Ep. 102: Fourth Of July, Coming To America As An Immigrant From The Philippines, and Building My Dream Beauty Business
There are a lot of things going on in the United States right now. This Fourth of July might feel a little off. I want to take this time to be intentional and reflective of the life I've been able to build since my family immigrated to this country.
I want to be really honest in this episode. This is one of those special episodes where I feel like I can just sit with you and my microphone (or in this case my iPhone headphones) and just catch up with how we're all feeling.
It's been a hard couple of months. These last couple of weeks have definitely reminded me to slow down and be grateful for the privileges that I've been blessed with and be thankful for all of the work that my family did and the sacrifices they made on their journey.
So I just want to reflect on all of that and my history with you, and I hope that you'll take the moment to reflect with me too.
Here are the episode highlights:
‣‣ [05:03] I want to go back in time a little bit, back into the previous decade, to 2015. New Year's specifically. You know that feeling you always have on New Year's? That feeling that you have all these amazing opportunities and changes and big life events ahead of you that is just so exciting? Let's talk about that...and then talk about how hard this year has been and how unexpected it's been. But it's not all doom and gloom I promise. We can hold onto a little hope.
‣‣ [09:29] Taking another trip down memory lane, I remember what it was like immigrating to the US when I was about 8 years old.
‣‣ [13:51] Honoring all that my parents sacrificed to bring me to the US and acknowledging the restrictions that this country also places on some of us, I want to focus on a moment on the things I'm grateful for living in this country and living the life I have.
LET'S REFLECT ON OUR JOURNEY TOGETHER! (Listen Here)
You can follow me, Sheila Bella, on Instagram @realsheilabella!
Here are the links that were mentioned in the podcast!
Grow Your Gram
Online Course Workshop
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:
Hey, friend, it's Sheila Bella. You and I have been hanging out on Pretty Rich Podcast for a little while now and I think it's time that we move on to a texting relationship. Yep. I'm going to give you my phone number and please go ahead and text me, text me anything you want. Text me a cool song you listened to, a quote that you loved or what you had for lunch this morning, and you can even text me any business questions you might have. My number is area code (310) 388-4588. And the reason why I give you that number is because I am serious about building a relationship with you and building a community. The texts from this phone number, honest to God, comes to my phone so yeah, go ahead and use it. And you know the thing that I love getting texts about the most are your biggest takeaways from this podcast. So go ahead and text me area code (310) 388-4588. And I'll text you back soon.
You're listening to the Pretty Rich Podcast where you are totally the heroine of your own story. I'm your host, Sheila Bella. And I built a seven figure PMU biz without a degree, without a fancy website or a sugar daddy. And if you and I hang out here long enough, you're going to start to believe that you can do it too, because you really can. I know you think, I don't know you, but I do, I really do because I am you. And I believe we're all in the same journey together. My perfect job didn't exist, so I created it. The job I wanted wasn't hiring 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 that power is never given to you, you just have to take it. Are you ready beauty boss? Let's jump in.
Hey friends, how are you? Happy 4th of July. It is the actual day, today is actually 4th of July and I'm going to publish it today. I basically bailed out of cleaning the backyard and I said, well, you do that, I got to go podcast. I have the best husband. Yeah. Sucks to be him sometimes. But hey, I've got a podcast, I've got to chat with my girls, I've got to make time for this. Okay. So I'm really excited to be connecting with you guys today. It is a very significant day for me, particularly, but before we get started on our 4th of July episode, I just wanted to quickly read the review of the week. Keep these guys coming guys, keep these guys coming because it really helps this podcast rank. So it can be discovered by more awesome people. If you love Pretty Rich Podcast and you want to contribute something back because this podcast is free, these reviews are what I really appreciate. So thank you so much. And that's also why I time to read them out loud on the air. Okay.
So the review of the week comes from Pretty Prep. Okay. The title is Sheila is my girl. Honestly, I love Sheila, she's amazing. Whenever I need a pep talk about my career, I've taken two of her courses now and I highly recommend them. Grow Your Gram was amazing and Create An Online Course was amazing as well. Also, there's so much value in her messages, she really puts her heart and soul into these. So if you're looking for some positivity and some guidance in your life, even if you're not in the beauty industry, this is a wonderful place for you to come. Sheila is absolutely amazing. I will love and support her until the day I die. I rave about this podcast and all of her content, I cannot say enough good things about her. Who is this awesome girl who just made me feel like a million bucks today? Thank you so much.
Guys, also, these reviews are fuel for me because I know that it's hitting somebody. I know you guys are listening to it because sometimes when I'm sitting in this room by myself with this microphone, I'm like, who's listening to this? I don't know who's listening to this. And then I read these reviews and then, that's why I also like to start with it because it reminds me that, hey, you guys, that there's a real heartbeat on the other side of this microphone. And I want you guys to remember that too, when you guys are creating content that sometimes you won't get any feedback, but then once in a while, when you do get feedback, it is like the best feeling ever. So if you haven't left me a review, I would really love it. Just go to iTunes. And here's the thing you guys, it's not easy to find how to leave a review on iTunes. You poke around the show and then you have to go to the show page on iTunes podcast.
So for anybody who's left me a review, I understand that this was intentional. So thank you so much. I know you guys are busy. Okay. So there's a couple of things I want to talk about today. So I mean, New Year's Eve 2015, remember that? 2015, that was a good year. That was a great year for me, my business, did you hear me say that? My business grew a ton in 2015, and I remember celebrating, wining and dining all my friends and everything and then it got old and then I just settled down, but it was just the initial rush. So yeah, 2015 New Year's Eve. Do you remember what you would have answered? Can you think of what you would have answered if somebody would have asked you, where do you see yourself five years from now? I'll bet it wasn't this, I'll bet it wasn't this 2020 reality. Right?
So if you're sitting at home feeling paralyzed or just duped, I just want you to know that you're not alone, sometimes when you're in it by yourself or when you're so in your feelings, it feels like it's only happening to you, even though you know that it's happening to everybody. Sometimes you forget and that's okay. That's okay as you can have your time to mourn that, but always come back and just remember that you are not alone in this. The entire world is feeling a range of crazy emotions and they fluctuate like crazy as they should be because you're human. Now, as business owners, we have a bunch of big and tiny decisions that we have to make. Okay? A lot of you guys are moms, too, are wives, have families and you're business owners. And sometimes when you look at the big decisions that you have to make, they can be very overwhelming to a point where it's paralyzing.
But I firmly believe that success is tied to small, tiny decisions that might not mean a lot to you at the time. But that's what success is, it's tiny decisions that just stack up. That's it, because life isn't always about the mansion you were planning to buy at the end of the year or your house. Okay? Whatever, at the end of the year or the grand opening for your new studio. I know that there's a ton of you guys in the industry who invested in a new space and remodeled, and then were planning to have this big grand opening and now it's pandemic, right? Or that conference, hello? That conference that you were hoping to hold or attend because you wanted to network and you were so excited and you had your outfits ready and everything.
I want to remind you that, especially today, if you find yourself spending time with family, that life hasn't been canceled, life is still happening to you right now. Life is ongoing. It's happening, where you're sitting and listening to this. It's the laughs that you're going to share with your friends on FaceTime later, if you're a little buzzed, because you've had a couple of beers or whatnot. Life is the messy ketchup bottle, that's going to get all over your clothes and on the floor, in the backyard, as you squirt it onto your hot dog, life is the good stuff. And sometimes life is the annoying stuff, like when your kids are acting crazy or being demanding that's life too. It's the air that you're breathing right now. And we don't have a psychic telling us what's going to happen tomorrow and if this is all going to be over and will it ever be over. Right.
But for a lot of you, type As out there like myself, it's hard. It's hard not to have control, it's hard not to know the future. Uncertainty is uncomfortable for us, but did we ever have certainty even before COVID? Did we ever have certainty? No, we've always just been guessing, we've always just been trying our best and you didn't come this far just to quit now, you didn't. Family time hasn't been canceled and your dreams have not been canceled. Your dreams are just calling you to go with it, to evolve and to dance with the times and not fight it. So since it is July 4th and we're celebrating ‘merica. I was looking through some of my old photos and I came across this picture of me sitting on my dad's lap, me at, what is this? Eight years old, sitting on my dad's lap and we're at Griffith Park. We're sitting on a bench and he's pointing at a bird or something like that, that he wants me to check out. And then you see me eight years old, with a braid in my hair, full of wonderment going like, Whoa.
And just so you know, for context, this picture was taken maybe a month or two after us being in the States, when we first came to this country. So, I mean, this is probably one of the lowest we've ever been financially. Like I said, this was taken in Griffith Park and when we first came here, we lived in a two bedroom apartment and there wasn't even really walls. And there were 10 of us in this two bedroom apartment. There wasn't even really walls, they were just like dividers in a bad part of town in LA. I mean, there were just cops all the time, crime just everywhere. So this picture was taken at Griffith Park and I really remembered this day well. I remember that my dad chose to load all of us in the $500 van he bought by borrowing money from my grandma. And he said, okay, let's have a family day, let's go to a nicer area, let's go to Griffith Park. He wanted us to explore Los Angeles since it was our new home. And for the eight year old in this picture, it was a day I'll never forget.
Because as I explored the US, this new planet that I was on, it was like my dad introduced me to possibilities. And as we walked around exploring this new city, I remember eating Thai food and buying food cart churros. Right. And we've never had churros before, there's no churros in the Philippines. I didn't have a care in the world. To me we were safe and financial stress wasn't even something I could grasp at the time. But little did I know the inner turbulence, my parents probably held that day and they were looking for cheap fun, or free things to do with the family. And my dad, he has a thick Filipino accent. He has no connections to anyone who could do anything for him in the United States, except my grandmother and his sister. So I think he is as self-made, as it gets. What he did was he refurbished defective tools from our apartment parking lot. So he went to tool companies, he bought all of the sets, the wrenches and the automotive tools that were defective.
And then he would clean them up and then he would repackage them, make them better or suitable to sell from the parking lot of our apartment complex. And then he would sell them at the swap meet on weekends, and we'd do this every weekend until years later, we were able to buy a home in a safe middle class neighborhood. And it didn't even take that long I think, maybe like three years and today as I celebrate with my family, okay, my husband who's wearing a Chuck Norris, I'm not kidding, a Chuck Norris tank top, that he only bust out once a year and his American flag swimming shorts. And then my two sons, my two cute little sons who are just perfect, they're just perfect. Spending time with my mom, listening to Will’s All-American playlists while I serve mojitos, jalapeno mojitos. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited, I can't wait.
Yeah, oh my gosh, I'm just so grateful. Today, I'm just reminded of possibility, I'm reminded of our freedom. America is the only place in the world where you can come from nothing and create anything you want. And even that comes at a price, as we're experiencing now in the world, independence has a lot of restrictions. It's weird, but it's true. But I'm going to focus on the freedoms for today. My parents sacrificed so much for me to be able to enjoy this, for me to be able to float on my inflatable unicorn with mojito in hand. Right. And sure there's going to be days where you don't feel like showing up. Okay? Yeah, there's going to be days where things are really crappy right now, but I feel like I really owe it to my parents, my immigrant parents, who sacrificed so much to live life to the fullest. I owe it to every person who isn't free, who can't live this life if they wanted to.
So anything that happens today, you guys, if you're fighting, being in a bad mood, okay? Because things happen, if you get in a fight with your significant other, or your kids do something crazy, like I said, life hasn't been canceled and you owe it to those who have paid the price for you to live this amazing life, to win yourself over. We're in America, this is freaking awesome. Get up and smile. There's so much to celebrate. Let's focus on the positives today. Happy birthday America. I love how good you've been to me and my family and I will do everything in my power to make sure that you stay that way. And I've decided I'm going to end with this from Hamilton, the musical, which I just watched on Disney Plus last night.
(Clip From Hamilton):
Immigrants we get the job done.
Sheila Bella:
Thank you, mom and dad. Thank you America. I love you. I love you. And I love every single person listening to Pretty Rich Podcast, until next week you guys. That's it for today's episode of Pretty Rich Podcast. If there was anything in this episode that has impacted you in any small or big way, I want to know. You can reach me at realsheilabella on Instagram. And by the way, if we are not text buddies yet, that needs to change. You can text my name, Sheila S-H-E-I-L-A to, 31996 and we'll be connected. I really love hanging with you guys on here. And one last thing before we wrap it up, I got to include my kids, right? Hashtag mom first. So here are Beau and Grey to close things out.
Beau:
Hi my name is Beau. I'm five years old.
Sheila Bella:
Can you tell everybody what our family motto is?
Beau:
I can do hard things.
Sheila Bella:
I can do hard things. Now, fill in the blanks. Hard is?
Beau:
Fun.
Sheila Bella:
Easy is?
Beau:
Boring.
Sheila Bella:
Good job, buddy. I love you so much.
Beau:
I love you. You're the best mom, infinity.
Sheila Bella:
Grey say, share with your friends.
Grey:
Share with friends.
Sheila Bella:
Please review my mommy on iTunes.
Grey:
Review mommy iTunes.
Sheila Bella:
Thanks for listening.
Grey:
Thank you for listening.
