Ep. 131: A Guide To Hiring An Artist For Your PMU Or Lash Studio What You Need To Know In Order To Scale Your Beauty Business
When change scares you, that is typically a sign of growth.
A lot of beauty business owners will get to the point in their careers where they have all of the clients they wanted, are booked out months in advance the way they wanted, but they're not making the money they wanted. They're stressed out and all signs point to needing to hire more people for their team.
But that's scary, right? Because you're at the point you wanted to reach, you're in a place where you're comfortable, but suddenly there's a change in front of you that's scary. But that fear is typically a sign of growth. And if you want to make more money in your business then you have to grow and if you want to grow you have to do the uncomfortable things. Like I say, you have to do it scared. That's how I did it.
Here are the episode highlights:
‣‣ [02:05] This is the problem with being overbooked. It can feel good to say - but it's actually a SIGN that you need to improve something in your business.
‣‣ [02:31] There are some common fears that people have that keep them from expanding their team and hiring. But those fears shouldn't stop you from growing.
‣‣ [18:23] Let's address your fears - what if you're afraid that the people you hire will take advantage of you?
‣‣ [23:56] What do you do if you're afraid that the people you hire won't do as good of a job as you?
I'M READY TO GROW! (Listen Here)
You can follow me, Sheila Bella, on Instagram @realsheilabella!
Here are the links that were mentioned in the podcast!
Hiring Guide
Pretty Rich Bosses
New Clients Consistently
Text me! (310) 388-4588
FOR MY LISTENER BOSS BABES
You can enjoy this podcast by downloading it on iTunes here.
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FOR MY READER BOSS BABES
You can enjoy a transcript of the podcast here.
Sheila Bella:
2021, you want to scale, don't you? You want to scale your business. You want to make twice, three times, four times, 10 times as much as you're making now. But you're like, "How am I going to do that?" "I'm out of time, I don't have any more time to rent." Well sister, you got to hire. Today, we're going to talk about hiring. Are you ready to hire? And, what to look for, when it comes to hiring a good artist, here on Pretty Rich Podcast.
Welcome to Pretty Rich Podcast, where you're totally the heroine of your own story. I'm your host, Sheila Bella. And, I built a seven figure PMU beauty biz, and a seven figure online biz without a degree, without a fancy website or a sugar daddy. And, if you and I hang out on here long enough, you're going to start to believe that you can do it too. How about that for a side effect of listening to this podcast? Because, you really can. I know you think, "I don't know you, I have no idea who you are," but I do. I really, really do, because I am you, I was you. And, I believe we are all on the same journey together.
My perfect job didn't exist so I created it. The job I wanted wasn't hiring me, wanted nothing to do with me. So, I skipped the line and hired myself as CEO, just like you can. So consider me, your secret beauty biz BFF. In case, you need to be reminded on a weekly basis, that power is never just handed to you, you have to take it. Are you ready, beauty boss? Let's jump in.
Welcome back to another amazing episode of Pretty Rich Podcast. Guys, I'm [inaudible 00:02:03] this podcast out of my butthole, okay. Because, it is a problem that so many booked out artists have, and you guys have heard me say this before that, "If you're booked out, you are maxed out on your time, you can't make any more money than you're already making." Either you raise your prices, but not everybody's going to be happy with that. You might lose some clients. Or you learn to scale, you learn to hire. But then, a lot of people are afraid that if they hire someone, train them and give them clients, those artists that they hire, train, give clients to and grow their social media following, that one day, they're going to wake up and decide, "I can make more money on my own." "Why am I working for you?" And, they might steal your clients.
What? This is a common fear, right. This is a common fear. Another common fear is that nobody can do brows better than me. No one can do customer service the way I can. What if they get a bad review, and it's under my studio listing? Like, "Oh my gosh, no one can do better than me." "I am a gift to the brow Gods, no one else can." Listen, I'm making fun of you, but I also hear you. Because, it's happened to me. And, from somebody who has had 14 artists work for her, I'm talking about me, 14 artists work for me at one time. Oh my gosh, I've learned so much. Girl, don't hire unless you talk to me first. Don't do it. Don't, do it. I've learned a lot about how to protect yourself, what expectations to set, what to pay, what personality types work best, etc. [inaudible 00:00:03:48].
Anyway, I did not cry all those tears, okay, all those tears for me to just keep it inside to myself. No, I believe God gives us these unpleasant experiences for a purpose. And, if that purpose isn't to help your fellow man or woman, then why the heck did we go through what we went through. All right. So today, we're going to talk all about hiring. This is going to be my rant, this is going to be my rant. Hey, but first of all, I just wanted to invite you guys to participate my podcast review give away. So, you can win any beauty business course that's on my website on sheilabella.com. If you write a good review, not a crappy review. If you write a good review of this podcast on iTunes, screenshot it, share it on Instagram, tag me and make sure that in the review you include your Instagram handle. So, I know how to contact you.
I'm going to be choosing one lucky person to win any of my courses at the end of the month. And so, just to name a couple of courses that I have available on sheilabella.com. I have Grow Your Gram, which teaches you how to get your first 10,000 followers on Instagram. One of my best courses, I'm so proud of this one, it's called NCC, which stands for New Clients Consistently, how to get new clients on a consistent basis. This course I'm really proud of too, it's called Online Course Workshop. For those of you whose businesses have been affected by the Rona, it's time to go online. And, everyone has a course in them. That is my firm belief. You are an expert at something, if it's not permanent makeup, if it's not lashes, think outside the box.
What if it's something else? Are you really good with meal prep? Are you really great at parenting? Is your relationship like magical, and you have something to share with the world? Well, you can make money utilizing your talents by creating an online course. So, those are some of my favorite courses on sheilabella.com . And, if you want access to this, free access, then you're going to write a review. Listen guys, these reviews really fuel me, they light me up. And, thank you so much if you've already written one, because I read them all. And as you guys know, this podcast is completely for free, and I don't get paid to do this podcast. So, when you guys write a review, it really helps the show to rank. And, as you guys know, the more good, positive information that's out there, the better the world we live in.
So, okay guys, just a little life update. To be honest with you, I have been feeling really good lately. And, I'm a type eight on the Enneagram. Do you guys know what the Enneagram is? If not, go Google Enneagram test and find out what any Enneagram personality type you are, because it is so telling. It's like a 10-minute test. I think it's called truity.com, has all these personality tests. Anyway, so I am a true eight on the Enneagram. And, one of our biggest motivators for type eights for challengers is, we are actually afraid to get vulnerable. We're afraid to rely on other people. Isn't that ironic? Because, you guys probably think I'm super vulnerable on here? And, I am. But, that still rings true to me. I feel like, it's really scary for me to get vulnerable on here.
So I guess, what I'm trying to say is, when I look at all of the blessings lately of this year of 2020, which is so weird, oh, so weird. That's been hell for a lot of people. Oh my gosh, I'm just in a really happy place. And, I've talked to a lot of my friends, and I feel a lot of you might feel this same way. And, I think it's because, I've just never spent so much intentional time with my family. We're not running around so much, like we used to, we're not rushed in the mornings. I mean, I just feel this like, a sense of peace. Will and I are happier than ever. And, it's not like we're without arguments. Every couple is with arguments. Come on, whether they admit it or not. But like, I don't know, I'm having fun with my husband.
I'm spending more time with him than ever before. I'm spending more time with the kids than ever before. I realize how much time we lose driving around from place to place. So, there is a calm about right now, that if I really think about it, I can feel God's love and his faithfulness. And, I'm afraid to get too vulnerable or too happy sometimes, because I also think that if I'm too content, I'll stop working. Isn't that silly? So, that's something that I'm working on, something I'm learning is to just learn to enjoy the wins, and just really sit in the wins once in a while, because they are there, they're there.
I'm afraid to get too emotional, because it means I'll get too happy. And to me, I'm like, "If somebody's too content, too happy, then they start to like downtime." And, I'm not a fan of downtime. I am. Like, I take my Sundays very seriously with the family, and also dinners and things like that. But yeah, just to kind of like let you in on a little bit of a what's going on in my head, I just feel so incredibly blessed, so blessed. And, I don't know if this happens to you, but it happens to me. Like, when my husband and I were getting married, I'll never forget. My husband and I were getting married and we were so excited for the wedding, and everything was just on the up and up, everything was going so well. And, we had this big wedding to look forward to.
We got married on Catalina Island, here in California. And then, because everything was going so, so well, we were like, "Is something bad going to happen?" Do you guys ever think that way when things are going really well, like it's almost too good to be true. And of course, nothing bad happened. We're like, "What if the boat sinks on the way to Catalina Island, [inaudible 00:10:38]." Like, "No, no." So, that's a lie from the pit of Satan. No. So, that's why I think that staying in good connection with the Holy Spirit for me is really important for my wellbeing and for my overall mental, spiritual, emotional wellness. Like consistently praying, consistently reading the Bible and doing my morning routine is just really important [inaudible 00:11:08].
In other news, I guess I'll tell you now because I told people on my stories that, I'm trying to get pregnant. That's another thing. We haven't been trying for that long, but I have had some meetings with some fertility specialists, because my cycle is so strange. I have a really strange menstrual cycle. I never know when I'm ovulating. I don't know what's going on. I'll have my period for a little bit, then it'll go away, then it'll be here for a long time, and then it'll go away. Like, I don't know, Aunt Flo is bipolar. Okay, lets just say that. She has Tourette's. And, I know a lot of people I think, think that, that's type of information is super personal. And it is, but I mean, I ask myself, "Why would I hide that?" If it doesn't happen, will that make me look bad? Yeah, I think about that. Or if people ask about it, am I going to feel bad about it?
And, I thought that worst case scenarios, and I really can't think of one. And, I love being open and honest with you guys, because we're besties, right, and you guys care, you guys actually care. I don't know. I just feel like I have another baby. And as you guys know, I have two boys. And everybody is like, "Don't you want a girl?" "You want to try for a girl?" And, "Yes, I do." And to be honest with you, my second son, Grey, is a product of sperm spinning. So it's not IVF, however, we did sperm spinning for gender. Meaning, they weigh out the sperm or something like that. And then, so the chances of having a specific sex is like 80% higher than you would if you were just to play roulettes, naturally. And, we spinned for a girl, paid all that money to spin for a girl. And, guess what? I have a boy.
And so this time around, the third time, my husband asked me like, "Hey, do you want to spin again for a girl, or do you want to do IVF?" Because we can afford IVF if we wanted a girl, because I've always dreamed of having a little girl." And I have to say that, "I guess, I just love my boys so much that I really would enjoy another boy." And, that's something that I feel like I wasn't okay with before I had Grey. I really dreamt of a little girl. I wanted like a mini-me, so to speak. I wanted somebody that would get pedicures with me. But, I don't know why this time around I feel like that's more resolved. I feel more resolved in that, that I am open to whatever God wants me to have.
And, I wasn't that resolved when I had Grey. Now, I'm glad I had Grey, obviously. I'm glad we did that, because we got Grey and Grey is awesome. He's just like me, talk about having a mini-me. My second son, Grey, he's just like me. He doesn't pay attention to movies. He is just on his own time clock. If he feels like doing something, he'll do it. It doesn't matter what the family is doing. He's like, "No, we're playing this game. Or like, "No, no, we're all watching this movie." And he's just like, "Well, I want to go to sleep, so okay, good night guys." And, that's the same way I am. And, I fight the urge to do that so I can be together with everyone.
So yeah, we're trying for a third, 2021, if all goes well. If all goes according to plan and 2020 really taught us that, put a kibosh on that. If all goes according to plan, we'll be moving into a new home. We'll be hopefully pregnant with our third baby. And yeah, expanding our circle. So, these plans really freak me out, you guys. Because like I said, "2020 has us all traumatized." So, if you're a praying person, please pray, pray for the Reusch's, pray for the Reusch family that everything goes well, and God gives us the desires of our hearts. And if you're not a praying person, I'll take the vibes, in the vibes, the positive vibes, the energy, whatever you got, the wishes.
And, thank you so much for caring about my journey Little old me, when I started this podcast, I was like, "Oh my gosh, like who the heck is going to listen to this?" And now, we're in top 100 and career's, on iTunes and I'm just so grateful. I'm grateful for you, I'm grateful for this community. I'm grateful for just the blessing of you listener, the blessing of you listening to this right now. You, individually, thank you.
Hey, question for you, how much money do you think you've spent in total on permanent makeup training, lash training, the trainings that improved your craft? Easily thousands of dollars by now. My next question is, did any of those trainings teach you how to make money? Probably not. You may be an amazing artist, but they can't pay you for your talent if they don't even know you exist. Having a solid business structure is essential to a successful beauty business. And, if your goal is to get more clients, more students and more customers in your business this year, then Pretty Rich Bosses is the mentorship program for you.
Pretty Rich Bosses is my mentorship program that combines one-on-one personalized coaching with the magic of group coaching and community, to teach you everything you need to have a successful beauty business. This isn't a one-size-fits-all program, this is a relationship. And, as somebody who has built two multi-million dollar beauty businesses, getting you to your goal is not going to be rocket science for us. We can help. This is the sales education you never got. Great art alone isn't going to give you a successful beauty business, it's not going to give you the life of your dreams. It's a combination of art and a great business and marketing structure. So, what are you waiting for?
If you are 80% sure that Pretty Rich Bosses is the program for you. It's the only thing you haven't done yet. Why don't you go ahead and book a complimentary strategy call with either myself, or any one of my advisors. And, all you need to do is go to sheilabella.com/apply. That's sheilabella.com/apply. Accelerate your success, get there faster and let's do it together.
Okay. So, that's my little life update. Let's get back on track with today's topic, which is hiring. Okay. So yeah, I think a lot of people are afraid that if they hire someone they're going to get screwed over. And, in the beginning of somebody's permanent makeup journey, I think their number one problem is getting clients. And, once they have a lot of clients, after a few months of marketing and really doing it right, especially if you hire a business coach, it's not going to take long, then the number one problem, that next level is hiring a team. The next level problem is hiring a team. So maybe, you've seen that other artists, other people get burned by the people that they hire, who take advantage of their platform and just walk away. And maybe, you're traumatized by that, or maybe you're a control freak. Okay. A self-proclaimed control freak. And, you just want to make sure that the quality that your salon or studio produces is as good, if not better, than what you can produce. And, you just don't believe that anyone else can do better.
Okay. So, let me tackle those two things. Number one, if you're afraid to hire, because you're afraid that people will take advantage of you. That's a real fear and that's a valid fear. But my advice to you is this, you're scared because you lack knowledge. And, as our AAM motto is, knowledge is confidence. You're scared to hire, because you lack knowledge in this area. Now, if you hire a coach or you just talk to somebody who's hired other artists before successfully, and get information from them, you'll find that it's not as scary as you think. Because, once you ask them questions and you do a little bit of homework, now you will know how to hire, what interview questions to ask?
You will know what to pay, and you'll see that it is a lucrative thing for both parties. It is a win-win, it really can be. And, when it comes to getting burned, you will know what things to have in your agreement. Yeah girl, I'm talking about a contract. I'm talking about a written agreement. The most important thing, when I first started hiring, that agreement was weak. Okay. And then, after you have some experience, after you've been burned a couple of times, and you just learn a lot more about humans and human nature, and how ugly it can get. I got smarter. Now, I have certain things in that agreements that are ironclad, things that prevent them from stealing my clients, things that prevent them from using my photos, things that prevent them from starting their own business in my area. Things that prevent them from using me just to build their social media platform and just walking away with a bunch of followers, because I keep tagging them and stuff. Things that prevent them from contacting past clients, if they ever decide to sever the relationship.
So my advice to you, to alleviate that fear is to get educated, knowledge is power. Because what I typically find... I was just coaching someone this morning. So, what I typically find is that a lot of artists who've never hired before, promise way too much, promise way too much. For you artists out there who are booked out for months, you're booked out for months, and so you probably have a girl coming in, like I would say, "I would love to work for you." And you probably ask them, "Well, how much do you typically charge?" And then they'll say, "$500." Let's say you charge about $800. Do you think that you should give them $500 to keep them happy? Not necessarily, no. Listen, the reason they probably want to work for you is because they know that what you can provide is something they don't have.
And, most artists who want to work for bigger artists want stability. They want predictability. I think that's the best motive. That's the best motive. And, that's what you want. You want someone who has tried to make it on their own, but wasn't able to. I am particularly partial to hiring people who have experience, trying to start their own permanent makeup business. And I've found that it's not as easy as they thought it was going to be. I don't necessarily like hiring people who don't know that it's cold out at night yet, people who just got their certification and haven't experienced the pain of finding clients. They don't know that it's difficult yet. So yeah, I think that's important. I want someone who's going to be grateful and who's going to, who knows the amazing opportunity that's presented before them.
Guys, I coach people on this all the time. So, if you're looking to scale your business and hire someone for the first time, but you don't know what to pay. I don't have a blanket answer for that, but I do coach that in my program. But, I just would consider, what they make on a monthly basis versus what they make per client. And, that's all I'm going to say about that pain point.
Okay, now let's get to the fear that you guys have, that whoever you hire is not going to do as good of a job as you. All right. So, when I first started hiring, I would train people. And obviously, since I had more experience, I was better. And then, so I was like, "Huh, I don't know if I can charge full price for you yet, because their work wasn't as good." But, I got to say, "With a little bit of patience, and training and positive thinking, my artists are better than me." I am thinking of a few of them in particular that I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I could never ever make my strokes look as nice as you did on this client." So, it's possible. It's really possible, because I feel like, I have seven artists now, currently, all of my artists now have a leg up on me on something. I mean, they're really, really good.
So, what I've always found too, is I've always prioritized character over artistry when hiring. Because, I always thought that the art, the technique, it can be learned. But, what I felt like was not as easy to be learned is character. And so, I really hired with that in the forefront of my mind, on the top of my list of priorities. Like, I need to feel that this is a good person, that this was an honest person with good intentions, with an excellent work ethic, because that type of individual is the type of individual who is literally designed to succeed in this business.
Somebody with a good work ethic, because that's what it takes. If you're going to get good at the art part of this, you need a good work ethic. You need to think positively, you need to be hardworking and diligent in your craft. And, I felt like if all of these qualities existed in a human being that, of course they're going to get good at the art. Because, getting good at anything is more of a mental game than anything else. Life is a mind game. And, I knew I needed to expand. Because, I mean, as you guys know, I always say that, "In order to be wealthy, you need to stop renting your time for money." If you are booked out for the next month, two months, three months, six months some of you, you're losing scalability. Why are you hoarding all the success?
That's another thing too. Don't hoard all the success. If you're booked out for several months, share the wealth. It's a win-win. When you employ someone, you're giving them opportunity, you're giving them purpose, you're giving them friends. I think employment is an amazing way to impact the world and your community. Someone who was deserving of that position, who might be in a desperate spot and is looking for opportunity, might be your unicorn. I mean, they are just waiting for you to post, hiring now. I have to say, let me share a personal story with one of my artists. I'm not going to say who, but this artist came to me and she was looking for a job opportunity. And at first, she was looking to work in front desk.
So I said, "Okay." And then after interviewing her a little bit, I was like, "I think you're an artist." "Yeah, I'm getting, I think you're good enough to be an artist." "And, I'm not hiring for a receptionist right now, but I am hiring for an artist position." And, she didn't think she could do it, but she shadowed me for a couple of days. And she was like, "You know what?" "I think I can do this." And, she learned the trade. And she's amazing, by the way. Now, when she first got the job, she opened up to me and she told me that, "She was depressed, that she experienced postpartum depression," but her kid was already four years old. So at that point, it was just depression. And, she was in a really dark place. And she said that, "This job saved her life, it gave her purpose, it gave her community." And, she grew, she blossomed in this job. You know the saying, "If you're not growing, you're dying."
And so, since we gave her a new challenge, she felt alive. And, seeing that just made me feel so good. And, she's still with me to this day. We're still really good friends. So, I hope that gave you a little bit of a different perspective when it comes to employment. It's not slavery. Okay. It's not like you're the big boss in the sky, and all those little minions working for you. It's a big, big blessing. And, it's a win-win for both parties, actually, all three parties. It's a win for you, okay, as the boss, the CEO, the head artist. It's a win for your associate artist who needs an opportunity, who needs a job, who needs stability. And, it's a win for your clients who can't get an appointment with you for several months. What are you thinking?
Listen, when us women decide we're going to go ahead and get our brows done or get some sort of beauty treatment, we don't want it in March. Okay, we don't want it a few months from now, we want it like next week. We want it tomorrow, because we want to look good for the holidays, that type of thing. So, not only are you losing scalability, you're losing clients left and right, every single day. If you don't have sooner availability for them, they are not going to wait for you.
Guys, so you might have a lot of questions now, like how to hire? What interview questions to ask? What to pay? What contracts to have in place? How to train? How to manage a team? How to protect yourself and the business you've worked so hard to build, and you still don't know where to start? Even after listening to this podcast, you're still scared. You still have some questions. Listen, if you want to get started, I have a free beginners Hiring Guide for you. Yep. I have a free Hiring Guide. And, all you need to do is text me the words, hiring guide to area code (310) 388-4588, that's area code (310) 388-4588. Text me the words, Hiring Guide. Listen, this phone number, all the text messages come directly to my phone. You can totally have a conversation with me. And, if you text me the words, Hiring Guide, I will go ahead and send you the link so you can download it. Cool. That's it for today's episode. God bless you guys. Love you. Love you. Love you. Until next time.
Hey, thanks so much for listening to today's episode of Pretty Rich Podcast. If you want to continue the conversation longer, check me out on Instagram. It's my favorite place to connect with you guys @realsheilabella. I'm happy to answer any of your questions or simply to chat and get to know you better. And, if you end up doing something super awesome, like screenshotting this episode and reposting on your stories, err, that would put the biggest smile on my face. Don't forget to tag me. I appreciate every share and love feedback from my listeners.
Also, do you have my number? Do you have my number? Because, if we're going to keep hanging out, you should probably have my number. So, you can actually text me. That's right. You can text me at (310) 388-4588. And, if you're sick and tired of doing business alone, and you're interested in accelerating your success by hiring a business coach or joining our mentorship program called Pretty Rich Bosses. Go ahead and just apply. Why not? Check it out. Go to sheilabella.com/apply, and we'll schedule a free strategy session with either myself or one of my advisors. And of course, I got to include my kids. So, here to send us off are Beau and Grey. [crosstalk 00:32:49] Grey say, "Share with your friends."
Grey:
Share with your friends.
Sheila Bella:
Please review my mommy on iTunes.
Grey:
[inaudible 00:32:58] mommy iTunes.
Sheila Bella:
Thanks for listening.
Grey:
Thanks for listening.
Sheila Bella:
Hey Beau, can you tell everybody what our family motto is?
Beau:
Yeah, I can do hard things.
Sheila Bella:
I can do hard things. Good job, buddy.
