How Challane Lazo Started A 5 Figure Online Store During The Pandemic
Ma Challane Lazo is a Filipino- American Nurse Entrepreneur in California who launched her Online Retail Store MyLassoDeals.com in 2020 in the middle of the COVID Pandemic.
She immigrated to the US in 2005 bringing with her life savings, big guts, and her vision of an American Dream, that anyone can aspire to be bigger and do better things.
She completed her Master of Science in Nursing in 2010 while doing Full Time Hospital Nurse and at the same time, she was awarded the Nurse of the Year by the Hospital she worked for.
She also received recognition from the Mayor, Congressman, and assemblymember in California for being an Outstanding Nurse in her home State. On top of being a full-time career Woman, Wife, and Mother, and a Dog Lover she also ventures in real estate, stock trading, and the latest in e-commerce.
It has always been part of her motivation for overall growth to explore different avenues in business and mature financially. She wants to bring inspiration to the many dreamers that dreams can become a reality if you set your goals, focus, and work hard for them. Finally, her goal is to evolve and become a better version of herself.
She believes the only way to find out if her strategy works are to get the line working from point A to B and if it does not work then the Alphabet runs until Z while keeping in mind a smart exit plan if needed.
So great to meet you! Please tell us a little about yourself and what business did you start?
I am Ma Challane Lazo a full-time nurse based in California and my curiosity to expand on a field I am unfamiliar with gave me a mission to create a life-changing venture.
I have always wanted to develop a business line that is not in my field of expertise, so I can push myself to learn new ropes and so I had this motivation to expand my learnings, tackle new challenges, and execute newfound skills.
And so, I successfully develop an Online One-Stop-Shop that caters to a great range of High Demand Fashion Clothing and Accessories and we are developing great products now to cater to the needs of our Vegan clientele for skincare.
What’s your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
COVID changed the world as we all know it. The increasing trend of online presence via the internet gave me a glimpse of the potential of how we can reach customers.
As a result, I launch my website – mylassodeals.com to primarily cater to an online market specific to clothing lines and accessories. It is a labor of love considering I am not familiar with the process of how to create a website.
I invested a lot of time and effort in doing research to build the website. During the run of the Pandemic, I noticed my skin is getting dry due to stress, and I have tried testing different products to solve my problem.
I found out that using Natural Vegan cosmetics and skin care products has many benefits, so I experimented it and have seen a big improvement. It brightens my skin and makes it feel supple.
I decided to include EncHantments byLasso Natural and Vegan Cosmetics and Skincare in my Online Products and found a manufacturing company that is willing to produce my brand as evidenced by the excellent result for my skin.
Describe the process of launching the business.
It took me about 4 months to research online and to create my website. Being unfamiliar with the process, I had to spend a lot of time setting up a bulletproof business plan.
As a standard process, I had to attend a lot of Web Seminars just to get into the foundation of online selling which would include getting success stories, failures, challenges, and opportunities from different resource persons.
That is the 1st part and the easiest part to say, the hardest part is how we build the website and how to make it work (having no background on creating a website, more to say how to create an online store).
With the help of my Team, we managed to build a website that is easy to navigate and user-friendly. We developed our website and acknowledged that simplicity is the key to making it more user-friendly to attract better traffic and rake sales.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
The customer comes 1st, that is the number one rule. We need to acknowledge that in this line of business, we have these customers who are spending time visiting our website to shop, and we need to give back by assuring them that they come first.
We take pride in ensuring our customers get the best customer service available through our numerous customer service platforms like email, chat, and over the phone.
Our company takes pride in providing great customer satisfaction that compliments the product we are selling as an added value. These days, multiple channels can have the same product line but what makes us different from them is the value we create in ensuring our customer is king.
What is your main tactic when it comes to making more people aware of your brand and engaging your customers? How did your business stand out?
Other than bringing pride in how we ensure customers’ needs are taken care of, we use Online Ads to penetrate the new market niche as a new company through different social channels like Facebook and Instagram. Word of mouth also helps us boost our traffic and sales through the quality of the products that we sell.
For this to happen, we make sure that our products meet the highest standards of quality and are reasonably priced to give value to customers’ hard-earned money.
What we want is for them to develop a strong bond with our business, and for them to keep on coming back because they are offered great deals and quality products from MyLassoDeals.com.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
We are evolving as we have already laid out a great platform (our website). We started with clothing and accessory lines but with any kind of business, we need to adapt to changes and the definite needs of the customers.
This process involves creating a vision, how to plan and create short-term wins, and implementing a long-term business model so we can achieve success in sales and revenue.
We are constantly looking for products that can stand out without compromising the affordable price range we offer to our customers. We are familiar with some businesses that failed to adapt to change, and this is the reason we are constantly evolving.
We have a new line of Natural and Vegan Cosmetics and Skincare products that I am truly proud of because there is no substitute for the natural ingredient gentle care to our skin.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
Customer’s sentiments – both positive and negative. This provides value to the business as it helps us grow as a company. Customer satisfaction is the most important asset we can have in our online store, and we managed to secure loyalty from our customers as we are a driven customer-oriented business.
Customer satisfaction with the product and overall handling of their orders demands a high level of precision in determining what is working and what to do differently.
We would like to grow our brand and incorporate future growth based on the avatar of the loyal and extremely satisfied customer. We are aware of how important it is to be proactive in gathering feedback on their experience in navigating the website, product reviews, and overall satisfaction.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
With our website being considered a one-stop-shop for various lines of clothing, accessory, and beauty products (that are natural and Vegan), we want to tap into unchartered market niches through our Social media outlets, Facebook and Instagram.
We would like to grow our audience via Social Media. We find value in the power of these ads to bring us potential customers and allow our business to find new leads to increase revenue.
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
I binged on Amazon’s Start-Up Owner’s Manual when I started the idea of creating this business. I did not hesitate in ordering one from Amazon though it can be intimidating as it’s 600 pages.
Being a Nurse (with only medical background), I find it intimidating at first but with the reviews about the book, I find it especially useful in creating my vision.
The book provided real insights on how to create the business and how things would run, thanks to its detailed and useful outline. Besides, the book highlights how to be customer-centric. It identifies common pitfalls and suggests the use of safety nets.
It incorporates a business-building strategy that would be beneficial to the line of business you are setting up, how to attract customers, and how to drive profits for the short- and long-term business plan.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting?
There will always be new skills and techniques for us to learn. For us to live life to the fullest, we must continually look for ways to improve our craft. As for myself, I believe in the saying, “you don’t know what you don’t know.”
In business, there are complex approaches to how to become successful and countless opportunities. We should be open to learning new things, challenging ourselves, and acquiring new skills to be competitive. We need to evolve to stay relevant for us to be competitive in the business world.
Where can our readers keep up-to-date with you?
Mylassodeals.com, MyLasso Deals Facebook and Instagram page
