Ep. 100: All the Things I've Learned from Creating 100 Episodes of Beauty Biz Inspiration, Education, and Personal Reflection
This is the 100th episode of the Pretty Rich Podcast.
It's not my birthday, but that is a statement of fact. It is the 100th episode of the Pretty Rich Podcast!
I cannot believe it. I can't believe it! We are finally in the triple digits!
It took me a little longer to get this episode out there, because it was like, “This is the 100th episode! It needs to be really, really good.” I was putting that pressure on myself.
But that led me to the biggest lesson I’ve learned after 100 episodes of the Pretty Rich Podcast. And what’s that?
Authenticity.
If you’re worried about the competition, or if you’re trying to find your voice—I’ve been there! This episode is for you!
In my 100th episode, I talk about being inspired by your role models while learning to not compete with them. I also talk about how that feeling of not knowing what your voice sounds like because you’re comparing it to someone else’s can actually help you find your voice.
I spill the secrets that I’ve found after 100 episodes of the Pretty Rich Podcast, all of which GROW you in not just your beauty business but also in your LIFE!
So tune in!
Thank you so much for listening. 100 EPISODES?! That’s amazing!
I’m looking forward to having more conversations with you right here on the Pretty Rich Podcast.
Here’s to 100 more!
(And then another hundred, and another hundred, and another, and another…)
Here are the episode highlights:
‣‣ [01:34] HONESTY TIME! I know. It took me forever to launch this episode. Here's where I tell you a little bit of what analysis paralysis looked like for me.
‣‣ [02:06] Authenticity--the #1 thing that doing 100 episodes of the Pretty Rich Podcast has taught me. I start talking about that here.
‣‣ [03:13] Do you even know the influence of media representation? Especially if it's someone you look up to? Right here is where I talk about the importance and the weight of media representation (because hello? It influenced me too!).
‣‣ [04:19] How the heck are you supposed to escape the competition? There's really only one way. This minute mark is where I tell you how to do just that (and it's not even that hard).
‣‣ [04:40] Right here! Here is where I talk about finding your voice when you have such powerhouses you start measuring yourself up to.
‣‣ [07:18] Being inspired by somebody and being intimidated by somebody can basically be seen as two sides of the same coin. At this minute mark, I tell you what to do with being inspired by somebody so that you stay inspired, not intimidated.
‣‣ [10:26] Here's the secret to the security that I found solid and secure business owners have that work to ground them. You don't want to miss this!
SPILL THE TEA, SIS, GIVE ME THE SECRETS! (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.
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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 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.
Hey everyone, it's Sheila Bella. This is the 100th episode of Pretty Rich Podcast. I cannot believe it. I can't believe it. We are finally in the triple digits. I am a little emotional because I have been enjoying your company for the past year and a half. And when I started this, I didn't know what the outcome was going to be. And it wasn't always easy, but now we are ranking on iTunes as one of the top podcasts in business or careers. And today, I sit here celebrating episode 100. Oh, my goodness. So today's episode is going to be special. For just this episode, I want to talk with you guys candidly as friends. I don't want to put too much pressure on myself to make this like a super hit podcast just because of the number. And I feel like part of the reason why it took me a little bit longer to get this episode out there is because I was putting that pressure on myself, like it's the 100th, it needs to be really, really good.
And yeah, I had analysis paralysis. But honestly, right now I'm just going to share what's on my heart. I'm not even going to do an intro or anything like that, and I'm just going to talk about the number one thing that doing 100 episodes has taught me. Doing a hundred of these has really taught me that authenticity... Oh gosh, this sounds so freaking cliche, but really all you need to do to show up and to be a leader is to be yourself but just record it. That's really all you need to do to escape competition. And that's really what I've learned because I feel like before I was trying to be all these other people. You know who I was really trying to be like is Dr. Cat. If you guys don't follow her, she has no idea. If you guys don't follow her on Instagram, you should, because she's pretty bomb. She's a surgeon, she's Chinese, she's blonde, and she's a real boss babe, right?
And I don't know, in the beginning when I decided to take my social media and my influencer game a little bit more seriously, she inspired me to do that. Why? We are so easily influenced by media representation, because I saw somebody who kind of looked like me, who was Asian, who was blonde, who lived in my town, have a voice and a following. And it showed me that it was possible for somebody like me to have the same. And at first I'll be honest with you, I was like so if she's successful and she's being celebrated, well, it's because she wears designer things and she speaks very eloquently, and all her photos are so polished. Her poses are so graceful, and she's always standing up tall. And I really thought that I needed to be a carbon copy of that. And I thought that, that was the only way that I would ever succeed or be celebrated.
And then as I tried it, I realized I couldn't. Well, duh, I realized I couldn't be Beauty by Dr. Cat on Instagram. I started seeing glimpses of my real self come through. I'm definitely not as polished. I'm definitely not as eloquent, and I'm not a surgeon. And I just got comfortable, and I just started showing up as me. But I have to say that she really did inspire me to show up more and build a personal brand because she showed me that it was possible. And that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you guys about today, how you escape competition is through authenticity.
And I remember, when I was getting used to being on camera and showing up on Instagram and stuff like that, it felt like I was competing, not just with Dr. Cat directly necessarily. No, not her. I'm super happy for her, but I was competing with all of the other influencers that were out there and in my space. And I guess the reason why it felt like I was competing, it was because I didn't find my own voice yet. I wasn't comfortable in my own skin. I wasn't comfortable with how I looked on camera. So I was trying to mimic what everybody else was doing. Yo, stop. If you're interested in getting more followers, more clients, and more profit in your pocket... Duh, of course you are, so here's my secret.
And I wasn't going to say anything, but here goes. Listen, if my BFS had a secret butt cream that would get rid of cellulite, I would be so mad if they kept that to themselves. So here's the tea on the biggest kept secret big beauty businesses have on how they have tons of followers and high engagement on Instagram. How are they getting all this business on Instagram? How are you slaving away at your Instagram content and nothing? Guess what, this stuff that I'm about to share with you works. And the stuff that I'm talking about is called Grow Your Gram. Grow Your Gram is where I teach beauty bosses, just like yourself, how to grow your Instagram account to get more influence and more clients. The IG math says, the more customers you have following you, the more money you're going to have. Grow Your Gram, I swear works, and it works wonders.
You're going to see your followers and your engagement rise. Don't just take it from me. You got to go to the website and see all of the testimonials and see how fast it's worked for other people. And it can work for you, too. It will work for you, too. Like I said, don't just take it from me, check it out. I promise you, you're going to be blown away. Just go to sheilabella.com/growyourgram. And because the one at a hook you up, if you use the code podcast at checkout, you're going to get 10% off. It's a small investment with a large return. So check it out, sheilabella.com/growyourgram and get ready to blow up your beauty business, get those appointments and more influence.
And this is me being super transparent. And I see a lot of you guys out there really trying to show up for your community as well. And maybe you're trying to show up thinking you have to be like this podcast or like me. And I'm just here to tell you from experience that I understand that, and that does have a benefit. If you're inspired by somebody it could help get you started, but eventually it's going to get old. And it's not going to feel as authentic, and you might start to feel insecure. And I think the number one reason why people feel like they're competing perhaps, even that small tinge of it is maybe it's because perhaps they know deep down inside that they're copying something. You're trying to be successful at the same thing the same way. Whereas if you just show up as yourself, then nobody can be you.
No one can compete with you. If you show up as yourself, you literally have zero competition because there are 7 billion people in this world, and each of us has our own unique personality framework. And what I've also found is after interviewing a lot of people, getting to know a lot of people in the industry, I have to say that there is a lot of cattiness sometimes that goes on in the beauty business. And the pattern that I can't help but notice is that people who are insecure, who get upset easier than others, are those who don't show up for their brand. And not showing up for your brand, what it does is it breeds insecurity. And I can understand this because if you're pretty much just a product, let's say you're a lash glue, and you're hiding behind your lash glue, or you're hiding behind your microblade, or you're hiding behind pictures of your pigments, that's really easy to duplicate because products are easy to duplicate.
You just make a call to China. Branding, packaging, style materials, you can literally just take a picture of whatever product it is, send a picture to the factory that you want to produce your product, and have them make the same thing. Slap your name on it. It's so easy to copy. So I think that's why there can be a lot of insecurity for people who aren't used to showing up for their brand because they know deep down inside that they're not comfortable putting their face out there. They know that they're more about their product than they are about building a personal brand and product are easy to duplicate.
You get what I'm saying? The most secure business owners I know are those who have a strong, personal brand. The ones who are happy for other people, even if they come out with a product that's very similar to one that they've created or that they've carried are those who know that they are more than just a bottle, that they are a human being who has built a pretty solid community because you could be selling microblades or tweezers right now, right? But one day maybe the new thing on the market is going to be cosmetic lasers, brow lasers. I've thought about this. Maybe one day, our clients won't need us. Maybe they'll just have lasers like microblading lasers. I don't know. It's just very Sci-Fi. Anyway, now what? Now what?Your microblade or your bottle is nothing. Now you've got to be lasers, but if you've built a strong personal brand and people trust you, guess what? You can sell that new thing, too. You can sell that new thing, give your opinion on it.
And basically, a personal brand, people don't necessarily go out of style. They only go out of style if they stop showing up. So look at Julie Andrews, right? I love Julie Andrews. I love The Sound of Music. I love Mary Poppins. She was known for her voice, but when she lost her voice due to a surgery that went wrong a few years ago, she wasn't out of work. Why? People still love her? We will still love her, even though she couldn't sing the way she used to. Because at the end of the day, when you are the face of your brand, you literally become invaluable because you can't put a price on a human being. So today, I know it's really hard and it's scary, but you got to start showing up. And hey, if you start out copying somebody, do it. Do it.
You will find your voice because it's really freaking scary to open up yourself to criticism when you put yourself out there. I understand, but you can't get to your 100th podcast, you can't get to your 50th podcast without going through the first one. And the first one is probably going to suck. So is the second one, and it just keeps getting better and better and better. So just remember, guys, that you can't skip day one. Day one is not going to feel good, but day 100 feels pretty awesome. I want to thank Dr. Cat for paving the way in my mind to get out and do the dang thing and be a blond Asian bad-ass on social media. And you listening to this right now, if I'm inspiring you, that's so cool. Please let me know. And if you need to steal for inspiration from this, from my platform, from who I am, please do. I've got plenty to give.
And I just want to thank you guys for hanging out with me for 100 episodes. And, guys, I've given you a hundred episodes already. So if you still have it left me a five-star review on iTunes, I kindly ask that you go ahead and do so because it really helps this podcast rank. And I just love reading the feedback. So if this hit home for you, I really hope you take action because there's enough success for all of us to go around. Until next it's time.
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 @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, #momfirst. So here our Beau and Grey to close things out.
Beau:
Hi, my name is Beau, and 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 the best, to infinity.
Sheila Bella:
Grey, say share with your friends.
Grey:
Share with friends.
Sheila Bella:
Please review my mommy on iTunes.
Grey:
To, to momma iTunes.
Sheila Bella:
Thanks for listening.
Grey:
Thanks for listening.
