I want to take you guys on my business/life journey. I am by no means a professional writer but I want to share my crazy experiences with you in hopes it can help and inspire you. I also think social media has become a very fake place so this is where I can speak my truth. Don't be afraid to leave your thoughts in the comments, I would love to connect with people who can relate to my story.
I have always wanted to own my business but growing up I knew I wasn’t exactly an inventor. I didn't have "new" business ideas come to me but I was always so intrigued in having my own business, maybe it was because I have such a rebellious nature. You might be thinking, why does being rebellious have anything to do with owning a business. In all honesty to be able to break out the system of normal life you have to be brave enough to not follow the system that the whole world tells you you should be doing. It takes courage and a strong character to not follow what everyone is telling you to do. You would be surprised at what I was like as a teenager. I definitely thrived off doing things I wasn't supposed to be doing but there are definitely no regrets in my life as I believe that everything is a lesson and to be honest in my teenage years I had a hell of a lot of fun. Even back then I would tell my friends I was going to make loads of money, I didn't know how but I was hungry for it. Money wasn't exactly something I came from. I saw my mum having to rely on husbands for money and I just knew I didn't want that for my life.
I was never able to hold a job for much longer than a year, I would get easily bored and always find reasons as to why I hated it there. From the outsiders point of view I could have been classed as lazy. Not because of how I worked as I have always had a good work ethic but I would try to find any excuse in the world to have a day off work. I seemed to be ill a lot of the time but since having Sienna Beauty apparently I never get ill. As soon as I turned 18 years old I was introduced to network marketing. I have had my fair share of network marketing businesses but I was never able to find something I was truly passionate about which led me to getting bored. I have the typical entrepurners shiny object syndrome problem! If you don't know what that means, it means you get distracted very easily with different business opportunities. I am definitely a yes girl, as Richard Branson says "if somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes, then learn how to do it later." I have always lived by this without even knowing it. It has benefitted me in many ways like having the courage to start and try things but it definitely has had me in a lot of trouble too. I feel like at times I am a bit of an addict. I am addicted to self education & business opportunities even if it means going into debt for it and because I get distracted very easily by the next "shiny object" I struggle to finish things. This is just me being extremely honest. A lot of people may look at the success I have right now but you have no idea what goes on behind it all. Even though I make myself very angry at times I still wouldn't change it for the world as it has built my character in ways I know I never would have, having stuck to having a job and trying to fit in with the rest of the world. It was never me. I do believe that social media does glorify having a business though so I will be exposing the truths about it all. At the end of everything though like I said I wouldn't have it any other way, I live my life with complete fulfilment knowing I am doing this for me.
So in total I have attempted to do around 9 network marketing companies! In another blog I am going to give my honest opinion on those different companies. I have nothing against network marketing I absolutely love it and you can make serious money in it if you are serious. NWM changed my outlook on life and completely shifted my mindset and set me on my self development journey. I believe this is a life time journey by the way it is never ending but this was the start. You are also around like minded people which even to this day I miss more than anything but a lot of the friends I made through those different companies I have kept in my life and I plan to do so always. So it hasn't always been success, well the typical success! Looking back over it all I don't see anything as failure, everything I have done I have learnt valuable lessons, even if it was just one thing. Having this type of attitude in business I think is essential because it pushes you forward instead of holds you back. I plan to give you guys little golden nuggets as I write these blogs, hopefully it can be a guide for many of you in a way. Any type of "side hustle" you see online I have probably looked into doing it, drop-shipping, amazon, digital books, trading, affiliate marketing, clothing brands, beauty brands, you name it I have either looked into it or tried to do it. So the different side hustles will definitely be a topic of one of the blogs. If there is anything in particular that you want to know about please don't be afraid to let me know.
So let's go back to the beginning of Sienna Beauty. I want to take you through this journey with as much honesty as I can. I didn't start SB because I loved beauty, in fact I was a tom boy who's favourite colour was black. I was very far away from being "girly" but the one thing I did get done and LOVED was lashes. My background was sales and recruitment. I was currently living in Croydon in the summer of 2018 on gypsy site, random I know (story for another time). I had just been made redundant from my recruitement job and I had decided to take some time out over summer. During this time I found out I was pregnant so the job I had secured to start in September was no longer on the table. My little girl was not planned and I was in absolutely no postion to have a baby whatsoever but for some reason from the moment I found I was pregant there was no question about it, I was keeping her. I also realised the life I lived in recruitment wasn't really ideal for being a new Mum. This was the first time in my life that I didn't have a job and felt completely helpless. I had no idea what I was going to do, but all I knew was I had to find a way to provide for my little baby girl. I spoke to my lash tech about my situation as do and she told me how I could get into lashing. It had never crossed my mind but she told me about the potential within it as she was doing it and as soon as I left that lash appointment I didn't waste anytime. I booked on to the first lash course I could find, I didn't even research a thing. So this was a life changing moment for me, if you are thinking about doing something JUST DO IT. Stop thinking about everything because you will only think your way out of it. You never know which decision you make could end up being life changing. This was it for me and now hundreds of other women who decided to follow in my footsteps within the beauty industry. The ripple of effect that my little girl had on the world is insane and I am telling you it is just the start.
We decided to move to Reading as living on a gypsy site in Croydon was not where I wanted Sienna to be! I didn't know one single person when I moved to this town, I had 0 friends and 0 family members here (apart from my brother, which is how I knew about Reading). So Sienna Beauty was built on pure graft and completely from the bottom. No helping hand, no stepping stones, nothing. The reason why I tell you this is 1. because I want to be honest and 2. because I want to show you that anyone is capable of this, you just need to take control of your own life and make things happen. I officially started my business in Jan 2019 after doing my course in December 2018. I was shockingly BAD at lashing. I cried my eyes out after I did my two courses back to back (classic's & russians) as I just didn't get it. I was obsessed with strip lashes so I knew I wanted to specialise in strip lash creation and mega volume but the reality was far from that. Where I had no one to practice on, the day before my first ever client I begged my partner at the time to let me practice on him. 2 and a half hours in I got about 10 lashes onto 1 eye and stuck his eye together. That was the last time he let me practice on him! I was definitely not a natural at this and I didn't enjoy it one bit, in fact I hated it with a passion. Unfortunutely my parnter wasn't very reliable when it came to money which isn't something I will go into now, so I felt like I had no choice but to make this work. I was 7 months pregnant, jobless and nearly homeless. I needed a miracle. The drive that my little Sienna gave me was the miracle. In later blogs I want to share with you one of the most amazing realisations I have had about my journey and something all you amazing mothers out there should live by. My business completely took off within the next 2 months before I gave birth, I seemed to be one of the first lash businesses in the area to really take lashing seriously. I really started to see the business potential within this but my first goal was to make £100 a week. I get asked a lot about if I knew I wanted a salon/academy etc when I first started. The answer was no. I knew I wanted to specialise in strip lash creation and mega volume and I knew I wanted to make £100 a week. There is so much I realise about goal setting now, which I didn't know then. Honestly SB changed my life in so many ways and the lessons that have come from it have been eye opening. It is 2023 now and we are just about to enter 2024. I feel like I am about to enter the most craziest era of my life, and honestly that will be hard to top but I know its coming because the lessons I have learnt have been fundamental and I am here to help others do exactly the same.
In my next blog I am going to continue with the journey of Sienna Beauty and explain exactly what I did to grow my lash business and also talk to you guys about the importantance on online precense and how I utilise it to my advantage within my businesses. Please let me know your thoughts or if you have any questions about anything! I look forward to taking you all on this crazy journey with me.
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