Meet Camelia Frink | Business Coach & Entreprenuer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Camelia Frink and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Camelia, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Before starting my business, I was like where did that even come in my mind to start a business at the age of 24 so I honestly just ignored it. However, it didn’t go away! So what I did was started implementing it. While doing this, I still sometimes asked myself “Is this really you?” Of course it was me because that was God’s voice and calling to tell me what I needed to be focused on. When it comes to starting a business, the usually biggest concern to many like myself is how can I do this especially financially. I had to let God picture that for me and just remain focus on what my calling was as I had trade in many areas. Upon writing ideas down in my journal and notebook, I decided to start off with opening a hair boutique online where I would sell all bundles, wigs, and accessories that go hand in hand with this business.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
As a child growing up, I was always watching my family, next door neighbor, and my hair stylists braid hair. It got me wanting to learn myself and how to do certain other styles as well. The braiding looked so simple and easy that I had to give it a try. It wasn’t quite as easy but at the age of 12, I started my journey on learning how to do it. In little to no time after trial-and-error multiple times, I finally got the hang of it. From clean straight parting of the hair, gripping the hair, and doing some simple design braiding styles you couldn’t touch me. (lol) I was so excited to learn this, that I didn’t stop there and got interested into a few other styles to learn with the hair game. My senior year of high school in 2006, I took the cosmetology program to learn how to do other styles. My focus was on learning how to do twist up-do styles, weave better known as sew-ins, and quick weaves. Little did I know that wasn’t the primary center of attention in the class as a whole. I had to learn the basic old school styles such as fingerwaves, rollersets, how to perm and relax the hair, and so much more than what my focus was on. Nevertheless, I stayed in the program throughout my senior year of high school, but I didn’t go any further with it, thereafter. I had learned on my own how to do the styles I was focused on, and I had a family member who didn’t mind allowing me to do those styles on her hair until I got the hang of it. Let’s fast forward a bit! After graduating high school, I went to college and studied accounting. I graduated with an associate degree in accounting in 1.5 years of taking the courses. Shortly after graduation, I started working for an accounting firm where I was a bookkeeper, certified tax preparer, and payroll processor. However, the passion with hair never left my mind and I thought about opening a boutique one day to quit the 9-5. In 2016, I started ordering samples of hair bundles so I could start selling hair. After about 7 months I finally decided which vendor to go with and placed my first big order. Upon arrival, I just knew it would sell out! Sadly, it didn’t go as I expected it to go but I didn’t stop promoting and advertising. I added other items that would go hand in hand with bundles such as eyelashes, jewelry, and other accessories to help increase sales. It helped but not exactly where I needed it to be. Did I really want to be an entrepreneur is what started flowing through my brain? Of course, I did! So, I decided to take a pause and focus on rebranding. In 2019, shortly before the pandemic shutdown, I had started doing my research on starting a vending machine business and had all I needed to get going in an 80-page, 1-subject college-ruled notebook! However, I started second guessing my research for some odd reason and I connected with someone I had been following on social media who started their own vending machine business from the ground up. I decided to invest in their $5K vending training mentorship to only get what was mainly in my notebook that I had already written down. Let’s just say upon the 3rd week of that training I was so done that I said to myself, “Girl you got to get up, get out, and get to making this investment back times 3!” I immediately started cold-calling and the first location I contacted was all for it after reading my proposal, so I got on the way to ordering my first eyelash vending machine! I am now in multiple locations in different states less than 2 years, and I am business coach who specializes in getting others in this business too. But if you’re seeking other business needs, I am still the one to get you where you’re trying to be and get your future business off the ground. I am business coach here to help anyone start their business from the ground up. I also help businesses that may be established but need a little hand in some type of way. I have a retail online boutique to shop for hair bundles, weave, and my hair product. I provide e-books to help individuals looking to start a vending machine business, learn how to build business credit, and more. Lastly, I have my multiple eyelash styles, eye shadow pallets. eyelash glue pens, and tools to put them on in my vending machines. My brand sets apart from others with my motto which is “To be bold, to be unique, to be different, to be you! Taking you to the next level by all means!” My services are opened to the public and by all means don’t be afraid to reach out. I am here to help you scale your brand by all means to the next level!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Wow! The options are endless in Atlanta and the many suburbs! There’s really so much we can do in Atlanta and things that I’ve yet to do, so this will be an awesome week of fun and business. Day one we will play catch up on things through conversation while we chill after she gets checked-in and of course have dinner somewhere. Day two, we will have brunch at Breakfast at Barney’s to start our day and plan out some content creation as we’re both business owners. After brunch we will go somewhere maybe in Sandy Springs to do some nice content creation from the scenery and then sit somewhere to see what we each need help on with our businesses. Later in the evening we will have dinner at Frida’s Bar and Grill. Day three we doing noting but straight off-duty things, meaning we will start with getting breakfast at Grits and Eggs Kitchen then on to get a fresh pedicure. After that we will go get a massage for a couple of hours that i would treat her with on me. Now it’s time to go shop a little bit at Lenox Mall and then head on in to get ready for the evening and night. Dinner will be at PreView Restaurant & Bar. We will end this night at Daiquiriville. Day 4 is now here with just one more day remaining and of course we have to get something good to eat for brunch as we sleep in a little to relax from the day before. Let’s do breakfast at Atlanta Breakfast Club! At breakfast we will do our girl talk and just enjoy the moments as our week is almost up! After breakfast we will go get ready for river tubing on the Chattahoochee River! Get ready to enjoy the 4-miles of snacking, sipping, talking, and just have good vibes fun! Lastly before the night is done we must go have our last dinner at Rock Steady Atlanta. Now that day 5 is here, we will say our goodbyes and hopefully at least have breakfast before time to get onto the busy Hartsfield-Jackson Airport! Bittersweet moments but we will do it again with a different itinerary all around!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to give a big shout-out to my sister from another mister Zollyann Howell. She’s the reason I’m being featured here again with VoyageATL which I absolutely love and appreciative of. I really have a lot to continue sharing with the world and why not do it here with you. I also want to give recognition to my daughter Ma’Kenzy, she’s the reason I go hard with my entrepreneur journey to show her what she can do straight out of high school if she wants because if I had this opportunity upon graduating high school, I can bet you my last dollar it would’ve been done! Big thanks to all my family who supports me nonstop, clients, mentees, and customers.

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