Boss Foundations

How can you create an engaged Facebook Group? The Sabbatical Beauty Facebook Group has over 3,000 members and is one of the biggest converters to sales for my business. How can you do this for yourself as well? Make sure you don’t make these top five Facebook Group mistakes! Not spending enough time interacting with people in the group. Your customers want to feel that you treat them as friends and that you’re not just there to get their money. Respond to comments, continue conversations, and interact with them. Treating all customers the same way. Nobody likes all customers equally. Some customers are a dream to be with. Pay the most attention to the customers that model the behavior that you really want to see, so your group can see that being helpful is a good thing. That positive attention to the behaviors you like creates the rules of your community and allows you to attract the customers who spark joy, Not including images or videos of yourself in your Facebook Group. Not many people like doing this, but remember: people are really interested in you, especially if you’re a small business. You are your unique selling proposition, and people want to buy from people, not big, faceless, nameless companies. And the more they get a sense of who you are, the more they’ll know, like, and trust you, and the more they’re willing to buy from you. Not wanting to know what your customers really think Give them a space to say things that are met with you listening to them. When you provide an avenue for them to express what they’re not happy with, and you’re able to respond quickly even if to explain why you are or aren’t doing something, you’re building customer trust. Not making members feel like a community. Consider your customers in how you design your products, in terms of the next steps that you take as a business. This makes them feel like they’re involved in the process and brings them together as a community. And in some cases, it can create relationships that sustain beyond the internet. Final thoughts Treat your customers like they’re your best friends. When they feel like you’re the only audience you’re interested in growing, and that they’re important to you as individuals and not just your bottom line, that’s how you’ll grow an engaged community. Resources Sabbatical Beauty Facebook Group

It’s the dream of every beauty brand owner to be in Sephora. But I’m not interested in getting Sabbatical Beauty into Sephora. Let me tell you why: as a small business, it’s terribly risky. You could “make it” and it could work out great — but it could also work out terribly. The cost Getting your brand into Sephora requires a tremendous amount of sunk costs. You need to pay to play. A modest footprint in Sephora is going to cost you $100,000 a year more or less, with that money going to store fixtures, design fees, products for associates, product testers, money for gifts to suck up to the associates so they’ll want to sell your product. And that’s just on the low end of the spectrum. So your $100,000 per year isn’t even going to be all that effective. I would rather spend that money to pay myself or my people more, to go on a company retreat, or so many other things. I can spend it on my community, or on advertising. In short, I can use that money to create a better experience for everyone involved with Sabbatical Beauty. The relationship The second reason why I think this is a risky thing to do is because you aren’t building a direct relationship with your customer. Your customer is building their relationship with Sephora. Also consider that when you sell to Sephora, they’re going to want you to sell at the wholesale level, eating up 50% —or even up to 70%! — of your profits. And if they don’t sell all your products, they’re going to want you to buy them back or else put your brand on a fire sale. You have very little control over this relationship as well. A revolution We have a real chance to change the beauty industry if we don’t want it to be dominated by big box techniques in the future. How? Through a spirit of cooperation, sharing, and openness. We’re going to do that with the Homebrew Beauty Revolution. If you haven’t heard about the Homebrew Beauty Revolution, I’m going to start teaching you how to make Sabbatical Beauty products: where to buy the products, the science behind the formulations, everything. I want to empower you. Join the Homebrew Beauty Revolution.

Big business marketing dogma: you can’t mix business and politics — and still make money. Oh yeah? Last week, I talked about my Homebrew Beauty experiment and how I decided that there’s more money to be made in sharing rather than keeping things secret. Here’s how I’m going to test this premise: By monitoring how many organic leads I attract by using my ideal customer profile to design my marketing. Let’s break the concepts down. Organic leads are people who find my content, like it, interact with it, and get on my email list My Ideal Customer Profile or the Ideal Customer Avatar is the ideal customer I have in mind Content Marketing means generating social media posts, blog posts, videos, and other content to help solve your Ideal Customer Profile’s problem and attract them to you. My Avatar: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez From her New Green Deal to her amazing bullshit detector, her ability to stand up and confront injustice, and shutting up Republicans who are complaining about her paying her staff a living wage — these are all the things I want in my ideal customer. Someone who prioritizes human beings over profit. So this is the experiment If I radically prioritize human beings over seeking profits, will we make money? Let’s find out together. To follow along: Subscribe to this podcast Join the Sabbatical Beauty email list Join our Sabbatical Beauty Facebook Group I can’t wait, can you?

A beauty brand that’s not only going to give you the recipes for its best products — but show you how you can make them yourself, down to where to buy all the ingredients? That’s what I’m doing at Sabbatical Beauty, and that’s how I’m starting the Sabbatical Beauty Craft Skincare Revolution. The controversy In 2016, I got a lot of crap from the US Korean beauty bloggers who accused Sabbatical Beauty of stealing a recipe. It’s obviously completely false, as the ingredient lists for the two products are completely different, but that fake news has been dogging me ever since. It won’t stop following Sabbatical Beauty around, and it’s gotten on my nerves. So I’m doing something about it. Complete transparency I’m going to show all these people how wrong they are because I’m developing my new Sabbatical Beauty product in public. You are going to have the recipe for my brand new product and know exactly how to make it. Why?  I want to empower you. I want you to know what works on your skin, why ingredients are chosen, and whether a product is worth its price. Revolutionizing the beauty industry together I don’t want the beauty industry to be another industry where everything is a secret and we’re suspicious of one another. I want to empower you to start your own skincare company if you want to, and I’ll support you! To get started, sign up for my free webinar training series called “Luxury Skincare: Is It Worth The Cost?” You’ll learn how to read an ingredients list like a professor so you no longer feel lost in Sephora, trying to figure out if the rep is trying to hard sell you. You’ll know for yourself if the product is worth it or not, and whether they’re taking you for a ride! If you want to make your own products for your hypersensitive and reactive skin that nothing has worked on before, then you’re in the right place at the right time. After the webinar series, I’m releasing the product with product kits to make the products, and videos so you can follow along. It’s going to be amazing, and you and I are going to be the ones to change the beauty industry together.

Have you been working for the longest time without a raise, but scared shitless to ask your boss for one? In this episode, I’m going to show you the strategy that works with bosses, and how to gather what you need for the discussion. To give a raise, or not to give a raise... that is the question The most common reasons I hear people give for needing a raise are: I deserve it because I’ve taken on more responsibility I deserve it because I’ve been putting in longer hours I deserve it because my family needs it These might sound familiar to you, but these reasons won’t work for your employer. Instead, you need to show how your contributions have: Added to the company’s bottom line Made your boss’s life easier Contributed to your boss’s performance review and made them look better and possibly gotten them a raise because of your work Your boss wants to see you as contributing to the company and thinking of the company’s needs, not yours. How to demonstrate your value You need to have your contributions documented and quantified before coming into that conversation so that you’re armed with numbers that reflect your worth. If you’re a social media manager, measure the statistics of what you’ve been working on. How many likes has your page gotten in the last quarter? Which of your posts had the most engagement? Did any of the new sign-ups from your posts turn into new customers? If you’re a manager working in processes, what changes have you made to save the company money in the long run? Perhaps you reorganized the inventory and now it’s so neat, the company can see the materials they actually have on hand instead of buying duplicates. If they’re making the same amount of sales but spending less to do it, then that’s a powerful contribution. In summary Think hard about how you can demonstrate these numbers — and your worth — to your boss. You want to make your argument extremely logical that you’ve brought immense value to the company. If they don’t retain you, it’s quite literally their loss. Asking for a raise is easy because you’re making it obvious that you deserve one! Bonus tips! All these statistics that you’re collecting? Put them in your résumé. These same metrics will prove to other companies that you can increase their market value. If you’re doing your job well (meaning, you deserve a raise), then you’ll also be able to get a job elsewhere if you do this in the smart way. Leave a comment What did you learn from today’s podcast? Leave a comment on the Sabbatical Beauty Facebook group about anything you found useful. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Thinking about starting your own side hustle? Take it from the Side Hustle Queen herself, Marissa Rhoades: a stay-at-home mom of five who is a freelance makeup artist, does SEO for local businesses, and has been with Sabbatical Beauty for about two years. Here’s what she’s learned from all of the hustling, and her best advice for anyone who wants to start their own side hustle. Julie's successful side hustles: Jewelry making. She didn’t have too many friends (or cable) after her second child was born so she spent her time on a forum for handmade crafters. She saw that people were creating guitar pick earrings, so she created her own using special limited edition guitar picks, spending $5 and making $50 in return. Freelance makeup artist. She had been working in retail cosmetics for a long time until she finally got to her goal: working at MAC. It was great exposure and opened the door to people asking her to do makeup for weddings and photoshoots. Search Engine Optimization, or helping people rank on Google searches. She began by helping her husband, who does SEO, whenever he’d run out of bandwidth. When she created her site for her makeup artistry, she ranked in the top three within three months, and so decided to offer her own SEO services for small local brick and mortars. She’s a strong supporter of mom and pops, and likes that she’s serving the community by helping small businesses rank. Event planning. Because of her makeup work, Marissa was very close with the art community. She wanted to start a company that hosted events showcasing local artists that also benefited local charities. Their first event benefitted InterAct, and was praised by an attendee as on par with a New York Fashion Week show they had attended. Things you should know about side hustles: Don’t go into business with your friends. But if you do, clearly establish who’s boss, otherwise everyone will think they’re a boss. Family time is more precious than doing your work for cheap. You have to choose what’s more important: your personal time, or doing work for less than your value just to build up a portfolio. Keep up with trends, because you have to stay relevant. It’s just as important as having a classic staple product that people need. Customers and clients are what keep you afloat. Never stop networking or marketing to new people.  Stand your ground and trust your instincts. If you feel in your heart that you have an excellent product or idea, stick with it (but still do your research). How Boss Foundations has helped Julie succeed: Marissa has learned to set work boundaries and mentally clock out. Her day is hectic with five kids, so while she doesn’t keep a daily routine, she does have “mini-routines” and rituals for her tasks, like her example for writing copy. One very helpful thing was learning how to break down her tasks into smaller tasks, so you can set yourself up for a bunch of smaller wins during the day and build momentum. Julie's advice for side hustlers: Do the Boss Foundations Masterclasses. They help you avoid making amateur mistakes and give you the shortcut instead of you losing more time and money to trial and error. Be gentle with yourself. Don’t worry about what other people are saying. If you’re doing the best that you can without sacrificing yourself and your personal time and striving for your dreams and aspirations, then you're doing good enough. Resources Marissa Rhoades (LinkedIn) InterAct

It’s a great day … for science! Dr. Jordan Bell is a psychologist, educator, and author from Australia, and one of my first Boss Foundations students. Now she’s about to publish a crowdfunded book called Aunt Jodie's Guide to Evolution! Learn more about the book, how she got it launched, and how Boss Foundations helped her skyrocket her campaign. How did the idea for the book begin? Having a basic understanding of science is really important for all citizens in our world, but there weren’t many adventure story books about evolution for middle to upper primary students (grades 3 to 7) to really get them involved with the concept and fundamental ideas. So Jordie wrote one! How did you get started with the book? This has been a labor of love for the last seven years. She came up with the framework and wrote the draft very quickly, and soon dove into her research for half a year. And with all that information, she was able to craft a story that illustrates the concept of evolution based on actual fossil records and what the earth was really like 55 million years ago. The book sat on her hard drive for about six years, and things came together in the beginning of 2017 when she was able to connect with an artist and start working out a plan to bring this book into the world. Where was the project before you started taking the Boss Foundations Masterclass? Before starting Boss Foundations, Jordie had a clear idea of what she wanted to do with the book but had no idea how to move that forward in a way that would let her get through her huge to-do list. She also had no idea how to bring it to market and tell people that the book was going to be available. How did Boss Foundations influence the project? After only three months of Boss Foundations, the book is currently halfway through a successful crowdfunding campaign, with enough funding to bring the book to market. What do you think Boss Foundations helped you achieve in three months that you couldn’t have done yourself? The concept of an Ideal Customer Avatar (ICA) is not new, but with other ICA exercises, Jodie would always come up blank. Boss Foundations was really able to break it down with an incredible worksheet, and now, not only does Jordie have a detailed ICA, she’s able to talk to them in a way that they find interesting, relevant, and appealing. Tell me more about your launch. It was fast: they hit their initial funding target in eight and a half days with zero advertising. Jordie credits part of the success to being able to speak with her ICA customers so well. What other tips and tricks have you found most valuable when bringing your project to light? Have a landing page to collect email addresses, instead of just sharing about the project on Facebook. Learn how to carve out enough time to implement ideas, and take it one small step at a time so you can gain momentum and succeed at more things What advice would you have for someone who wanted to start a similar project? Obviously, join Boss Foundations! Have a product that people actually want and then get the word out there. This comes down to really nailing your ICA as precisely as you can, then testing your idea out on them. Go hard on your publicity before you launch so you have a group of excited people ready to buy when you do. Resources Dr. Jordan Bell (Website) Aunt Jodie’s Guide to Evolution (Pozible) Aunt Jodie’s Guide (Website) Aunt Jodie’s Guide to Evolution (Facebook Group)

Stressed, disoriented, and out of time? Then this is the episode for you! I’m doing something different and answering some commonly asked questions from my students in the Boss Foundations Masterclasses. There’s so much great information here, I have no doubt a lot of it will be helpful to you in your situation, too! I’m really stressed out and overwhelmed — I barely have time to eat or sleep. What can I do? This isn’t an issue that can be solved with organization. The most important thing now is to find time for yourself instead of finding more time for your side hustle. Do small things that make you happy, even if they’re small and don’t cost a lot. That’s what you need now before anything else. How do I pick back up when I’ve been away for the holiday season? I don’t know where to start. Brain dump everything to do with your project, and then restructure where you are within the planning of that project. Organize it into a sequence, and find the small tasks that you can accomplish that will represent that next step, and then schedule them into your week.   I want to change my relationship with time. I have a lot going on, but I want to think about it differently and move beyond the scarcity model. Start documenting your life. Keep a journal with you (or use an app on your phone) and write down your thoughts that occur throughout the day and timestamp them. This will help you reclaim your sense of the day and how it’s laid out, and you’ll see the pockets of space and opportunities you have within your day. Live your life like a boss. If you have any other questions, join us in the Sabbatical Beauty Facebook group and ask me there!

Have you ever created a to-do list with items you never actually did? If you’re the type to hyperventilate at the thought of your list because there’s never enough time to get anything done, this is the episode for you. Today, I’m here to teach you the importance of dialing it back. Break down the steps to your project — and then break them down again even further — to succeed in the way you want to! Think small I taught a class where I asked my students to decide on one small, overarching goal for the week, and then write down the small tasks related to that goal. I was surprised to realize that for the majority of my students, they needed to think smaller about their tasks. For example, one of my students listed writing a book chapter as a small task. Everyone, writing a book chapter is not a small task! It takes a lot of work. Outlining. Drafting. Editing. Revising. Editing. And so on. That takes a lot longer than a week. Shift the focus of the to-do. Instead of writing an entire chapter, try something like “spend 45 minutes drafting the book chapter, three times a week.” Giving yourself the time and space to invest on actually work on the goal — rather than making yourself complete a task — is the most important thing. Setting yourself up for success When you create a bunch of small, winnable wins, then you start building momentum. You won’t be able to stop creating and achieving more of and more of your small goals — until you’ve created so much momentum, that you’re much further along than you ever believed possible. One of my students, Jordan Bell, spends Sunday evenings planning the week ahead. It allows her to move things forward on her side hustle without sacrificing time with family and friends! Setting up small, measurable wins allows you to meet yourself where you are. If you insist on scheduling a win that’s going to take sixty hours a week where your schedule only has twenty hours to spare, you’re going to set yourself up to fail. But what happens? You blame yourself, or you decide that it’s the wrong goal for you. But that’s wrong — it’s not you, it’s not your goal. It’s your process. And you can set that up to make sure you achieve your goals. Has this ever happened to you before, and have you tried dialing back your goals for the week? What is a “small win” for you? I’d love to hear from you. Come tell me about your progress in the Sabbatical Beauty Facebook group. I can’t wait to hear from you!

It’s that time of year again, full of shiny New Year’s Resolutions and sparkly promises that the year is going to be amazing. So why do these resolutions end up getting broken as the months roll by? It’s because people set goals that are too big and undefined. It’s not you, it’s the process. Let’s change the way we execute on our goals and achieve those seemingly insurmountable New Year’s Resolutions in 2019! To truly execute a goal, you need a plan. This consists of breaking down the whole goal into different outcomes at different stages, so you can take small steps to get there. Plan and brainstorm. Sit down and do a project brain dump and write any and all possible to-dos that might result from the project, including any thoughts and questions that are running through your mind. Organize your brain dump. Group similar tasks, link interdependent ones and then sequence them. Besides your tasks, write down an estimate of how long it will take you to complete each one. Look at your calendar. Portion out all the time you realistically think you’ll be able to spend on your project per week. Block out all your holidays and time off, then add together how much time you have for the project for the year. Add up all your time estimates from your task list, and then compare this with your calendar estimates. More often than not, you would have drastically underestimated how much time you might have for your project. This allows you to see that you’re not a failure if you can’t achieve your goal if you simply don’t have enough time for it. This also allows you to temper your expectations and know how much of your goal you can expect to achieve. This process is much better because it allows you to understand feasibly how long it will take you to complete something and what you would need to do. This way, you set yourself up for success! How about you? Have you ever written out your plans behind your goals like that? Let me know in the Sabbatical Beauty Facebook Group! Resources Sabbatical Beauty Facebook Group Dongchimi recipe Boss Foundations Episode Guide  

Why does learning matter? A lot of people feel ashamed about learning, especially when it doesn’t come easily. But instead of feeling ashamed, I have learned shamelessly, and it’s been absolutely life-changing and one of the foundational pillars of my success. Here’s how to do it, and the impact it can make in your life. My story It may seem that learning was always a big part of my life because I was a full-fledged academic until I quit my tenured professor position in 2017 to run Sabbatical Beauty full-time. But learning and intelligence were a source of shame for me when I was growing up. I grew up in Singapore, where education is extremely socially important, and the educational system is rigorous and punitive. At 12, all Singapore students need to take a national exam that ranks you and determines how competitive a school you’re allowed to attend and is seen as a mark of who you’re going to be in the future. I did terribly. I couldn’t continue in my prestigious school, and was socially shunned and disapproved of. It was a hurtful experience, and the trauma of that is what led me later on to pursue a PhD, just to show to the system that shamed me that I was intelligent and could still be successful. From learning = shame, to shamelessly learning When I decided I was going to learn shamelessly instead of feeling ashamed, I started to branch out into learning many different things... things I was actually really bad at! But I developed a thick skin about it and stuck with it until I became somewhat competent (like, for example, dance-inspired exercise classes!). Being okay with being poor at something — and not being afraid of appearing that way to others — is what I mean by learning shamelessly. Shame once kept me from learning. But the thirst for knowledge kept me going. I learn I could make mistakes, make blunders, forget, relearn everything, zone out, refocus, try again, keep at it. All of this is normal. What’s not normal is powering through the discomfort — that’s what will make you stand out from everyone else. How to learn as quickly as possible This technique is called active note-taking. Make sure you always take notes when you’re learning something, because just the act of doing so makes sure you’re engaged with the material. When you’re taking notes, don’t write everything down. Listen for: The main points The secondary points that support the main point Examples that illustrate these points Then, as soon as you’re done, write a summary of what you’ve learned in complete sentences, as if you were teaching it to a friend. This technique of active note-taking helps you (1) effectively remember what you’ve learned and (2) figure out the gaps in your knowledge. I want to hear from you Join the Sabbatical Beauty Facebook Group and share your experiences with active note-taking! I can’t wait to see you start learning shamelessly. Resources Sabbatical Beauty Facebook Group Sabbatical Beauty Episode Guide

On a scale of 1-10, how confident do you feel right now? If you're not feeling confident, don’t worry, you’re not alone. If you are feeling confident, have you ever been told to rein it in with admonitions like, “be more humble” or “you’re being arrogant?” On today’s episode of the Boss Foundations podcast, we’re discussing CONFIDENCE: why it’s so common to not feel confident, and my top three tips for manifesting confidence when you feel at your lowest. What society says When you appear confident, society tells you you’re too ambitious, or selfish, or asking to be taken down a peg. But when you internalize the negative messages and act tentatively, you’re seen as less competent and less worthy of promotions and raises. It’s a double-edged sword: appear to have confidence and you’re dinged, act like you have none and you’re dinged in a completely different way. So what can we do? Despite all the drama, confidence is still integral to success, so we have to be confident anyway. It’s what allows you to put learning into practice, make big leaps, and do things that scare you. Here are my tips on manifesting confidence. Focus on the people you serve in life. Who do you serve? How does your work make their lives better? How can you improve your work so that it improves their lives? What kind of joy are you bringing them? Take the focus off of you and how you’re feeling, and focus on what you’re doing for others. Tune out the “Blue Meanies” The Blue Meanies is a reference to a fictional army of music-hating beings in the Beatles cartoon film Yellow Submarine. Many of us have our own Blue Meanies: the voices in your head that tell you you’re stupid, that you have no idea what you’re talking about, that you’re too arrogant. Tune out these Blue Meanies by focusing on your work. You don’t serve the Blue Meanies, you serve your people. Assume that you’re entitled to good things Channel the energy of that amazing meme: “Lord, give me the confidence of a mediocre white man.” Instead of doubting yourself or thinking that you “shouldn’t” do this or that, ask first. Speak up first. Don’t talk yourself out of it. Very often, the results will surprise you. (If you don’t want to assume the privilege and entitlement of a white guy, channel instead the energy of the record number of women, LGBT folk, and people of color who ran for office in the 2016 midterms — the energy of people who have had enough.) It comes down to just having the audacity to go for it, and seeing what happens. Share your story Have you ever had a time where you struggled to feel confident? What did you do to change things? Let me know in our Facebook Group! Resources Sabbatical Beauty Facebook Group Sabbatical Beauty Episode Guide

Have you ever found yourself putting out fires nonstop — even before you’ve had the chance to finish your morning coffee? What if I told you that you can put an end to those kinds of days forever? On this episode of Boss Foundations, we’re talking about strategy, the third and final pillar of the Boss Foundations framework, and I’m going to share with you one of my best strategies for staying sane, particularly when you’re super stressed. Having a morning routine A good, solid morning routine allows you to start your day with intention instead of reaction. It’s the difference between meeting the day head-on and running your day versus being exhausted because your day ran you. Beginning with a morning routine allows you to gather your energy, sort out everything you have to do, and begin the day with calm and quiet in your head. Even if plans change, and even if you get tired, at the end of the day, you’ll feel a massive sense of accomplishment for everything you got done. One of the more common objections to beginning a morning routine is not having enough time for one. You can’t possibly wake up earlier or add yet another item to your to-do list — but ironically enough, having one in place gives you back more hours in your day, because you’re knocking out to-do items more quickly and effectively. Let me tell you about my morning routine. Taking my dog out and giving him breakfast I like taking care of the needs of someone who depends on me first before I proceed with the rest of my routine. In certain circumstances, you may not be able to do this before the rest of your routine, so I share some tips on how to modify this action. Physical therapy stretches and exercise Starting your day with movement has what psychologists call a grounding affect: it makes you aware of your body and where you are in that space and time. It doesn’t matter if it’s gentle stretching or running a 10k, the point is to move your body for at least a few minutes. Breakfast There’s a reason breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Aside from nutritional benefits, it gives me a sense of calm and I don’t need to worry about getting hungry when I work! Review and plan I go through my notes and weekly task list and write down my plan for the day. Physically writing things down helps direct your thoughts and kickstart your brain, and by visualizing your plan, you make it more likely to achieve. I use a physical journal to do this, and I walk you through each step of this action in more detail. Final thoughts You don’t necessarily need to have all of these elements in your routine, and you don’t have to do them in the same order I do. Eventually, you’re going to decide what’s important to you and you’ll create your own routine from there. Share your story Do you already have an existing morning routine? What are your favorite steps, and how do they make you feel more productive? Let me know in our Facebook Group! Resources Sabbatical Beauty Facebook Group Sabbatical Beauty Episode Guide

There is a secret to success... and you don’t need to change who you are to be successful. Host Adeline Koh will lay down the foundations to being a badass boss: from learning to confidence to wicked-smart strategy, you'll discover how to take yourself from where you are to where you want to be We'll get straight to the point without the fluff. It's time to build YOUR foundations for the future.