"Always be a student of your business and your industry."
Shaniqua Williams is building her empire as the co-owner and head of branding and Public Relations for Roman Empire Media Group. After using her marketing skills to attract clients and sustain her insurance company, she transitioned to helping other entrepreneurs create strategic plans to advance their businesses. Shiq fulfills her mission to elevate brands by developing high-quality marketing campaigns, branding and marketing Coaching, and public relations. She’s worked with a variety of businesses, brands, and individuals including Capital Rebirth, Jankail Sherri, Black News Beat, and Billboard charting recording artist Griot B (earning her first Billboard Plaque) and more. Although Roman Empire serves clients all over the country, she’s proud to call Harrisburg, PA home where she creates a lasting impact on business owners, leaders, and rising stars in the community.
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Table of Contents
Thank you for joining us today. Please introduce yourself to our readers. They want to know you, some of the background story to bring some context to your interview.
Shaniqua Williams: I first started my journey as an entrepreneur in the insurance industry as an independent Agent in 2016. I spent so many hours working on my business, branding, marketing, social media, and more. I spent a lot of time learning what it took to market my insurance business to a target audience of people who needed the products I had. I soon become more interested in the marketing aspect than actually selling insurance. I also wondered how many other people have businesses and are struggling with marketing and getting new clients because they don’t have the time or knowledge of strategy. I gave up selling insurance and began focusing on how I could help the business grow, get more leads, land more clients, and close more deals. I’ve always been amazing behind the scenes so it gives me so much joy to build a strategy from start and help businesses see it through and successfully achieve their goals.
You are a successful entrepreneur, so we’d like your viewpoint, do you believe entrepreneurs are born or made? Explain.
Shaniqua Williams: I believe entrepreneurs are made by the circumstances of their life, the passions that fuel them and the never-ending journey of lessons along the way. There are an abundance of reasons why people chose to become an entrepreneur; whether to get away from the rat race of life at a 9 to 5 job, by the influence of other entrepreneurs and business owners or just to build something to call their own. Entrepreneurship is a journey of lessons and those lessons shape the innovation of a business person during the lifespan of their business. Regardless of why one chooses the path of entrepreneurship, their passion and persistence will ultimately determine their success.
If you were asked to describe yourself as an entrepreneur in a few words, what would you say?
Shaniqua Williams: I would say I am a creative, innovative, and connected.
Tell us about what your company does and how did it change over the years?
Shaniqua Williams: Roman Empire Media Group is a marketing and PR agency that focuses on creatively and strategically helping individuals and businesses expand their brand’s recognition and visibility locally, nationally, and internationally. We do that by creating strategies and providing businesses with the tools they need for successful implementation. Over the years, we have been working to expand our team and build more relationships with the people and other businesses that will benefit our clients. We have also added group coaching and industry-specific focus groups to our services to help more businesses learn the same information, connect with other entrepreneurs, and get help with being accountable for implementing the strategies that will grow their business.
Thank you for all that. Now for the main focus of this interview. With close to 11.000 new businesses registered daily in the US, what must an entrepreneur assume when starting a business?
Shaniqua Williams: First an entrepreneur needs to be confident in themselves and the business. Success doesn’t happen overnight and it takes confidence to succeed. Entrepreneurs must also be determined. When it gets hard (because it will get hard) or they feel like giving up (because that happens too), they need to have the determination to see their plans through. As an entrepreneur in the marketing space, the 3 biggest mistakes I see entrepreneurs make is, they fail to get professional help, they don’t know the fundamentals required to successfully market their business and attract as many new clients as their business can handle and they have no idea how to use their marketing to generate immediate cash flow. Working with mentors and professionals can solve those problems and prevent making the mistakes others have already learned from.
Did you make any wrong assumptions before starting a business that you ended up paying dearly for?
Shaniqua Williams: Yes, thinking I could do everything alone was one of my biggest mistakes. I have since learned that partnering and collaborating would be one of the best things to help me in business. I also found mentors. They have been vital in helping me stay grounded and innovative. They open my eyes to new information and experiences I wouldn’t have otherwise. We always hear, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” What I know has been very important to running my business, but who I know has put me in places I couldn’t have done alone.
If you could go back in time to when you first started your business, what advice would you give yourself and why? Explain.
Shaniqua Williams: If I could go back in time, I would tell myself to focus more on the people whose problems I could solve and not the people I wanted to see me succeed and finally be convinced to use my services. A lot of times when people start a business, they look for validation from others. They are working to prove their success to the wrong people. If you are confident and believe in what you do and the results you achieve, it only matters to the people/ businesses that need it and sees the value in it.
What is the worst advice you received regarding running a business and what lesson would you like others to learn from your experience?
Shaniqua Williams: The worst advice I’ve ever received was actually from myself. I wouldn’t even say it was advice, it was a more harsh critique. We are our own biggest critics. I use to believe that I wouldn’t do as well because there were so many people on social media with more money, more followers, and a bigger influence doing the same thing I do. But what I’ve learned is that if I am confident, passionate about what I do and I achieve real results that people need and don’t have, there is room for me to be successful. I learned that what I do is unique and different from so many others and I needed to take the unique features of my business and only focus on the people who needed them.
In your opinion, how has COVID-19 changed what entrepreneurs should assume before starting a business? What hasn’t changed?
Shaniqua Williams: Covid-19 showed entrepreneurs how versatile they need to be. Entrepreneurs need to be able to reach new customers in different spaces. Social media changed the way business is done because there was a period where everyone was stuck at home and only had their technology and devices. Covid taught entrepreneurs how to focus on a specific target marketing digitally in the event in-person is not possible. What hasn’t changed, the level of confidence you need to educate and convey value to your audience.
What is a common myth about entrepreneurship that aspiring entrepreneurs and would-be business owners believe in? What advice would you give them?
Shaniqua Williams: A common myth about entrepreneurship is that you have to know everything to start. You will never know everything. Doing your research and due diligence before starting is vital. But mistakes are inevitable. Every great entrepreneur and business owner has made mistakes and didn’t know everything before starting. They talk about their mistakes all the time and lessons learned often. Learning from those lessons and finding the people who know what you don’t know will be important to your success.
What traits, qualities, and assumptions do you believe are most important to have before starting a business?
Shaniqua Williams: Confidence, dedication, perseverance, the will to learn and keep learning, and the accountability.
How can aspiring leaders prepare themselves for the future challenges of entrepreneurship? Are there any books, websites, or even movies to learn from?
Shaniqua Williams: Learn and keep learning! Always be a student of your business and your industry. There are lots of books and movies to learn from. Some of my favorite books are “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, “Gospel Patrons” By John Rinehart, “Stop faking it and start making it” By Jonathan Turner. My favorite movies are documentaries of business owners or movies with strong African American female leads because they keep me inspired and show me what’s possible.
You have shared quite a bit of your wisdom and our readers thank you for your generosity but would also love to know: If you could choose any job other than being an entrepreneur, what would it be?
Shaniqua Williams: If I could choose any job other than an entrepreneur, I’d probably be a teacher. I believe the youth are the future and there is so much life to live and amazing things they can do with their lives. I love to inspire younger people to do the things they are passionate about. I don’t think high schools properly prepare young adults for the real world so I would make it my mission to be the teacher that did what she could to prepare young minds for the next level of life, not just academically.
Thank you so much for your time, I believe I speak for all of our readers when I say that this has been incredibly insightful. We do have one more question: If you could add anyone to Mount Rushmore, but not a politician, who would it be; why?
Shaniqua Williams: If I could add anyone to Mount Rushmore, I’d add Oprah Winfrey. She has always been inspirational and influential to so many women looking to achieve more in life. Not only as a businesswoman but her philanthropic achievements are unmatched. She has built an amazing network that has given so many people jobs and opportunities that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Shaniqua Williams for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Shaniqua Williams or her company, you can do it through her – Instagram
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