Ep. 61: 8 Steps To PMU Success That You Can't Skip OR ELSE with Shay Danielle and Alex Dietrich of PMU Society
Did you just get into PMU, just started your beauty business, and you're struggling to fill your books, wishing you could make this work full-time? Or have you been in the business for a while and you're just not where you want to be?
Girl, I've got you! In this episode, I teamed up with beauty business and marketing power duo Shay Danielle of Shay Danielle Academy and Alex Dietrich of PMU Society to bring you an INCREDIBLE resource. In this podcast, we give you ALL of the tips to make your beauty business an ultimate success.
I really can't stress how helpful this episode is going to be with you. We're pairing marketing expertise with beauty business experience to give you the top 8 steps to PMU marketing that you simply cannot skip. You can't! They're essential.
We'll break each of these tips down below and give you all of the actionable steps you can take to make your PMU business an ultimate success story:
1. Find what makes your brand unique
2. Community over competition
3. Build a strong brand and logo
4. Be confident - know and use your voice
5. Be consistent
6. Stay honest and true
7. Empower your clients
8. Deliver value
So, are you ready to take your beauty business to the next level and become a PMU success? Listen up!
Here are the episode highlights:
‣‣ [15:55] You're in a business where a ton of people are essentially offering the same service. It's your job to figure out how to make yourself stand out.
‣‣ [20:55] If you don't have a community, how do you expect to grow? You need a support system.
‣‣ [26:59] Really put your time and creativity and intentions into building a solid brand and logo. This is what represents your business - you want it to not only communicate to your potential clients who you are and what you do but also help you stand out in the crowd.
‣‣ [30:31] This is SUPER important. One of the key aspects of marketing is being confident in you and your work. You have to promote yourself - you did the work to get here - show it off! How else will people know who you are?
‣‣ [39:25] If you know me you've probably heard me talk about consistency a MILLION times. But you know what? That's because it's super important, okay? We talk about it more here.
‣‣ [46:05] This ties in with being unique. You want to be honest about who you are, you want your clients to be able to relate to you and know you. You want people to see an honest representation of yourself. People will know when you're just faking it. So don't.
‣‣ [50:23] Your clients will become your brand ambassadors. You're literally changing their faces, right? They're walking around showing your work to people. You want to a) do good work and b) empower your clients so that they feel good about you and the work you do for them.
‣‣ [54:35] Here we go over ways, things that we've done in our practices, to equip our clients to talk about us and share our work with people if they're pleased with the work after their visit. Find what works for you.
‣‣ [59:55] You want to create a valuable and memorable experience for your clients. This is one of those things that helps set you apart from everyone else in the crowd. You're not just providing this service you're providing value.
GIVE ME THE STEPS TO PMU SUCCESS! (Listen Here)
Shay and Alex were SO GREAT to talk to. If you want more PMU business tips and want to keep up with Shay's work you can follow her on Instagram, right here!
You can follow me, Sheila Bella, on Instagram @realsheilabella!
Here are the links that were mentioned in the podcast and more!
Grow Your Gram
Online Course Workshop
FOR MY LISTENER BOSS BABES
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You can enjoy a transcript of the podcast here.
Sheila Bella:
Welcome to the Pretty Rich Podcast, where every woman is the heroine of her own story. I'm your host, Sheila Bella, and I built a million dollar beauty business from nothing. So maybe if you listened enough, you'll start to believe that you can do it too, because if the perfect job doesn't exist, well, you can create it. If the job you want isn't hiring you, you can unapologetically hire yourself.
Each episode will equip you with empowering conversations on how to grow a lifestyle that's pretty rich in love, beauty, wellness, and financial wealth. I'm Sheila Bella, beauty business coach, celebrity brow artist, global success speaker, author, serial entrepreneur, wife, mother, friend, daughter, and your forever positive beauty biz sales guru. Let's go
Hey you guys, welcome to Pretty Rich Podcast. I'm really excited to be hanging with you guys again. I love getting on this mic, and connecting with you guys. So excited for today's episode, I have some of my PMU besties on the program, and we are going to chat all about the eight PMU marketing steps you cannot skip or else, done, done, done. It's with none other than Shay Danielle, and Alex of PMU society.
I have to say I have really good chemistry with these girls. I felt we could have kept recording for 20 hours. I just love their dynamic because you have Shay, who gives the artist's perspective, and Alex who gives the business and marketing perspective. They have a great dynamic there. I was so honored that I got to pop their podcast cherry.
Before we get into the interview, just a couple of updates from you guys. As you know, if you follow me on Instagram, that I just announced that I am now the President of the American Academy of Micropigmentation. It's insane. I never thought I would be in this position today. I remember back in the day, I took a class with Linda Dixon and Tina Davies. Dr. Dixon was the first president of the association, and I never thought that one day I would be filling her shoes, and it's such an honor to be able to serve in this way.
If you don't know what the AAM is, it means you're probably super new to the industry. But us old vets, us old pros know the AMM as one of the major associations that has laid down a solid foundation for the PMU industry. Its whole mission, and its whole goal is to higher standards, and fight for regulation, and safety of our beloved Permanent Makeup industry.
I just want to be very transparent here that this meant so much to me. Really, because sometimes I write a caption or something like that, and I pour my heart and soul out on the internet and I wonder, "Is this going to pay off, or is anybody even listening?" I've been doing this for years. I've been consistent with it. I've been building my audience, and I'm very open, and honest with you guys, even on social about my truths, my growing pains, and my experiences, because I believe in leading with authenticity first and foremost.
When I got this email that I was being considered for the job, I couldn't believe it. First of all, I thought it was a joke. I thought it was spam. I was looking at my phone, because I was checking the email from my phone, and I looked behind me like, "Oh, are you talking to me? You can't possibly be talking to me. You're talking to somebody behind me, right?" Totally crazy.
Now I'm the new AMM president. I have a lot of exciting new changes that I want to implement, along with my board that I haven't announced yet. You guys, if you're in the Permanent Makeup industry, I'm going need your help, okay? I cannot not, none of us can do this alone. But regulation and safety is very important. I think it all stems from lack of education.
The point is, sometimes when you're doing the daily tasks that... Even in this podcast we might tell you to do, because it's going to be super instructional, know that it might not feel like it's paying off right away. You might not feel like anyone is listening. Then one day you'll have confirmation. So don't tire of it. Don't tire of doing what's good, because the fact is, it's not one great post that's going to put you on the map, it's not landing a great, big influencer, that's all of a sudden going to make the phone ring, right?
It's not one email blast you send, it doesn't rest in one collab that you do, and it's definitely not reliant on one class that you take, that's going to make the phone ring forever and ever and opportunity comes forever and ever. It's in consistency. Have you guys heard that saying where, "The winner is basically the last one standing." It's the one that didn't give up, the one that hung on just one minute longer when everybody else gave up.
It's in consistency, it's in being steady. It's in taking messy action repeatedly. You got to be relentless. You got to be hard to tear down. The ones who push through discouraging times, and remain consistent despite the circumstances. The naysayers, the people that make you feel bad will be the last ones standing. I want you standing with me at the top. The top, Meet Me At The Top, which is a great segue to plug the Pretty Ambitious Summit.
You guys I'm obsessed with this event, and I cannot stop talking about it because I totally believe in the power of transformational live events. They are transformational. You can listen to this podcast, you can read books, you can read captions, but there's nothing like being physically there. I'm telling you, we have an amazing lineup of speakers, and I want to put people in front of you who are going to help you tap into your highest potential.
Take my word for it, you hear it differently when your body is in the same room, it's so weird. You can hear the same message over and over again over a podcast, but it's different. It's different. Let me just run through this amazing list of speakers. I've invited people from the Permanent Makeup industry who are going to talk about business, and also awesome leaders from the self development and coaching world.
It's going to be this awesome, inspirational, instructional PMU hybrid. Just to name a few of the speakers, I have, Tina Davies, Shay Danielle, Amy Leilani of Minx Brows, Emily Joy of Dollistic, Lexi Bowler, Lili Ma, Leslie Ritchie of Browboss Brow, Melissa Hibbert, Desi Crowley, Kelly Callaghan, Neeta Bhushan, and I just announced recently, Lori Harder. So excited.
If you want to see more about this event, you got to go to prettyambitioussummit.com. It's going to be held in Santa Monica, California, March 13, 14, and 15. We sold out of VIP tickets I think two or three weeks ago, and at the time of this recording, we were able to negotiate a slightly bigger ballroom. Now we've expanded a little bit because all of you guys wanted VIP tickets. We have less than 20 tickets left you guys. Snag them before they're out for forever, finito. Just go to prettyambitioussummit.com.
And now the eight steps to PMU marketing you simply cannot skip. Welcome PMU society. Hey you guys, welcome to Pretty Rich Podcast again, take 58,000. I'm here live with PMU society, with Shay, and Alex. Hi everyone. Say hi to everyone.
Alex Dietrich:
Hi.
Shay Danielle:
Hello.
Sheila Bella:
Oh absolutely. I'm so excited to have these guys on because as you guys know, I love marketing, and these two have come up with an amazing resource that is definitely going to help you guys level up your PMU marketing knowledge and skills for a very affordable price. Shay, and Alex, welcome to Pretty Rich Podcast.
Alex Dietrich:
Thank you so much for having us, Sheila. We're so excited. It's my first podcast. Shay, has done it before. She's been with you before.
Shay Danielle:
I'm an old pro, yeah.
Sheila Bella:
[inaudible 00:10:11] so cute. Tell us a little bit more about the course that you guys just built. I mean, this is amazing.
Shay Danielle:
Yeah. I've obviously been doing online training now for a [inaudible 00:10:24]. We've got a couple courses that are out so far. We've got Lip Blush online, and then we have the Infinity Powder Brows, and they've been a hit. I've also released a few free courses, which everybody's loving. Some really great information there.
I just find there's not enough information available to artists after they've taken fundamental training. They want to continue their education. They don't want to spend thousands, and thousands of dollars continuing their education. So I thought it was time to launch my online academy. It was going so well, and it still is. We've got lots more courses on the way, but there was a big piece of the puzzle. I think that was missing, and that's why I brought Alex into the mix here. This is Alex and she's been with me for almost two years now. We've been working together. Alex is my little marketing genius, my little marketing wizard I call [crosstalk 00:11:19] her.
Alex Dietrich:
I guess the course is basic. It's a fundamental course. It's designed more for people in the beauty industry and [inaudible 00:11:29] industry. It's designed for people who don't have a marketing background or perhaps experience. There's a bunch of different chapters.
We focus heavily on Instagram, also on branding, which is most the important [inaudible 00:11:42], as you know Sheila, I know that's your [inaudible 00:11:44]. We've just added 11 videos to the course of Shay and I talking about what works for us, what didn't work for us, how to really make it work in this industry. It's been really exciting to launch.
Shay Danielle:
We keep it open to the beauty industry as a whole, but obviously, you're getting a lot of my perspective in it as well. That is the makeup side of things. It's really cool to have both of us, the brains, and then the actual experience of been the artist.
Sheila Bella:
The brains and the beauty.
Shay Danielle:
No. The brains are the marketing, and then the experience of the artist, and coming from everybody else's position.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah. I love that you two are collaborating because you definitely need those sides. I feel that in many instances, artists are very creative, emotional, aesthetic creatures. But then again, you need to harness your business brain, your marketing side, in order for your business to actually take off.
That's why I think you guys make such a great team, and you complement one another because you guys can speak for both those two sides. I think a lot of artists can definitely relate to you Shay, where they're like, "I do brows, what is going on? What the heck is an algorithm? Why do I need to do that? I don't feel like doing that. Can you just do it for me?" No.
Shay Danielle:
The truth is that I am still learning. When it comes to marketing, I'll never stop learning, and with Permanent Makeup in general. But marketing, that's a whole [inaudible 00:13:31]. You can be a great artist. That will truly only get you so far when it comes to business. The biggest piece of that puzzle is the marketing side of it if you really want to excel to that next level and grow your business.
Sheila Bella:
Absolutely.
Shay Danielle:
I talk to many artists that just sit content. They need the information so that they know how to push themselves, and take that next step, and get to the next level. Otherwise, it gets boring and stale.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, absolutely. That's why you're going to be speaking at the Pretty Ambitious Summit.
Shay Danielle:
Alex is coming alone with me.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, I was hoping that would be the case.
Shay Danielle:
I'm super excited.
Sheila Bella:
That's awesome, you guys. At the time of this recording, which is Friday, September 13, we have about 25, maybe 23, something like that more VIP tickets that I just announced were available yesterday. So get them before they sell out again.
Shay Danielle:
They're going quick. There was 30 not that long ago.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah. There was 30 I think a few hours ago.
Shay Danielle:
That's crazy. [crosstalk 00:14:45].
Sheila Bella:
I know, I'm so excited. Anyway check out prettyambitioussummit.com for details on that. Okay, so today, let's get to it. Right before we hit record, me, Alex and Shay we are envisioning the woman that is in her car right now, maybe she's at Trader Joe's, maybe she's at the gym, and she's listening to this podcast. We're envisioning her and we have you, Oh my gosh, if you're at Trader Joe's right now, and your name is Sarah, what, this is for you.
Maybe you're like Sarah, and you find a piece of yourself in Sarah, relating to Sarah. Maybe you've just gotten to PMU, and you're struggling to fill your books, and like to shop at Kohl's, but you want to be able to shop at Nordstrom Rack. This podcast is for you because we're going to tell you the eight PMU marketing steps that you cannot skip or else.
We've worked on this podcast and the format of it, and we really want to zoom in on these eight things. You better check yourself before you wreck yourself. Okay, so number one, go ahead take it away you guys, number one.
Alex Dietrich:
I guess number one, and this is a branding tip, it's you have to be unique, and you have to find a way to make yourself unique in an industry that the standard is set. You do eyebrows, how do you be unique with that? Shay, we talked a lot about you can name your procedures different names, or you can target a different sort of client, and you've been pretty good with that with naming your procedures.
Shay Danielle:
Yeah, I come up with different names like the hybrid brow before that was a big thing that everyone started using it. But again, it's just trying to set yourself apart from everybody else. It's easy to fall into the routine of the pink background. As I sit here looking at my pink background, and Sheila too.
It is, you have to think outside the box and also just constantly trying to stay ahead of the curve. It can be difficult but do your research, try to be different, and come up with as many new techniques as you can, never stop learning. Bringing on new ideas and new services to offer your clients is huge. Just stay ahead of the curve, I would say definitely. And I think [inaudible 00:17:29]. Sorry.
Sheila Bella:
Such good advice. I love that. Name your services something different and interesting.
Shay Danielle:
[inaudible 00:17:40] Infinity brows. That's something that we came up with that hasn't really been used before. We didn't see it anywhere. It was literally like we were having a naming game. Me and Tina Davies actually. It was Tina's husband Luke, that came up with the idea, he's like, "Infinity brows," and I was like, "Yeah, done. Love it." Because it is that part of the soft buttery edge that isn't harsh and it's infinity, to infinity and beyond, it just keeps going.
That's how we went with infinity, and it keeps it different. Lip blush, is lip blush. I couldn't really come up with anything cooler than lip blush. Try to come up with something that's unique to your brand because what it does is it gets people wondering like, "What is this hybrid route? How do I do a hybrid route?" And it gets you noticed. You want to get some attention on yourself.
Sheila Bella:
That's really good advice. Really good tip. Go ahead Alex
Alex Dietrich:
It allows you to differentiate yourself from the competition. It allows you to be a little bit different from the typical artist that's in your area, and it allows you to branch out to those people who are interested in that type of service who are more [inaudible 00:18:46].
Sheila Bella:
Absolutely.
Shay Danielle:
[inaudible 00:18:49]. Yes, well [inaudible 00:18:52] brows. The fluffy brows.
Alex Dietrich:
Totally.
Shay Danielle:
Sheila's been rocking the fluffy brows lately.
Alex Dietrich:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
Thank you for appreciating my efforts in the morning with my mascara.
Shay Danielle:
[inaudible 00:19:03].
Sheila Bella:
I love that my brow friends notice my brow efforts. Thank you.
Shay Danielle:
You're welcome.
Sheila Bella:
Thank you very much. Definitely, being unique is what's going to make you stand out. It's really interesting to me, and I said this before in the last podcast, but I'm going to say it again, in case you missed it. I think when people don't show up for their businesses, they don't show their face, and they don't develop a personal brand.
I think that it's easy to get insecure about it. If you're out there and you're worried about competition, you have to understand that you yourself can't be duplicated. Your personal brand, your personality, that value that you bring as a person, you cannot be duplicated.
If you put your entire business identity in a product that can be easily replicated, by just telling this manufacturer that you want these specs, of course, you're going to feel insecure about that. But if you have a personal brand, I feel like that's where real security comes from, that's when you can really, really not be duplicated.
If you build a strong personal brand, it doesn't matter what you sell, you could sell lash extensions or butt cream the next day and people will be like, "Oh, whoa, she's what? What!" I think to add to that be unique, put yourself, put your heart and soul into the community that you're building. Which brings us to number two. Number two, eight PMU marketing steps you cannot miss or else. Number two.
Shay Danielle:
Grow your community and your following, and that doesn't mean just the number of Instagram followers that you have.
Alex Dietrich:
No. It's about in real life.
Shay Danielle:
Yeah, real life.
Alex Dietrich:
Let's say you know an amazing hairstylist or an incredible specialist. Collaborate with each other, recommend each other, help each other grow each other's businesses. Sorry to sound like I'm saying each other so much. But, it's about building a community and even other artists. Let's say you're not offering lip blush, and an artist you know is, and you love her, recommend her. It's about community over-
Shay Danielle:
Competition.
Alex Dietrich:
Exactly.
Shay Danielle:
You don't want to be afraid of your competition, befriend your competition. I'm here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and it's a small Canadian community. Yes, there's a lot of people doing it, and a lot of newbies out there who are starting to build their brand up, but there's a handful of us oldies, us old bats that have been doing it for a long time. But we're not intimidated by each other.
It comes as a surprise to a lot of people that when clients come in they'll be like, "Oh, I was also looking at [inaudible 00:22:05] or Permanent Beauty by Lili." I'm so excited to be like, "Yeah, that's my girlfriend. She's amazing too." And if I'm busy, and they can't get into the studio, or if somebody calls and says like, "Hey, I really want nano brows," I'll say, "Sure, I can do nano brows, but there's also really awesome artists, Lili, who does specialize in nano brows."
Befriending your competition and learning from them as well. But as far as what you were saying, my Botox Gal recommends tons of clients to me, and I recommend tons of clients to them. They've got a great affiliate program as well, which is another awesome idea. But yeah, just be open. You're selling yourself at the end of the day. We're all artists. We all can create art, but what makes you different it's being an open book, and I'm definitely an open book, that's one thing I think everybody knows about me.
Sheila Bella:
I love that about you, Shay. I really, really do. Yeah, definitely. I also think that this is a step, growing your community is something that a lot of artists skip. You have to build an audience. I think people wait too long to start their Instagrams. They want to make sure they have the location, they have the certification, they want to make sure that everything is perfect, and then all of a sudden, they'll start their Instagram and it's like crickets.
But you have to build an audience, you should make your following, you should bring them into your journey a little bit, because I think it's a misconception to people when you finally launch your service that there's just going to be a line out the door. If you don't take the time to grow your audience and to build your audience... There's no point in singing for an empty theater. You know what that means?
I think growing your community, and also understanding for everybody out there who has an Instagram account, or Facebook account, or YouTube account, whatever it is, whatever platform you're using to want to build your business that you are the community leader, period. You're the community leader now. I'm sorry, I know you don't want to be in a position of leadership, but you're that account manager, and these people are following you for a reason.
So in essence, you should act in leadership ways and give them value. So growing your community, building an audience, giving them something to follow. I mean, think about the accounts that you follow, why do you even follow them? Do you just follow accounts full of before and after photos? It's rare. Maybe, but it's really, really rare. If you're not at that level yet where your art is just so fricking amazing that everyone should just stare at this. If you're not at that level yet, you got to figure it out, figure out another way to get attention.
Alex Dietrich:
Yeah, and it doesn't matter how many followers you have. If you've got 20,000 or 100, it shouldn't make a difference when it comes to the content that you're posting, because that's how you get to 20,000 or whatever number your goal is. It's putting out the content regardless of who's watching on the other end. Pretend it's an arena full of 100,000 people really can help you grow.
If you start with friends and family as your followers that's okay too. A lot of it is word of mouth at the beginning. So reach out to your friends and family, and then they will pass on your information, and you'll grow your community and it's not just Instagram, it's all over.
Sheila Bella:
I love that for sure. I know there's probably some people right now who might be feeling a little weird, because they don't have as many followers. But I mean, we all had to do that. And also like how many followers do you need? What is the point of followers anyway? Isn't it clients? If all 1000, and I'm sure a lot of you guys listening to this have more, all 1000 of your clients became paying customers you don't need any more followers, right? [crosstalk 00:26:16] everything you sell they buy.
Alex Dietrich:
Yeah, it absolutely depends on your goal, your platform, who you're trying to reach out to. Sometimes people will look at my feed. My feed is to target students. So my feed is different from what Sarah sitting in her car right now is trying to do, because your feed is going to be targeting your potential clients that you want to come in.
So, get inspiration, but always keep your eye on the goal, on the prize, which is the client. That's who you're trying to bring in. It's so much more beneficial to have just a small number of loyal followers who are really, really interested in what you're doing than tons that really don't care.
Sheila Bella:
Love it.
Alex Dietrich:
I agree.
Sheila Bella:
Wrq, wrq. W-R-Q. Wrq. Okay, number three.
Alex Dietrich:
It feeds right into that. Have a really good brand and logo. This is huge and I think that people probably go into the logo builder and they whip something up, and they'll, "This is fine."
Shay Danielle:
Yeah, it's one thing to cross off the list.
Alex Dietrich:
Yeah, it's like-
Shay Danielle:
Logo check.
Alex Dietrich:
"Okay, logo done."
Shay Danielle:
Yeah.
Alex Dietrich:
Your logo's huge. Especially if it's your name like behind us. It can be so simple, but it has to be powerful. If you got a same geometric shape thing, and like a basic font then it's just going to kind of melt into the...
Shay Danielle:
Into the sea.
Alex Dietrich:
Into the sea with everyone else, yeah. It's about going out there, and seeking out those beautiful fonts or, even if it's as simple as just your name, make it beautiful, make it impactful.
Shay Danielle:
Yeah, colors too, we always joke and we talk about this in our course. The blush pink, everybody loves the blush pink, and we're not knocking the blush pink down.
Sheila Bella:
No.
Shay Danielle:
I'm wearing blush pink. [crosstalk 00:28:06]. The wall is blush pink, my feed is-
Sheila Bella:
My berets are blush pink.
Shay Danielle:
Right, they're gorgeous.
Sheila Bella:
Thanks.
Shay Danielle:
But if you want to be different do like mustard yellow. Do something-
Sheila Bella:
What?
Shay Danielle:
No maybe not mustard yellow, okay, [inaudible 00:28:15]. But you know what I'm saying don't-
Sheila Bella:
Alex and I just cringed right there.
Shay Danielle:
[crosstalk 00:28:21]. I'm going to make a mustard yellow.
Alex Dietrich:
Like a nice deep sea blue or even like a gorgeous mint lavender, I love those two colors together. Something that's fun, try something different.
Shay Danielle:
I love red and pink.
Alex Dietrich:
I mean [crosstalk 00:28:37].
Shay Danielle:
Like literally.
Sheila Bella:
Did Leslie Ritchie, shout out to Browboss girl, her ish in red and pink. It's so freaking cute, Leslie. Love it.
Shay Danielle:
I was totally thinking of her when I said that.
Sheila Bella:
I was like, "Wow. It can be Valentine's Day all the time." And it's so cool.
Shay Danielle:
So cute.
Alex Dietrich:
Even if you're not using your name like Pretty Rich, something that really catches the attention of your potential audience and your current audience. It's so important to have an attention grabber. Think about it too. You don't have to decide on a logo overnight, because you'll regret it when you have to rebrand. Rebranding is brutal, okay? Don't rush it so that you have to rebrand, because you're going to get bored and you're going to want to change it up. So, really take your time and think hard and long about your logo if you want it to look good.
Sheila Bella:
Agreed. And to tack on that, here's the flip side. Okay, Shay you're blush pink, I'm blush pink, it's a different hex code obviously, it's a different shade of pink. Tina's blush pink, right? [crosstalk 00:29:51]. We fricking just love pink, okay, Amy's blush pink. If you like pink and you want to join the pink PMU team fine, I think it matters more what you do with it, because I think there's a lot of people who think their logo is the strategy, their color is the strategy. That's not the fricking strategy. Choose pink if you want to or mustard yellow, but I think it matters more what you do with it.
Shay Danielle:
Definitely.
Alex Dietrich:
Yeah, absolutely.
Sheila Bella:
And number four.
Shay Danielle:
Know and use your voice.
Sheila Bella:
Tell us about this.
Shay Danielle:
Alex.
Alex Dietrich:
I can start with my own personal experience. When we launched PMU society, I was behind the computer, not going in the camera, and not talking to anybody, no thank you, and Shay brought me out of my shell. She like, "You've got a voice, you've got something to say. Say it." It's really about having that confidence in yourself. If you have the knowledge, you've trained so hard to get the knowledge, to provide these services to your clients, speak to them on social, on Facebook, on Instagram-
Shay Danielle:
On the bus.
Alex Dietrich:
On your website. I mean, don't start pulling out pictures of the work you do on the bus, I don't know.
Shay Danielle:
I would do it.
Alex Dietrich:
Maybe do it. Do it. It's about being confident in yourself. You've taken so much time to learn these procedures, have that confidence and your clients will feel it. There is nothing that stands up more than a person with no self esteem or with insecurity, and if you [inaudible 00:31:41]. You know what I mean? You can like feel it. As soon as someone with insecurity walks into the room you can feel it.
There's nothing to be insecure about. If you've trained your butt off, if you've worked your butt off, you have the knowledge, bring it to the people. You've studied so much. I got to get out from behind the computer screen. Bringing it to the people.
Shay Danielle:
I didn't realize how hard it was for some people, and maybe that's because it's never been hard for me, because I don't really care. At the end of the day, you're not going to be everyone's cup of tea. That's the truth. But you have to be okay with that, and when you're okay with that, then it's easy, it becomes easy when you don't worry so much about what someone is thinking of you and just worry about how you're presenting yourself, how you want to present yourself. It gets easier, I'll say that it really does, it gets easier. [crosstalk 00:32:39].
Right now on PMU society's Instagram, we have a little mini challenge going on. I didn't think it would be a big deal, but it really, really is. We just challenged them. I gave them this tiny little script. It said go in front of your Insta Stories, whether it takes one take or 50 takes, and just say, "Hey guys. I just want to check in, it's Shay here from Shay Danielle PMU or whatever your business is, and I hope you're having a great day. I just wanted to let you know that I'm here to answer any questions that you might have, and please feel free to reach out to me."
That takes literally 10 to 15 seconds to record and it's nothing you have to memorize. You're saying, "Hey, hope you're having a great day and I'm here to answer questions." That's all. And so we put that out there as this mini challenge, and we had so many-
Sheila Bella:
I'm loving that.
Shay Danielle:
... responses of people being like, "I'm so scared, I'm terrified, it's taking me 50 takes." But they're doing it and then they're tagging us, and we're writing them back and like, "I'm so proud of you. That's the first step." So if that is where you're at, then try that, and if it's something more than that, maybe you need to challenge yourself and go on Instagram live right now, or [inaudible 00:33:47]. Just get your face out there a little bit and don't be afraid to reach out to those people because at the end of the day, there could be 50 artists that are amazing.
They all do amazing work and people need a reason to choose you. Why are they going to choose you over someone else down the street, or across the block, or wherever? You have to connect with those potential clients and the only way to do that is actually let them in a little bit [inaudible 00:34:17].
Sheila Bella:
Show your face. When you make your clients feel known, seen and heard, then you become the only option. I always say that. My question for you guys is what have both of you done? Especially you Alex, because you said that's super uncomfortable for you. What do you tell yourself? I'm a proponent of parenting yourselves, because hopefully your moms are out retired traveling the world, you know what I mean, living her best life. Yeah, I know, not my mom too.
Anyway, but for your moms out there who are doing that, your mom's not going to tell you to wake up early in the morning and brush your teeth, and eat this way and blah, blah blah. I'm always a proponent of be your own parent, be your own best advocate. I'm talking to myself throughout the day. What are the specific things you tell yourself, Alex, that get you over the hump of just freaking do it, just talk to your ding, the phone, the box? What do you tell yourself?
Alex Dietrich:
I think that the most important thing I'd tell myself is that I've got something important to share and I've got knowledge that people can use. I mean, I haven't done a lot of it on Instagram yet, I put a lot of it into our course where we just created a lot of videos of me just talking about my experience and what I feel businesses can do to promote themselves.
I think it's just that, it's like, "Hey, I've got this knowledge." Like I'm saying to all of you, I'm saying, "You've got the knowledge, you took the course, you know what you're doing, speak to the people because they want to know that you know what you're doing."
Shay Danielle:
What about what I told you?
Alex Dietrich:
Oh, what did you tell me?
Shay Danielle:
So the other day she was like, "I have to go on Instagram but I'm so sick"
Alex Dietrich:
Oh, I'm sick.
Shay Danielle:
And I'm like, "Alex, so is Sarah, okay?"
Alex Dietrich:
Yeah, Sarah's sick.
Shay Danielle:
So is everybody else. We're all sick and our kids are having mental breakdowns, and there's stuff that's going wrong. But that's okay because that makes you human, and people relate to humans. I'm like, "Put your little hair in a top knot and get on Instagram." And she did.
Alex Dietrich:
And I did.
Shay Danielle:
She did it
Alex Dietrich:
No make up.
Shay Danielle:
No make up.
Alex Dietrich:
Mild filter.
Shay Danielle:
Yeah, throw a little filter on it if you need it. I had to move around the house because there's construction happening in my house. My daughter was barking at the puppy like she loves to do. I'm taking everyone on a tour of my house which is totally bonkers, but I did it. I got out there. I said what I had to say. But that's it. At the end of the day, that we're human and nobody's perfect. You don't have to pretend to be perfect because, I don't know, perfect people are boring, and they don't exist, anyway.
You don't have to use it, so if you don't want a filter, don't filter. There some days where I'm like, "Oh, I'm going to pop this cute filter on because it's fun." It makes me feel good, it's like a fun little feeling. It's not because I'm concerned about how I look, it's just for fun, it's all fun. Have fun with it.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, definitely. I love that. Thank you for letting us in. Thank you for letting us into your process. That's really super important. Every time I'm not feeling super cute I think about the people in my life that I love spending time with. The people in my life I love spending time with don't look perfect, and have issues. And I'm like, well…
It just reminds me that how I might be looking that day, how my hair might be that day, has a lot less to do with the impact that I'm going to be making, and if I'm focused on creating an impact versus impressing people, then I can get my job done. I just create impact, that's it, you know what I mean?
Alex Dietrich:
Absolutely.
Sheila Bella:
Are you a Permanent Makeup artist who's struggling to get the healed results that you crave and you desire? When a client walks out of your salon you're like, "Oh my goodness, I did so amazing. She's going to love them they're going to look so good." But when she comes back after a few weeks, you're like, "Oh wow, wow. Where did the product go? Where did my work go? Most of it is gone or half of it is gone."
Let me tell you that ever since switching to Tina Davies products, my retention is like 90% for microblading which is super high for microblading, hello. And my healed work you guys comes back brown, not blue, not green, not purple, not red, yellow, orange, brown. My customers are happy, I'm happy, all my artists are happy. It's such a win-win.
I can't thank Tina Davies enough for inventing such easy to use products that are simple, and quite frankly made for the artist by an amazing artist. So Pretty Rich listeners get 15% off if you just type in the code, Sheila Bella, just go to tinadavies.com, type in Sheila Bella and receive 15% off your order.
Next on the list is...
Shay Danielle:
Number five. Oh, consistency, so be consistent.
Sheila Bella:
Be consistent, love it. Tell us about that.
Shay Danielle:
Yeah, consistency, plays... Go ahead Alex.
Alex Dietrich:
No. There's so many factors that play into it.
Shay Danielle:
Yeah, on consistency, whether it be your quality of work, or the look of your Instagram feed, how you present yourself to your public. There's a lot of it.
Alex Dietrich:
If you post on your story once a day, and people are like, "Okay, she usually posts on her story around 11 o'clock in the morning, my time to go check it out." Keep posting at 11 o'clock in the morning. That's what people are expecting. And if you're posting one post today, don't go a whole week without posting, you can use really effective scheduling apps to get you posting every day at the same time.
If you're going on holiday, plan them out, if you're not consistent, then you're going to lose followers, if that's your goal. And also clients might start looking somewhere else. If one day you're not on your game, let's say you're doing dermal cleaning or something and it's not as good as it was the last time, they're going to find someone else to do it. So you've got to be consistent with [inaudible 00:40:45].
Shay Danielle:
We love... Let's talk about planning. It's my latest obsession.
Sheila Bella:
So good.
Shay Danielle:
There's a number of different apps out there, but Instagram as we know is like a full-time job. It really, really is and it can be overwhelming, especially when you are working full-time, you've got the kids, and the soccer, the dance class, and all this stuff. You want to watch The Real Housewives of Orange County before you go to bed. You can't because you have to Instagram, and you've got to do all this work. But if you can just set aside whenever you have time, let's say you have one hour, one day, you can set up all your posts for the next week. You don't have to go back and do anything. You can set them to auto-
Alex Dietrich:
Auto schedule and [crosstalk 00:41:32] all that.
Shay Danielle:
Exactly. You can put in your hashtags, you can build everything and then you're good to go. Then you can watch the Real Housewives or whatever.
Alex Dietrich:
[inaudible 00:41:40] tip for you guys.
Sheila Bella:
Pick a city.
Alex Dietrich:
[inaudible 00:41:42].
Shay Danielle:
All of them.
Sheila Bella:
All the cities.
Alex Dietrich:
Let's say for example, I don't know how many of you are following Julie Harris, you'll like it, it's a lifestyle account. She takes a weekend out of each month, and they shoot content for the whole month. And you can just change your outfit about four times, you can change your hair [inaudible 00:42:07] actually.
Get someone to take a bunch of pictures of you, or take a bunch of pictures of your work and just stuck it, get it ready, get it [inaudible 00:42:13]. So that when you do need a break, when you need a week off, you have that all planned out ready to go. Because we're not machines, we need a break like you're going to get burnt out, you don't want to burn out. Help yourselves.
Shay Danielle:
Then you have way more time that way, honestly. You can just sit down and focus for an hour, get it all prepped and ready to go. It honestly allows me to be way more present when I'm done with my clients. I'm [inaudible 00:42:37], and I don't have to be on my phone.
Sheila Bella:
How much is it a month that Planning Pro? $7?
Shay Danielle:
Yeah, around [crosstalk 00:42:45]-
Sheila Bella:
What is your time worth to you?
Alex Dietrich:
Why aren't we affiliates for Planoly by the way? Shay and I both use it.
Shay Danielle:
We need to be, or we need to create our own app here.
Alex Dietrich:
Well, there we go.
Shay Danielle:
All right, that's next on the plan.
Sheila Bella:
Well, next opportunity.
Alex Dietrich:
Eventually [inaudible 00:43:00].
Sheila Bella:
I'll use it.
Shay Danielle:
[inaudible 00:43:03].
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, I love Planoly. I use it too. I freaking love it. So be consistent. Is it Planoly or Planoly?
Alex Dietrich:
It's Planoly, because you're planning-
Shay Danielle:
Your planning and [crosstalk 00:43:17].
Alex Dietrich:
But I'm going to now make fun of you and call it Planoly brow.
Sheila Bella:
I've been saying Planoly for years. Maybe a year and a half since I've been using it.
Shay Danielle:
You're cute, you're pretty. No.
Alex Dietrich:
Thanks. [inaudible 00:43:33] when they say something dumb.
Sheila Bella:
It's okay. Your hair looks good today, "Yeah, okay." Be consistent. I remember that it takes seven times for somebody to hear a message before it converts into an actual sale. So don't think like, "I already made the offer. I already told my story. I already said all the benefits of this course."
It takes seven times for somebody to hear a message before they'll even consider it, before it'll convert into a sale. I try to batch my tasks as well, like you Shay. I write content for two weeks, and I create graphics for two weeks. Then I just leave it alone. But I get into this zone where I tell my family like, "Don't talk to me."
Then I play those alpha brainwaves, right. And then I just really, think about what I want to say to the world, something like that, because it'll help you be more present. As far as being consistent on stories, there are times you see me on there and like, "I didn't do that today, I didn't wear that today. Sorry, not sorry. I probably did that a couple of days ago. But mama needs some family time and I need to decompress. I don't want to be wearing makeup all the time, hashtag filters."
But yeah, that have to think about, if you're, like I said, going back to being a community leader, who's going to miss you? The end goal is impact, who is going to miss you today? And I think that's also the power in being consistent.
Shay Danielle:
Out of sight out of mind and you just don't want to be out of anyone's mind, you want to be on someone's mind all the time.
Alex Dietrich:
And I think [inaudible 00:45:25] start to maybe worry a little bit, especially if you have a large bank of followers, if you're not there for a few days, they maybe getting -
Shay Danielle:
They don't know how to get a...
Alex Dietrich:
... hold of you. Yeah, I don't know I think that [inaudible 00:45:38] is so important, especially when you develop this persona, your clients, they need to know that you're there for that.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah. And by the way, you guys with that said, don't worry about showing up exactly at 100% all the time. You can be broken a little bit and show up, but remember that. Okay, number six.
Alex Dietrich:
Number six. Oh, there you go. Move right into it.
Shay Danielle:
Oh, yeah. Be honest and be true.
Sheila Bella:
I didn't even realize that that goes seamlessly right into it.
Alex Dietrich:
That's so funny. Don't say something just to say it. Stand behind your word and your work.
Shay Danielle:
It's a good one. I think sometimes in this industry too, we get blinded by what other people are doing. And so we just want to be copycat sometimes or we want to be inspired. But it's another thing to just take on another persona, or to try to be something that you're not or copy people.
People are going to fall in love with you because you're unique. Like I said earlier in this podcast, you're not going to be everyone's cup of tea, and that's okay. So just be who you are, and you will attract the people that are meant to see you.
Sheila Bella:
Absolutely. Being honest and truthful. There's some captions I've written where I just know, I was like, "Oh, I was just doing that to do it." Even the engagement, people can tell, I'm like, "Arg! Delete, delete." I guess what it boils down to is just say something that's meaningful to you.
I also used to think that I needed to be somebody else. This wasn't even that long ago. I would see people on Instagram and stuff and I was like, "Wow, I really like her energy, or I like, how she's coming across, or like what she's doing or how she's dressing," and I almost found myself almost copying that person's mannerisms even, because I really felt that's what I needed to do. And as you said, Shay, "The more you do this, the better you get at it, the easier it is." And I realized, "Wait a second. I'm way too unpolished to be that super polished person. I'm just going to be this, and you know what it's working. It'll be fine." Yeah, be honest with people.
Shay Danielle:
[inaudible 00:48:14] to do 50 takes or to do three takes for me is exhausting [inaudible 00:48:19]. Now am just like, "I don't care, do I have food in my teeth?" I'm relatable if I have food in my teeth, it's okay. It's okay to not be perfect. It's okay to just be you, yourself [inaudible 00:48:31], and if they do that's great and if they don't, then they'll go see someone else. But just be true to yourself.
Sheila Bella:
Go see Mr's Perfect not us.
Shay Danielle:
I think the perfect example of honesty and truth is exactly how you've been honoring this one year anniversary of something that's really tragic that happened to you and your family, and you're honoring it. You're embracing it, and you're using it as a tool to help others get through similar situations because nobody's life is perfect.
Everyone goes through the ebbs and flows of good times, bad times, really hard times. It's just so beautiful how you were able to harness that and share it with everyone. I have goosebumps when I was talking about it, because I got very emotional watching your journey and your husband's stroke. It's just [inaudible 00:49:24] raw, and honest. I guess that [inaudible 00:49:31] came from, is watching that because you embody it.
Sheila Bella:
She's talking about my husband's stroke a year ago for those of you who don't know, and I posted about it, and I just thought like, "That was really hard and painful." I cried till I couldn't cry anymore, and I just thought, "This needs to go into doing some good. I cannot waste this experience." For me talking about it and sharing all my takeaways was service, was doing that, is not wasting it. Thank you for acknowledging that. Okay, number seven. Oh my gosh, we're almost done. Number seven. I like this one.
Shay Danielle:
This is a good one.
Alex Dietrich:
This is a really good one.
Shay Danielle:
Go ahead Alex.
Alex Dietrich:
Empower your clients, they become your brand ambassadors. They present your brand to the world and you need to nurture those relationships. It's so important. You can't be, walk in the door, do your brows, okay see you. Different people who are going to talk to their friends, and you're going to say, "Oh my gosh, your brows are amazing." "Yeah, I went to the best person ever and she's cares. Check up on them [inaudible 00:50:56] procedure."
I mean, Shay can speak more to this because I'm not a microblader, but in marketing I have to nurture my relationships as well. And it's important to make every client feel like there are the most important client you have.
Sheila Bella:
Absolutely.
Shay Danielle:
I think [crosstalk 00:51:12] as artists sometimes because this is almost robotic for us, it's like a factory. It's client, after client, after client, after client for some of us who are really, really busy. For those who aren't yet, you'll get there, hopefully.
Alex Dietrich:
If you do this.
Shay Danielle:
If you work really hard. But, we forget sometimes that this lady, that's lying in here on my tattoo table that I'm about to do this procedure on, which is no big deal to me because I do it all the time. To this person, okay, they could have saved for a whole year. Some of them do, some of them come in with envelopes of their cash and it says brow savings on it.
So this is a huge deal to some of these clients. They've had it in their calendar. Maybe they didn't sleep last night because they're so freaking excited for this opportunity that they've been waiting so long for. If we don't treat them, if we don't make this a big deal for them and make it very special and exciting, that's not fair, and it's not going to do you any good. You can never forget that.
Every single client that comes to me, I walk them through every single step of the procedure, I want them to feel included in what I'm doing. I want to educate them too, because A, that makes me look real smart and B, it makes them feel real comfortable. That's a huge part of it. I send them home with a really nice goodie bag full of aftercare products.
They're spending a lot of money on this procedure, so take care of them and send them home with nice items to take care of their brows or their lips or whatever. It doesn't cost you a lot of money. We know as artists that these procedures don't cost us that much to actually do. The hard costs are very low. So make them feel important. Give them nice goodie bags, everyone loves going to Sephora and getting those teeny tiny samples, when you spend God knows how much money there, but it's still important to us.
Alex Dietrich:
It's that, [crosstalk 00:52:58].
Shay Danielle:
For me, it's my signature across their forehead. So if they are walking out of my studio and they're putting their shoes on, and I noticed one little thing, and this has happened to me before. I'm like, "No, we need to go and [inaudible 00:53:12]. I see something that's imperfect."
When they walk out of that studio, they have to be perfect because like I said, it's my signature on their face. They're my walking billboard and they are going to tell everybody that I did their brows. When people ask them, "Who did your brows?" "Shay Danielle." That is going to be how you bring in a ton of clients. Truthfully, it's word of mouth. If you treat that client like gold, you'll get it back tenfold, they'll bring you in lots more.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah. Go ahead.
Shay Danielle:
Shout out to my hairstylist because she's a perfect example of this, Hair by Brae. We've become pretty good friends, and when I walk in, we talk about my hair, and she gives me the breakdown of what's going to happen as if I just walked in for the first time. She told me every section she's going to go through because she wants me to really understand what's going to happen, and what the procedure is, and how we can change this, and how we can change that.
It's not just like, "Oh, yeah. Hey, how are you good to see you again." It's, "How are you? Now let's talk about what we're going to do." It's the process, and the same with a returning client coming for her lips or touch up. You walk them through it again, you make them feel like you value their time as much as you value your own because they are taking time out of their day and also money out of their bank, to be there. And it really makes a huge difference.
Alex Dietrich:
That's awesome.
Shay Danielle:
I'm sorry, when they feel like as the artist you value their time as well, they realize that they're spending time to be here.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, when they feel respected. You know what I mean? And to tap on to that, when you say, "Empower your clients," I also say, "Equip them to talk about you." My tip there is to empower them with the assets to share you. I always send them my before and after photos or stuff. My team does it for all of the artists. And I always send them a digital referral code or digital coupon.
Here's the thing, you have a client in your chair and she's lying down. And guess what? She's probably texting her mom, her sister, her best friend. She's like, "Oh my god, I'm getting my face tattooed. Oh my god. Is this okay? Is this okay? Is this okay?" She's already on her phone. She's already used to texting them pictures, like the shape that you drew, what it looks like, mid procedure and everything.
But if you give them something tactical, like I AirDrop my clients a graphic that they can send to their mom, their sister, whoever it is, that expires in 48 hours. This is completely free anyway. Expires in 48 hours so that their mom, their sister, their friends have a reason to book with you and not just bookmark you. But I think-
Alex Dietrich:
That's smart. We used to do the $50, we'd give a gift for friends so we would give that client something to give to a friend $50 off the procedure, so whenever... That was great, but it never had an expiry date. That's quite genius actually.
Sheila Bella:
Thank you. That's something that I still haven't recorded. I need to record that course but I just haven't [inaudible 00:56:30]. But here's the thing, also I used to give the paper... Oh my god I have a Costco gift certificate right here, but it's still sitting here. This is my point, I'm holding a Costco gift certificate that was on my desk.
But if that was digital, last time I was there, I would have been like, "Oh, and here's the thing on my Apple wallet or my phone." Yeah, empower them and equip them with assets to market you. The way you can be more assured that your clients will talk about you is if you make it super easy for them to do it, like you almost do it for them. You can even give them the text and just say here, copy and paste. Because in essence, their mom and their sister and their friend, they want your services, but you've got to make it super easy for them.
Shay Danielle:
Here's another type or idea, and we don't do it anymore, because we get complacent. This is so bad. Something that we used to do and it was awesome.
Sheila Bella:
What?
Shay Danielle:
We would ask people to write a review. So, "If you enjoyed your experience here, would you mind writing us a review on Google or on our website?" Because people don't often think to write good reviews, everyone's real quick to jump on the bad review bandwagon. If you have a bad experience, it's like, "Oh my God, I'm going to blast that restaurant," whatever. But sometimes you just ask, it's okay to ask if that's what you want. And reviews are massive.
If people are looking to find a place to get their brows done or lip blush done, the first place if they haven't had a referral by a friend or family member, they will go to Google. So if they see Shay Danielle on Google with lots of reviews on there, honest reviews, and they're happy at what they're reading, they're going to be more inclined to come and see me or at least check out my website at the very least, and then you can win them over with your website. I think that that's another important thing.
Alex Dietrich:
And incentivize those reviews, like if you offer them like a 10% off your next service, if you go ahead and leave a review for me. Those reviews boost your search engine optimization, and I mean, it's just very good for you to have that in there. You don't get free publicity like that than a free review on Google. And they're [inaudible 00:59:04] to do it, but it just doesn't cross their mind sometimes, so a nice friendly reminder or ask them.
Shay Danielle:
Include the link in your follow-up email. It's just a direct link to where they could just type it in and press go. Don't make it hard for them. Simplify it.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, absolutely. Make it really, really easy [crosstalk 00:59:24] for you. I'll write it for you.
Shay Danielle:
Yeah.
Sheila Bella:
That's the thing too, when somebody writes you a review, especially if they're like entrepreneurial women, and I know they're super busy and their moms too. I'm like, "Wow, thank you. You're really [crosstalk 00:59:43]."
Shay Danielle:
Especially when it's more than just a sentence or two and five stars, but when people actually take the time to write about, it's so sweet it means a lot to us for sure.
Sheila Bella:
Definitely. Yeah, I agree with you. And the last one already. Last one is?
Shay Danielle:
[inaudible 01:00:04].
Alex Dietrich:
Deliver value.
Sheila Bella:
What! Tell us about that Alex.
Alex Dietrich:
Start to finish from the first interaction with your client, and they're like, "Hey, I'm considering booking with you." You begin that brand experience. It starts from there. It's got to be with your email signature, with the way you speak to them, it has to be consistent from start to finish. If you're starting with an email, then you should end with one or a phone call or something.
You have to create this experience for them. It's not just a procedure, it's you're going to Shay Danielle, when you're coming to see Shay, it's a big deal. I know it's been a big deal for everyone I have referred to Shay, and you have to maintain that experience from start to finish. I mean, you can obviously speak to that because as you're doing it.
Shay Danielle:
Well, I think they start off as strangers and then they become clients. Then it's an ongoing relationship that you do have to nurture as well because you want them to return. You want them to continue to say nice things about you and send you more clients. You can't be complacent when I was mentioning complacency before.
It does take a lot of work, and if it becomes too much work for you, then maybe you'll be lucky enough to have somebody that you can have a part of your team to help you with this because it is very, very, very important. Very important. We talk about in the course, this is a little free tidbit I guess, we talk about delivering that added value.
Yes, you're providing them a service that is your art, in that time where we talk about, you're numbing them and they're sitting in your studio for whatever, 20-25 minutes, depending on your technique. What are you providing for them in those 25 minutes? Do you have good little snacks? Do you have the latest magazines? Do you have a beautiful place to sit? What added value are you giving to them in addition to just the service? Good music, good lighting, artwork in your studio?
Sheila Bella:
Oh my god, speaking of music before I forget, I heard a tip. I forgot where. Anyway, I heard a tip somewhere where you know how you ask for their birthday just to make sure they're over 18 on their paperwork, right? Then you calculate when that particular client was in high school, and then you go to Pandora or Spotify or whatever, and you play a playlist of the greatest hits the year they graduated high school for every client. That is brilliant. That's [crosstalk 01:02:48] that just flows in.
Alex Dietrich:
Oh my gosh.
Shay Danielle:
Love that.
Sheila Bella:
That is service, because I might not want to hear that. Who told me that?
Shay Danielle:
I like that. That's good.
Sheila Bella:
Okay, well, if you told me that and I forgot, I'm sorry. Someone told me that. Oh, well. Great tip from the person I forgot, sorry. I love that you reminded us that a service with you is in fact an experience, like a trip almost, right? It's not just like, "Oh, here's the product, here's your brows boom." But the whole interaction with you from their first contact with you online, on the phone on your website, yeah, it's an experience. I think it's these "Little things" are actually really big things that people remember you by. So thank you for reminding us that.
Shay Danielle:
That goes on to... sometimes, I'm very social on social media, and you'll see my kids, you'll see my goofy ass husband, you'll see all of me. So sometimes my clients come in, and this is another part of the experience is that they are super comfortable before they even meet me yet. They feel they know me, even though this is the first time we've met, so they're not as nervous, because they've seen me, they've heard me, they get my vibe, they know what to expect. They've seen these videos. It already sets a comfort level for them, which is really good.
Sometimes I'll be out in public and people will notice me, whether they're past clients or people who follow me on social media. So always being super happy to see that, because sometimes you won't remember their name, and they'll come up and want to give you a hug, and you just got to ride that out.
You've got to be like "Oh my God how, how are you?" I have no idea who they are, but first thing I do is make brow contact with them, and then I'm like, "Okay, she's the client, [inaudible 01:05:00]." They just keep [inaudible 01:05:02]. You do see a lot of clients and I can't remember them all. But [inaudible 01:05:08] your client is really important to you, whether it's conversations that you had, where they went on vacation, checking if they've mentioned their kids names, silly things like this. But if you want to talk about an ultimate experience, it's putting those notes in the file so that when they do come back a year later, you pick right back up where you left off.
Even though truthfully, I wouldn't recognize this person at all, but she doesn't know that, okay. I'm making her feel like, she is one of my best friends and I know all about her, and her last trip to Hawaii, and this and that, and her husband Frank, [inaudible 01:05:37].
Alex Dietrich:
Another tip.
Shay Danielle:
[inaudible 01:05:41].
Sheila Bella:
We can keep going all night.
Alex Dietrich:
Before the PMU industry, and before the fashion industry, I worked in the restaurant industry and I worked in marketing for a big restaurant group. We told our teams nationwide that the most important thing was to create that experience. So whether it's, let's say you have a [inaudible 01:06:03] studio, on a busy street with pay parking. If they're there, you have someone go and unplug their meter, or if they're waiting and their numbing [inaudible 01:06:10] "Oh, shit I forgot to plug my meter," you go plug it.
If it starts to rain while they're in your studio, you walk them to the car with the umbrella or have somebody walk them to the car with an umbrella. It's just adding that extra little bit of oomph to make them really feel like they are so special. We preached that to [inaudible 01:06:28] company and the company is doing very well. I'm obviously not with them anymore, but it was a huge part of the art brand, was to create an experience outside of just the dining experience.
Somebody makes a point to say, "Oh I'm getting my eyebrows done before my wedding," maybe have something simple, nothing big just a little trinket congratulations on your wedding or something to make them feel like they're so special. Just to add that extra little oomph that makes them feel amazing, that maybe doesn't take anything [inaudible 01:07:04].
Sheila has the cutest step [inaudible 01:07:07] in her studio. It's so freaking cute.
Sheila Bella:
Oh my step.
Alex Dietrich:
[inaudible 01:07:11] and there's little signs like, "I got my brows done by Sheila Bella," and all this little... It's so cute. That's part of the experience [inaudible 01:07:21]. That's a perfect example, the props, and the photos, and like, "I was here at Sheila Bella's [inaudible 01:07:27]." "Awesome." It's little things like that.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah its super fun, absolutely. I love you guys. Before we conclude, I can't believe it. Well, we went through all eight. Can I give you guys some rapid fire questions before we end?
Shay Danielle:
Okay.
Sheila Bella:
Okay. Number one, bikini or thong? Go.
Alex Dietrich:
Bikini. Well, yeah. I'm a bikini girl.
Shay Danielle:
For underwear?
Sheila Bella:
Yeah.
Shay Danielle:
Thong. I'll do it when I have to what I have to.
Sheila Bella:
Or boy shorts?
Shay Danielle:
No, I don't like panty lines. [inaudible 01:08:08] panty lines. We did a photoshoot the other day, and Allison had on no underwear, she's like, "Don't look I forgot underwear." I'm like, "[inaudible 01:08:17]."
Sheila Bella:
"I forgot." This is too much information right now. This might be too much information. Why did I ask this question? Now I have to answer it. I sent Tina Davies, no joke, a picture of my granny panties. Because I like them, they're really comfortable.
Shay Danielle:
You had on [inaudible 01:08:37] shorts the other day.
Sheila Bella:
I did.
Alex Dietrich:
Oh my God.
Shay Danielle:
She did it, she kept them. She's like, "They're so comfortable."
Sheila Bella:
They are. They're really comfortable.
Alex Dietrich:
You sent her pictures of your [inaudible 01:08:42] panties?
Shay Danielle:
Yeah, I did [inaudible 01:08:56].
Sheila Bella:
Okay, number two, a book that's changed your life, if you have one.
Shay Danielle:
I don't.
Alex Dietrich:
Blindness by José Saramago.
Sheila Bella:
Blindness [crosstalk 01:09:12]? Okay, cool. What's that about?
Alex Dietrich:
There's even a movie about it. He's a Nobel Prize winner for Literature and it's about a whole society goes blind, it's a pendant [inaudible 01:09:28] how they fall apart and then have something together. It's just a really beautiful metaphor for [inaudible 01:09:34] little deep. But it's changed my life, I gifted it to everyone in my life one year for Christmas.
Shay Danielle:
Oh, that's [crosstalk 01:09:44].
Alex Dietrich:
It's a beautiful, beautiful book. The movie-
Sheila Bella:
Cool.
Alex Dietrich:
Blindness, Jose Saramago.
Sheila Bella:
Very cool. Love it. Okay, cool. I'm going to have to check that out when I'm feeling somber. Oh, do you guys have a quote for me? Just a quote.
Alex Dietrich:
[inaudible 01:10:00] from a book?
Sheila Bella:
What?
Alex Dietrich:
What's your book?
Sheila Bella:
My book right now is Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert.
Alex Dietrich:
Oh, yeah. Okay, yes, definitely. So good. Love that.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, that's my book right now.
Alex Dietrich:
If I want to go into Love Warrior, Glennon Doyle love her. It was a good motivational, self-help. Or anything Brené Brown.
Sheila Bella:
Yeah, for sure. Brené Brown period. Okay, next question. Do you have a quote for me? Quote, favorite.
Alex Dietrich:
A quote for you?
Sheila Bella:
Just a quote for all of us.
Shay Danielle:
I have one. I haven't posted on social media yet, but I thought it was kind of cute. I saw it the other day. Be a girl with a mind, a woman with attitude, and a lady with class. I think that encompasses it all, when it comes to being an entrepreneur, and a woman [inaudible 01:10:55].
Sheila Bella:
Love it. Do you have a quote Alex?
Alex Dietrich:
I guess mine is, "Bitch don't kill my vibe, vibe with me, let's vibe together, let's not..." It's so easy to criticize someone for putting themselves out there, they could be like, "Oh my gosh, you really look [inaudible 01:11:17] of the camera, you're a loser." It's not, you're not a loser, the person who's criticizing is a bit of a loser just for doing that, don't criticize people. Don't do that.
Sheila Bella:
I agree and for those of you who are putting yourself out there like we advise you to for the first time, you're probably going to get people supporting you, but you're going to get somebody who's like, "What are you doing? Who do you think you are?" You're going to get that, but don't let that discourage you and just know that we warned you, and it's normal. I heard 4% of the entire population of the universe they're just programmed to be trolls, Dave [Asprey 01:11:57] said that. Is it Dave Asprey?
Anyway, they're just programmed to be negative, they're just programmed to be trolls. Yeah, 4% of your audience they're not going to like you because they're just programmed that way, and it's not about you, it's about them.
Alex Dietrich:
If somebody's watching right now, who is one of those people who just kind of like, "Oh, they look so weird," try to change your mindset be like, "Oh, you know what, that's cool. They feel powerful, they feel strong in themselves, I want to do that too." Turn it around. Turn that negativity into some positive. You've got the energy, obviously.
Sheila Bella:
Whenever I see a woman kicking butt in the industry, instead of comparing yourself it should remind you that it's possible, that there is a market for that or this thing that you're into as well. Every time I see a woman kicking butt in the industry, or just anywhere there's something in me that's.... You guys have felt that, right? This electricity in you that like... That's because that what you see is in you wanting to come out.
I recognize that. When I see Beyonce, I'm like, "That's a way downgraded soul version of that is in me wanting to come out, but nonetheless it's the same family." Second last question before we wrap is, what is you guys' best advice for how to live a pretty rich life? And when I say the word rich, I'm talking rich in all aspects not just financial, but rich as a human being.
Shay Danielle:
Okay. I'll go first.
Sheila Bella:
Go ahead.
Shay Danielle:
Okay my turn. It's basically something that I struggle with, and I worked on every day, and I think probably a lot of us have this problem, is not being present. Not just being content for just a minute, we're appreciating where you are. Sometimes it's all about where we want to be, where we're going next, what our goals are, we don't sit still long enough to just appreciate where we are, and sometimes think about where we came from, or where we were a year ago.
Where I was a year ago to where I am now, things are so different and where I'll be a year from now will be very different, but sometimes I get so consumed with thinking about that. Or my kid is two and a half and six, they're doing things now that might drive me crazy sometimes, but soon they'll be older. I'll miss those times where they're driving me crazy and I still have to carry her around even though she weighs 40 pounds. I'll miss those opportunities of even being able to carry her around. So just being present and being grateful for where we are in the moment, I think.
Sheila Bella:
So good. I deal with that too Shay. Thank you for sharing. Okay, go ahead Alex.
Alex Dietrich:
A very wise woman said to me once that fear lives in the future. That's happened recently. To be totally honest, I spent a lot of the last year waking up feeling a little bit negative or feeling down. I think it somehow [inaudible 01:15:22]. I'm too fearful of what's happening a day, or two, or a year or two, or three, or four down the road, when all we really have is today.
So to wake up, grateful and to be yourself with a little bit of a mantra every morning like, "Today is beautiful, even though my kid is screaming bloody murder that he doesn't want to go to school. I have this moment right now, I might not have it tomorrow." So fear is in the future, don't be afraid, move forward. Brené Brown, [inaudible 01:15:52].
Sheila Bella:
Thank you, I needed both of those things. Let me put that in my mug and just [inaudible 01:16:01]. Your advice, fear is in the future, stay present. I freaking love you guys. Thank you so much. For our listeners who want to work with you, can you guys let us know how they can find you and how they can work with you.
Shay Danielle:
Yeah, so you can find me Shay on Instagram, Shay Danielle, Shay with a Y, that's S-H-A-Y, Danielle D-A-N-I-E-L-L-E dot PMU, it ends with Permanent Makeup, and from there, you'll be able to reach all of my online courses, where you can practice techniques. Then you can find Alex and I both over on PMU Society, and then from there you can also access our online marketing course for beauty business gals.
Alex Dietrich:
We have a new one.
Shay Danielle:
Yeah, new course coming soon.
Alex Dietrich:
Can you guys hear me? I'm more active on the PMU society Instagram, I'm not that active online. It's just there as a [inaudible 01:17:04]. I had a lot of. I mean, I have some clients in the real estate industry it's whatever. We've created this PMU Society so I could really focus on the beauty industry, and help with the marketing questions. So reach me there, you can send me an email [email protected], and there answer me or Shay.
Sheila Bella:
Love it.
Alex Dietrich:
Loved being here. Oh my gosh, this is so great.
Shay Danielle:
This is so much fun.
Sheila Bella:
Let's keep going. We're going to be doing this for two and a half days straight. [crosstalk 01:17:42] in March, so I'm excited about that. Thank you guys for being on the show and just for being awesome chicks. I love you guys.
Shay Danielle:
I love our friendship, our bond, our industry we're all so lucky, and we're grateful that you had us on with you Sheila. Thank you so much.
Sheila Bella:
You're welcome Shay. Until next time guys. Grey, say, "Share with your friends."
Grey:
Share with friends.
Sheila Bella:
"Please review my mommy on iTunes."
Grey:
[inaudible 01:18:15] mommy iTunes.
Sheila Bella:
"Thanks for listening."
Grey:
Thanks for listening.
Sheila Bella:
Thank you so much for listening. It is an honor to be a part of your life. If you enjoy this podcast or were impacted by this at all, please take a minute to leave us a five star review on iTunes, and share it with a friend, screenshot it, post it on your stories or feed, your timeline, and don't forget to tag me.
I would really love to see that. My Instagram is @realSheilaBella. Also, let's carry on the conversation longer, join our private Facebook group just for pretty rich girls, just go to Facebook.com/prettyrichsquad. Check out SheilaBella.com for more information on how to get more support on your beauty entrepreneurship journey, and get going on your pretty rich lifestyle. Until next time.
