In this episode, we have Hania Issa, founder of Beauty by Hania.
As a returning guest on the podcast, Hania shares her journey to realizing her dream of owning her own business.
She discusses how her passion for fashion design and makeup led her to become a licensed esthetician and how she successfully transitioned her business from home-based to a physical location during the pandemic.
She also highlights the importance of providing excellent customer service, maintaining a strong client-business relationship, and the power of journaling and finding a mentor to help clarify and take actionable steps toward achieving business goals.
Website: www.beautybyhania.com
Previous Episode: iam991-make-up-artist-helps-women-look-and-feel-their-best
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Full Interview:
Transcription:
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Hania Issa Teaer 00:00
I offer. For a range of services, complimentary services between the makeup, the eyebrows and skin care. It's like a one-stop shop for clients. They can come in and that actually helps build trust between me and the clients.
Like for example, when I find clients come in for makeup and she has acne. I don't only cover her acne and just do makeup. I offer her tips for her skin, and it's like a complete conversation. It doesn't stop there.
Intro 00:28
Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview?
If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of.
This is the I Am CEO Podcast.
Gresham Harkless 00:56
Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast. I have a very special guest back on the show today. I have Hania Issa welcome back on the show. Hania, excited to have you on the show.
Hania Issa 01:05
Thank you so much, Gresh, for having me.
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Gresham Harkless 01:07
Yes. Super excited to have you on. Talk about all the awesome things that you've been working on and been doing.
We had Hania on episode 991 of our podcast back during the pandemic. We were virtual. Now we're here in person. So. Excited to have you here at Intelligent Office in Alexandria.
Hania Issa 01:21
Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited.
Gresham Harkless 01:23
Yeah, I'm excited too. So I wanted to hear a little bit more on what you've been working on, all the awesome things.
We'll let you get started with your business and what you've been working on since we last started.
Hania Issa 01:31
Sure. So, I love arts. I love drawing and I have an eye for beauty. So I started as a fashion designer, I studied fashion design in college. And I worked in the fashion design industry and working with models that led me to fall in love with makeup.
And I love the relationship with clients doing makeup and often beauty services. So I studied a beauty and a beauty school. And I've been working in the beauty industry since then. I've been an employee for over 15 years. The last three years when we did the. episode. I was working from home.
I had a home studio and I'm finally achieved my lifelong dream of opening my own business.
Gresham Harkless 02:16
That's where you are. I absolutely love that. And I think so many times when, one of the things I'm most interview, getting to have guests back on the show is hear like where they've been from where they're starting to hear and that you have that lifelong dream and that dream is now a reality.
You're doing really awesome things is super exciting.
Hania Issa 02:33
Thank you. And who knows the next episode.
Gresham Harkless 02:35
The whole empire, the whole franchise and everything. We're going to speak it into existence.
Hania Issa 02:41
Absolutely.
Gresham Harkless 02:42
Yeah. So, so beauty by Hania, is everything that you've been able to build. Could you take us through a little bit more on what you're doing, how You're helping support lines.
Hania Issa 02:48
Sure. So I offer three categories of services. First, I'm a professional makeup artist, so I offer makeup for events, bridal makeup, makeup lessons. I am also a licensed esthetician, so I offer skincare services, facials and also I'm an eyebrow expert. So I offer eyebrow services from shaping and tinting which they are temporary to a more permanent solution.
The cosmetic tattoo or permanent makeup and more known as the microblading or powder brows.
Gresham Harkless 03:18
Okay. That makes sense. And so a lot of times it's going to be people that are having specific events or they can come in on a regular basis.
Hania Issa 03:25
On a regular basis, especially for maintaining services like eyebrows. They come like once a month. So I do have this long-term relationship with clients, which I love.
Gresham Harkless 03:35
Nice. That makes sense. And I imagine being able to grow that, especially during the pandemic and your expertise and your knowledge and be able to grow from there has been awesome.
Hania Issa 03:42
Absolutely. It was fascinating. Like when I, Launch my business during the pandemic. It was scary. And I took so much precaution in my house. I was like putting masks on people, putting their, masking and wearing shoe.
And my business doubled every year. And I do feel that I can credit that to the relationship that I built. My community and my sincere desire to help people.
Gresham Harkless 04:15
Right, that makes so much sense. But I also want to throw out that 15 years that you talked about working in the industry, because I think so many times when people see especially all the great work I know you have on your Instagram and you have on your site.
They don't see all the work that you put in over the years to do those things. So I think of course, having those relationships, but of course, being really good at what you do, probably outside a little bit too.
Hania Issa 04:35
That is true. That is true. And I think what makes my business unique is you heard the business advice that you have to niche down, niche down and you can be good at only one thing.
Like it's better to be good at one thing. For me, I'm like, I'm going against niching. I am more, I offer. For a range of services, complimentary services between the makeup, the eyebrows and skin care. It's like a one-stop shop for clients. They can come in and that actually helps build trust between me and the clients.
Like for example, when I find clients come in for makeup and she has acne. I don't only cover her acne and just do makeup. I offer her tips for her skin, and it's like a complete conversation. It doesn't stop there.
Gresham Harkless 05:22
Yeah, that, that makes so much sense. And I think once you build that connection or relationship, like you said, if you're doing the eyebrow or the microblading you build that relationship, that connection, and I'm sure they're probably like, Hey, do you do this?
Do you do this? I'm sure that probably has led to that as well.
Hania Issa 05:37
Absolutely. It's not that common to find somebody who offer all these things and like I really pride my business on customer service and like exceptional customer service. And my business is centered around my client, their satisfaction.
I go above and beyond to make them feel good because guess what? That makes me feel good.
Gresham Harkless 05:58
Exactly. Exactly. Why can't you create a win, win, win where everybody gets to win at that.
Hania Issa 06:04
Yes, I get so much satisfaction from that.
Gresham Harkless 06:06
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I'm going to switch gears a little bit and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book or even a habit that you have. What's something that makes you more effective and efficient?
Hania Issa 06:16
I see time we can all agree that we don't have enough time, right? We all look like we want more time. You can't scale your time. So I'd say delegate the task that they are important, you don't maybe have time for it or they're not like a core, your business. For example, for me, bookkeeping, I don't like to do it and it takes so much time.
So I hired a bookkeeper and that even though like I pay for it. That would give me time to work on the task that I like to work on, like maybe on marketing, on social media, which I love to do. So I would say delegate.
And if you are in a business where you take appointments, I would say automate. I used to take appointment by email and I was all over the place.
So now I have a system where clients can go online. It's easy and convenient. So this is the two things delegate and automate.
Gresham Harkless 07:08
Yeah, I love that delegate and automate and do that as many times as you can, because it's so powerful. And like you said I think time's the most valuable resource. That we all have and we don't have nearly enough as we want to have, as you said, so, so I think being able to lean into those things are absolutely huge.
Hania Issa 07:23
Absolutely.
Gresham Harkless 07:24
Perfect. So what would you consider to be what I call a CEO nugget? A little bit more word of wisdom or piece of advice, but it might be something if you were hop back into the time machine, you would tell your younger business self.
Hania Issa 07:34
All right. So if you are a business owner, or if you are starting out, or if you have a dream, I would say, you don't have to know all the answers to that big dream.
You only have to know the answer to your next step. That's it. For me, I'm going to say something that's going to sound cheesy, journaling. I didn't believe in journaling before, but for four months, I wrote down every day my dream. I wrote down. I want to open my own studio.
And even though in the back of my head, I had doubts and Oh, it's too expensive. My kids are too young. I can't do it. I wrote it down because when you write down your dreams, it becomes a goal. And with goal you can make make a plan and take actionable steps.
And I used to write down, okay, what do I need to do to get a little bit closer to the next step? And that actually led me to realize I needed to hire a coach, a mentor.
So I found someone, she's in the permanent makeup industry. She had she has salon and she's scale her business. So I hired her and that was the best investment. She gave me answers and clarity and confidence that I can have my own place. And, through, through the work and through journaling, I realized I needed.
To look for, let's say a space, rental labor. And when I stopped looking, I was overwhelmed with the choices and I felt it's too expensive. So I hired a real estate agent. She was, she's focused on helping small business owners. And she helped me find the perfect place, the perfect size in the perfect location.
And she became my client.
Gresham Harkless 09:18
There you go. There you go. Another win, win, win.
Hania Issa 09:21
Exactly. But it's so important to reach out to your community. It's rarely that if you see someone that, they made it, it's really, they made it on their own. So you reach out to the community, get help, because people are helpful.
So that's when the relationship and the importance of the relationship, how it comes that valuable.
Gresham Harkless 09:45
Yeah, I appreciate you sharing that. I think it's so powerful and I think freeing to know you don't have to know all the answers and do all of the things. And there's a quote like you could see so much further by standing on the shoulders of giants.
And I think once you figure out like what your lane is what you're going to be really great at and being able to find partnerships and relationships and real estate agents that you talked about, like all those people, the coach help you to be more of yourself so that you can rely on or lean on or partnered with other people is so powerful.
Hania Issa 10:17
Exactly. And you don't know what door will open for you. You just have to be open and again, just look for the next step, small step, and you might You have to take a different turn or change your mind or change the course of action, but it's all going to work out at the end to your end goal.
Gresham Harkless 10:34
Yeah, absolutely. And I love how powerful that journaling piece is. I don't want to jump past that because I read, I don't know what the statistic is, but the bottom line is you're more likely to achieve a goal if you write it down. And the fact that you were writing it down on a regular basis, I feel made it really, really, really. And look at us now we have.
Hania Issa 10:52
Absolutely. People start writing.
Gresham Harkless 10:53
Yeah, there you go. Everybody's going to be writing. Why do you think I'm writing so much? There you go, taking notes. We're putting things into what's going to happen.
So, Hania, truly appreciate. I appreciate all the awesome things you're doing.
So now I got to ask you my absolute favorite question. The definition of what it means to be a CEO. And my goal was to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So Hania, what does being a CEO mean to you?
Hania Issa 11:15
Being a CEO is finally having the opportunity to translate my vision into reality. Into building a business that is based on customer service on client satisfaction and client experience and making a positive impact on the community when a client come in and she feels beautiful and confident she feels positive and she makes positive impact on her family and her surrounding.
So it's I like to think about it as like a cycle of positivity.
Gresham Harkless 11:48
Yeah, absolutely. I love when you have that opportunity to see. It's like that rock where you take it and you throw it in the ocean and it starts to reverberate and ripple everywhere and it starts to make that impact.
And I love again, like that vision to reality because we're literally talking about something that you wrote down on the regular basis. You had that vision and it becomes a reality. So I think it's very powerful when you're able to do that. And by doing that, you're helping out so many other people in the community, as you said so well.
Hania Issa 12:12
Yeah, I hope So I hope so that was my dream. I wanted to create a sanctuary for my clients to come in. They feel beautiful. They feel happy and they want to come back. It's like they're coming to a friend's house. So that was my dream and I'm living it.
Gresham Harkless 12:28
There you go. You're doing it. So absolutely love that. Hania, I truly appreciate that. Look forward to having you back on again and again and again and talk about what you've been writing in your journal today to see what's coming to fruition.
So I wanted to pass you the bike one more time just to see if there's anything additional. You want to let our readers and listeners know, but of course, how best people can get on view. Find out about all the awesome things that you're working on.
Hania Issa 12:49
Thank you so much. Thank you for having me again. You can find me. My website is www.beautybyhania.com. I'm on Instagram, please connect with me at Beauty by Hania.
Gresham Harkless 13:00
There we go. We'll have all the links and information shown us as well, too, so that everybody can follow up with you. But thank you so much again, Hania.
Again, I appreciate you for the showing the power of having a vision and actually getting it done. So thank you so much for doing that. It reminds us how important for us to do that too.
Hania Issa 13:15
Thank you so much Gresh.
Outro 13:16
Thank you for listening to the I Am CEO podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I Am CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.
Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation at blue16media.com. This has been the I Am CEO podcast With Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.
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