She Went for 100 Nos on Purpose — Here's What Happened Next ft. Isabel Bora
Episode Summary:
Isabel Bora didn't wait until she was ready — she started in her bathroom, pregnant, modeling wigs at night while her baby slept, and reaching out to 40 companies before she got her first yes. In 14 months, she built Sugar Bridals into a premium bridal hair brand serving brides of color, closed 62 brides in year one, assembled a 5-person team, and used her creative business income to buy her first real estate investment. If you've been sitting on a skill, second-guessing your prices, or wondering how long it's supposed to take — this episode is the answer.
What You'll Learn:
- How to find and own a niche that the market is ignoring — and why underserved audiences often become your most loyal, highest-paying clients
- The counterintuitive truth about pricing: why charging too little kills your credibility faster than charging too much, and how to raise your rates with confidence even when you're still building
- How to build a backend system that runs without you — from rotating VA schedules to human-first communication strategies that beat automation every time
- The difference between tracking revenue and tracking profit — and why confusing the two is the fastest way to look busy while going broke
- How to take the income from your creative business and turn it into a real asset — Isabel's exact path from $25,000 in business profit to her first real estate property
Key Quotes:
"I went for the first 100 nos. That's the mindset. After 20 nos, I take 24 hours, check my email, ask myself what I'm writing wrong, reposition — then I try again." — Isabel Bora
"Drop the price. Then go silent. The first one to speak loses. If you start explaining why you charge what you charge, you already lost the power." — Isabel Bora
"Don't get carried away with doing 80 people a day. Big companies make $60 million and close tomorrow. Track the profit — that's what keeps the lights on." — Isabel Bora
Resources + Links Mentioned:
- Shugar Bridal Hair (Isabel's company Instagram) — https://www.instagram.com/shugarhair/
- Isabel Bora's contact / email — sugarhair1@gmail.com
- MMCB Creative to CEO Challenge — https://creativetoceochallenge.com
- Credit Savant (Business Funding) — www.creditsavant.io
Connect with MMCB:
- Podcast (Apple): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/minding-my-creative-business-podcast/id1724893043
- Podcast (Spotify): https://open.spotify.com/show/1Uo7amHW0dR2tBd3gMgOV4?si=511ddd99b115418b
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mindingmycreativebusiness
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindingmycreativebusiness
- Website: www.mmcbpocast.com
You Have a Skill. Now Build the Business Around It.
Isabel started with a wig, a bathroom mirror, and a mindset that refused to quit. What she built in 14 months didn't happen by accident — it happened because she got clear on her offer, built structure around it, and stopped treating her talent like a hobby. If you're ready to do the same, the Creative to CEO Challenge is where that work starts. In five days, Ron and Shy will help you name your signature offer, price it with confidence, and build the 90-day plan that turns your creativity into a real business.
Join the Creative to CEO Challenge — https://creativetoceochallenge.com
All it takes is intention, consistency, and laser focus — to mind your creative business.
Transcript
I grew up first of nine siblings in Nigeria.
Speaker A:Hairdressing then was not really a thing.
Speaker A:Like it's like a hobby or it's not really paid.
Speaker A:The first place I went to, they were charging hundreds of dollars for a cornrow.
Speaker A:I'm like, what am I missing?
Speaker A:The first almost 40 companies I reached out to, they didn't respond to me.
Speaker A:Oh, I just gave up.
Speaker B:Did you say 40 companies?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:I'm going for 100 no's because guess what?
Speaker B:In the midst of that somewhere, I.
Speaker A:Will get a yes when I say hungry.
Speaker A:Not hungry for food.
Speaker A:I needed to survive.
Speaker B:How much was that amount that you were able to accumulate to make an investment into real estate?
Speaker A:The first.
Speaker A:That was even before Bright as well.
Speaker A:I was getting those weeks and modeling.
Speaker A:I got $25,000 within I think three months.
Speaker C:Based on you listening to this podcast, you're probably a creative entrepreneur who's ready to stop hustling for clients and and start building a business that runs on purpose.
Speaker C:Profit and peace.
Speaker B:If that's you, we want to invite you to join the Creative to CEO challenge.
Speaker B:A five day live coaching experience designed to help you shift your mindset and develop the habits to turn your creativity into consistent cash flow.
Speaker C:And it's all happening live on Zoom inside a private community of ambitious creative entrepreneurs just like you.
Speaker C:People who are done guessing, don't done grinding and ready to build with clarity and confidence.
Speaker B:By the end of the challenge, you will have a crystal clear direction on your next 90 days.
Speaker B:A profit plan that fits your lifestyle and the framework to start earning 10k plus months doing what you love without burning out or selling out.
Speaker C:So if that sounds like what you need, then tap the link in the description or scan a QR code if you're watching this on screen.
Speaker C:And do not forget to upgrade to VIP for bonus coaching and behind the scenes Q and A.
Speaker C:And every day of the challenge with me and Shy, we can't wait to.
Speaker B:Help you unlock CEO mode and the freedom you've been looking for.
Speaker B:Now let's get back to the episode.
Speaker B:What's up?
Speaker B:And welcome to the Minding My Creative Business podcast.
Speaker B:I am your co host, Shy Speaks.
Speaker C:And I am your co host, Ron ironically.
Speaker B:And today we are excited to be introducing our guest today, Ms. Isabel Bora.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker B:Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker B:Thank you for having me.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Now, now, I just gave their name.
Speaker B:Let me give a little bit about what you do and who you are from our perspective.
Speaker B:Right, so you wanna go ahead?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So you are the Chicago bridal beauty Boss.
Speaker C:Real estate investor.
Speaker C:Wife, mom.
Speaker C:And you flip ideas into income and balance beauty.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So that's how we introduce you based off what you do.
Speaker A:That's amazing.
Speaker A:I should write that down for my bio.
Speaker C:So how would Isabel introduce herself?
Speaker A:I would say Isabel is first of all the wife.
Speaker A:A very creative mind.
Speaker A:And I'm a go getter.
Speaker A:Set my mind to do something, either business relationship, anything at all, I'm going to get it.
Speaker A:So I think that would encompass who Isabel is.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:Awesome.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:I love it.
Speaker B:A go getter.
Speaker B:Come on now.
Speaker B:Okay, so you, we know we said you're the Chicago Beauty ball bridal beauty boss.
Speaker B:So what is the name of your company?
Speaker B:Tell us quick bit about that.
Speaker C:Go ahead.
Speaker A:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker B:Go ahead.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:Oh.
Speaker A:The name of my bridal beauty business is Sugar Bridals.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:And this was, I would say we went full time just a year ago and within one year we were able to do 62 brides in Chicago alone.
Speaker A:The first year just out the gate.
Speaker A:So yeah, that's what Chicago bright.
Speaker A:I basically cater to brighter color, that we don't have a lot of representation in that space when it comes to hair.
Speaker A:And I took it upon myself, one of my very good friends, I'll give a shout out, Christiana, she called me, she said Isabel, in the bridal space, many brides do not have people to really style their hair and you know, other people might not take care of them.
Speaker A:Like how we will understand, you know, sometimes they experience hair loss, sometimes we can't do some particular styles.
Speaker A:I think you'll be very useful in that space and right out the gates.
Speaker A:First year, it took hard work though.
Speaker A:You don't get 62 bright in your first year just sitting down posting on Instagram.
Speaker A:We, we're able to get it out the gate.
Speaker A:And so far this year already we have over 50 brights and it's just February.
Speaker A:So I'm very excited.
Speaker A:I'm actually recruiting.
Speaker A:I have four member on staff already.
Speaker A:It's just we're barely 14 months into this.
Speaker B:Okay, listen, we were.
Speaker B:Because one of our first questions was going to be what was your positioning strategy?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Because there's a lot of people who do, you know, you got.
Speaker B:When it comes to the bridal industry, there's, there's from everything from the event center to the gowns and the DJ to the, and then you have the cosmetics, right?
Speaker B:The hair, the makeup and all that.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Okay, we figured out that's the, the niche.
Speaker B:But how did you like, how did you decide to like, okay, this is sugar.
Speaker B:We're gonna position it to where brides will look for us.
Speaker B:Like, what was that strategy?
Speaker A:Okay, let's take it back right now.
Speaker A:So I, I grew up first of nine siblings.
Speaker A:I have six sisters.
Speaker A:And so naturally we make each other's hair for school in Nigeria.
Speaker A:Hairdressing then was not really a thing.
Speaker A:Like, oh, I'm a hairdresser.
Speaker A:It's almost like, oh yeah.
Speaker A:Just, oh, well, it's like a hobby or it's not really paid.
Speaker A:But when I came here, the first place I went to, they were charging hundreds of dollars for a cornrow.
Speaker A:I'm like, what am I meaning?
Speaker A:What have you been like?
Speaker A:And so I started.
Speaker A:I was not even perfect at it.
Speaker A:I went to YouTube University.
Speaker A:It was during COVID I came during COVID lockdown.
Speaker A:I took my wedding hair, started playing with it.
Speaker A:I took my mother in law's pixel, playing with it.
Speaker A:My friends.
Speaker A:This is cute.
Speaker A:I think you people want to do this.
Speaker A:I started posting online, calling, asking people, sending messages to my church, WhatsApp group, who knows, anybody?
Speaker A:I'll give you a referral fee.
Speaker A:Send somebody to me.
Speaker A:And that's why I started selling wigs and doing hair.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker A:That's just the backstory.
Speaker A:I had a baby and I couldn't do hair.
Speaker A:I started reaching out to all the Amazon companies that was sold because I said, I'll model for you.
Speaker A:So when my baby's asleep at night, I'm up with my modeling for them.
Speaker A:They are paying me, they're sending me weeks.
Speaker A:I'm selling the wigs.
Speaker A:That's where I was able to build, make money to buy my first property.
Speaker A:That's just a background.
Speaker A:But to the brighter part of it, I started working and I said, I can't take clients back to back to back every day.
Speaker A:I'm burning out.
Speaker A:I have a baby, I have nine to five.
Speaker A:I'm coming back from work.
Speaker A:It's shaking my marriage.
Speaker A:I have to find a balance.
Speaker A:My friend said, two priors, I said, I don't think I can do it.
Speaker A:But I tried the first one.
Speaker A:She loved it.
Speaker A:And I started doing it bit by bit.
Speaker A:But I stopped because I said I have to invest in my craft.
Speaker A:If I want to do something, I'm not just going to half ass it.
Speaker A:I spent thousands of dollars on classes.
Speaker A:So if I'm coming out, I'm coming out clean, professional.
Speaker A:I know what I want.
Speaker A:I have an idea of the industry.
Speaker A:And after I finished training, oh, I went beast mode.
Speaker A:I reached out to I Hired an assistant online because I. I had a virtual assistant.
Speaker A:I told her, see, your job is to send a hundred emails a day by emailing every makeup artist, every event planner, sending them my prizes, sending, you must know my name.
Speaker A:Telling them, I handle black brides.
Speaker A:I handle brides of color.
Speaker A:Telling them they get a referral fee for every bride they send my way.
Speaker A:Oh, trust me.
Speaker A:The first makeup artist that.
Speaker A:That linked me up, when I Zeal had the money, she was like, oh, you get cash immediate.
Speaker A:I say yes.
Speaker A:Oh, they.
Speaker A:They came training people started referring people to me because, you know, it's not.
Speaker A:Oh, thank you.
Speaker A:God bless you.
Speaker A:No, I'm.
Speaker B:I'm for reals, right?
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:I'm hungry.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:I quit my job and I started doing this full time.
Speaker A:The same I was doing shoot.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:I'm just coming from a shoot.
Speaker A:I've been out of my house since 6am Back to.
Speaker A:Back to back.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So listen, I. I love how you said, okay, when I over there doing hair is like, it's not a thing.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Everybody can do it.
Speaker C:But when I got here, oh, there's a market for it.
Speaker C:Like, I can do this.
Speaker C:I'm not the best, but I can get better.
Speaker C:So you did that self development piece where it was like, okay, I'm going to improve and get better.
Speaker C:But then something happened.
Speaker C:You said you got pregnant.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And you could not do it the way you were doing it anymore.
Speaker C:So speak to.
Speaker C:Because some people just give up.
Speaker C:They, I can't do it.
Speaker C:I got to find something else to do.
Speaker C:When you was like, I can't do that, but I can still pivot doing what I do, I'm gonna do wigs.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So kind of.
Speaker C:Yeah, speak to that a little bit.
Speaker A:Your girl was hungry.
Speaker A:When you test first of 10, and you don't come from a poor background and you know your siblings are calling you sister were hungry.
Speaker A:You can't put all that load on your husband, and you have to find a way.
Speaker A:And when I say hungry, not hungry for food.
Speaker A:I needed to survive.
Speaker A:I'm like, I know.
Speaker A:I stopped taking people because my pregnancy was difficult.
Speaker A:The first pregnancy was a bit tough.
Speaker A:I said, you know what?
Speaker A:How about I sell wigs?
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:The first almost 40 companies I reach out to, they didn't respond to me.
Speaker A:Oh, I didn't give up.
Speaker B:Wait, wait.
Speaker B:Did you say 40 companies?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:I need you to get your tenacity up.
Speaker B:Sometimes we're reaching out.
Speaker B:I reach out to one or two.
Speaker A:People, three people, five people.
Speaker B:After 10 people.
Speaker A:I gave up.
Speaker B:Why didn't you give up after 40?
Speaker B:Like what make you keep going?
Speaker B:That's what we want to know.
Speaker A:Because I wait for the first hundred no's.
Speaker A:That's the mindset I have.
Speaker B:Come on.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:Because it's a numbers guy.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:I've done sales all my life.
Speaker A:I mean my eat sales for a living.
Speaker A:If I say the first 20 nose, I take a pause, I take a 24 hours break.
Speaker A:Check my email.
Speaker A:What am I writing wrong?
Speaker A:Should I reposition this?
Speaker A:And then I try again.
Speaker A:The best.
Speaker A:Well, that was.
Speaker A:Let me talk to the pregnancy part.
Speaker A:When I got pregnant, it was hard.
Speaker A:I couldn't stand up and take people as often.
Speaker A:And you know, it's a lot on your body.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so I reached out to these companies.
Speaker A:They were never responding to me.
Speaker A:I took some nice pictures in my bathroom, like with the hair that I had, my wedding wig that I brought from Nigeria and said, oh, you know, I can style hair, I can model for you.
Speaker A:They were not responding to me.
Speaker A:After a while I kept sending the people that I sent maybe two months back.
Speaker A:They said, hey, we saved your information.
Speaker A:Are you still doing it?
Speaker A:I said yes.
Speaker A:They sent me weeks.
Speaker A:They sent me.
Speaker A:That was my first pay through PayPal.
Speaker A:They paid me, I think it's $250.
Speaker A:I was like, woo, let's go.
Speaker A:It's not in law, like oh, life changing money.
Speaker A:But I'm like, oh, I can do this.
Speaker A:And so I was able to while I was pregnant, it's always from here up.
Speaker A:They were using my pictures.
Speaker A:They also asked the permission to use my pictures on their website.
Speaker A:And also they pay more for that.
Speaker A:And they send me weeks.
Speaker A:Those weeks I was styling them and selling them.
Speaker A:And that's how I started building wheels in the house.
Speaker C:I like it.
Speaker C:You said it wasn't a lot of money, but it.
Speaker C:You had proof of concept.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:She's like, if I can sell a hundred dollars, I can sell a thousand.
Speaker C:Yes, I sell a thousand, I can sell.
Speaker A:I'm not leaving anyone in my house that's shipping everything to me.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Okay, so all right, so, so, okay, so there was so much that you said.
Speaker B:I love the tenacity, but also the, the understanding about sales.
Speaker B:A lot of people don't understand that I'm going for 100 no's.
Speaker B:I'm not looking for the first five nos.
Speaker B:I'm not looking for it.
Speaker B:I'm not looking for just the first yes.
Speaker B:I'm looking for the.
Speaker B:I know I'm going to get Some nos.
Speaker B:And I've accepted the fact that I'm going to get some nos.
Speaker B:So therefore, that repositions my mindset on being rejected.
Speaker B:I'm not getting rejected.
Speaker B:I'm going for 100 no's, because guess what?
Speaker B:In the midst of that somewhere, I will get a yes.
Speaker B:And so I think we're looking at it backwards a lot of times, especially as creative entrepreneurs.
Speaker B:And most of the times people say, oh, I'm, I've been in sales, you understand that mindset.
Speaker B:But as creatives, we like to create a thing.
Speaker B:It's beautiful, it's lovely, we like it.
Speaker B:It's, you know, and it's like, okay, it became a masterpiece off a Picasso, you know.
Speaker B:But no, in, in business, this is what I love, what, what you're talking about.
Speaker B:In business, it takes strategy and you're positioning yourself amongst people to know my name.
Speaker B:And I know I need to reach out and be connected, collab, I need to do all of that.
Speaker B:And I love that what you're talking about.
Speaker B:Now we got to keep it moving, right?
Speaker B:So let's, let's talk about.
Speaker B:We get to the point where, okay, we have the wigs now and we have the braiding now.
Speaker B:We're focusing so much on the brides.
Speaker B:How do we start making this premium brand?
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:So like, yes, people book you once because of referral, but is there anything else that's in your strategy besides the referral fee?
Speaker B:Because the referral fee is fine.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:Don't just tell people, thank you and God bless you.
Speaker B:I love music.
Speaker B:We're not living off God bless you, you know.
Speaker B:Well, I mean, maybe, you know, but, but ultimately, what was the, the, the strategy with regard to, like, okay, I'm not just going to have referrals, but is there something else that's working in the background to where we're getting up to these 62?
Speaker B:Is it like a system?
Speaker B:Is there like some kind of pipeline?
Speaker B:Like, how are you doing?
Speaker B:How do we get this going?
Speaker B:If someone is looking to build a premium brand without just the referrals, Give us the best.
Speaker A:You must have, first of all, you must have your systems in place.
Speaker A:And so I was able to ask a few people, what are the issues you have?
Speaker A:Or some of the people, they don't respond to their emails.
Speaker A:If a bride wants to ask a question now, they don't have the one month, two months, oh, they want to know now.
Speaker A:They're anxious.
Speaker A:They need someone to respond to them quickly.
Speaker A:So I said, okay, communication is a thing.
Speaker A:You have to get Your structure.
Speaker A:Right before you even go to prize in, if they're booking you, they want someone that makes them feel good.
Speaker A:Oh, you have to hype your bride, make her feel like she's the.
Speaker A:She's the Barbie of the day.
Speaker A:They want someone that can work with different pricing too.
Speaker A:So you know, or if you.
Speaker A:We have different tiers and different budgets, they want someone that they know has structure is not going to come to their place looking crazy.
Speaker A:You look put together.
Speaker A:You send emails, you send contract.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I said I was going to use ChatGPT to set my structure to level.
Speaker A:Remember I also hired an assistant from Nigeria to help me that was sending emails.
Speaker A:So I put my structure together.
Speaker A:Back end meaning if they send a question or if they have an email, we can respond and all of that.
Speaker A:Fix my back end, then the front end.
Speaker A:I had to give them pecs out there.
Speaker A:So if you're talking about structure, I don't know if that's your question.
Speaker A:You have to do a lot of research, find what is missing.
Speaker A:What's the missing gap in the market?
Speaker A:What are the.
Speaker A:You might be surprised.
Speaker A:The tiniest things you never ever knew will make a difference.
Speaker A:Like even responding to an email on time will make a whole lot of difference.
Speaker A:So I fixed my structure, have an assistant and make sure they feel heard, able to respond on time and all of that.
Speaker A:And so far it made a huge difference.
Speaker A:If I don't know if I was able to get.
Speaker C:So with that respond on time, was that human capital or did you automate something?
Speaker C:Like, what was your process?
Speaker A:The automate was not personal.
Speaker A:So I tried to do the automate but it was so generic like hey, bride, thank you for no.
Speaker A:Okay, I don't.
Speaker A:I know it's a system of AI now, but sometimes it's just what.
Speaker A:What's higher?
Speaker A:People want to talk to people.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I have an assistant.
Speaker A:Or you might get a message.
Speaker A:I will respond within the five hours.
Speaker A:But most times now in my building space, me and all my assistants, I have four people on team.
Speaker A:They're taking rotations and answering those messages.
Speaker B:Taking.
Speaker B:So nobody's sitting there all day having to do it.
Speaker B:We're taking rotations.
Speaker A:When I started, I was responding.
Speaker A:Or when I.
Speaker A:The first few months, I don't have anything.
Speaker A:If you message me at night, I'm responding.
Speaker A:As we are growing, we have to build people in that also assist us.
Speaker A:We have AI respond or respond within two months.
Speaker A:But most time people want to talk to people.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:And that's good because like you Said in this, this era of AI, Right, where we're trying to automate everything, sometimes that human touch is like the edge, right?
Speaker C:That's.
Speaker C:That gives you an edge over your competition people.
Speaker C:So that's.
Speaker C:I like that strategy.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Okay, so just a minute ago you were talking about you have to have your structure before you can even just start doing all this stuff.
Speaker B:And you said you need to have your pricing and all of that.
Speaker B:At some point you maybe 10 brides, maybe 20 brides.
Speaker B:Has your pricing stayed the same all the way through the 62, all the way through the middle?
Speaker A:No,.
Speaker B:No, no, that's, that's fine because.
Speaker B:Because demand, supply and demand, right?
Speaker B:And so how do you know.
Speaker B:And if you're, if you're talking to a creative entrepreneur, how do they know or how did you know when to change your pricing and, and move it up based on what you were offering?
Speaker B:You added more to the team.
Speaker B:Like what?
Speaker A:I'll talk to that.
Speaker A:Because I was talking to somebody about this.
Speaker A:When it comes to pricing, you have to have confidence.
Speaker A:Difference between someone that is charging for this book, five dollars or a thousand dollars.
Speaker A:Packaging and confidence.
Speaker A:But stuff like you want a million dollars.
Speaker A:Okay, you can't put your prices in one ten thousand and you're coming with some slippers.
Speaker A:They are looking.
Speaker A:No, you have to.
Speaker A:You go to Shein, go to the thrift store, get some blazers, put yourself together.
Speaker A:That's first.
Speaker A:When I first started, I didn't have brides trusting me.
Speaker A:People wedding is a million dollar industry.
Speaker A:If you're doing a wedding, you're spending almost 80,000 from base.
Speaker A:So they're not looking for Isabelle that is working in the house.
Speaker A:So just come wrap her head.
Speaker A:No, those are pictures they're going to have for the rest of your life, generations to come.
Speaker A:That's the picture they're going to hang on the wall.
Speaker A:They might not remember what you ate on your wedding day, but those pictures are going to speak for decades or years to come.
Speaker A:And so they want someone they can really trust.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And so when I first started, I was desperate.
Speaker A:I'm like, you know what?
Speaker A:I'm just going to put floor price even though it's 100, just 50.
Speaker A:Book me.
Speaker A:I sent it everywhere.
Speaker A:Crickets.
Speaker A:Not one person reached out.
Speaker A:I'm like, I'm cheap.
Speaker A:Like the base for this market.
Speaker A:Thousand dollars.
Speaker A:Nobody's reaching out because nobody will trust you if you are way below market level.
Speaker A:There's a balance to this.
Speaker A:If you put yourself something that's worth a thousand dollars, you're collecting hundred dollars crickets.
Speaker A:Nobody's going to trust you.
Speaker A:The people that trust you are going to give you headache.
Speaker A:They're not serious people.
Speaker A:What you could do to that is I found out the market industry and put myself 10%, 10 to 15% below.
Speaker A:And not only 10 to 15% below.
Speaker A:I found what my competitors were not doing and did that.
Speaker A:Oh, they're not washing hair.
Speaker A:Trust me.
Speaker A:You come, I'll wash your hair.
Speaker A:We'll have a brighter experience before your wedding.
Speaker A:Oh, bright like that.
Speaker A:Come with your girls who book a spa.
Speaker A:We'll do this and that.
Speaker A:Price like that and you're paying $10 10% below or 15% below.
Speaker A:They feel comfortable.
Speaker A:So that's one thing I say about pricing.
Speaker A:Don't put yourself too low.
Speaker A:I started looking for $50 and within a year I moved to almost $2,000 per bride.
Speaker A:Within a year.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:You want to know the one thing that's holding most creative entrepreneurs back?
Speaker C:It's not the talent.
Speaker C:It's not even the vision.
Speaker C:It's the lack of capital.
Speaker C:Every day I watch brilliant creatives miss life changing opportunities simply because they can't access business funding.
Speaker C:Traditional banks, they really don't understand creative business like that.
Speaker C:And most lenders, well, they don't care.
Speaker C:But guess what?
Speaker C:That ends today with the minding my creative business partnership with Credit savant.
Speaker C:You can Access up to $150,000 in business credit.
Speaker C:You heard correct.
Speaker C:Up to $150,000 in business Credit.
Speaker C:They have 0% interest options with 30 plus funding programs designed for creatives just like you.
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Speaker C:Tell them MMCB sent you.
Speaker A:The $50 was not working.
Speaker A:Then I had to move it to about a thousand dollars.
Speaker A:Are you sure?
Speaker A:Including her thousand dollars?
Speaker A:I'm not sure.
Speaker A:I had to move it up.
Speaker A:Did my technique change within those times?
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:I'm always in self development class.
Speaker A:What changed was my mindset and my confidence.
Speaker A:When you give them the price, don't start arguing, explaining, oh, the price is that way.
Speaker A:Because I wash hair.
Speaker A:I am silence.
Speaker A:You drop the price, you keep quiet.
Speaker A:The first to speak loses.
Speaker A:It's a game.
Speaker A:What if she said oh, the price won five?
Speaker A:Yeah, keep quiet.
Speaker A:What do you think?
Speaker A:What did you have in mind?
Speaker A:Start playing from there.
Speaker A:But if you're just dropping out.
Speaker A:Oh, the price won five.
Speaker A:She's quiet.
Speaker A:You're quiet.
Speaker A:Oh, but I'll give you a 50 discount.
Speaker A:It doesn't work that way.
Speaker B:You lost power and then I love what you said about you lost power, but you also gain power because you said, I'm not just trying to price myself around the industry standard.
Speaker B:I'm also offering what other people aren't willing to do.
Speaker B:And so some people are.
Speaker B:Now people are like, oh, you need to come.
Speaker B:I already have this done.
Speaker B:You need to have this done.
Speaker B:You need to have this done.
Speaker B:I don't have time for all of that.
Speaker B:And so this is what the stylists are doing, right?
Speaker B:So make sure when you get here, there's this.
Speaker B:And they want you pretty much already done, you know, and you're saying no, well, we'll start from scratch with you.
Speaker B:We'll give you a full day experience so you don't have to exactly bring the.
Speaker B:Bring the brides, bring the bridesmaids, bring the whole.
Speaker B:And what else aren't you guys doing?
Speaker B:Yeah, okay.
Speaker B:We can do that as well.
Speaker B:And so you have to figure out a way to do it in a.
Speaker B:In a resourceful way so that you're not bleeding into your profit margin.
Speaker B:But ultimately you were willing to do something that's.
Speaker B:I think a lot of times people think about pricing themselves and they're like, okay, well, what everybody else charging?
Speaker B:Well, you can't just charge what everybody else charging if you're not willing to do what everybody else is doing and go a little.
Speaker B:So you was doing more and you was undercut just a bit because you say, I want to be in this industry.
Speaker B:I want to be a part of something.
Speaker B:That is, what you said, legacy.
Speaker B:I'm trying to serve you right.
Speaker B:And I think that's the, the main thing that I got out of it.
Speaker B:You were saying, I'm not just doing your hair to make money for a.
Speaker B:A picture that day.
Speaker B:I. I mean, you're going to take pictures and it's.
Speaker B:It's going to last not just today.
Speaker A:It's going to last generations to come.
Speaker B:So you.
Speaker B:You are serving on that level, and I think that that is critical and crucial.
Speaker B:What do you have?
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:So I'm hearing your.
Speaker C:Your story and your journey, Right.
Speaker C:You kind of started off in hustle mode.
Speaker C:So it was you doing the solo thing.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:But then you've mentioned that.
Speaker C:Okay, I have a team of.
Speaker C:Is it four or five now?
Speaker A:Yes, four people.
Speaker C:Okay, so it's four people now.
Speaker A:So it's me, five, right?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:So you saw that.
Speaker C:Okay, I can't solely meet this demand.
Speaker C:So you said you hired a VA first after that VA hiring, then what were the next few positions that you hired?
Speaker A:So I Hired I figured out that to sell on social media your pictures have to be clean, crisp, engaging within the first five seconds.
Speaker A:Do I have the energy to do all that?
Speaker A:Source and all?
Speaker A:Sometimes you have to outsource, meaning you might not be keeping as much money, but you're keeping it standard and that money is going to come back to you, believe me.
Speaker A:I got a content creator, I got a digital marketing guy and then I have a second market, I have a va. Then I have a marketer also directly sales to people.
Speaker A:So there are four of us, but on the other side of things I have two hairstylists that work with me and one makeup artist.
Speaker A:So for the back end we have four people but those are individual contractors, they are not paying monthly to monthly.
Speaker A:But for my monthly in house stuff for the back end I have four people.
Speaker B:Perfect.
Speaker B:Now I want to know for somebody who's watching this and they're like girls, I'm sitting here talking to a vital person, ask them some behind the scenes stuff.
Speaker B:So when you say you had to get your systems together, are, are, is there a software, is there a particular tool, is there something like hey, this right here works for our industry.
Speaker B:What would you recommend?
Speaker B:Yes, you know the back end.
Speaker A:Choose the secret.
Speaker A:So I want, I don't know if I be able to go into it as much but I'll say research, sit down.
Speaker A:Because everybody's business is very different and peculiar.
Speaker A:Sit down.
Speaker A:Look for.
Speaker A:You don't have to spend thousands of dollars on websites, they are free websites.
Speaker A:So sit down, do your research, check for websites you could use if you need to get help from the people that are around you that could help you set up.
Speaker A:If you need to do a custom Facebook ads or Instagram ads, have your Google.
Speaker A:As simple as Google is you could put everything there, all the information there.
Speaker A:Then we have some also internal systems that we use to check date time, who should we respond to, what email is working with.
Speaker A:That's what my VA work with.
Speaker A:We'll have some internal information but you do some research, you get some information.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Giving the give, giving them what to do.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker B:Everybody business is different.
Speaker B:So we asked you questions about systems, you talked about your structure.
Speaker B:One of the things we talk about is sustainability and self development which you actually have woven throughout this entire interview from the time from when you got started going back to go up level your craft, spending thousands of dollars YouTube University, not just only YouTube University taking certification.
Speaker B:So we know you have the self development piece.
Speaker B:But what I want to think about and I want us to position out here when we're talking about building this premium bridal brand, being this boss, beauty, all of that talk about the CEO and how do you make sure you stay sustainable with, you know, are there any rituals or is there anything that you do regularly to keep yourself intact?
Speaker B:You know, we know you did it during the, during the pregnancy part because you're like, okay, I'm keeping the business sustained by shifting to doing this.
Speaker B:But what do you do to keep you sustained so that you can show up best for your business?
Speaker A:I'll say it's God.
Speaker A:Like you can't even remove the God part of it.
Speaker A:I know we're talking about hustle, smartness, strategy and all, but when God decides to show up for you, nothing can stop you.
Speaker A:Nothing.
Speaker A:Nothing.
Speaker A:So I'll say, first of all, it's God.
Speaker A:Secondly, you have to be very self aware and intentional.
Speaker A:You can't handle it all.
Speaker A:Some things have to suffer.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:I'm being very sincere.
Speaker A:Some days I know that I want to spend quality time with my husband and baby.
Speaker A:We might have to buy food that day because mommy does not have energy to cook.
Speaker A:So you have to find a balance to things.
Speaker A:You can't be 100 everywhere.
Speaker A:Yeah, you have to find a balance to things to keep your mental.
Speaker A:Second thing I would say helped me.
Speaker A:I invested money in, like I said, in VA from Nigeria.
Speaker A:And so the days I'm too tired or too down because at the point my quick business failed, I lost almost $15,000 from one bad supplier.
Speaker A:And people were asking for their money back.
Speaker A:They were dragging me, they were almost fighting me.
Speaker A:I went into the closet, covered my head, I wanted to die.
Speaker A:But I'm getting back to the question.
Speaker A:You're my va, my virtual assistant.
Speaker A:Oh, that's my backbone today.
Speaker A:I don't have time.
Speaker A:You just need one smart person.
Speaker A:And it's not just someone that will come and say, what do I do today?
Speaker A:Oh, my thing.
Speaker A:This is what's trending right now.
Speaker A:We should do a video like this.
Speaker A:I think we should put this statement out.
Speaker A:Someone very smart.
Speaker A:I hire people in third to fourth year of college.
Speaker A:They're hungry, they're young, they have a bit of time, they're forward thinking.
Speaker A:Those are people that, they know what's happening right now.
Speaker A:They know what's in.
Speaker A:She was able to help me.
Speaker A:The days I cannot post.
Speaker A:Oh, she's posting for me.
Speaker A:They don't take strategy.
Speaker A:She's sending me a message.
Speaker A:But I think we can do this.
Speaker A:And so When I'm down and I want to get back up, I have something to get back to.
Speaker A:Last one.
Speaker A:I would say your journal, write a to do list.
Speaker A:If not, you just start your day and days turning two weeks, weeks all into months.
Speaker A:You won't do anything.
Speaker A:Whatever you miss this day, take it to the next.
Speaker A:To do list is very your journal.
Speaker A:Don't play with it to be.
Speaker A:You have to know what you're doing today.
Speaker A:Because an entrepreneur, sometimes you wake up, there's nobody calling you.
Speaker A:What am I doing?
Speaker A:You have to that way it keeps you on your toes to be consistent with your channel.
Speaker B:That's good.
Speaker C:So you talk about, you know, the, the journaling and God and whatnot and balancing it all.
Speaker C:Also when you're looking at like, like metrics, like to see like, okay, we're doing good or up, we're starting to kind of shift.
Speaker C:We got to make some adjustments and tweak.
Speaker C:What metrics are you looking for to determine that?
Speaker A:I'm not only looking at revenue, I'm looking at profit line because it's very easy to say, oh, and definitely I have made a hundred thousand dollars, but how much really was my profit from there?
Speaker A:And we need profit to keep the light on.
Speaker A:We need profit that I see big companies, oh, they make $60 million this year, they're closing tomorrow.
Speaker A:That line, if it goes below red, oh, you're in hot water.
Speaker A:You have to track the profits.
Speaker A:That's your income.
Speaker A:I might not be using the right English, but business people help me out.
Speaker A:So don't get carried away with, oh, I'm doing 2,000 people, I'm in the salon.
Speaker A:Doing 80 people a day is beyond that.
Speaker A:But you have to balance your income, see what you're spending money on, court expenses.
Speaker A:Like I said, you don't have to spend $1,000 for your website.
Speaker A:There are free websites you could start from.
Speaker A:You don't have to spend $1,000 for training.
Speaker A:You can start from YouTube universities.
Speaker A:See how you can cut expenses, look for high ticket items to sell that you know, you keep more for yourself.
Speaker A:That way you're able to grow, also take care of your body and you know, scale from there.
Speaker A:I hope I was able to answer that question.
Speaker B:Okay, I was going to ask like, is there something, do you do like satisfaction surveys with your brides?
Speaker B:Like, how do you know that?
Speaker B:Like that's an internal traffic.
Speaker B:I mean a tracker profit margin.
Speaker B:But what are you tracking to make sure your clients are satisfied?
Speaker B:What metrics are you tracking?
Speaker A:Oh, I asked them.
Speaker A:Is the most Uncomfortable things for creative because you think, oh, you created this master plan.
Speaker A:You think they're very happy only for you to call and said, oh, I don't like how this pin look but it's okay.
Speaker A:I'm like, I thought the pin was the beauty of the whole thing.
Speaker A:So you have to.
Speaker A:And I won't say if you're doing a lot of people, you have people that are not happy sometimes with particular things, but it's about the whole overall view.
Speaker A:Oh, you're not happy about.
Speaker A:I'm sorry.
Speaker A:Would you.
Speaker A:I don't mind giving or do you want a free trial next time?
Speaker A:Do you want a free service or something to make them happy?
Speaker A:That way they are able to sell your market brides.
Speaker A:When I say I sleep, I don't sleep on referrals from brides.
Speaker A:They're able to give good reviews.
Speaker A:They're happy.
Speaker A:They talk to my regular inclines but make sure they are very happy.
Speaker A:Ask questions if all the step of the way even before you walking down the aisle.
Speaker A:Are you happy?
Speaker A:Look at the mirror.
Speaker A:Oh, during the wedding, I was not happy.
Speaker A:Oh, I'm so sorry, love.
Speaker A:No need to argue.
Speaker A:I'm sorry.
Speaker A:How can we make this right?
Speaker A:The pictures are perfect.
Speaker A:You're happy with that?
Speaker A:Do you want a free week?
Speaker A:Do you want us to re, change, adjust, whatever?
Speaker A:Do you want to come in for a wash or scalp, Find ways to make them happy and find a balance to that.
Speaker C:I love that.
Speaker B:I love it too.
Speaker B:Listen, we.
Speaker B:I have.
Speaker B:I could ask you so many things, but I do want to give you one opportunity to speak to one thing.
Speaker B:You said earlier.
Speaker B:You said I made the money from the wigs, I made the money from the braiding, I made the money from bridal.
Speaker B:And I was able to take that, that first lump sum of profit, I guess and make an investment.
Speaker B:How much was that amount that you were able to accumulate to make an investment into real estate so you don't.
Speaker A:Have to wait to get a million dollars?
Speaker A:I first.
Speaker A:The first that was even before buried as while I was getting those weeks and modeling.
Speaker A:I got $25,000 within I think three months just modeling in my house with my baby in bed.
Speaker A:And what I did was that I got a capital one card for and got a credit.
Speaker A:That was my first time.
Speaker A:I don't know about credits, but I went to TikTok, TikTok University taught me everything.
Speaker A:I learned how to use get a credit card for $50.
Speaker A:And so it's easy for me to always pay back the $50.
Speaker A:I was able to build credit to almost 800 for paying $50 back with Capital One card.
Speaker A:And we're able to buy our first three unit building.
Speaker A:So we're able to live on the top floor, rent the other two.
Speaker A:In fact, we're almost living for free and we're also getting money back from that.
Speaker A:Within two years, the house has doubled in price.
Speaker A:We bought it 200 nights for $80,000.
Speaker B:See, I knew it was some sauce right there.
Speaker B:And I could, we could go in further about that, but maybe we'll have to have you enough.
Speaker B:But thank you so much.
Speaker A:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker A:I really hope to talk to you guys about the real estate part because you can't be on your feet forever.
Speaker A:There are ways to scale and make income.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:And I know you want to talk about that.
Speaker B:I was raised by a hairdresser stylist.
Speaker B:She's not just a stylist herself.
Speaker B:She owns salon.
Speaker B:She had other people working in there with her.
Speaker B:But ultimately she talks about that eventually we have to make other money that is not us being the technician.
Speaker B:And so obviously, you know, to do that you can hire other stylists that can kind of come up and do it that way, but you still want to start be being more strategic.
Speaker B:And I love when other stylists and other creatives are thinking of ways to tell other creatives how to like transition.
Speaker B:Yes, how to transition.
Speaker B:Not necessarily even out, but just having more streams of income.
Speaker B:So I love that.
Speaker B:But we'll.
Speaker B:We'll have to save.
Speaker A:Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker C:Have to have you back.
Speaker C:Definitely have to have you back.
Speaker B:So before we go, I want to say thank you.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Thank you for being here.
Speaker B:Thank you to those of you guys who are still with us all the way to the end.
Speaker B:You are the real mvp.
Speaker B:You know, I hopefully, hopefully you feel invested into just from the richness of this conversation.
Speaker B:And I'm going to ask you to do a couple of things, but since I gave you the thanks, I'll let Ron ask.
Speaker C:Hold on.
Speaker A:Sorry.
Speaker A:I like about sugar butter experience.
Speaker A:Just a simple.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Actually, before.
Speaker B:Before I let Ron do that.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Before I let Ron do that, I want to give you an opportunity to talk one more thing.
Speaker B:If there was one thing that you'd want to talk about and you want to share and you'd want to give people an opportunity to access with you, what would it be?
Speaker B:Let's listen.
Speaker A:Oh, did you say access?
Speaker A:Me?
Speaker B:Oh.
Speaker A:Oh, I didn't hear.
Speaker B:Anything that you would want to share.
Speaker B:Like there's One thing you want to like, hey, I want to tell people about this, maybe even how to access your business.
Speaker B:Whatever it is that you can share,.
Speaker A:Let's talk about it.
Speaker A:So thank you so much again for having me.
Speaker A:I'm having my first brighter expo and I'll talk to that.
Speaker A:There are many expos that black people are underrepresented.
Speaker A:So I said I was going to have the first black 3 bridal expo.
Speaker A:So most times when you see black bridal experience, I know you're paying 100, you're paying 200.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker A:They're going to be vendors.
Speaker A:There are going to be SIPs, drinks, all for free or for my bride to come shop, book your vendors and have fun.
Speaker A:For the creatives, I'm always here to help you put you through especially if you're looking to diversify your means of income because I have a cleaning company, I have a vehicle, I have different source of income that I was forgetting about today.
Speaker A:But you could reach out to me.
Speaker A:My email is sugarhair1gmail.com Sugar is S H U G A R h a I r 1gmail.com if you're looking to buy your first investment property is easy.
Speaker A:No I'll let them make you feel like oh you have to do no with even the little you have, you can make it work.
Speaker A:So reach out to me.
Speaker A:Happy to help.
Speaker A:Just give me the reference that you found me from the Mindset podcast and I'll be happy to share so much information with you.
Speaker A:I hope that was able to, you know,.
Speaker B:Thank you again.
Speaker B:Listen, thank you so much, so much and, and one of the things that I like to do, I want to say thank you so much but then I like to like, I want to thank you and ask for something.
Speaker B:So Ron, you can ask.
Speaker C:So if you've been rocking with us, you know that we have something called the Creative to CEO challenge.
Speaker C:We want to encourage you to be a part of said challenge is going to help you transform and, and transition into a new place of not just being a creative, but a creative CEO.
Speaker C:So going through this five day challenge with me and shy you will get your 90 day CEO plan on the page.
Speaker C:You'll have your signature offer and you'll build the structure around monetizing that signature offer.
Speaker C:So listen, click the link in, in, in the, in the bio and be a part of that.
Speaker C:I'm telling you, you, you're doing yourself a favor by doing on that.
Speaker C:So thank you.
Speaker C:And now the next thing to do is to do our close us out.
Speaker C:Close us out.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:So he only wanted to ask you for one thing, but I wanted to ask you, make sure you like the video, make sure you hit subscribe, make sure you drop a comment, tell us how you enjoy Ms. Isabelle Bora.
Speaker B:If you want us to come back, I mean, do all of those things and of course, join the five day challenge.
Speaker B:Now, when we close out, one of the things that I like to do, matter of fact, let's go here because we want to do this all together.
Speaker B:One of the things that I like to do.
Speaker B:As we wrap up our episodes, I want to give you guys an opportunity to speak as well.
Speaker B:We've been speaking.
Speaker B:We've all been sharing.
Speaker B:We want to hear from you.
Speaker B:We want you to hear from you because affirmations are important.
Speaker B:So repeat after me.
Speaker B:We're going to all say it.
Speaker B:Everybody ready?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:All it takes.
Speaker B:All it takes is intention, consistency, Consistency and laser focus.
Speaker A:Laser focus.
Speaker B:To mind my creative business.
Speaker A:Mind my creative business.
Speaker A:That.
