Q: Kindly give our readers an introduction to your business. Please include what your business is all about, in which city you are located and if you have offices in multiple locations/ cities.
Ans: Boss Beauty Makeup Academy is a school of makeup artistry, specializing in creating and training makeup artists from all walks of life. We are a specialty school teaching young women how to create financial freedom out of a fun highly sought after skill. We have developed programs that cater to ALL LEVELS OF SKILL, offering basic fundamentals all the way to super advanced special Fx. We offer bi-lingual classes in Spanish and what separates us from every other school in the nation is how affordable we have made it, and our pride in hiring graduates and offering PAID internships and freelance employment even as a student! Excelling students are rewarded greatly! We have opened up in Dallas, Texas, and are now opening doors in San Antonio, Texas.
Q: Kindly give us a brief description about yourself (it should include your brief educational or entrepreneurial background and list some of your major achievements).
Ans: Myself (Suha Ibrahim)and Hanan Ibrahim are licensed cosmetologists/bridal specialists MUAs and have been since 2009. We have owned a hair salon for over 8 years in Azusa, California and we have always been self-employed and very blessed in finding ways to financial freedom. 99% of our peers ask us how they can create wealth and success in the beauty industry without having to go to school as they are employees at corporate jobs, and wanted to make extra cash as they witnessed the freedom and lifestyle we lived. We never had it easy and believe that a skill or trade is the only way to make a good income NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE IN THE WORLD! As long as you’re passionate. So, we decided to open up a school to teach our ways.
Q: What inspired you to (start a new business venture) or (to make significant changes in an existing business)? How did the idea for your business come about?
Ans: We always worked on weddings and the clients always asked us how we got started or where we went to school. When we said cosmetology school, they lost interest and were discouraged due to the hours required to get licensed. So, we always said that having a school to teach hairstyling without any chemicals and makeup artistry would be genius and we knew that so many would join! We wished they had a school like ours back in the day! Hanan is the mastermind behind the operation and I’m the supportive sister who believes in her vision and we both are a dynamic duo! Hanan moved to Dallas, Texas, to marry the love of her life and left me in California. We were the dynamic duo and worked so well together we needed a new plan ….and BOSS BEAUTY WAS BORN. I moved to Dallas within 2 years of Hanan moving to Dallas, moved our entire family…we took that leap of faith and here we are now! It’s been the best decision I’ve ever made in my life! Being able to empower and educate women and watching them succeed hence, the name! We’re now creating real life boss beauties! And we are proud to have employed over 15 of our graduates as counselors/educators/assistants.
Q: What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
Ans: If you have a vision, write it down!!!! And read it and modify it accordingly! No matter what it is! If you think it’s great, others will think it’s great too! Take chances on your dream and go for it! You must dive in! And do what it takes! Failure is not an option! You have to have that mind set and feed your mind with positive motivational speeches that encourage you! Instead of junk music! I love YouTube and Apple Music has some great content that will shape your day and recharge you in ways you can’t even imagine! That is def a daily routine we both do…it might help you!
Q: What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: Remember that everything is negotiable. Practice negotiation skills that will help you cut costs on everything!!!! And learn how to barter! (& take care of your credit! That will come in handy) Everything in life is sales! And marketing! Research how to sell and market your product! Knowing how to master those skills will be KEY TO SELLING ANYTHING REALLY!
Q: How many hours do you work a day on average?
Ans: About 6-9 hours onsite! Our marketing is non-stop!
Q: How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
Ans: Social media and word of mouth for sure!
Q: Where did your organizations funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it? How did you obtain investors for your venture?
Ans: We each started with only 10k and we saved for about 6 months! We stopped buying designer and stopped eating out! We knew it was crucial to save the money so we did what it took.
Q: What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
Ans: Stay consistent and find creative ways to keep people interested and just know that you have to listen to your customers and deliver what they want! Slowly progress to cater to your target market! Pay very close attention to what works and what doesn’t.
Q: Where you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
Ans: We see Boss Beauty in every state! Across the US. We’re starting with San Antonio, next would be Houston, and then branching out to our surrounding states! And, of course, we will open the doors to our graduates first hand before anyone! They invested in us! So we invest in them right back!
Recommended Questions –
Q: How important have good employees been to your success?
Ans: Very important! We love our employees like family! And in return they love us and nurture our business like their own
Q: What motivates you?
Ans: Our mama that has raised us and struggled her entire life and always sacrificed her own happiness and freedom to provide a comfortable life for us (all five of her kids). She’s our hero and we want to give back by making her proud!
Q: How do you generate new ideas?
Ans: We find problems and find creative solutions.
Q: How do you define success?
Ans: Success is freedom! Freedom from anyone telling you how to be, what to do and controlling your time! Success is being financially free of debt and stress of the daily struggles being able to do what you love when you want!
Q: How do you build a successful customer base?
Ans: Follow ups are KEY!!!!!!!
Q: What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
Ans: No one telling me what to do! And having time to spend with family and having no stress about reporting to a boss!
Q: What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
Ans: Exceeding goals and not even noticing! Because we just LOVE WHAT WE DO! And being able to offer full benefits to our employed graduates and showing them, that investing in themselves was so worth it!!!!! Because now they’re living good! With a skill in hand.
Q: What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
Ans: Some are risk takers and some decide to play it safe in life.
Q: What kind of culture exists in your organization? How did you establish this tone and why did you institute this particular type of culture?
Ans:Our favorite part of our business is the CULTURE! ITS FREE, FUN, FABULOUS AND LGBT FRIENDLY!!! Allowing the expression of creative freedom with art and personality! It’s super liberal and non-judgmental type of vibe! We welcome everyone.
Q: In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.
Ans: Unpredictable
Optional Questions –
Q: If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
Ans: Yes! I would’ve started the day the idea sparked!
Q: How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life?
Ans: It has given us financial freedom, we became debt free, we are able to spend quality time and having your own business our family Is always dropping by! Which keeps us super close! Conversation is never dull or lacking there’s always something exciting happening!
Q: What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?
Ans: We pray!!! We have faith and manifest positive outcomes! We always say it’s either a blessing or a lesson!!!
Q: How did you decide on the location for your business?
Ans: We look for visibility, foot traffic, car traffic, safety, parking, awesome landlords, flexibility, we like to be near freeways!
Q: Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: Taking care of those who help bring your vision to life has been the ultimate key! Rewarding and being generous to those who give you their efforts! Building the right team and showing appreciation and recognition.
Q: What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made?
Ans: Allowing negative people to cloud our minds with negativity and doubt for a split second!
Q: How can you prevent mistakes or do damage control?
Ans: Put yourself in every position before making any move, and imagine everything or any possible mistake before it happens to anyone! It will help you decide clearly and find creative solutions before any mistake is made! Or just learn the first time a mistake is made and don’t repeat it!
Q: What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
Ans: We love to gather the family for cookouts! We love to create exciting family memories and social media personal life vlogs.
Q: What makes you happy?
Ans: Being able to provide for the ones we love and securing their future! And helping people nationwide at the same time! We love to inspire, as cliche as it sounds!
Q: What sacrifices have you had to make to be a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: Time away from my kids personally. We sacrificed vacations in the beginning, hanging out with friends! We were broke investing every penny into our dream! But looking back it was all worth it!
Q: If you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask?
Ans: I would ask how much money do you think is a comfortable amount to generate per month that will make you feel like you “MADE IT” ?