488: The Power in the Pivot: How Keewa Nurullah Is Rebuilding After Closing Her Dream Business
Side Hustle Pro
Nicaila Matthews Okome | Side Hustle Pro Media
4.7 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 12 November 2025
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week in the guest chair we have Keewa Nurullah, artist, entrepreneur, and small-business strategist you may remember as the founder of Kido, the beloved South Loop children’s boutique that brought color, culture, and community to families across Chicago.
After six powerful years in business, and national recognition that included a shout-out from President Barack Obama, Keewa made the bold decision to close her brick-and-mortar store and start over.
In this episode, Keewa opens up about what it truly looks like to evolve as an entrepreneur, navigating economic shifts, changing customer behavior, and the emotional side of letting go of something you built from the ground up. Today she’s channeling those lessons into her work as a strategist and host of Circulate, a monthly community event that “love-bombs” local shops with intentional support and helps other founders build thriving, purpose-driven businesses on their own terms.
In this episode, she shares:
- The courage to walk away from a business
- What retail taught her about leadership, money, and boundaries
- The realities of pivoting after success
- How she’s creating new pathways for community-minded entrepreneurs
Highlights Include
00:00 Intro
03:10 Launching Kido and building community through culture
08:45 Getting national recognition (including Barack Obama’s shout-out)
13:20 The moment she knew it was time to close her storefront
17:15 Navigating shifting customer habits post-pandemic
22:40 Starting over as a strategist and redefining success
27:00 Creating Circulate and supporting small businesses
33:15 Lessons on resilience, rest, and rediscovering your "why"
40:00 Advice for entrepreneurs in transition
Watch episode 488 on YouTube and listen on all podcast apps
Links mentioned in this episode
- Keewa Nurullah Instagram:@kiwimercury
- Keewa’s website: https://www.keewanurullah.com/
- Side Hustle Pro: https://sidehustlepro.co
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Guest Social Media Info
Instagram: @kiwimercury
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | And what I was seeing around me were a lot of entrepreneurs like holding on tooth and nail, |
| 0:06.0 | going further into debt, I mean, getting divorced, like, letting all of these things kind of fall to the wayside, |
| 0:15.0 | because they really believe that that one idea, if they could just ride it through, was going to, like, see them to the top. |
| 0:21.9 | And I just didn't want to be one of those people. |
| 0:26.1 | You're listening to Side Hustle Pro, the podcast that teaches you to build and grow your |
| 0:31.4 | side hustle from passion project to profitable business. |
| 0:35.0 | And I'm your host, Nikaela Matthews Okome. |
| 0:38.8 | So let's get started. |
| 0:46.4 | Hey, friends. Hey, welcome, welcome back to the show. It's Nikaela here. And today in the guest chair, I have Kiwa, Nerula, artists, entrepreneur, and small business strategist who you may |
| 0:52.7 | remember as the founder of Kiddo, the beloved South Loop |
| 0:56.9 | Kids Boutique that brought color, culture, and community, the families across Chicago. |
| 1:03.2 | After six powerful years in national recognition, including a shout out from President Barack Obama |
| 1:09.1 | himself, Kiwa made the bold decision to close her storefront and start over. |
| 1:14.7 | But that's not where her story ends. |
| 1:17.4 | In this episode, we talk about the evolution, from retail founder to purpose-driven strategists. |
| 1:24.7 | Ki-Wa gets real about economic shifts, changing customer behavior, and why she |
| 1:30.2 | walked away from a beloved business to build something even more impactful. Now, she's using her |
| 1:36.6 | hard-won experience to coach entrepreneurs, host monthly circulate events that love bomb local shops with intentional support and help others thrive on their terms. |
| 1:49.9 | So let's get into it. |
| 1:51.3 | Here's my conversation with Kiwa. |
| 1:56.7 | All right, Kiwa. |
| 1:58.7 | Welcome, welcome back to the show. |
... |
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