would be a different learning mistake.
Has there ever been a moment when you thought to yourself, “I can’t take it anymore, I’m going to get a “real” job? If so, how did you overcome it?
Last year, 2023, was tough for me with creating because, during that time, I was pretty much-doing everything by myself. Trying to be a content creator, trying to be the graphic designer on the website, and trying to do photoshoots on my own. I think I was getting to the point where I was almost about to give it up. You do all those jobs, and then there really aren’t so many returns. So it just feels like a wasted effort. But then again, when talking to people in the family, my fiance got to understand that good things take time. Also, learning how to work with other people for the betterment of the company was a huge relief. It isn’t where I wanted to be yet, but it’s better than where we started from. I’m very optimistic that it will get better, putting in the consistency in the work, not letting one failure derail me from my goal, and what iLOMANYY can become.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When we just started the first design I made, I wanted to make the shipping box. I created this whole design for what the box would look like, not realizing the size was so small. I think one of the ways I could have figured out that maybe something was wrong. I mean, this is the first time I’ve done it. So I didn’t even know, but the price was significantly cheaper. When they arrived, it was the tiniest box I’d ever seen and we ordered like I think 500 pieces of it. I still kept it under storage just in case we ever made a size bag, or anything I fit in that box, and it’s just a reminder of my first thing that just kept them there until we ever got to use it.
Who has inspired or continues to inspire you to be a great leader? Why?
I think it will be my fiance. He also has been a huge part of me in creating iLOMANYY even from the first design, the first contents, the first posts on Instagram, he would be the photographer. That was the model he would tell me the posts to make and all why we shoot for the bag. So he has been like a really great model. He likes to talk, and I don’t, and he has been teaching me how to get better. Like, getting myself out there, ideas on how to improve the company itself. He’s doing research, you know? Yeah, he’s been a great deal of an example of how to be a great leader.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
iLOMANYY supports initiatives for friends, family, and the community. Seminars for kids or gifting bags to kids in different schools. Also, one of the ways iLOMANYY impacts the world is by getting people involved. I’ve worked with a bunch of models that I was willing to just showcase their talent out there, how good they were tagging them and every talent like modeling we do, just so that other people can see their work and be wowed at how good they are. In the long term, I want to create a not-for-profit organization. Back in my country, Nigeria, there’s so much hardship, and I feel like I can make a difference. I would love to do that. It’s just hard to wake up every day and see people suffering, especially kids. It’s hard. And yes, I would love to make an even more meaningful impact.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
I think I’ve mentioned quite a few in this interview so far. One thing is, you never know it all. The fun thing is always seeking questions, learning, and attending seminars; this is how you grow. So you learn the business itself. As I said, you could be so good at being a creator or fashion designer, but learning how to run the business itself is tough. You need people who have done it before, people who are currently doing it, just ideas and interests, and you need to. That’s one thing. The second thing is learning to invest in the business; once you realize that, even though it’s going to cost you now, you just have to look in the future, like, Okay, this is how this will add to the company. And putting this money out there is just a way of investing in the growth of the business, even though it could be out of pocket. You might not have it right now. But learn now, in the long run, this is better for the company. I don’t think you could just do it yourself and not have to pay someone. Those are some of the things I needed to learn. The third thing is, when it comes to design, just because you like it doesn’t mean someone else would like it. Testing what you created is good. There are certain people you should run it through to see how much they like it. Those are good things. I mean, it doesn’t necessarily change your whole high design itself. But maybe you wanted a suggestion from multiple clients saying the same thing, like oh, this could have been better, and you didn’t even see it just because you created it; you thought you created a masterpiece, but they just made it a masterpiece by giving you those suggestions. The fourth is leaning into creative thinkers, friends, or peers; I’m just running your ideas to them, just making sure you trust them. Because just one thing people think people are so scared that people might steal your ideas or design, but one thing is trusting them first and then going through the process of sharing the ideas with them and getting feedback. The fifth one is to find someone you could always talk to at any moment in time. I think for me, it was my fiancé. Even though I initially thought his views would be biased just because he’s my fiancé, I think that is what makes them so different. He has never really tried to comfort me; he just says the right things, which I love about him. He has always wanted to give me constructive feedback. And I like that for him. So, just find one person you can confide in and talk to every time. Whatever they suggest, try to take their suggestion and then see what other people think. If you could have done things differently, all that’s fine.
What person wouldn’t want to work doing something they absolutely love. You are an incredible inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
That’s a great question. Ah, actually, right now, the only other thing that has been in my mind is running a non-profit business. Like I said before, I would really love to do this in Nigeria. I don’t know. There’s just so much struggle going on in the world right now. And looking back at where I came from, how people struggle. It’s tough, tough there. People need help to make it. People work so hard, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. And sometimes, people just need a little push to get there. And just finding a way to make an impact on people.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My favorite life lesson quote is, “growing over life.” I saw that quote, it created a lot of reflection at points when I created the Vela bag and included that text on the back of the bag. Looking back on where I came from and where I am right now, iLOMANYY itself has grown and taken life. Looking at it back and right now. Ages ago, I saw it, and I just had to stand still. It was like a pause moment. To the point where I was like, I want to put it on the bag. I find it to be a reflection every time I carry this bag. I’m gonna pause and appreciate it like, I mean we are all growing. I wasn’t where I was yesterday. Certainly wasn’t the woman that I was yesterday.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
One person I would love to talk with is Rihanna; almost everybody would love to talk to her. We all know Rihanna is a big celebrity. How she really left music and created a whole new hobby we didn’t even know she loved, and she’s effortlessly doing this. I know she definitely has people on their team. She probably even had some failure moments; I would love to know how she went from doing one thing she loves to another thing she loves and being successful at it. She is the definition of a businesswoman — the fact that she even took time off to do that doesn’t mean when she comes back to music, she doesn’t want to be on top of it; I’m sure she’d want to be on top of both things. That would be a dream come true, honestly.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
About The Interviewer: Jason Hartman is the Founder and CEO of Empowered Investor. Jason has been involved in several thousand real estate transactions and has owned income properties in 11 states and 17 cities. Empowered Investor helps people achieve The American Dream of financial freedom by purchasing income property in prudent markets nationwide. Jason’s Complete Solution for Real Estate Investors™ is a comprehensive system providing real estate investors with education, research, resources and technology to deal with all areas of their income property investment needs. Through Jason’s podcasts, educational events, referrals, mentoring and software to track your investments, investors can easily locate, finance and purchase properties in these exceptional markets with confidence and peace of mind.
Starting with very little, Jason, while still in college at the age of 19, embarked on a career in real estate. While brokering properties for clients, he was investing in his own portfolio along the way. Through creativity, persistence and hard work, he earned a number of prestigious industry awards and became a young multi-millionaire. Jason purchased a California real estate brokerage firm that was later acquired by Coldwell Banker. He combined his dedication and business talents to become a successful entrepreneur, public speaker, author, and media personality. Over the years he developed his Complete Solution for Real Estate Investors™ where his innovative firm educates and assists investors in acquiring prudent investments nationwide for their portfolio. Jason’s sought after educational events, speaking engagements, and his popular “Creating Wealth Podcast” inspire and empower hundreds of thousands of people in 189 countries worldwide.
While running his successful real estate and media businesses, Jason also believes that giving back to the community plays an important role in building strong personal relationships. He established The Jason Hartman Foundation in 2005 to provide financial literacy education to young adults providing the all-important real world skills not taught in school which are the key to the financial stability and success of future generations. We’re in a global monetary crisis caused by decades of misguided policies and the cycle of financial dependence has to be broken, literacy and self-reliance are a good start. Visit JasonHartman.com for free materials and resources.
