Aaliyah Arnold, Owner of BossUpCosmetics
Have you ever wondered what it was like inside of Aaliyah's world as a 16 year old Teen Boss? Let's get the inside scoop of what her experience has been like running her own cosmetic brand, BossUpCosmetics!
Aaliyah first expressed her interest in business in third grade. She began her first business called, "Sticky Business." In her first brand she sold duct tape products such as purses, wallets, phone cases, and so much more!
We asked "What's it like running a small business at such a young age?" She replied with, "Oof stressful. Lots of people think it is easy and something you can jump right into when it's not. Actually, It's the exact opposite, not only is it stressful making so many products and shipping lots of orders at one time, but it makes you grow up faster than you should and takes away that feeling of being a child. In the end, I love what I do and I wouldn't change it for the world."
You may be thinking, hmm...how do you maintain a balanced social life with all of this stress and almost a lack of childhood? Arnold has done online school for the past four years now so she is very independent and is very use to being around her family. Not much changed within her personal life when she started her brand, BossUpCosmetics. Through owning this special brand, she has learned to think and speak much more professionally and learned most of those skills through social media. 
Aaliyah started testing her real interest in business with her slime business when she was around the ages of 11-13. Business was booming! She brought in hundreds of sales and made a decent amount of revenue from her shop. After getting bored with slime and growing out of it, she eventually closed her business! Personally, I think it's very impressive to start such a successful business at 11, no?
Fast forwarding to nearly two years ago, Aaliyah was bored with not much to do and just out of curiosity, she started brainstorming new business ideas and came up with her new business as we know it today, BossUpCosmetics. Initially the brand was named Boss Gloss, but she grew out of the name because she expanded her brand tremendously by adding many new products such as lashes, new gloss collections, eyeshadow pallets, and now skincare!
This Teen Boss started off her brand with just ten glosses and said "It wasn't good at all, not gonna lie. They (her family) gave me constructive criticism that helped me learn what formulas were." Her website was open for about four months with zero orders until one day her post blew up on instagram and she got her first ten orders and sold out in less than 30 minutes! Ever since her post went viral, she has been growing ever since.
GO AALIYAH!
Now, to wrap this up we asked her for some advice that she wanted to share with other fellow upcoming Teen Bosses and here's the advice she passionately recommends you take:
- PATIENCE! Owning a business takes a lot of hard work, time, and dedication and if you aren't passionate about what you do, it's not going to work. Just know that one day your hard work will absolutely pay off but if you are solely in this for money and/ or clout, you won't get very far and if you do, you'll be unhappy.
-ORIGINALITY IS KEY. Making your brand stand out is what's going to speak to not only you, but your target audience. People want to see authenticity, not just another copycat. They feed on your creativity and self dedication. Never stop doing YOU to fit in with the crowd, don't listen to the hate, and set your own personal goals. Know that rough patches are inevitable, but tackle them head on.
Our last words of wisdom -- You CAN and WILL make it from the bottom to the top. From two Teen Bosses to the rest of the world, we pray that you are blessed with an abundance of love, wealth, and passion! Don't forget to take care of yourself and enjoy your journey.
Xo,
Aaliyah and Jas.
BossUpCosmetics Social Media and Contact:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bossupcosmeticss/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bossupcosmetics?source=h5_m
Website: https://www.bossupcosmetic.com
