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Chelsea: All right! Yes, we are live! Welcome, welcome, welcome hennapreneurs! Let me grab this over here so I can share our feed into the Hennapreneur community. You guys know. You guys know.

Let's see...

How are we doing today? Look, today is January 14th. It is officially two weeks. We're officially two weeks into 2020 which is kind of like, it's kind of crazy. I honestly feel like time is just passing by already and I don't know about you guys, but 2020 for me is not going all the way the way that I planned. Like, it's already like filled to the brim with, like, it's just really charged with energy and potential and excitement and I love it. So I'm excited. I'm excited for what's coming. Let's see. All right.

Here we go.

Perfect. So we've got that shared over into the community. All right. We've got, we've got a little bit, we've got a little bit we've got to get through today, so I'm really excited to jump right in. Let's start just by: Hello! If it's your first time joining me for a live Q&A — Hi, my name is Chelsea Stevenson. I'm a professional henna artist and business strategist and I'm the founder of Hennapreneur. Twice every month I come live here on Facebook and I answer all your questions related to henna, business, branding, and sometimes other things depending on what I get. So, um, today we're going to dive in with a couple of questions that came in through, uh... or from the Hennapreneur community. And then if we have any questions that come in live, then we'll discuss those afterward so long as there is time. Ah! There we go here. The first question that we have came from Nicole. All right, here we go.

And Nicole says... Okay. Nicole says, "I'm working on branding and all of the interesting visual stuff." Love. "I have a design I drew and I would like to use it as a logo or a watermark. Is there a way to make that happen for free? I'm using Canva, but it seems like it's all premade designs." Um, yes. So if you're working in Canva, it is going to be all premade designs. So if you're wanting to build a custom logo, you would have to either build it out using some of the, like, you'd have to use the elements that are provided there or otherwise manipulate it. Honestly, if you're wanting to build a logo freehand, I don't know that I would recommend doing it in Canva, necessarily. I think that I would probably instead recommend going something with, like, going to like an Adobe to create that. That said, like if you don't have that technology and that is not free, sadly, if you don't have that technology, then I— there are ways that you could perhaps get around it if we're just kind of like bootstrapping it, which if the— I mean, we do that sometimes, right?

So if you're just kind of bootstrapping it and you know that you're wanting to get this digitized piece made, there are some workarounds that I can share with you. They're not going to be perfect, but they will work at least. So, the first thing that you might do is, one, take this— take the visual element that you've created, right, for your logo and what I'd have you do is put it on, uh, of course on a white sheet with a very nice, rich, black ink. Um, if you use like, oh gosh, what are they? I might even have one here. Finito! pen. Uh, Finito! pen, which is, I mean, it's like from BIC. It's, it's, you can find it anywhere, okay, at any office store. Um, or if you're using like a really nice black fountain ink, like, you want to have good quality ink because you want those to create your logo.

But again, it would be imperfect, but it would, it would work. So, um, I hope that this helps. You might even, you know, you might even reach out, honestly, Nicole, you might even reach out to see if you can find a designer on some platform like Etsy who can take that item and then digitize it for you if you're wanting it to be a little bit more crisp and clean. I don't know what the cost of that would be. Of course it would depend on the service provider, but that might be an option worth looking into. Otherwise, those free options are two routes that you can take and I will put the link for you for the site that I'm aware of that will remove the background image for free. I'll put that in the comments for you inside of the Hennapreneur community as well.

So that you can take advantage of that and see if it works. See if it works for you, at least. I know the software works. Okay. Our next question is from Najlaa. Najlaa said, "I am just starting out and I'm trying to establish an Instagram handle as well as Facebook. I'm setting up my telephone number and email as well. Does my email address have to be a business email or can I make it a private email. If I make it private, would I be able to change it to a business account at a later date?" Um, okay. So in reading this question, what I'm understanding is, the email we want to attach to the Instagram and Facebook account. So let me make sure that... Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. This has to do— Okay. We're— Sorry. I'm like, let me make sure that I'm registering this question properly.

"Does my email just have to be a business email or can I make it a private email? If I make it private, would I be able to change it to a business account at a later date?" Yes, you could. So if you— when you're creating your accounts both on Facebook and on Instagram, you have the opportunity to connect an email address. You can, you can use your private email address if you wanted to do so. But I would even say, why not, why not just make a separate email address now? I feel like that would be, perhaps, a little bit more efficient for you anyway. That way you don't have to worry about any bookings or any inquiries that are coming in getting lost in your personal email box. That's not a challenge that you really want to have. So maybe you could set up just a free account. I don't know what sort of a email account you're using for your personal email, but, perhaps setting up a Google, a Gmail account, just for your business. You know, hennawithnaj, you know, at gmail.com and then have that attached to your, um, have that attached to your social media accounts.

Honestly that would be my recommendation versus using a personal email address. But if you wanted to use a personal email address, you could. Um, and then, yes, both Facebook and Instagram will allow you to make changes to your email address and to any contact information inside of their platform after the accounts have already been made. So don't feel like there's pressure like if you've— if you put it in there, then you can't change it. You didn't sign your name in blood. No worries. Um, okay. We have a question from Karima. She says, "Chelsea, I've been thinking about expanding my henna business, so I've been looking for a wholesale henna to sell. I'm looking for suppliers who supply triple-sifted henna that's body art quality, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

Any advice on where to start please would be much appreciated." Karima, you have asked a loaded question. Mostly because, you're right, most vendors, myself included, who purchase wholesale aren't going to give out their supplier information just because it's proprietary to them. Um, so I can understand the challenge and finding the right people at the right time, and knowing, knowing what things to ask them, what things to say. I can't give you a person, but I can give you some tips, okay? So what I would recommend is, one, there are so many henna suppliers now that just with the use of social media and how small the world has become, that you can reach out and you can find many companies that will supply you with henna that's body art quality and that's triple-sifted directly from Sojat or other places in Rajasthan,

if you're wanting to Rajasthani powder, just through Instagram or Facebook now. Or even just an easy Google search. This is the thing, once you start to make contact with these companies, what you're going to find is that a greater majority of them have a lot of questionable practices. So, everything from whether the henna is actually natural, is it really henna at all or is it henna mixed with something else? This is something that comes up quite a lot. Especially because many of these companies are also selling henna, um, they're selling henna in addition to other products. Like they may be selling henna and indigo or henna and amla or henna and cassia. And so if they're selling these additional products with it, then you have to be very specific that you're looking only for henna that's for skin.

And even so, again, many of the business practices that you'll find are not what we're used to in the West, okay? And so it can— there can be conversations that are had that are very uncomfortable and at best may leave you feeling like, I'm not sure if this is someone who I want to continue to exchange with. I would recommend before ever purchasing a bulk or wholesale order from overseas, make sure that you get a sample and a lot of the companies will send you a sample without you having to, you know, book anything else. Because after then beyond that, the minimum orders tend to be around 10 kilos or, um, somewhere around 10 to 25 kilos. Um, and so you're going to want to be conscious of that because the last thing that you want is to receive, you know, 10 kilos of henna that, you know, it's not good quality and that you can't sell. Let alone use yourself.

Another thing that I'd recommend is that you've definitely price shop because the cost of henna in India is very different from the cost of henna here. And so while you may find, um... not, you may find, you will find, there's a lot of variation from the different vendors depending on who is savvy about this versus that and whatnot. The largest cost, honestly, isn't the henna itself. The largest cost is the shipping. So, I'm not sure where you're located. I want to say Canada, but that might be in my head. Um, but you might want to check and see with each vendor what— have them actually break down, okay, what is the cost of the raw product versus what's the cost of the shipping, and see if there are any ways that you might play around with it. Sometimes you'll find vendors who are able to make little adjustments.

Like splitting the shipment up between two different shipments or what not to be able to play with the shipping rates between where you are and where they are. One other thing that I would say for sure is that when you are, once you find a vendor who you like and you like their product and they're doing well with you and all the things, know that those are relationships that you are going to want to maintain in really good standing. So make sure that you keep clear communication with them about what you expect in terms of how quickly you're going to receive your shipment, how often you might be ordering from them and so forth. Because just like us, we know when we try to attract a new client, we want to have that client for a long time and it's the same for them.

You are their client, so make sure that you're really going into that relationship with forward thinking. Um, but as far as, like, where to start, I would say start looking. A Google search will get you somewhere. But even starting on Instagram, I can guarantee you that there are lots of different vendors out there who are very willing to have conversations about how they can serve you and selling you wholesale henna. Um, but the biggest thing is, again, going to be making sure that it's a good quality, uh, making sure that it's actually henna. Really read up on these companies, okay? Really read up on them. Um, and then also make sure that you are having conversation with them about your expectations as the relationship moves forward because you are going to be dealing with, you know, in the hundreds of dollars with each order.

Uh, one other thing that I should mention to you in case I have it wrong, in case you're not in Canada. On the off chance that you're in the US it's important for you to also understand that when you're importing henna into the US, there are some stipulations, some things that can go wrong. So this is a risk. It's an inherent risk when you choose to wholesale powder. Um, there are things that can go wrong with customs because henna is approved for use on hair, but it's not officially or unofficially, it's not, it's not approved for use on skin. So while it's not illegal to use henna on skin, it's not also explicitly legal to use henna or to sell henna for use on skin. And so, uh— which is very, it's just a whole fiasco on the FDA side, but that's a whole nother story.

But for you as someone who's looking to import the product because you're bringing it in such large quantities, like I bring hen— when I bring henna in, I bring it by 25 kilos at a time. Um, and so this is, it's a large quantity. Customs can hold it and depending on the packaging and depending on what day the customs agent is having that day, they can choose to hold your product and not release it if it's been marked as being used for use on the body. So this is something for you to be mindful of as well, even as you're thinking about packaging your product. If perhaps you want to just do the packaging or you want to have them package it up to a certain point and then you finish the packaging once it's arrived to you. These are things also to keep in mind.

So those are just the— those are hard lessons that hopefully you never have to learn. Um, but I wanted to be sure to point it out as well for you and anyone else who's thinking of beginning to import wholesale henna. Okay. Um, next up. Thank you guys. That was a really long one, but I feel like there was a lot to say there. Um, okay, so next up, Christine asks, "How does Cardamom & Clove Henna work a party? Do you schedule yourself to show a little bit after the party has started to warm up? I'm guessing you don't bring design books. What design choices do you give? Tell us what your biggest party was and how many people and hours were you there?" This one is fun. Okay. So how does— a party that's booked with my company, it's pretty straight forward. Um, I will— typically, I'll have a conversation with, with my host depending on, okay, so when people come into my business, I have all of my things automated, right?

So if you're going to book a party with me, you don't even have to speak to me. You can just do it on my website and my website gathers all the information and prepares a contract for you and all the things, like, it's just done. Um, but I ask certain questions. So there are questions that I ask them on that intake form. Like, how many guests are you going to have? What are the hours? And then the only thing that I have to do, and this I still do manually, is I look at that form before I give my system the okay to process the rest of the booking, because I want to make sure that the expectations are right. Like, I don't ever want to receive a message from someone or a request from someone who has 300 people and they only want to book for two hours and they have the expectation that everyone gets serviced. Not real,

right? So instead what I do is that's kind of the first step and it's really the only step that I have to actively play a role in, in the pre-booking process, um, is just making sure that their request lines up with what's realistic. And if I find that it's not, then I have a conversation with them. At that point the workflow is paused and I have a conversation. I'll email them or give them a call and say, "Look, okay, I saw that you have this many guests. So this would be my recommendation for the length of time for your party." Um, as far as scheduling is concerned, I do schedule myself to— unless they specifically tell me, "The party starts at 6. We want you there at 6." I will always push it back by about 30 minutes to an hour. Um, so like, for example, today I got an inquiry in for something. The party itself goes from 6 to 11. 7 to 11. 7 to 11, I think.

And I, uh, her contract— the contract that was sent to her was for 8 to 10. So right in the middle. And I let people know also in the process that you — then this is all in emails that they receive — I let them know that this time difference is recommended because I don't want to spend it— I'm being paid for the hour, right? So I don't want to be there and your guests aren't there yet. Like, there's no good for me to show up at 6 o'clock and then your guests don't come until 7:15. And we all know, we've all got those people in our lives, right? So I try to be mindful of my host's time and their budget by placing myself after the time that people have already kind of arrived and gotten settled and gotten the opportunity to eat and drink and do the things and be ready for henna.

I really dislike putting my arrival time at the same time as the guests, as I find that it really does burn into my host's budget and their time with me. And, like, I don't feel good about that. And I'm sure that if they knew and many times, to be clear, many times the host doesn't even notice this. But this is something that I notice and I would, you know, so I try to take care of my people. I don't, to answer your next question, I don't, bring design books to parties, ever. I don't bring them any options ever. How do people, uh, what design choices do I give? I give them none. Every design at a party is artist's choice. So there are times when I'll work events, like let's say I work at a corporate function and the corporate person who hired me, maybe the HR person, whatever, maybe they have a specific request, like "Can you do our logo?" or "Can you do something that has to do with this?"

Um, like a corporate event that they were having, like, an employee appreciation, um, picnic thing. And they had me do like a selection of small designs that they had that were, like, relative to their corporate culture. Um, in a case like that, fine. Or even like at a bat mitzvah. I had a bat mitzvah who, um, where at the bar mitzvah they had a number of designs that were like related to the party theme. And so, like things like this, okay, I'm fine, but otherwise I do everything by artist's choice. And so literally I will just have the guest sit down and I will immediately engage them with conversation and start working. Um, I don't really give, uh, I don't really give them the option. Like, I don't even ask them, "What is it that you like?" There are some ways that you can get around that too.

I feel like many times we feel the obligation to ask those questions and in certain settings, that's fine. If you're at a private appointment, you have time, you can really connect with them, that's great. But when I'm working in an hourly setting and I'm working in a party environment, my obligation is to the host, the person who hired me. My obligation is to make sure that that person gets as much value as possible. And how do I do that? By treating their guests as well as I can and by seeing as many of their guests as I possibly can within the timeframe that they have hired me for, right? And so the easiest way for me to do that is to work freehand. And so I still want, of course, their guests to have a great experience, which is why we immediately start talking,

but I will do, like, just a visual review, if you will, of that person in the process so that I can seek maybe what designs might appeal to them. And I just go off of that. Keep in mind, if someone's going to an event, a party, they've spent quite a lot of time, likely, in the mirror prior to that so that they can show up looking and feeling their best, right? So if someone comes to you in a party setting and they're wearing paisleys on their shirt or you notice that their bag has, like, tassels on it or, like, they have a particular type of jewelry on or, like... I pay attention to things like this. Um, even down to, I'll tell you, with women looking at their purse, looking at their wallet, looking at me like any bags that they have, those sorts of accessories that are everyday accessories that tells you about their style.

So instead of me asking, "Well, what would you like?" And then having to have this conversation and killing time where I could be servicing other people, I instead just start with, "Hey, how are you?" You know, "Are we doing your left or right hand?" Boom! And then they put their hand down and then I ask— I start to ask them questions about, "So, how do you know the host?" and "How do you know..." like, "What brings you?" and, you know, little small talk like this, but I've already registered her shirt, her earrings, her pants or her skirt or her dress or her bag or her, whatever. And then I create from there. So you can be, we'll call it intuitive, about the decisions that you're making in the designing process without having to actually have those books there or even having to ask them, "What do you like?"

Someone who's going to a party, they're already wearing what they like and they likely have with them something that's going to indicate what they like. And then just even in conversation, you can pick up things about people and their style and the way that they present themselves to the world. And as you're creating, you can create something for them that feels really well aligned. And that's, I feel, adds to the experience. When I think about the experience of my clients, my host and their guests, with Cardamom & Clove Henna, one of the— every time I do a party, I get the same response. Every time I do a party, I get the same feedback. We love that everyone got a unique design. Everybody got something different. Everybody got something that was so well suited to them. That's how, but that's also why. That's a strategic decision from me to make sure that I'm best serving my clients.

So I hope, like, I feel like that was long-winded, but I hope that that gives you some clarity as to why I don't have the book and also why I choose not to even ask them or solicit their opinions when I'm starting to do the designing. And then to tell you what was the biggest party I ever did and how many people and hours I was there. The largest party I ever did was for, it was, it was for a particular client. Um, I'm under NDA, so it's for a particular client. It was hosted at the Smithsonian. Um, I was there for three hours. Um, it was not just me though. The party was so large, it actually required that it was five artists. So I had a team of an additional four artists that I brought with me.

Um, and that was, yeah. So like, I wish— I can't even give you, like, all the details, but it was a huge party. It was a huge party. As far as, like, one that like I've done just personally, I think my largest, the largest party that I've done personally was five hours. I think it was five hours long and honestly in a setting like that, I don't even, like, I couldn't tell you how many people were there. I think this one would have been corporate. This one would have been corporate as well. But with something like that, I like, I just literally just have my head down. A lot of the times when— those larger parties tend to be either corporate events or they'll be functions that are held like, um, through universities. I collaborate a lot with the local universities here in the DC and Baltimore area.

So for events like those then I'll be there for more extended period of time. And in cases like those, I'm normally just doing small designs. For estimates sake, normally when I'm working with small designs in a party setting, I can do anywhere between 20 to 30 per hour. Um, just depending on the organization of the event and like the flow of people, of traffic. Like literally they can just get up and get out. Like, I— 20 to 30 is easy. Um, small, simple designs. Um, and so I don't know, I'd have to do the math on what that actually would work out to with how many people I would have served. But that's the long and the short of it. Um, let's see. So I see an ask, How much do... How much do... How much should... "How much should we charge hourly?"

This depends on a couple of factors. It depends on a number of factors. So, if you're wanting to know how much should charge— Let's start at the bottom, right? Let me start at the bottom. The first thing that you need to identify is what's the starting rate for a beginner artist? If you're a beginning artist and you're like, you're literally just getting started, um, you're using natural henna, you're, like, you're doing the things, you're being a professional, but perhaps you're still very early on in your skill set, then the average start of rate of pay for that artist in the US, Canada, UK is somewhere between $65 to $75 an hour. Once you've built your skill set up then you can increase your hourly rate based on, of course, your local economy, who you're dealing with, who your target market is, the type of client that you're trying to attract, the type of work that you're doing,

and a number of other things that are going to be specific to your business. Like what are your revenue goals and what are,, like these things that go beyond the market around you. There are also internal things that you need to know about your business to help you set that rate. So I can't give you like a hard-and-fast, this is how much it is, but I can tell you that that's the base rate for someone who's just starting. Depending on where you are, you can see that there's a lot of fluctuation and variation between who's charging what. You'll find, uh, especially now—Yes, baby. [indistinct]

Yes, you can. Go ahead. You can get one, okay? Mom duty. Um, but no, depending on where you are, you might find that there is some variation. And it can be a lot of variation. Um, in my area, I know that you can find artists from $65 an hour to me who, I mean, I come in at a two-hour minimum at $350. So it just depends. It depends on the artist and their skill set and the type of business that they're running. Every business model is going to be a little bit different based on how you're positioning your brand and some other, you know, some other factors. Um, but another thing that you might consider as you're looking to set your rates is to look at industries that are similar to ours. So, um, and I say similar, but they're not going to be the same.

So you might want to look at, like, face painting, face painters. Those are a great, um, almost apples to apples comparison. So if you find that face painters in your area are charging $100 and all the artists are charging $60, well then I would encourage you to give a look at that $100 because if someone is willing to pay that rate for a face painter, um, our services are considered comparable to that. And actually many times face painters who also offer henna charge more for henna than they do for face painting. Um, so this is something that I wish that our industry would do a little bit better, uh, with pushing ourselves to value our skill set more. Um, but that's a whole nother rant for a whole nother day. Um, "If you bring other artists with you, do you take any commission from them or do you get nothing from it?"

Uh, no, absolutely you get a commission from it. So anytime you're hiring out an additional artist, you need to have a contract between you and them, right? Um, but the bottom line is that the person who is responsible for — you'll have to give me one minute, okay? Okay — Um, the person who was responsible for actually securing that booking, they should receive a portion of the hourly rate that was being secured for that additional artist. Um, and there's a lot of reason for that and sometimes you'll find the secondary artist will be a little bit salty and I'm gonna step in right here and say there's no reason for that. That second artist or third artist or fifth artist, whoever, literally sat there and got a phone call that said, "Hey, come make some money." And so they did no work to secure that booking.

However, the company, the artist who did the work, the marketing, and all of the back end that it requires to be able to secure a booking that requires multiple artists, um, that person should be compensated appropriately. So that would just be a contractor sort of situation where you would have a contract with your secondary artist. Typically this is going to be anywhere between, like, a house to a second artist split. The house would typically be somewhere around 40, 40%, 30%, 25%-ish. Um, somewhere in that range, depending on, um, depending on the, the, well, the skill of the secondary artist. Um, but then also if, like, how how secure that secondary artist is. So in my own business, I still pay very high, a very high hourly rate. Most of the time when I hire out work to other artists, I'm still with my cuts, still paying them more than they're charging for themselves.

Um, but because it's booked at my company's rate, right? Um, but still there's a percentage that's removed and that percentage, for me, varies depending on the artist's skill set. It depends also on how established their businesses. If this is a hobbyist, then I compensate them differently than I do someone who has their own full blown business with insurance and a following and all that because at that point there's some professional courtesy and some professional recognition, I would say, that's there. Um, and I expect the same as well. So when I go to work for another business, let's say another local artist is wanting a second artist and they reach out to me, um, they also benefit from having me there. And I'll tell you, you know that because many times it's a matter of that person has already looked at me or has already looked at them as well in looking for the right artist for their event.

Um, and so in order to just kind of, um, just kind of acknowledge, you know, that other artist's value, then I'm also— I also try to be very cautious about that and make sure that I'm compensating them in a little bit of a different way if this is someone who is doing this work full time and has that backing behind them as an artist in our profession, in our profession and in our local market. So I hope that answers your question. Um, but definitely the artists who's booking the event, um, should receive a portion of that back and it's not a commission. It is, um, that is a, uh, that's a finder's fee. And that's totally normal. Totally normal for the entertainment industry. Ah, thank you! Look, she snuck up here. She snuck up here. So, um, I think that that's it

unless you guys have any other questions live. I think we've gone through all of the questions for today. I didn't see any came in through Instagram for this session. Um, but yeah. Oh! Oh! Before we go, before we go, I should mention, tomorrow is our live workshop. So if you have not registered, if you... Okay, let me pause. If you haven't heard about the live workshop, tomorrow there is a live workshop. It's called "Design Like the Pros" and it's all about the formula behind concise design composition. So if you're the type of artist who perhaps struggles with creating freehand designs, if you feel inconsistent, perhaps, in your design work, like sometimes you create a design that looks really great and then sometimes you create designs and you're like, "Whoa! What happened here?" or if you're wanting to just really refine and elevate your designs, then you can definitely do that

inside of this training. I'm going to be teaching you the formula for how to create designs. Literally this, to be clear, this class, this workshop is not about design elements. So this is not the class if you're like, "I want to learn how to do better paisleys. I want to learn how to do better florals." This is not that class. For that check out The Design Lab or the Paisley Intensive, right? This, this class is specific to how to compose your design. So literally taking, you know, what makes putting this element with this one make sense, or why, how do I know what to do next when I'm building my designs out? That's what this workshop is about. Um, and so if you'd like to join us for the workshop, I'll put the link in the comments. Um, this class is a $350 class.

If you sign up today, tomorrow, you can access it for $99 bucks. So if you want, if you're like, "Yeah, I feel like, you know, I just need more confidence in my design composition." Or if you feel like you need more of a formula, if you feel like you need more, um, direction in how to build out your pieces, this is the cost for you. And this is an incredible deal for it. You will not see it again at this price. Um, and it's live. I should mention that. It's a live clas with me. So I'll be teaching you live and then we'll have a live Q&A after so you can get feedback from me in real time. I should also share that the class is actually not a single class. It's a split session. So there's two sessions that you'll get with me, one tomorrow, and then one in two weeks time.

And the time in between, there's going to be a little bit of homework so that you can practice what we learned in the first session and then we'll meet again in the second session, go a little bit deeper and I'll give you guys some feedback as to, you know, how you can improve your work in that second piece. Okay. So, um, "Do you practice every day?" Yes. I still practice every day. It's important. It's important if you want to maintain your skill set and if you want to see growth. Um, I actually, because I— because now I'm a full time artist, I'm working with henna every day anyway, but like even on those days, like, I don't take clients on Sunday and Monday. If you want Instagram right now on my page, on Cardamom & Clove's Instagram, you'll see my practice from yesterday.

Um, I still practice. I think that it's very important and I don't ask anything of my students that I don't do myself. And so I would say, like, even if it's, even if it's five minutes, 10 minutes a day, to practice the basics, to practice, you know, little, just a little something, I will take a cone, like whatever is left in that cone and I will work until that cone is done and then once that cone is done, then I'm done. Like, it doesn't have to be a whole grand to-do. Um, but don't miss, don't skip the practice. Please don't. Uh, I think that a lot of people do. And then later on that's where they feel really frustrated because they're like, "I've been doing henna for 20 years and my lines still look choppy." Well, is it really that you've been doing henna for 20 years or have you been, like, playing with henna on occasion over a period of 20 years, you know? Um, and that always shows in people's work. Oh look, now I have another question. "So how do you combine henna work and kids?" So I have three kids. I have, obviously this one, this is my youngest, she's three. And I have a five year old and I have a 10 year old as well. And I homeschool. So, uh... Nope. Go on. Go on. And look, they heard themselves mentioned and they came running. Go on. No, no ma'am. Go on. Out.

You see? Um, so how do I combine it? Through a lot of systems. Um, and this is something, listen, this is something that's been... I've been doing henna now for, I'm going on a decade, so I'm going on, you know, 10 years of doing henna professionally. I started in 2011. I went full time in 2014 and during that time I, when I first started, my son, my eldest, he was about 11 months old. So I've always had very small children while working with henna. And so I found that what works for me, um, is to build a lot of systems behind me to really support myself, right, in the business. So as I mentioned earlier, I work with a lot of automation. I don't have to manually send out contracts. I don't have to manually respond to emails. I don't have to manually do the booking.

I don't have to— even my social media, everything is planned and scheduled so it goes out on its own. Um, and then all I have to do is refill it, right? I just refill it and, um, and then come back and check on it and engage with people and, you know, answer that the one off question or, um, you know, just really giving it the human component, right? But the work that I do is all done, done and completed with systems. Um, and so from a technical perspective, as far as like the operations of my business, that's how I am able to manage having the house and having the kids and having the homeschool while also running a business. Um, from a more practical perspective with, like, just like, what does that look like on a day-to-day basis? Um, I normally will get up in the morning.

I start work, uh, I start work early. And I'll first knock out anything that has to do with my clients through Cardamom & Clove Henna, my local business. If I have any emails, if I have anything that requires my attention, then I'll address that then. If I have any social, like, that's when I'll go on. I'll go on social media and connect with my clients and so forth on that platform. Um, and I'll do all of those things in the morning. Um, then I'll move into Hennapreneur, give a look and see how I can support my students. If there's anything that I've missed, then normally by about that time, the kids have started to wake up. So we'll breakfast. We'll start school. And we're normally done with school around 2-3 o'clock. That's why you see our lives are at 3 o'clock,

right? So by 3 o'clock, I'm now working in Hennapreneur, making sure that I've got my students taking care of, making sure that, you know, that's the things. Um, and then, in about what, right now it's 3:40, so in about an hour and a half, I will then go to my boutique and I will work there with my clients doing henna for, it just depends on how long each day. So normally I'm there in the evening, anywhere from 5 to 9 on Friday and Thursday. Thursday is the busiest day of the week for me, typically. I'm there sometimes until 11. Um, and, but yeah, but I'll work like that and so I'll see my clients in the evening, which is perfect for them as they're getting off work and then they come to see me after. And then Saturday and Sunday are reserved for, Saturday morning I'll take clients there,

Saturday and Sunday are reserved just for parties. Otherwise, like, my clients can book private appointments on Saturday morning and afternoon, but the evening is reserved for parties. Um, and then, um, uh, typically Sunday I like to keep with family. So family... Uh, normally Sunday and Monday I don't work. Um, so that's what it looks like from, like, a practical, everyday calendar sort of perspective. Um, so it's just, it's a matter of finding what works. I'll be honest with you, I don't believe in work-life balance. That's not a thing. I don't think that it's possible. Um, as someone who's been doing this now for as long as I have, it's just... I don't. Um, but I do believe in work-life harmony. And if you can get the pieces of your business and get the pieces of your home life and get the pieces of the other obligations, because you're a whole person, right?

You have likes. You have friends. You have hobbies. You have other things. You have other obligations outside of just your own personal home and your business. Um, and so if you can find a harmony, if you can find a sweet spot on how to allow those things to kind of all dance together inside of your calendar and inside of, like, the confines of time, then that's what works. And so, uh, for me, I've worked really hard to find harmony in that space. And sometimes I'm really good at it and sometimes I'm really bad at it. I'll be really honest. My husband might even be here on the live and if so, he can put me on blast. But, you know, sometimes I'm very efficient and sometimes I have those days that I'm like, "I'm sorry, I'm not eating dinner with you guys.

I've got this thing that I've got going on." Um, and it happens but you have to give yourself grace and understand that just like with anything, sometimes when you're dancing you'll step on someone's toes, right? And it just, it's par for the course. Um, but if you can find harmony inside of those things together, then um, then lean into what works, lean into what works. Um, and I'll go ahead and say like, listen, if this is something that interests you and you're like, "Chelsea, I really want to learn those systems." These are all systems that I teach inside of the Accelerator. the Accelerator is going to open up next month. So if you are like, "I want to take my business, and really make it a business with those systems." Those are systems that I teach inside of that program so that you can learn not only how to run a business from the branding and the marketing and how to get the clients and the, like, positioning and all of that stuff.

Um, all of that exists. But I also teach the back end — the automation. How to automate your business so that it works for you so that you don't have to have your hands in it all of the time and you can actually still live a life. Still live a life as a person, and as a mother and as a, you know, a friend, a spouse, whatever. Um, so there's— that's something to mention. If you have questions about the Accelerator, you're welcome to ask. Um, and I can put a link in the comments if you guys would like it. Um... Ahmed, he said, "She's amazing." Thank you, babe. I appreciate it. It was a long time coming. He used to really get on me because he'd be like, "Babe, you need hours, you need office hours." Um, but we're finding, we're finding our feet for sure.

Um, okay. So I will let you guys go because I think that that was the last question. Um, but thank you guys so much. Thank you guys so much for joining me for this first Ask Me Anything! of the new year. I love it. Um, and again, if you guys want to, if you want to pop into the workshop tomorrow, I'll put the link in the comments. You guys are welcome to join. There's still seats available. Um, again, it's live. So you'll have the opportunity to connect with me live, get feedback from me live. It's not here like this live. It's face-to-face. You'll be able to get face-to-face feedback from me live. Um, and yeah, that's about it. Um, that's it. Yeah. Now you want to be shy. All right, I'll talk to you guys later. Bye.