ep. 004 • Parenting As a Hennapreneur

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Chelsea Stevenson: Welcome to the Hennapreneur podcast, the exclusive podcast of its kind, dedicated to giving you an honest look at the reality of making a living as a henna professional. I'm your host, Chelsea Stevenson, professional henna artist and business strategist. I teach budding henna artists and seasoned henna pros alike how to build vibrant, profitable businesses doing what they love. I went from being the girl who could barely piece together a fluid design to being owner of the most celebrated henna boutique in my city. And with years of experience growing my own business and helping others to do the same, I'm here to spill all the tea on what it takes to be a bonafide hennapreneur. Our show starts in just under 60 seconds, but first, here's a quick shout out to my sponsors.

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The Hennapreneur Design Lab is a monthly subscription that provides you with curated design classes and follow along templates to build your head a skill set so you can work with clients more confidently, creating stunning designs that wow them every single time inside of The Design Lab. Artists just like you are working to build their henna application skills, boost their confidence with design composition and give their clients a fresh new reason to visit them each and every month. Members of The Design Lab received classes each month with in-depth lessons that showed the techniques being taught both on flat surfaces and also showing real time client application. So you get to watch, listen, and learn as you're walked through the designing process from start to finish, not just on a practice board but also in a real setting with a real person. Plus, when you joined The Design Lab, you get two bonus classes as well. Foundations of Design where you learn to master the essential building blocks of henna, designing and Working with Clients 1-on-1, a class that's all about how to prepare for client work. The etiquettes of working with henna and the must have gear that every henna artist needs. You can learn more about The Design Lab a Hennapreneur.com. All right, let's get to the show.

Hey, hennapreneurs. Oh my gosh. So you know, I have to share a story with you. And this is a little bit personal. So it's about my little, it's about my Middle Little. And I just want to, I want to share a little bit of a conversation that I had with my dad and he said something to me that was really just, it was insightful and it was impactful to me. And I thought immediately I want to share it with, with the Hennapreneur Community because I know that so many of us are out here struggling. Like, let's be real. We are, so many of us are here. We're doing this work. We're trying to run a business, run a household. We have our obligations. You might be, you know, in a relationship, you may be married, you may have children, you may have the things and this message specifically is for, you know, for those of us who do - who are coming from that place of parenthood.

And you know, there is, there's so much pressure around, like, are you doing enough? Right. and especially when it relates to parenthood and you're like responsible for raising another human being and for them coming out well. And there's no manual, you know? There's no manual, there's no playbook for that. It's like, okay, there's a lot, there's a lot of pressure there. There's a lot of weight there, you know? And so I wanted to tell you guys a little bit of a story. You know, recently my Middle Little, she was talking to me about something. So basically I was working on my Instagram content, and she came over to me. And I was working on my laptop and you know, I have my headphones on. I'm, like, I'm in the zone, I'm working, I'm doing the things.

And she comes over and - if you guys don't know, she just turned five. She just turned five just a couple of months ago. And but she's very inquisitive. She's like, she's super quick witted. Like, my Middle Little is, she's the most vicious little girl ever, ever. And I just, I love her to death. But, so she comes over and she's like, "Hey mom!" She's like, "what are you doing?" I'm like, "Oh, you know, I'm working, honey." And she goes, "ah, what's that say?" You know, she's in kindergarten. She just started kindergarten, and so she's now, you know, showing some interest in, in words and wanting to read and whatnot. And so I said, "well, it's a quote." And she asked, "well, what does it say?" And so I read it to her. And so the quote said, "Ask yourself if what you're doing today is getting you closer to where you want to be tomorrow."

That was a quote that I was going to be posting on, on Instagram. And so she starts talking to me, right? And so she starts talking, she's like, "Oh, okay." She's like, you know, "well, what does that mean?" And I told her, you know, "Well, it means if you, if you have a goal, if there's something that you want to achieve, there's something that you'd like to do in life, then you have to take forward action. You can't just think about it. You have to do things that are going to get you closer to that goal." And so she starts, you know, she's like, "Oh, I see."And I asked her, I'm like, yeah, so, you know, like, "For you, what do you, what's one thing that you really want to do?" And lately my daughter has been on this fashion kick, like, who am I kidding? She's always on a fashion kick! She's like the most fashionable little thing ever. It's hilarious. But lately she's been designing clothes, right? And so she said, well, you know, "I want to have, I want to have a business." And she does, she wants to own a business. And the concept basically is, she doesn't really want to own a business. She wants to own like a whole experience. She wants to own commercial real estate and she wants to basically create a beauty complex for women. So she wants to have, inside of this space, she wants to have a bespoke dress shop and a jewelry design studio and a spa. And she wants to have a henna boutique inside. And she wants there to be a cafe where they make specialty cakes and coffees for women to come in and enjoy these treats and have this experience at her place.

So this is the big vision that she has. And so she's kind of explaining this to me and she's been explaining this, you know, she's been talking to me about this concept for a little while now. So like she, she's developing an idea here, which I just love. And and so I said, "okay, well, you know what this, what this is saying is, you know, if you want to have those things, then you have to do things that are going to get you closer. So, you know, lately you've been drawing lots and lots of new dresses." And, you know, every day she comes to me with different pages where she's, you know, not, I can't even say scribbled. She's very meticulously drawn different dress styles and she'll come and she'll ask me, you know, "Should I do it like this or should I put a bow? Or should I put a flower or, do the sleeves look nice?" And all of this. And so I explained to her, you know, "As you're building your skillset of your dress design, then that also, that takes you closer to the goal of having your dress shop." And you know, ans so she's like, "Oh, you know, yeah, that's so important!" and whatnot. And so it was just, it was, it was a conversation that really warmed my heart. It made me so excited and I always am so excited when I hear my children talk about business ownership and just the fact that they realize that that's something that they can do. I'll be, I'll be honest, as, as a child, I never imagined myself owning a business. Once I got a little bit older, older, I had a concept for a restaurant.

But like, that's about it. You know? Like I didn't imagine myself owning a business. And so to hear my daughter speak with such confidence about the vision that she had and how she would get there and what it would look like and so forth, just is very inspiring to me. And it, it's very humbling to me and it, it it warms my heart a lot. And so I reached out to my dad, and I was telling my dad this story,and he said, you know, basically, "Of course! You know? Like it's to be expected. She's got a front seat education to what business ownership looks like, and she just would need to learn the trade, you know? She'd need to learn the principles from home from you - you know? - But she has this front seat education."

And and it's true. And that made me super excited. Right? I love that she had the confidence and that she didn't have any hesitation about whether or not business ownership as an option for her. It was just what it would look like, you know? And that just, that just brought me so much joy. So I was explaining that, you know, sometimes I get, I get caught up in the hustle of it all, you know, there's so much to business ownership. It's not just sitting and doing the henna on your client. You know, I feel like that's like 20-30% of what I actually do. And the rest of the 70-80% is doing the things that make the business operate otherwise, you know? And so you know, sometimes you get caught up in the hustle of it all.

And it's moments like those where, you know, where my five-year-old comes up and expresses with such clarity and confidence how she too, you know, hopes to own a business. That's where it all, it all just affirms me. Right? And it makes it all worth it. It makes the experience of of the sacrifice of business ownership worth it. And I said that and then my dad hit me with something and he said this, and I thought, it's it. I dunno, it's just, it kinda, it kinda got me, it got me. He said, "Yeah." And he goes, "It's great. Like all that's great, but you also have to ensure that she gets time with you. Like you also have to ensure that she has the opportunity to to experience time with you because otherwise the information might be there, right? Like she might conceptually know this is the way that you run a business, but she won't have the experience of seeing it firsthand in a practical way. Right? And a different perception will start to form and that might not be conducive to her continuing to want to own a business." And when my dad said that, I was like, "okay, that's real." Like, as a parent, you know, I want - my driving factor, if you will, for owning a business, for choosing to be a Hennapreneur is legacy. Like if I had to distill it all down, it's legacy. I want to leave a legacy for my children that they can be proud of. I want to leave a legacy for my family, for my community. That speaks to excellence. That speaks to leaving the world better than I found it. That speaks to confidence.

That speaks to, yes, you can. You know, and so all of that, that, that desire for legacy is enough to keep me up at night and keep me working and keep me in it and that's all great. But what he said, true. If I want to leave a legacy for my children, that's going to also motivate them and encourage them - if they want it, right? If they want it - to have their own business and to have positive feelings around business ownership and around the idea or the concept of of being an entrepreneur, then I have to also be very cautious of the things that I'm doing in the process. I have to be cautious of not overextending that hustle to the point where it causes a break between myself and them. And it's true, you know, I think as a mother, my greatest fear is for my kids to not feel valued by me, to not feel wanted by me or loved by me.

I think, I think most parents would agree with that, right? Like, we want to make sure that we give them the best that we can and we want them to always feel affirmed and to feel loved and to feel wanted and to feel valued. And I want that more than anything. And then as an individual, right? As a person, I also want for my kids to grow and to have that feeling that they can do anything. Like, I don't want for there to ever be a worry or doubt or a hesitation around if they're capable, and if they're deserving, and if they're worthy of success and if they can achieve success, whatever that success looks like for them. And so when it comes to business ownership, you know, both of my eldest children have expressed interest in business ownership.

My son right now is building a brand as we speak, which I find so - like - I can't even tell you how excited it makes me! And then my Middle Little, she's, you know, she's there also. She's fantasizing about the same and what that will look like for her in her adult years. But I have to be, you know, really mindful and very cautious of the fact that the way that I choose to do business today will inform the way that she perceives business ownership later or you know, the way that my son perceives business ownership later. And if the perception or if the experience that they have is, "Oh, well Mom was so into her business that she forgot about me. Or Mom was so into her business that she, you know, couldn't spend time with me. Or Mom was so into her business that, you know, we were secondary," then obviously that changes the whole perspective. That changes the whole perception of what business ownership looks like. And that not only does it teach an unhealthy habit to them should they go on to be, you know, business owners themselves, but also it just, it teaches a poor, it's a poor example of what parenthood should be, in my opinion. And so I loved what my dad said and I felt like it was a, a really stark reminder. And just one that, that while I'm conscious of it sometimes, you know, when, when you actually hear the words, it's like, "yeah, okay. That was a really good, it was a really good reminder for myself to take a second, right? Like take a step back and to be sure to involve them in them being, you know, my children should continue to involve them in the process and the journey."

And you know, for me that looks really different. Like I try to in general, I prefer not to have my kids at the henna boutique. You know, I, I'm like, "No! You know, I have white furniture! I don't get to have white furniture at home and here I get to have that." And and so I try to like have that be my space, but even in just making time to bring, you know, bring them with me. If I have to run an errand and I need to go run to the henna boutique and pick something up, or if I, you know, if my daughter wants henna for herself, then taking her to the henna boutique so that she can have the experience of being there and being served as if she were a client and seeing Mom in her space, in her element, and just seeing firsthand and experiencing that firsthand, that informs the experience. It informs the way that she might go on to to perceive business ownership, and to perceive motherhood and to perceive what success looks like and what a harmony between home and work looks like and so forth. And I don't know. I think being able to just be reminded of that was super valuable. And ultimately that's why I said I've got to come and share that with you because, you know, at least for me learning to find that - I'm not going to call it balance. I don't think that that's a thing - but learning to find that harmony between running a business and being present as a parent and, you know, managing a household and all of that, you know?

That's, I think that's the biggest challenge as a hennapreneur and the reminder - just the simple reminder - to be cognizant and to just be vigilant of not allowing that work to perhaps go so far that it takes away from the ultimate goal. Or that it can actually, you know, turn and become unhealthy and ultimately not be conducive to your ultimate goal, which is, you know, for me, again, that legacy... That was, I don't know, I felt like it was an incredible reminder.

So I'd love to hear from you guys who are parents, you know, is that a struggle for you as well? Like, do you, do you struggle with finding like that, that, that harmony between work and home or work and parenting and so forth? And of course, if you found something that's been particularly helpful, I'd love it if you'd share that with the community as well!

You know, at least for me, I try really hard to make sure that I give a little bit of space, a little bit of time to each of my kids and like on a 1:1 capacity. And I also try to allow them to feel participant to the business. So like, even for, you know, I remember with my son when he was little, I would bring him with me to festivals or even just, you know, even now, even now, occasionally he's like, you know, I'll just ask him, you know, "Hey, do you want to come to the festival with me and you can come." And he'll, he'll poof the glitter for me, or he'll answer questions or he'll, you know, just make himself busy in the booth. And it's just having that experience where they also feel like this is a part of - that they have a place in the greater experience, that they have a place in in mom's world, and, you know, within that business. I think it opens up the opportunity for more feelings of inclusion and of being valued and being loved. And that's what you want, right? Like again, that's my main thing, right? That's the primary objective: to make sure that they feel seen and heard and and included and valued. And so for, you know, for my family and for me, I think my family definitely has come to know that my business is that thing that that does inspire and it does make me very happy. I love to work. I love - I love! - doing henna. I love being a hennapreneur. And for me to be able to have that space and open it up and, and make space for them as well. So that they can feel participant to that process and participant to that journey. I dunno. I just find it, I find it, I find it so rewarding for them, but I find it more rewarding for me.

But yeah, I'd love to hear from you guys who are parents, you know: what's been your experience with, you know, including your kids in your business? Or just finding that harmony between business ownership and parenthood? If you'd like to share some of your insight or share some of your experience, you're welcome to do so. Come and join me inside of the Hennapreneur Community on Facebook. You can just hop over to Facebook, type in "Hennapreneur" or "Hennapreneur Community." The group will come right up. We'd love to have you there. And yeah, I'd love to hear your insight. Like, I'd love to hear your, your thoughts, your experiences, you know, as a hennapreneur who's also, you know, raising this next generation. Alright, I'll talk to you guys soon.

Hey babe! I wanted to give you a quick thank you for tuning into the show today. That was super cool of you to hang with me all the way until the end. Of course, I've got all the links that you might need from this episode inside of the show notes that you can find at hennapreneur.com/podcast.

If you enjoyed the show and want to stay in the loop with Hennapreneur, be sure to subscribe to the podcast too. You'll get all of the new episodes as soon as they come out. I'd be so grateful if you'd take the time to rate or leave a review on Apple Podcasts while you're there. That tells iTunes that, "Hey! Hennapreneur is about something good!" and it helps us to reach more artists who would love the show. All right, that's all for today. I'll be back soon with another episode but for now, let's get back to work, hennapreneurs!