Behind Her Empire How This Founder Used Social Media to Turn a Failed Etsy Shop Into a Multi-Million Dollar Business with Keida Dervishi, Co-Founder of Soulmate Customs
Keida Dervishi is the co-founder of Soulmate Customs, a personalized gift brand that turns cherished memories into custom embroidered and engraved gifts.
Keida launched Soulmate Customs in 2021 after creating a personalized embroidered sweatshirt for her mother’s birthday, inspiring a business focused on meaningful gifts. Before this, she explored various side hustles on Etsy and Depop, but none took off. Everything changed when she shifted her focus to custom embroidery and posted a TikTok video of her first order, which went viral with 3.7 million views and brought in over 1,400 orders in a month. In just 11 months, Soulmate Customs surpassed $1 million in sales. Today, the business is family-run and has reached over 1.3 billion people across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
In this week’s episode, we talk to Keida about her unexpected journey from aspiring singer and actress to entrepreneur. She opens up about the struggles of her first Etsy business which took off but then closed down—an experience that taught her that having a great product isn’t enough without strong marketing. But instead of giving up, Keida took those lessons and doubled down on learning, eventually launching Soulmate Customs. She gets real about the hustle—teaching herself embroidery through YouTube, staying scrappy with her resources, and leaning on her family to help grow the business. She also breaks down the power of social media, explaining how consistency in content creation—not perfection—was key to her viral success. We dive into the pressures of scaling, adapting to social media trends, and the mindset shifts needed to push through challenges, and so much more.
In this episode, we’ll talk to Keida about:
* From singing and acting to entrepreneurship during COVID. [04:16]
* Choosing passion over college. [09:56]
* Starting her first Etsy shop. [11:52]
* Overcoming Etsy shop closure due to copyright issues. [13:53]
* Finding her next steps after the setback. [16:13]
* Soulmate Customs began as a gift for her mom. [18:36]
* The importance of scrappiness in business. [21:27]
* Consistency matters more than perfection in content creation. [23:48]
* Her mom's influence on doubling down on social media. [24:19]
* First order and marketing success. [28:08]
* Consistency and authenticity are the key in content creation. [34:24]
* Emotional selling connects with customers. [35:17]
* Purpose fuels passion and commitment. [46:20]
* The biggest challenges for Soulmate Customs. [54:50]
* Keida’s struggle with hiring. [55:50]
This episode is brought to you by Beeya:
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Follow Yasmin:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri
* Website: https://www.behindherempire.com
Follow Keida:
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulmatecustomss
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keida02
* Website: https://soulmatecustoms.com
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