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Branded Email Addresses Are A Thing & You Should Be Using One
I don't know about you, but I've become more and more selective when it comes down to what I open or automatically delete in my inbox. Spam emails are a thing, and I'm not here for it.
When businesses or brands reach out to me, as a business owner I find it hard to take the company seriously if their company email address is "companyname@gmail.com". If you're a business owner, I highly recommend having a professional email domain before you start sending out emails. Not only is it the professional way to conduct your business communication, but it's also surprisingly really cheap too.
Like dirt cheap.
If you need more convincing, keep reading for three reasons why having a professional email domain is a must, and a budget-friendly way to get one.
1. It’ll make you look less like Joanne the Scammer.
A professional email domain with your company name automatically makes your business look professional, legit, and more trustworthy. Just think about it, would you buy something or open an email from an email address from kimscupakes@gmail.com or from team@kimscupakes.com?
I'm sure you picked the latter.
If a potential customer sees your email from your professional, company email domain, they'll see that you're legit and more than likely will open your email. However, if you are sending company emails that end in gmail.com or yahoo.com, it's possible that it'll get deleted, marked as spam, or blocked.
2. It’s free advertising.
Every time someone opens up your email, they are engaging with the marketing for your business. By having a professional email domain for your company, it will help imprint your business brand in your target market's mind every time they open or see your email.
3. It’s cheap AF.
Lately, I've seen more new business owners emailing from their Gmail or Yahoo! accounts, and after speaking with them, I've learned that they weren't aware of how cheap and easy it is to have a professional email domain that includes their business name.
Sis, the gag is, it doesn't cost a lot at all to have a professional email domain.
It can literally cost you a few dollars a month and is way cheaper than what you'll spend at Starbucks or Chick fil A each day, or for your Netflix subscription each month.
Because of the benefits and inexpensive cost, it's beyond worth it to invest in a professional email domain.
4. It's easy to use.
Keep reading for a step-by-step tutorial on how to create your professional email domain. As you'll see, the instructions are for creating it using Google's services. I'm a huge fan of Google and their offerings, and also, it's a very cheap, easy to use, reliable option.
Step 1. Purchase your custom domain name from sites like GoDaddy.com if you haven't already.
Step 2. Go to the G Suite site, click "Get Started", and then enter your business information, including your company's domain as requested.
Step 3. Choose your plan. Unless you know for sure that you need unlimited storage, I recommend starting out with the Basic G Suite account. It costs $6 per month and includes 30 GB of cloud storage, compared to $12 per month for the Business account. Of course, you can always upgrade later if you find that you need more space.
Step 4. Verify your domain. The easiest way to do this is to just "insert an HTML tag into your site's home page". Trust me, even if you can't code, it's not hard at all. Essentially, this is simply a small bit of code that you will copy and paste into the backend of your website. The code is provided by Google so it's not like you'll have to figure it out on your own. Easy, right?
After you've done that, you'll click "verify" in G Suite, login into your G Suite account, and add new users (just so you know, users in G Suite are your custom email addresses). You can start off with one "user" (email address) or as many as you would like - keep in mind, the price per user is $6 per month per user, or $12 per month per user depending on what kind of G Suite plan you choose.
Step 5. Celebrate because you're done! Have a drink or two because you did it!
Now that you have the tea on creating your company's email domain, feel free to reach out if you have any questions or run into any issues.
Want more stories like this? Sign up for our newsletter here and check out the related reads below:
How To Get Your Boss To Invest In Your Professional Development
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Why Personal Brands Are Important For Black Women Who Want To Diversify Their Income
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Brittani Hunter is a proud PVAMU alumni and the founder of The Mogul Millennial, a business and career platform for Black Millennials. Meet Brittani on Twitter and on the Gram at @BrittaniLHunter and @mogulmillennial.
This article is sponsored by Hulu.
UnPrisonedhas returned for its highly anticipated second season, delving deeper into the complex dynamics of the Alexander family.
The series premiere comes a year after its debut season garnered rave reviews from fans and critics and earned record-breaking ratings for Hulu's Onyx Collective brand. UnPrisoned's success can be attributed to its raw, relatable themes and comedic appeal.
Inspired by creator Tracy McMillan's life, the show follows Paige (Kerry Washington), a therapist and single mother whose life takes an unexpected turn when her father, Edwin (Delroy Lindo) --who was released from prison-- moves in with her and her teenage son, Finn (Faly Rakotohavana).
Throughout UnPrisoned's first season, viewers witnessed how Edwin's incarceration deeply affected Paige's life and relationships. In the series, Paige unpacks her trauma through interactions with her inner child and her online followers. Meanwhile, Edwin is overcoming specific struggles with his own past that led to his life of crime, including a dysfunctional upbringing and his mother's arrest. As the Alexanders attempt to reconcile, new challenges arise.
This new season promises to further explore their unconventional family dynamic. Here are several compelling reasons why season two of UnPrisoned should be on everyone's watchlist.
The Alexander Family Life Is Still In Shambles
UnPrisoned's second season resumes where the series left off, with Paige grappling with the fallout from her troubled therapy practice and Edwin navigating life independently after moving out. Meanwhile, Finn faces his own challenges. The teenager is battling anxiety and seeking information about his father—a topic Paige avoids discussing.
The Alexander Family Are Attending Therapy To Resolve Their Underlying Issues
Amid the chaos in their lives, the Alexander family decides to mend their bond by confronting their past traumas. They seek professional help and attend therapy sessions with a “family radical healing coach,” played by John Stamos, a new cast member. This collective effort aims to unravel the complexities of their shared history and strengthen their relationships.
The process of unraveling each character's internal conflicts and their potential impact on future relationships may clash with Paige's textbook therapy approach. While Paige is used to being in the therapist's seat in both career and family, this forces her into the unfamiliar role of a patient during therapy sessions. This shift would compel her to look in the mirror and try a radically different approach.
The Alexander Family Learned A Big Lesson During A Therapy Session
In therapy, the Alexanders are tasked with addressing their individual traumas to salvage their remaining relationships. One of the family therapist’s eccentric suggestions was an exercise involving a family wrestling match. During this session, Paige faces tough questions about her refusal to share information about Finn's father.
While it's unclear whether this scene is reality or fantasy, the image of the family duking it out in the ring certainly makes for hilarious yet compelling television.
Paige Tries Dating Again Following Failed Relationships
Amid her life's chaos, Paige decides to step back into the dating field. However, her many attempts have left her with mixed results. The dating apps have turned out to be a fail, and an outing with her ex Mal (Marque Richardson), who is also her father's parole officer, doesn’t go quite as expected after he brings an unexpected guest – his new girlfriend.
The situation takes an awkward turn when Mal's new partner learns why the former couple split, partly due to Paige's self-sabotage.
UnPrisoned Is A Perfect Balance Of Comedy And Drama
As a dramedy, UnPrisoned takes a comedic approach to its heavy subjects. The show takes us on a ride with Paige's dating misadventures and navigating a friendship with her ex.
Other lighthearted moments include Edwin's attempts at CPR based on online videos and, of course, the antics of the Alexander family's unconventional new healing coach.
The second season of UnPrisoned is now available on Hulu.
UnPrisoned | Season 2 Trailer | Hulu
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Mariee Revere On Her History-Making Million-Dollar Sales And The Future Of MoonXCosmetics
If the name Mariee Revere sounds familiar, it's probably because you heard of her beauty and skincare brand, MoonXCosmetics, or you may have heard about her history-making achievement of making $1.8 million in less than eight minutes. But before starting her million-dollar brand, Mariee was just a teenager trying to cure her acne.
While she grew up in the skincare capital of the world, South Korea, Mariee didn't really experience breakouts until her senior year of high school. Like many people who get their first breakout, she didn't know what to do, and there weren't many products out there at that time. So she decided to experiment. What she didn't know was that what she came up with would ultimately be her ticket to success.
"When I graduated high school, I moved back to America, Georgia, and I ended up making, like, the oil, the Rose Galore oil, which is like the staple product of my brand. I don't know what made me make it, but I did, and it literally cleared my face up," she tells xoNecole in an exclusive interview.
"I end up selling it as a body oil first because, obviously, I'm 17, [and] don't have any background as an esthetician or anything like that. I just made a product that worked for me, but people bought it and was using it, and I reformulated it, and then it just stuck like with me."
While MoonXCosmetics is known for its facial products, it wants to expand to body care and home. It just released its new product, Moon-Gel body wash, and it's only up from there. As Mariee continues to grow the brand, it's more than likely that she will see more history-making moments. And so far she has.
Photo courtesy
When asked if she feels pressure to obtain more of those milestones, she says yes and no. "I did $1.8 [million] again, and then I did $2 million but I feel like now, currently, I don't look at that as one of my goals anymore because [of] the headache and just everything that came with it, but I was thankful and blessed to have that milestone, but now I'm looking for more," she says.
"I want to say more reach than more like fast-paced sales. I do want that. Obviously, every girl wants that, but I do want to have a better overall reach for my brand because I did take two years off so I was able to learn, [and] study a lot of different things. See how things have changed from 2020 to now."
"I did $1.8 [million] again, and then I did $2 million but I feel like now, currently, I don't look at that as one of my goals anymore because [of] the headache and just everything that came with it, but I was thankful and blessed to have that milestone, but now I'm looking for more."
Another part of expanding for any company is hiring people. Finding the right person to help you can be a hassle, especially for business owners who are used to doing all the work themselves. Mariee can relate to this, and she touched on this topic in her documentaryThe Million Dollar Story. She recommends having someone be your "right-hand man" who you trust to handle the ins and outs of the company.
"I could say, definitely get, like a right-hand man to help you within the process because that really was what helped me. I never had a job. I literally was 18 now, being like, you know, the boss of over 30+ employees at one point in time, and I didn't know anything. I didn't know anything about no W-2s, no taxes, no clock in, clock out because all I [have] ever known was my brand," she explains.
"So I definitely partner with people who are very skewed and versed in those areas, and they helped me get through it. Even to this day, I still have my same person helping me with hiring, firing, [and] doing everything that I can right now because I'm still learning. But obviously people get jobs young, so they have way more experience than me, but still learning."
And though she is still learning, one thing she makes sure to stay on top of is being consistent. Consistency is what trips many people up when it comes to achieving goals, but Mariee says it's all about scheduling. Whether it's when to post on social media or email marketing, scheduling it out can make a world of difference. That same practice also works when planning out her future goals for the company.
"Right now, future goals would be to drop at least five more products before the end of the year. We always do outreach, where we do drives and all that, but definitely do way more this year, she says. "Then really dive into body [care], and then hopefully open up MoonXBody underneath MoonXCosmetics to let that branch out and be open and definitely get back consistent."
For more information, visit moonxco.com.
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