Meet Alexis Dent, founder of legging brand Eraminta and custom vow wedding company, XO Juliet. Her savvy social media tactics, eye for design and play on words have benefited her as a solopreneur greatly. Here’s her story:
1 | Tell me about your company… What does your company do?
I own two companies: eraminta.com and xojuliet.com. They are so different in that one is a legging brand and the other is a custom vow and hashtag wedding company, but they’re both passion projects that I feel grateful to pursue.
2 | How long have you been in business or developing your brand?
I have been developing my personal brand quite literally since college. However, Eraminta and XO Juliet are both under a year old.
3 | What are some challenges you have faced being an entrepreneur?
A big issue I face, which is rather common especially in solopreneurs, is Imposter Syndrome. Even when everything feels like it’s going “right” business wise, I’ll still doubt myself and feel like a failure. I also deal with explaining my brands to people and/or people assuming I’m just another millennial who uses the word ‘entrepreneur’ as a crutch but doesn’t actually work. That’s the most frustrating aspect, because the people who make these assumptions are the same ones who don’t see how hard I work.
4 | How much has social media impacted your business?
Social media has been great for my business. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming, especially managing multiple brands, but it has been so helpful at generating leads and more importantly building community.
5 | What makes you unique to other professionals in your space?
I think my transparency makes me unique. I don’t try to sell this unattainable life of perfection where I look perfect every day and have the perfect life. On the contrary, I make it my goal to highlight that we all have bad days, roadblocks, and pitfalls in our life… but that’s what makes the highs of success and happiness feel that much better.
6 | What advice can you give to your fellow millennial entrepreneurs?
Keep grinding. You might have ideas that fail, or you might get discouraged by other entrepreneurs who appear to be doing better than you. But focus on the good and staying in your lane. If you are dedicated, offer value, and build community, everything will fall into place with time.
7 | Bossfidence is all about finding your bliss and building your confidence, how did you know that you needed to branch out from your comfort zone?
I knew I needed to branch out when I was so fundamentally unhappy in my corporate life. I was uncertain about what being self-employed would have in my future, but it has been so great about finding peace and building my confidence. Even when I wish sales were growing more aggressively or some other metric was doing better, I remind myself that I am doing so well for myself as a young woman in her twenties that builds and manages her own businesses.
8 | Who is your biggest influencer or inspiration?
Well my instinct is always to say my mom, but if we’re going for something less cliche I’ll say Aubrey (Drake) Graham. I used to watch him on Degrassi, and I grew with him through that phase to making mixtapes to now being a Grammy-winning artist and mogul. He didn’t have the easiest upbringing, although people often assume he did. And he had to grind and pivot a lot throughout his career. But he’s always stayed true to himself and, even when he has missteps, holds himself with class and authenticity. I admire that, and I respect anyone who hustles without taking shortcuts to the top.
9 | Anything else Bossfidence.com should know about your company?
That I’m always down for collabs with likeminded millennial girl bosses. Let’s connect!