Speaker 1: What up?
Speaker 2: Y'all, Welcome to your favorite podcast, Cheeky's and Chill. I
Speaker 2: am so happy to speak to you guys to give
Speaker 2: you some info on business because April is financial literacy month.
Speaker 2: So I wanted to take this opportunity to dive deep
Speaker 2: into something I get asked about a lot. People ask
Speaker 2: me all the time, Cheeky's, I want to start my
Speaker 2: own business.
Speaker 1: How do I go about it? What did you do?
Speaker 2: So that is what this episode is going to be about.
Speaker 2: So I hope that you guys enjoy it and you
Speaker 2: learn a thing or two. Okay, So my very first
Speaker 2: business was called blow Me Dry, and it was a
Speaker 2: dry bar. I'm sure a lot of you guys are
Speaker 2: familiar with the dry bar, and I did get the
Speaker 2: idea from them because I loved going to the dry
Speaker 2: bar myself and I love the fact that it was like, oh,
Speaker 2: you go into the salon, you get your hair wash,
Speaker 2: you get it blow dried, and then you don't have
Speaker 2: to wash it for a few days. I was like,
Speaker 2: you know now what I want my own business. And
Speaker 2: I had saved up some money from like reality shows
Speaker 2: that we were doing, and I had always helped my
Speaker 2: mom with her businesses like helping her start the genes
Speaker 2: and the perfume and the makeup line and her skincare,
Speaker 2: and I was the one moving everything forward. I was
Speaker 2: kind of like, Okay, now it's my time to invest
Speaker 2: in something. And I will be honest. It wasn't as
Speaker 2: successful as I would have liked. And I say this.
Speaker 2: I've shared this quite a bit on the podcast, and
Speaker 2: I'm okay with saying that now. During that time, it
Speaker 2: was very difficult because it's my very first business and
Speaker 2: I wanted it to be successful, and I was like,
Speaker 2: I tried my very very best. But then I learned
Speaker 2: the beauty behind failure. And I think that that is
Speaker 2: something that I want you guys to learn. If anything
Speaker 2: from this podcast, is that it's okay to fail, because
Speaker 2: failing also makes you grow, It makes you wiser, it
Speaker 2: makes you understand that it's okay to make mistakes, it's
Speaker 2: okay to fall on your face. It's all about how
Speaker 2: you get back up okay, and giving yourself that grace
Speaker 2: of saying, Okay, I fell on my face. It didn't
Speaker 2: work out, but at least you tried it. At least
Speaker 2: you took the risk. At least you took that leap
Speaker 2: of faith to say I'm going to try this and
Speaker 2: I'm not going to let fear paralyze me from growing.
Speaker 2: Hopefully it is successful. Hopefully you have your blow you know,
Speaker 2: blow me dry. That name my mom helped me come
Speaker 2: up with. By the way, blow me dry, you know,
Speaker 2: you know, it's kind of like go listen thil like
Speaker 2: it had like a little double meaning there. But anyways,
Speaker 2: maybe yours will work out, and I hope it does.
Speaker 2: But for me, I'm that type of person that not anymore.
Speaker 2: I was that learned things a hard way and I
Speaker 2: needed to go through that very tough lesson in order
Speaker 2: to appreciate everything that was to come later, you know.
Speaker 2: So anyways, I open the business because I love everything beauty.
Speaker 2: That's just been me since I can remember, since I
Speaker 2: was fourteen, I was like, oh my god. I was
Speaker 2: the girl that would just watch the girls on TV
Speaker 2: and like how they did their makeup, and I wanted
Speaker 2: to know why their skin was so flawless. And I
Speaker 2: just loved anything and everything you know, beauty, the beauty industry,
Speaker 2: and so blow Me Dry was a way of like
Speaker 2: me just tapping into that industry and also not only
Speaker 2: just going into a place where you can get beautiful
Speaker 2: and feel beautiful, but I wanted you to leave with
Speaker 2: some knowledge. So there was always I've always been into
Speaker 2: quotes and phrases, and I had them all over the
Speaker 2: walls and the restroom everywhere. So anywhere that you sat
Speaker 2: down to get your hair done or your makeup don
Speaker 2: because we also did makeup, there was a quote. Because
Speaker 2: that's always been so important to me. I always knew
Speaker 2: that I had a mission and anything that I was
Speaker 2: going to do, whether it be skincare, makeup, my blow
Speaker 2: dry bar, anything, there was always going to be a
Speaker 2: positive message, so that I always had very very clear.
Speaker 2: What I didn't have clear was that it was very important.
Speaker 2: There's a saying in Spanish cal which means if you
Speaker 2: have a store, you have to If not, you need
Speaker 2: to sell it. The circumstances were so crazy for me.
Speaker 2: I opened up this blow dry bar, this beauty salon,
Speaker 2: and mind you, we didn't do color. It was like,
Speaker 2: no mess, no fuss, just plush. That was like our
Speaker 2: whole slogan, No mess, no fuss, no plush. It was
Speaker 2: just get in there, get your hair washed. You can,
Speaker 2: you know, get like a mask, a hair mess you
Speaker 2: can get your makeup done, but there wasn't any like
Speaker 2: hair color and dyes and all that stuff. So anyways, oh,
Speaker 2: it's taking me back. This whole thing is taking me back.
Speaker 2: It was like so cute. It's a beautiful time in
Speaker 2: my life, but also a very hard time. So anyways,
Speaker 2: I opened it up in twenty twelve, and that's when
Speaker 2: I had just moved out of my mom's house and
Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, I'm gonna do this. I was
Speaker 2: doing it more now, if I'm really honest with myself,
Speaker 2: I was doing it more to make my mom proud,
Speaker 2: to show her I can do this. I don't necessarily
Speaker 2: need your name. And I know that's going to sound
Speaker 2: really bad. I've explained it many times on the podcast,
Speaker 2: but I wanted Blow Me Dry to stand on its
Speaker 2: own and not necessarily put it in a Latin community
Speaker 2: because people were going to go because it was they
Speaker 2: knew I was my mom's daughter, and I really wanted
Speaker 2: it to just stand on its own, so for me,
Speaker 2: I didn't have my ducks. I guess in a row,
Speaker 2: I was doing it for not the right reasons. Yes,
Speaker 2: I wanted my own business. That was the right reason. Yes,
Speaker 2: I love the beauty industry. That was a great, you
Speaker 2: know reason, But the foundation wasn't really because I truly, truly,
Speaker 2: like wanted to do this for the rest of my life.
Speaker 2: It was more of like, Okay, I have this option,
Speaker 2: I love this. But it was more, I think, to
Speaker 2: prove a point to my mom. And I think that's
Speaker 2: probably why it didn't work out. Because when I opened it,
Speaker 2: it took a while to open it. I spent a
Speaker 2: lot of unnecessary money. Now I can look back and say, hey,
Speaker 2: I could have saved a lot more money on the fixtures.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I didn't necessarily need that expensive flooring or those expensive chairs.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I wanted it to look very, very nice because in
Speaker 2: the area that I was in.
Speaker 1: But I could have.
Speaker 2: Done it in a much inexpensive way. I guess I
Speaker 2: could have bargain shopped. There's so many different things, and
Speaker 2: if you go to a lot of these shops unless
Speaker 2: you've already you're a franchise and you have the money
Speaker 2: and the money's coming in and you can go ahead
Speaker 2: and fluff it up. I fluffed it up going straight in.
Speaker 2: I put in a lot of money before even opening it,
Speaker 2: and that's where I went wrong, you know, And I
Speaker 2: did everything the legal way, and I remember my mom
Speaker 2: telling me, You're like, why are you doing that? Why
Speaker 2: do you need permits? And I'm like, well, Mom, that's
Speaker 2: the legal that's the right way to do things. But
Speaker 2: she was a first to tell me like, no, you don't.
Speaker 2: You're fine. You don't need to get all these permits.
Speaker 2: It takes too long. It's very expensive. Mind you, that's
Speaker 2: something I'll leave in your hands.
Speaker 1: Again. I had to learn all of this.
Speaker 2: I had to go through it, and I don't regret
Speaker 2: it because it helped me learn and grow and what
Speaker 2: to do and not.
Speaker 1: To do right.
Speaker 2: So anyways, for me, it was that it was I
Speaker 2: did the permits, I did the construction. I spent way
Speaker 2: too much money on building versus saving some of that
Speaker 2: money that I had saved up for this business for
Speaker 2: a rainy day. Because there are a lot of rainy days. Okay,
Speaker 2: four years of rainy ass days, rainy, thunderstorm, you guys, cloudy.
Speaker 1: It was just it was a lot.
Speaker 2: Anyways, So that's the first thing, the first mistake I
Speaker 2: feel that I made spending too much money on making
Speaker 2: it look pretty. And also I wasn't a hairstylist myself.
Speaker 2: Maybe I should have gone to cosmetology school and learn
Speaker 2: how to like because I couldn't work on people because
Speaker 2: I didn't have my license, so I couldn't sit at
Speaker 2: a chair myself or stant at a chair and do
Speaker 2: the services myself. So in reality, like I had to
Speaker 2: be there to run the place and pay myself versus
Speaker 2: me standing behind a chair doing services. And then that
Speaker 2: way I have my own income coming through, you know,
Speaker 2: not necessarily just relying on the other estheticians or because
Speaker 2: we also did facials at a facial room anyways, so
Speaker 2: that was another thing, you know that I was like, damn,
Speaker 2: I wish I I at least could have been wanted
Speaker 2: to do the services myself because that was going to
Speaker 2: make me more money. But anyway, so when I opened it,
Speaker 2: let's go back and kind of like jumping back and forth,
Speaker 2: but hopefully it's all making sense. So when I opened it,
Speaker 2: it was twenty twelve. I had just moved out. I
Speaker 2: put my heart and soul into this place. It took
Speaker 2: a while to open it. Construction permits, all that stuff,
Speaker 2: it took a lot longer.
Speaker 1: Finally we opened it.
Speaker 2: I got that hug and those words, miha, I'm so
Speaker 2: proud of you from my mom. She was just like
Speaker 2: an all. I did not let her see the place.
Speaker 2: And she lived down the street from where. You know,
Speaker 2: it was Insino in Ncino, California, and there's a lot
Speaker 2: of like it's a Caucasian community, Caucasian Armenian community in anyway,
Speaker 2: So she was down the street. She lived down the street,
Speaker 2: but I never let her stop by. I was like, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: I don't want you to see it into the grand opening.
Speaker 2: So I got that gratification for me. It was like,
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, she's happy, she's proud of me. Like
Speaker 2: everything she taught me, everything I learned in you know,
Speaker 2: jen Rivedra University or the Hard Knock of Life University,
Speaker 2: it all like you can see it, you know. And
Speaker 2: I got that satisfaction and that stamp of approval from
Speaker 2: my mom, and that made me feel really good. But
Speaker 2: then my mom and I have a fallout. I'm in
Speaker 2: like this deep depression. I couldn't go. I had to
Speaker 2: hire someone. I was supposed to be the manager, the
Speaker 2: general manager, but I couldn't. I was just physically emotionally distraught.
Speaker 2: I was just in a really bad place, so I
Speaker 2: needed to hire someone. She was very expensive, and just
Speaker 2: think about it, I'm like, damn, it could have been
Speaker 2: very successful, but shit happen.
Speaker 1: So anyways, I you know, I hired this girl. She
Speaker 1: was amazing.
Speaker 2: Her name was Olivia. Shout out to her if she
Speaker 2: ever here's my podcast or whatever. She was awesome. She
Speaker 2: ran the place, but she since she was she had
Speaker 2: a lot of experience.
Speaker 1: She cost me a lot, but she was worth every
Speaker 1: penny anyway.
Speaker 2: So a lot of what I was supposed to make
Speaker 2: to kind of, you know, keep the overhead going everything,
Speaker 2: keep the place running, it was.
Speaker 1: To her because I couldn't.
Speaker 2: Then my mom passes away a few months later, and
Speaker 2: then I really couldn't be there, So mind you, I
Speaker 2: opened this I started this place in twenty eleven, finally
Speaker 2: opened it in twenty twelve. So many things happen in
Speaker 2: twenty twelve. My mom passes away to in twenty twelve.
Speaker 2: Then my siblings, the little ones, Johnny and Janica. Johnny
Speaker 2: was eleven, Janica was fifteen.
Speaker 1: They needed me.
Speaker 2: I couldn't be there, so Olivia finally quit on me.
Speaker 2: She's just like, you know, this isn't working out. A
Speaker 2: lot of people aren't coming in. All this stuff happened,
Speaker 2: you guys, and I still kept it open for four years.
Speaker 2: My numbers were read the entire time any money that
Speaker 2: I got, because it was my ego, it was my
Speaker 2: pride and joy. It was my first business. I kept
Speaker 2: it open for all the wrong reasons. And the reason
Speaker 2: I speak about this is because I want you guys
Speaker 2: to learn from my mistakes. We have to learn when
Speaker 2: to say I have to let this go. As much
Speaker 2: as it hurts me, I have to let this go.
Speaker 2: We have to know when to walk away. And I
Speaker 2: didn't like it was my ego, that's all I could say.
Speaker 2: And I wanted to be there for my siblings and
Speaker 2: they needed me. I had to take them to school
Speaker 2: like I would stop by, but I couldn't be there.
Speaker 2: I couldn't tend to my business the way I should have.
Speaker 2: When Olivia left. Then I hired friends. So I hired
Speaker 2: one of my friends, one of my best friend's. Her
Speaker 2: name is Julie, and she did an amazing job and
Speaker 2: she ran it for a while and then she was
Speaker 2: just like, Okay, I gotta go too. And then another
Speaker 2: friend of mine, Ellen, stepped in and she helped me
Speaker 2: and we were just always in red, you guys, and
Speaker 2: it was just it was crazy. So finally, after four years,
Speaker 2: I was like, I have to stop this.
Speaker 1: This has to stop. I need to just stop the bleeding.
Speaker 2: As much as I cried the day that we closed,
Speaker 2: because again, imagine, my savings was all in the flooring
Speaker 2: and in the beautiful furniture and in the painted walls
Speaker 2: and in all these fixtures and upgrades that I made
Speaker 2: to this place, I was like, oh my gosh, I
Speaker 2: have nothing to my name once again, and it hurt me.
Speaker 1: But and after as soon as.
Speaker 2: I closed the doors, I could breathe, and I was like,
Speaker 2: oh my goodness, I have my life back, because the
Speaker 2: stress was insane. How I did it the grace of God,
Speaker 2: I have no idea, because then that's when I was like, okay,
Speaker 2: I don't have my business.
Speaker 1: I have to let this go.
Speaker 2: I was just starting my music career, and of course
Speaker 2: music and the way I started, you know, I always
Speaker 2: say this, I started ass backwards because I just jumped
Speaker 2: into that too. I mean, I'm glad I didn't give
Speaker 2: up and we're here and things are working out amazing.
Speaker 2: But it was a very slow start. So I had
Speaker 2: to figure out how am I going to make ends meet?
Speaker 2: How am I going to work? A lot of things happen,
Speaker 2: I save more money, and I just knew. I was like, Okay,
Speaker 2: now I really have to get my shit together in
Speaker 2: order to find my way.
Speaker 1: I need to find.
Speaker 2: Out who I am, what I really want, what really
Speaker 2: makes me happy, what is my passion? Because I think
Speaker 2: that once you have that in line, that makes everything
Speaker 2: else just run a lot smoother and you do things
Speaker 2: with love. And again with Blow Me Dry, I knew
Speaker 2: I loved the beauty industry, but I wasn't someone in
Speaker 2: the beauty industry. I wasn't a actual cosmatologist or a
Speaker 2: stetician myself. I went to a ctitition school but couldn't
Speaker 2: finish it. It's a whole other story years before. But
Speaker 2: this is what brings me to the businesses that I
Speaker 2: have now. And the very first business that I invested
Speaker 2: in a little bit after Blow Me Dry was my
Speaker 2: skincare and I had saved up a little bit of money,
Speaker 2: wasn't a lot, and I knew I love skincare. I've
Speaker 2: been using skincare since I was sixteen. This is something
Speaker 2: that I went to a Stetitian School for three for
Speaker 2: three months. Didn't finish the six months, but I did
Speaker 2: three and I learned a lot. But I already knew
Speaker 2: that I loved skincare and this is something I can
Speaker 2: stand behind. And you know, in twenty twelve, social media
Speaker 2: we only had Twitter then, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: And I think like Facebook maybe or my speed, I
Speaker 2: don't remember, but a social media wasn't what it is now.
Speaker 2: When I started my skincare was in like twenty fifteen,
Speaker 2: twenty sixteen, like now it's okay, Instagram and like it
Speaker 2: was just a little bit more out there. And I
Speaker 2: got myself a business partner because I knew financially, I
Speaker 2: was like, I don't think I can do this myself,
Speaker 2: and I needed someone that had been in the industry
Speaker 2: for a long time. And that's how I had my
Speaker 2: business partner, Judy Castro. I started off with her because
Speaker 2: she started doing like my facials and she has an
Speaker 2: aesthetic spaw and I started going to her aesthetic spa
Speaker 2: in Corona. She's still in Corona actually, so when we
Speaker 2: lived out in Orco. That's how I met her. We
Speaker 2: became cool and then we got to talking and I
Speaker 2: was like, I want my own skincare line, and it
Speaker 2: was Diamond Skincare. Now it's be flawless, but that's how
Speaker 2: it started, and I just knew, Okay, what is my passion?
Speaker 2: It is important you guys, if you want to start
Speaker 2: your own business, it has to be a passion. It
Speaker 2: has to be something that you're totally into. In my opinion,
Speaker 2: at least there are people that are like, Okay, whatever,
Speaker 2: this is just gonna make me money.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do what I gotta do. For me.
Speaker 2: What has worked out for me Janee for Cheeky's is loving,
Speaker 2: absolutely loving what I'm doing because since I'm the one
Speaker 2: selling it on social media or when I talk to people,
Speaker 2: you can just see how my face lights up with
Speaker 2: my products, the things that I stand behind, the things
Speaker 2: that have my name, my image, because it's important to
Speaker 2: have that connection. It's important that if you're speaking about it,
Speaker 2: what comes from the heart. Reach is a heart people
Speaker 2: feel that. People aren't dumb, people like see it, people
Speaker 2: feel it, and that's why, in my opinion, it's important
Speaker 2: that you are passionate because that's how you're going to
Speaker 2: be able to wake up every day and be excited
Speaker 2: about what you're doing. Yes, money is important. Absolutely, you
Speaker 2: need money to make money. Yes, nowadays it all depends.
Speaker 2: If you're buying things overseas, yes, they're gonna you're gonna
Speaker 2: have to buy a lot of it, which requires a
Speaker 2: lot of money. But if you're keeping it in the States,
Speaker 2: you can just buy a little bit, small quantities, small
Speaker 2: minimums as to there and not think, Okay, I'm going
Speaker 2: to become a millionaire, like it's about just making for me.
Speaker 2: It's like making your money back plus a little bit more,
Speaker 2: instead of looking at it as oh my god, this
Speaker 2: is going to like make me I can retire Like, No,
Speaker 2: it takes a while to get there, and be patient
Speaker 2: because in any business that you open, or any business
Speaker 2: that you start, it takes at least two years one
Speaker 2: if you're lucky, for things to start flowing, to get
Speaker 2: your money back, to see your investment.
Speaker 1: It takes a while. So you have to be patient.
Speaker 2: So I would suggest keep your job, if you have
Speaker 2: a nine to five or you have whatever type of
Speaker 2: job you have, while you start your.
Speaker 1: Business and save. And this is what we talk about.
Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be a lot of You could
Speaker 2: just say, hey, I'm going to give myself two years
Speaker 2: to save because on the third year I want to
Speaker 2: start my business.
Speaker 1: I'm going to start from every paycheck.
Speaker 2: I'm going to say fifty one hundred dollars whatever it
Speaker 2: is that you can every month, from every paycheck, every
Speaker 2: fifteen days, put that money to the side and pretend
Speaker 2: that it does not exist, because that is for your
Speaker 2: business or for rainy day if something happens and you
Speaker 2: need that money. Either way, we should be saving money
Speaker 2: because it is important because we never know what's gonna happen,
Speaker 2: you know, So if you want to start your own business,
Speaker 2: that is one thing that I would suggest start saving
Speaker 2: and give yourself a plan. It could be anything.
Speaker 1: Now with social media.
Speaker 2: With the power of social media, you guys, you don't
Speaker 2: even have to be a super famous person or come
Speaker 2: from a super famous family. You can honestly do it
Speaker 2: with the power of marketing and knowing that if you
Speaker 2: don't have a famous background or you're not in the
Speaker 2: limelight per se, know that you're gonna need to save
Speaker 2: some money to boost your posts.
Speaker 1: To know that.
Speaker 2: Okay, if I'm gonna post on Facebook or I'm gonna
Speaker 2: post on TikTok, there's way of boosting your posts or
Speaker 2: your business so that you reach the demographic that you're
Speaker 2: looking for, whether it be the beauty industry or the
Speaker 2: food industry or whatever it may be. There are categories
Speaker 2: and ways of promoting your business to certain regions in
Speaker 2: the country, to a certain demographic, to a certain age group,
Speaker 2: Like there's a whole way of doing that so that
Speaker 2: you make sure that Okay, it could be one hundred bucks,
Speaker 2: two hundred bucks, five hundred dollars. It all depends on
Speaker 2: the reach that you want. You can start off slow
Speaker 2: and then little by little, you know, widen your horizons.
Speaker 2: But you have to know it's going to take some time.
Speaker 2: It's going to take a little bit of investment. Maybe
Speaker 2: for a little bit you're not going to be able
Speaker 2: to pay yourself because it's all going towards marketing in
Speaker 2: order to make your business grow, Like you need to
Speaker 2: know all of these things going in And this is
Speaker 2: the hard truth. Unless you just go in and you're
Speaker 2: just like a big bang and it's like super successful.
Speaker 2: But also with that, I prefer and that's how it's
Speaker 2: gone in my career and my you know, as a
Speaker 2: as a singer, it's been a slow uphill battle, and
Speaker 2: I prefer it that way. I personally prefer to go
Speaker 2: little by little, steady versus it going like a big boom,
Speaker 2: because it's not how you get there, how long it
Speaker 2: takes you to get there, it's how long you could
Speaker 2: sustain yourself when you get there. So for me, I'm like, okay,
Speaker 2: let me take my time, let me savor this, let
Speaker 2: me enjoy this little by little. It helps me appreciate
Speaker 2: things more when it's just steady uphill versus it just
Speaker 2: going super quick.
Speaker 1: I hope and I pray that if.
Speaker 2: Whatever business you guys want to start, it's a super fuck,
Speaker 2: it's a banger. It's a bang, and you make a
Speaker 2: lot of money. But also know to save, like it's
Speaker 2: important to save money, you guys, especially in the economy
Speaker 2: that we're in, just to finish this first part. Be patient,
Speaker 2: understand that it might take some time, save money, invest
Speaker 2: in marketing, invest in your business for it to grow,
Speaker 2: to continue growing, because marketing is the biggest thing and
Speaker 2: it's the most expensive part of owning your own business.
Speaker 2: But it's okay because that's what's going to make it
Speaker 2: obviously grow. And if what you're selling, you're absolutely passionate
Speaker 2: about and you're selling something great, something that you believe in,
Speaker 2: then your clientele is going to feel that and they're
Speaker 2: going to keep coming. You're going to have recurring clients, customers,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. And that's what you want
Speaker 2: the people that by once, you want them to continue buying.
Speaker 2: So you want to make sure that you're selling something
Speaker 2: good quality. For me, it's important that not just because
Speaker 2: it has my name and I think it's going to
Speaker 2: sell that's all it needs. Like for me, it's like, no,
Speaker 2: I want to give people quality products at a very
Speaker 2: good price because I'm always thinking of people's financial situations
Speaker 2: and I put myself in people's shoes and for me,
Speaker 2: that's my personal thing. Like I'm not trying to take
Speaker 2: advantage in any way. I want to make sure people
Speaker 2: fall in love with the things that I'm selling because
Speaker 2: I'm super passionate about it. And it's not just about
Speaker 2: making a quick buck for me, it's just it's not
Speaker 2: I believe in like having integrity in that way, and
Speaker 2: that's a huge thing for me, something that is important
Speaker 2: to me because I want to be able to sleep
Speaker 2: at night. So I hope that you guys have those
Speaker 2: same values and see it that way before starting a business.
Speaker 2: That's just my own personal advice. So now let's get
Speaker 2: into like the nitty gritty of it. For blow me dry,
Speaker 2: I started a corporation. I started a corporation, and under
Speaker 2: that corporation, I did a DBA okay, which is a
Speaker 2: business under So it's like, you know, your corporation, or
Speaker 2: it could be an LLC, which a lot of people
Speaker 2: recommend LLC's because they stand on their own and once
Speaker 2: you pass away, like no one's liable. It just you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, Like a corporation does the same thing.
Speaker 2: I went through legal Zoom, you guys, I learned everything
Speaker 2: through legal Zoom. I didn't have the money at that
Speaker 2: time or the extra money to get an attorney and
Speaker 2: for an attorney to explain everything to me. I just
Speaker 2: googled everything. I googled it, I did my own research.
Speaker 2: I went to legal Zoom. I started all myself, and
Speaker 2: it was fairly a quick process.
Speaker 1: And pretty straight to the point.
Speaker 2: But I do recommend you opening up an LC or
Speaker 2: corporation and escorp is what I've always used because it
Speaker 2: also helps with taxes. It also protects your personal assets,
Speaker 2: so the business kind of stands on its own. I
Speaker 2: do recommend your business having its own EI number because
Speaker 2: again that protects you your personal assets, and from there
Speaker 2: you can eventually start paying yourself. The business can start
Speaker 2: paying you, and everything's kind of separate. And your business,
Speaker 2: you know, files taxes and you file your personal taxes,
Speaker 2: and everything is kind of separated.
Speaker 1: It's still yours.
Speaker 2: The business is still yours, but it becomes its own identity.
Speaker 2: It's like its own Social Security number, is an IEA
Speaker 2: number for your business. It's kind of like the way
Speaker 2: to look at it, you know. And I choose to
Speaker 2: have business partners because I want to focus on my music.
Speaker 2: And it works out for me and I can focus
Speaker 2: and I can still tap in and make sure that
Speaker 2: everything is like ran through me, but I don't have
Speaker 2: to again because I learned to blow me dry that
Speaker 2: I'm like, if I'm not there one hundred percent, it's
Speaker 2: going to be very very hard for it to be successful.
Speaker 2: So I need someone that does a lot of the
Speaker 2: legwork while I'm doing my thing. So if I'm growing
Speaker 2: as cheeky as the artist, then my businesses grow and
Speaker 2: they benefit because I'm doing my thing. But I also
Speaker 2: have a person that I can trust that works for me. Now,
Speaker 2: if you have the time, or you have a spouse
Speaker 2: or a best friend, or you want to do it yourself,
Speaker 2: as long as your paperwork and everything, that's one thing
Speaker 2: I'm so annal you guys about filing taxes. I don't
Speaker 2: want to deal with Uncle Sam and I don't want
Speaker 2: to have issues, and I don't want to be audited.
Speaker 2: So I am a paper person. I save all the receipts,
Speaker 2: I save all invoices. I save it for just in
Speaker 2: case I have files you guys, since I don't know
Speaker 2: two thousand and nine that are in my storage. I
Speaker 2: save everything because I was just taught that way and
Speaker 2: it's very old school, I guess. And there are other
Speaker 2: ways now to do it better. And now my assistant,
Speaker 2: my no assistant's helping me with condensing everything and putting
Speaker 2: things on like you know, the computer and scanning stuff.
Speaker 2: I'm still like very old school because I'm very like
Speaker 2: I like tangible things. I want to feel the paper.
Speaker 2: I want to know that's just who I am. But anyways,
Speaker 2: going back to the whole thing, so it all depends
Speaker 2: I do. It's important file your taxes. You don't want
Speaker 2: to get screwed, you guys, because they will come if
Speaker 2: you don't pay your taxes, they will come into your
Speaker 2: account and not ask for your permission, and Uncle Sam
Speaker 2: will take what belongs to him, even if it's yours.
Speaker 2: They won't even ask you. You'll go look at your
Speaker 2: account and you're like, where did my money go? Well,
Speaker 2: you didn't pay your taxes, so they'll come into your
Speaker 2: bank account and they can do that and there's nothing
Speaker 2: that you can do about it. So it is important
Speaker 2: that you have all of that situated and you can
Speaker 2: do it quarterly, or you can do it at the
Speaker 2: end of the year, whatever works out for you. With
Speaker 2: some of my business partners, we do it quarterly, like
Speaker 2: with Vanessa Sanchez Planteita's a haircare line with we do
Speaker 2: it quarterly. We sit down every quarter, we go through
Speaker 2: our numbers, and that's how we do it. You know,
Speaker 2: a bookkeeper is super important. If in the beginning you
Speaker 2: can't afford someone to do your bookkeeping, you do it yourself.
Speaker 2: But it is important that you save every document that
Speaker 2: if you you know now you don't really need a
Speaker 2: location the way I had to blow me dry, a
Speaker 2: physical place to go. Now everything is online. Now everything
Speaker 2: is e commerce, you know what I mean. So you
Speaker 2: don't really need a lot of paperwork. But whatever paperwork
Speaker 2: you have, save it, scan it, whatever works best for you.
Speaker 2: But have that so you can go back and dot
Speaker 2: your eyes and cross your t's and make sure that
Speaker 2: all that is taken care of, because because you don't
Speaker 2: want to screw anyone, and you don't want to get screwed,
Speaker 2: especially with no lube and without your permission, you guys.
Speaker 2: So with that being said, to your taxes, and I
Speaker 2: recommend that you do get your EIA number. If you
Speaker 2: can do it yourself, great, if you get an attorney.
Speaker 2: Now I get an attorney. Now I have an attorney
Speaker 2: that helps me with it. But back then, guys, I
Speaker 2: had to learn myself. I did all my research. Again,
Speaker 2: legal Zoom is not paying me. Just FYI, but this
Speaker 2: is the truth. I use legal Zoom and it worked
Speaker 2: out for me. I'm not saying I recommend it or not.
Speaker 2: I'm just letting you know that is what I did
Speaker 2: and it was fine. Well, with all that being said,
Speaker 2: let's you know fast forward to today. Today. I have
Speaker 2: I have a few businesses and they are yes e
Speaker 2: commerce and businesses that I absolutely love very much. I'm
Speaker 2: super passionate about, but I have learned not to get
Speaker 2: too emotionally tied to any of them. And I know
Speaker 2: that might sound a little weird, because I absolutely love
Speaker 2: my skincare. I love the hair care, I love the nutrition,
Speaker 2: I love the shape where these are all things that
Speaker 2: I use every single day that I'm super passionate about.
Speaker 2: That I stand one hundred and ten percent behind. But
Speaker 2: I also had a makeup line and it was Beflawless Cosmetics.
Speaker 2: Some of you might remember I literally just closed it,
Speaker 2: I don't know, less than two years ago. It was
Speaker 2: very hard for me, but I sat down and spoke
Speaker 2: to Judy, who is also my business partner for the skincare,
Speaker 2: and I said, you know what, I see this from
Speaker 2: the outside looking in, and as much as I love
Speaker 2: the cosmetics, I have to be honest with myself and
Speaker 2: with you. I'm not as passionate for the makeup as
Speaker 2: much as I am for the skincare anymore. I want
Speaker 2: to focus more on skincare. And also, the makeup industry
Speaker 2: is oversaturated and I don't have the energy to really
Speaker 2: compete and I'd rather just focus on this. And it
Speaker 2: was a discussion, and I have a very amazing business partner,
Speaker 2: Judy's awesome shout out to her. She was very respectful
Speaker 2: and she said, okay, I don't necessarily agree because she
Speaker 2: loves makeup. She's like, you use it every day you
Speaker 2: have your shows. Like I'm like yeah. I was like,
Speaker 2: but something's telling me I just need to close it,
Speaker 2: and I went with that instinct. I was like, okay,
Speaker 2: I this is my gut feeling. I can't ignore this
Speaker 2: gut feeling. This is what it's telling me. And it
Speaker 2: hurt me very much, but I let it go and
Speaker 2: I was like, I was okay with it walking away.
Speaker 2: I didn't cry, didn't cry this time like I did
Speaker 2: with Boe Dry. I just said, Okay, thank you so
Speaker 2: much cosmetics makeup industry for what you did. I'm so grateful,
Speaker 2: but I'm going to stick to the skincare and that's
Speaker 2: what I've been doing. And I think the key to
Speaker 2: my success because all of my businesses, I can honestly
Speaker 2: tell you, thank God, have been very successful. I think
Speaker 2: partially yes, because I have a platform, which I'm very
Speaker 2: grateful for, you know, social media and ways of being
Speaker 2: able to like promote it. I also have amazing business partners,
Speaker 2: but I've always been very true to myself. Since my
Speaker 2: experience with my first business, I've learned to listen to
Speaker 2: that gut feeling, to that instinct to hey, am I
Speaker 2: passionate about this? I do a heart check and I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 2: is this coming from my heart? Is this something I'm
Speaker 2: passionate about? Does this make me excited? To go on
Speaker 2: social media I'm promoted, or to talk to someone on
Speaker 2: the street, someone that may not even know who Cheeky's is,
Speaker 2: about my skincare, or when people ask me, oh my god,
Speaker 2: you smell so good, what is it. I'm like, oh, Raina,
Speaker 2: it's my perfume. And it's like it's someone that doesn't
Speaker 2: even know who I am. And I get a lot
Speaker 2: of compliments on it and I'm selling it. But because
Speaker 2: I'm like, this is something I absolutely love, so I
Speaker 2: always do that heart check of like, is my heart
Speaker 2: in the right place? Am I doing this for the
Speaker 2: right reasons? Yes, of course we want to make money. Yes,
Speaker 2: of course we want to make ends meet. That is important,
Speaker 2: But for me, it's important to be super passionate about
Speaker 2: what you're doing and what you're selling and be able
Speaker 2: to stand behind it one hundred percent. So I think
Speaker 2: that has helped me a lot because I'm a person
Speaker 2: that wears my emotions on my sleeve, and you can
Speaker 2: tell if I'm having a bad day or I'm super happy,
Speaker 2: or I'm able to sell it. Like there are times
Speaker 2: when I need to post something but I'm just not
Speaker 2: in the right state of mind, and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 2: and yes, I'm a businesswoman and I should just like
Speaker 2: put my emotions to the side, absolutely, but there are
Speaker 2: days where I'm like, I'm the person selling it.
Speaker 1: I'm the billboard.
Speaker 2: So if I am just not in the right place
Speaker 2: and be able to like give my product what it
Speaker 2: deserves in order to sell it, then I'm just gonna say,
Speaker 2: you know what, I'm not going to do it today,
Speaker 2: I'll do it tomorrow. And I've learned to just respect myself,
Speaker 2: respect my my businesses, my products, and do it when
Speaker 2: i'm like one hundred percent where I'm like, okay, good now,
Speaker 2: I can give it and i can attack it, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean. But when I say, don't be
Speaker 2: emotionally so fixated on like I'm gonna make this work
Speaker 2: no matter what. Yess, that's great. To a certain extent.
Speaker 2: You have to know again when to walk away and
Speaker 2: when to say, you know what, this isn't working. I
Speaker 2: tried it, and I'm proud of myself for trying this.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go ahead and put it on the table
Speaker 2: for now and I'm going to move on to something else.
Speaker 2: I can come back to it later. Like you need to,
Speaker 2: like just listen to your heart, to your mind, use
Speaker 2: your logical mind, and find that balance between.
Speaker 1: Your mind and your heart.
Speaker 2: You know, and I know it might not make too
Speaker 2: much sense, but hopefully it does. And again I always
Speaker 2: say this easier said than done, but try to find
Speaker 2: that balance, guys.
Speaker 1: So the conclusion of this.
Speaker 2: Episode is having and owning your own business is a
Speaker 2: beautiful thing. It's either for you or it's not for you.
Speaker 2: There are people that are like, Okay, I want to
Speaker 2: be my own boss.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: Or there are people that are like, hey, i'd rather
Speaker 2: have a boss. I'm better at accomplishing tasks. And that's fine.
Speaker 2: It's really just figuring that out, you know, knowing that
Speaker 2: there will be moments of feeling overwhelmed, of feeling like damn,
Speaker 2: this isn't working, but try to pick yourself up, be patient,
Speaker 2: listen to this episode. When you're feeling like that, remind
Speaker 2: yourself that it's okay, it's just a moment.
Speaker 1: We'll get there. Knowing when to walk away.
Speaker 2: It's all listening, figuring it out, studying what you're doing,
Speaker 2: always learning more about what it is that you're selling, growing,
Speaker 2: being willing to grow. But anyways, guys, I'm going to
Speaker 2: cut it here, and I hope that you enjoyed this episode.
Speaker 2: I hope that you you learned a thing or two
Speaker 2: or three. And I'm grateful. I'm grateful for for you
Speaker 2: tapping in and listening to Cheeky's and Chill and being
Speaker 2: a part of this community where we're just here to
Speaker 2: just make each other better. So thank you for giving
Speaker 2: me the opportunity to speak to you and hopefully to
Speaker 2: your soul. And I love you guys very much. And
Speaker 2: I will catch you on the next episode of Cheeky's
Speaker 2: and Chill. Okay, and make sure you tell your friend
Speaker 2: and your mom and your cousin and everyone else about
Speaker 2: this episode. Anyone that you know will benefit from it.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Basks in episode besos, do you need advice on love, relationships, health?
Speaker 2: Emas I'm so excited to share with you that my
Speaker 2: Cheekys and Chill podcast will have an extra episode drop
Speaker 2: each week. I'll be answering all all your questions. Just
Speaker 2: leave me a voice message. All you have to do
Speaker 2: is go to speak pipe dot com, slash Cheeky's and
Speaker 2: Chill Podcasts and record your questions.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to hear from you.
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Speaker 2: me Cheeky's That's c h i q U i s.
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