Meet Holly Swoosh | Serial Entrepreneur

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

Hi Holly, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
It was actually more so a “knee-jerk reaction” than a thought process because if I actually thought this through, I’d just get a job lol. I had been working for other people since I was 12 years old and I was growing extremely frustrated at this point with working. I unofficially started my business in 2017 and made my first sale in 2019 but I still didn’t really grasp the business portion until end of 2019 beginning of 2020. When the world shut down March 2020 my mind went into overdrive and I started figuring ways to actually brand my business as a real business. After being traumatized by how jobs shut down due to the pandemic I knew I didn’t want to continue to work for other people and rely on them to tell me how much money I can make, when I can make it and to place limitations on the amount of hours I worked and the amount of money I’d be paid. During Quarantine all I did was attend YouTube University and study business courses because it was important to me to take control of my life and more importantly my finances. I learned how so many people like myself took charge and did the same but many people also showed HOW they did it which made the road a tad bit smoother.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m currently taking a break from social media to rebrand and to just get a mental break from the craziness of social media in it’s entirety. Everyday I log on I see things and people I don’t want to see or I see things I’m not supposed to know and instead of taking hours to delete and or block people I just removed myself for a while however when I return I have a ton of goodies for my supporters. I’m not one to brag at all but I do soooo much and that’s what sets me apart from so many others. My Instagram name is @_iamnotacomedian specifically because I’m not only a comedian. Comedy is in my lane however I’m a businesswoman and an artist as well. I have my production company MissUnderstood Productions, several shows and businesses up under that such as my photography business and my show Charansalachunz and the merch/clothing line attached to it. I also have the podcast “Hash it with Holly” on any podcast listening platform and my content can be viewed on my Holly Swoosh YouTube page. I’m sure there’s something I’m forgetting because I do so much ! I never limit myself to the things I want to learn and do and I’ll never listen to small minded advice like “stay in your lane”. How can I stay in my lane if I’m a whole expressway? That’s at least 6 or more lanes on a highway; Don’t believe me? Google it! I’m most proud of myself for still pushing through. This has not been an easy journey. It still isn’t and it won’t be but the final destination is worth every bump, bruise, tear and blood shed. I’m not there yet but I can see it and I’ve been seeing it for over 25 years now. The destination grows as my mind expands with each lesson I learn along the journey which makes it that much sweeter. It took a lot for me to get where I am today. I still have a long way to go and I feel like I’m just getting started. I lost a lot of friends, I’ve been used for “clout”, I’ve had people befriend me based on views and what they think they can get from me and I’ve had to work even harder to protect my peace and weed these people out of my life as quickly as possible. Especially since the views do not equate to dollar signs. I’ve had 67k+ views on videos while having $0.57 in my bank account. I’ve been the broke funny friend and that can be a struggle. That’s why it was important for me to start the business as well. It’s so easy to just go get a job but doing so I’d be doing myself a disservice and letting down the people whole believe in my vision and see the same final destination I see. I can’t say I overcame all of the challenges because there are still challenges I’m facing and more to come. I’m no where near where I see myself but that makes the journey worthwhile. I’ve learned that it’s imperative to protect your peace as an individual who has a large following. That includes being aware of the people around you. Everyone should NOT have access to you and unfortunately I learned that the hard way. The people in your close circle should always have your best interest at heart. It is more than necessary to have a strong support system because this “game” is not for the faint hearted. People on the internet can be bullies and if you don’t have people in your circle constantly building you up, you will perish. My goal is for the world to know that MissUnderstood Productions and everything we do is extremely intentional. There is reason behind everything we do and it’s not all about a dollar. We could get a job for a dollar, I started this business to change the minds of people in my city and the world.

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.
My best friend literally just came in town from Hawaii and I took her to my favorite vegan spot for breakfast at Gnome Cafe. We parted and met up later that evening to go to another one of my favorite vegan spots Neon Tiger. Afterwards we went to Music and Motion for Adult Skate Night and might I add I enjoyed every minute of each fall ?! Ha! We definitely felt like we were in high school again. If she had a week I’d take her to my top notch most favorite vegan restaurant in the city, Dellz. Because I’m a foodie we would head to the Pineapple Hut on Folly Beach then actually go to the beach (no I don’t care if it’s cold, I’m infatuated with the beach lol). If it weren’t so cold I’d take her on the harbor cruise (boat ride) and walk downtown to the Pineapple Fountain, swing on the swings and look over the water. As childish as it sounds, we’re definitely going to Frankies Fun park to ride go karts and back to Music and Motion for Lazer Tag. We’d also check out the Charleston Museum and a lil Geechee Gullah Tour. As boring as it sounds, we’d have to go check out the black owned bookstore “Turning Page Bookshop” and then hit the mall or Tanger if she wants to do a lil shopping . Charleston is such a beautiful city I feel like I wouldn’t be able to do all that I want in one week especially if I hadn’t been able to do it all in 25+ years so far lol.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Lefrais King (frais.monde on Instagram) I would not have been able to make my first and many other sales had it not been for this King.

Website: www.MissUnderstoodProductions.online

Instagram: https://instagram.com/_iamnotacomedian?utm_medium=copy_link

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/iamnot.acomedian.1

Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCJ8O8r87T_1WXnZaoWhMO0g