Ep. 169: ART OF ONLINE COMMUNICATION FOR BUILDING YOUR BEAUTY BRAND AND BUSINESS WITH BROW AND LASH MARKETING STRATEGIST SHEILA BELLA
The mark of a good entrepreneur is their communication skills.
A good entrepreneur is a good communicator. A successful entrepreneur is one who masters the art of communication - because communication is key to all relationships, and if you want to have a good relationship with your client base, your employees, or your students - you need to be a good communicator.
The great thing about this is that communication is a skill that you can practice easily. It's something that is so easily overlooked but it can easily be mastered!
So, in this episode, we are going to cover the top 3 ways that you can master the art of communication to build your beauty brand and business today! What are you waiting for?
Here are the episode highlights:
‣‣ [03:41] Let's talk about the greatest marketing tool that is severely underrated.
‣‣ [07:00] The first way you become a good communicator is by prioritizing listening and learning.
‣‣ [12:08] The second way you can communicate better is to start off by looking for common ground.
‣‣ [14:49] The third, and final, way to communicate better is by relaxing.
MASTER THE ART OF ONLINE COMMUNICATION! (Listen Here)
You can follow me, Sheila Bella, on Instagram @realsheilabella!
Here are the links that were mentioned in the podcast!
Buy tickets to Pretty Ambitious Summit!
FOR MY LISTENER BOSS BABES
You can enjoy this podcast by downloading it on iTunes here.
(Life Hack: Subscribe to Pretty Rich Podcast to get the LATEST EPISODE downloaded to your phone AUTOMATICALLY)
FOR MY READER BOSS BABES
You can enjoy a transcript of the podcast here.
Sheila Bella:
It's an insane time to be alive in all the best ways. I know the world is crazy right now, but can we just stop for a minute and recognize how having a business and wifi in 2021 is grossly underrated. If your ancestors knew that you had this thing called the internet and you can use it to your advantage for your small business, I mean, they would like their minds would explode. You can't complain. You can't. Stop complaining. You can't complain.
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 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 hurting 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 to Pretty Rich Podcast. Pretty Rich Podcast, what's up? It's Sheila Bella, and yeah, today's episode is going to be all about how to be a better communicator and why it's so important, how to be a better communicator online. I'm going to give you guys three actionable items where you guys can improve upon your communication skills to build a more successful and more profitable beauty business. But before we get started, I just wanted to remind you guys that if you have not yet left this podcast a review on iTunes, please do so. You don't even need to pause this podcast in order to leave a review, you can just keep it playing, leave a review. Think of me like your favorite server at a restaurant, hopefully. And if you've received any value at all from the Pretty Rich Podcast which is now almost in it's, oh my gosh, is it year three? Yeah, man. Something like that. Crazy. I started this in 2018, yeah. What?
September around summertime, 2018. And I can't believe it's going to be almost three years. Wow. So, if in the last three years, or if you're a new listener, if this podcast has given you any inspiration or business tip that has changed your life or blessed your life in any way or form, I would love it if you could leave me a five star review on iTunes, it really helps other people discover this show. Okay. So, let's get down to the nitty gritty, okay. So, we're going to talk all about how to be a better communicator today. Okay. First of all, having a business and wifi in 2021 is grossly underrated.
I am confused by how many people don't take full advantage of the internet, right? This thing is free. It's so powerful. There is a difference in my opinion, between the haves and the have-nots. Those who realize that anyone can build not only a business, but a legacy on social media are the haves. And those who are too busy giving into doubt are the have-nots. Anyone can have a platform. Anyone can build a legacy, anyone. And that's both a good thing and a bad thing.
But what does that mean for good people like you and businesses like yours? It means that you don't need to hustle only within the confines of your zip code, but the world. It's the world wide freaking web, the global market, right? My dad didn't have access to this when he was building his business in the '90s, as an immigrant from this country, right? And we have... It would be a slap in my immigrant parents' faces if I didn't take advantage of the internet today, I really think so. And all it takes for you to succeed online now is for you to just decide that people care now, decide that you care now, decide that you're important now, just decide. And here's the thing, the power of communication and being a dang good conveyor of ideas, that is an essential survival skill on the internet jungle.
It is in my opinion, extremely undernourished in schools and underrated. And I believe now that the skill of communication is more fundamental than ever. Because what you want in your life will only be spawned through what you say out of your mouth. If you're going to be successful in business today, you cannot build your business without marketing. Marketing is communicating your ideas because what isn't marketed doesn't sell. And that requires the skill of communication. So, here are three ways to be a better communicator. So, these are three ways to be a better communicator online. They work offline too, but I'm going to focus primarily on the online translation, because I know it's the number one tool for building your beauty business, okay?
So, number one, for being a better communicator online is to listen and do research more than you speak. Great communicators, listen, more than they speak.
You don't want to insert yourself in a discussion or an online community without first understanding what are people discussing? Right? For example, when you walk into a Facebook group, you can't just be like, "Hey, buy my stuff," right? You have to socialize and see what everybody else is talking about first. The topics that you decide to discuss should be the topics that are already being discussed. That's just being a good party attendee so speak, right? Social media is just like a party. And if you just pop into a party and not have the manners to first contribute to an ongoing conversation, to an existing conversation and instead you're like, "No, I don't want to talk about that. I just want to talk about what I want to talk about. Let's talk about me. Let's talk about my business," right? It's a turnoff. You can't do this in an online setting. Great communicators, frequently ask questions.
They ask questions of their followers to give people an opportunity to share their knowledge and express their opinions. And as a marketer, you should know what their number one pain points are. I mean, that's what marketing is, is just pain points. In order to be a great communicator. You first need to understand what people are thinking and how they are thinking. So, you have to ask your followers, your community, basically, "What are you guys thinking? What are your pain points? This or that?" I use a lot of the stickers on stories in order to gauge what my community is thinking. When I talk about a pain point and I ask people, "Are you struggling with this? Yes or no. I want to know." I ask people frequently, "What industry are you in?" So, I want to know who is my audience?
Are you guys all brow artists or lash artists? Are you guys outside of the beauty industry? I want to know. I want to know so I can produce content that's relevant to your lives. I don't want to assume that you're going through something. I want to hear it from you. Are you going through this? What is bothering you these days? How are you feeling? What are you afraid of? What's exciting for you right now? And I create my content from that because I do enjoy these discussions. And make no mistake, your social media platform, if you're doing it right, it's a two way discussion. So, tip number one, listen more than you speak, do more market research than you create content. I wish I could tell you that being a great artist or technician is enough.
I wish I could tell you that the thousands of dollars you've spent on trainings and cosmetology school and the hundreds of hours you've spent practicing on her craft is enough. You have put so much effort into perfecting your craft. You're posting an incredible client transformations, but still your flow of clients is inconsistent. You are overjoyed when you book a new client, but in the back of your mind, there's that nagging fear of not knowing where your next client is going to come from, or perhaps you're inundated with clients. But now you feel like a slave to your business when the whole point of getting into the beauty industry was to be able to beat her own boss. So, what's the solution? You need to learn sales, branding, marketing, social media, referral programs, team building, mental toughness.
You need to be inspired. You need to be within a group of people and learn from people who understand you, who get you who've been there. So, guess what? The Pretty Ambitious Summit is basically 1,000s of dollars worth of business coaching crammed into three days. It is a hybrid virtual event. It is the ultimate girl power event for beauty entrepreneurs. Tickets are on sale right now. On our speaker list includes Gary Vaynerchuk, Angie Lee, Sarah Hendrick, Shay Danielle, and so much more. I'm so excited and honored to be able to bring this to the beauty industry and it's virtual. But believe me, there will be opportunities for in-person events for those who are comfortable. All you need to do is go to prettyambitioussummit.com or sheilabella.com/events to learn more and to get your tickets while they last. And I'll see you there.
All right. Tip number two, find common ground. Look for what you have in common with the person or the audience that you're trying to reach. This works even in everyday relationships in arguments with my husband. You find where you align in terms of perspective. You talk about that first. I will, for example, take my husband's differing opinion and elaborate on it so that he knows that I understand where he's coming from. "Yes, I know you feel like you don't have time because you just went back to school and you're trying to get #dadbod. So, you're working out every day at 5:00 AM, and I know that you feel like you're being pulled apart several different ways between work and parenting and me, but I still want your attention and affection. I know what that's like. I feel the same way.
I'm being pulled apart too. So, I understand you." So, when you find common ground where you can agree and elaborate on that on their behalf, before you interject your idea, that person will be more open to receiving the new idea or softer about yeah, something that you might need them to do better. When you find common ground with people on the internet, let's say you're in the comment section, okay. For you keyboard warriors, once in a while, in a great while I find myself leaving a comment, that's interjecting my perspective on something. And something I try to remember is always find common ground when you're elaborating on that person's opinion or rant, because also it's very easy to take something the wrong way when it's through text, right? You might read something as more aggressive than it was intended to be by the writer.
And when you find common ground, when you find a good conversation partner, it's a great strategy because it makes the conversation more enjoyable for both of you, as well as it shows your conversation partner, that you're an empathetic, compassionate person, which is a very likable quality, I think.
And the final thing that I myself am leaning into a little bit more is if to be an effective communicator, you will need other people to relax in order to receive your message, which means you yourself need to relax. So, I think I've told you guys before that I have a musical theater background. And so, I actually watched a high school performance at my husband's school, the other night, and every time these high school kids were taking on a scene, they're in high school. So, I always felt a little bit nervous for them because they're not too experienced, right? It's not like watching one of my favorite shows, This Is Us where you just kind of relax into the story. But for these kids, I was always so nervous for them. Why? Because they were nervous.
And so, I've realized that if you are nervous, you also make your viewer nervous. It's important to be self-aware during these online conversations or lives or even this podcast. It's important to be self-aware and be grounded because ultimately one of the most effective communication strategies is simply relaxing and acting like you normally would because you will distract people from your message if they're too busy worrying about you. So, just be. And another thing don't be afraid of a bit of silence, yeah. Something that I'm leaning into as well on my life. Yeah, don't be afraid of a bit of silence because it's actually unnatural to have zero silence in conversation. Occasional lapses are normal. So, if you need some time to think about the perfect word to describe something, you probably hear me on this podcast kind of doing that sometimes like I just did right now.
It's natural and it helps people to just sit with you and be with you. The way they would, if you were sitting with me in real life. Plus letting pauses occur naturally is a good way to make sure if you're doing a live with somebody that you are not interrupting anyone's train of thought. So, whenever I do IG LIVE's with people or interviews or podcasts interviews, I just always have a little conversation with my interviewee beforehand and just tell them just like, "Hey, it's just you and I sitting with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, whatever it is." Not drinking right now, I'm pregnant.
"And yeah, just think of it like that." And a lot of times they'll forget that they're even on a Live with me. I've had this comment before. They're like, "Oh, it was really so natural. It was just like you and I having a conversation about this. I forgot people were watching." So, yeah guys just relax. If you want to be a good communicator, you need your audience to relax, which means you yourself need to relax first. So guys, those are my top three tips for how to be a better online communicator. And I'm sure you could see how those same tips translate into the real world. You guys are awesome. That's it for today. I will see you guys next time. God bless you all.
Hey, thanks so much for listening to today's episode of Pretty Rich Podcast. If you want to continue with the conversation longer, check me out on Instagram. It's my favorite place to connect with you guys at @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 it on your stories 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? 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.
Grey:
Hello.
Sheila Bella:
Gray, say share with your friends.
Grey:
Share with your friends.
Sheila Bella:
Please review my mummy on iTunes.
Grey:
Please review mummy iTunes.
Sheila Bella:
Thanks for listening.
Grey:
Thanks for listening.
Sheila Bella:
Hey Beau, can you tell everybody what our family motto is?
Beau:
I can do hard things.
Sheila Bella:
I can do hard things. Good job buddy.
