ep. 010 • Why Winter Isn't The Reason You're Not Booking Clients

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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.

This episode is sponsored by the Hennapreneur eMagazine! Whether you're just getting started, you're ready to go pro, you've got a solid business, or you're ready to scale, Hennapreneur has a free downloadable e-magazine that's ready just for you with insights on how you can better build your business in that phase of the game. Each volume features articles specifically for that particular part of the henna journey. So head on over to hennapreneur.com and download your free copy today!

Hey, hey hennapreneurs! Happy Friday! I am so excited to be with you again for another episode of the Hennapreneur podcast. You know, today I want to talk to you guys about something that is starting, has started, it has begun and that is the seasonal shift that we all see around this time. At least those of us who are up in the Northern hemisphere, you know, I know those kind of artists who are "down unda!" - they're getting excited about the whole summer season coming about. But you know, those of us who are up here in the us and Canada and the UK and so forth, we now are facing, you know, Father Winter's cold and brazen face. And you know, one of the things that I hear a lot from henna artists inside of the community is, "What do I do when the seasons start to change and festival season ends and wedding season ends and summer season ends?

And how do I make sure that I'm still bringing in income for my henna business during that time?" So today I want to talk to you guys about that because it's something that, um, I get asked about a lot and it's something that I'm also very passionate about actually because I believe that business should, should, it should last you all year. And I, um, well, we'll get into that. So let's start there. Right? Let's start at like, what do I mean when I say that seasonal shift, when I'm talking about the seasonal shift, I'm talking literally about the, um, the crossover between vacation, festival, wedding seasons and like the holidays, right? The end of the year holidays. November tends to mark the shift for just about everyone. Um, but it just depends on where you are. For some of those who are a little bit further North, it may be that that's, um, a seasonal shift took place last month in October and so forth. For myself and my own business, my last festival is at the very beginning of October. And from then on I'm kind of out of the festival game. I don't do winter markets. I choose not to do. Um, I just choose not to. I choose not to. And, um, that's not to say that you shouldn't, let me just clarify that. It's not to say that you shouldn't. Definitely, there was a time in my business where I did spend time doing those, um, you know, craft markets, craft fairs, um, holiday shows and things like that. But, um, nowadays, now I'm just going to be honest, I'm getting a little old in henna years, if you will, and so I choose not to, around the colder months, I choose not to participate in festivals anymore or in events and things like that.

So, um, what I end up hearing is, "Chelsea well, if that's the case, like how are you maintaining your business in the winter months?" Like, because I know that there are many henna artists who do, they turn to like creating wares, creating handmade gifts and things like this that they can sell during the winter season and that they could sell at those markets and things like this. Um, and I just, I just choose not to. Um, and so I, I often hear that question is, you know, like, "Well then how are you maintaining your business over those cold months when people don't have their skin out?" And so the assumption is that they're not buying henna services and I'm here to say: my friends, that's just not true. So, so let's take it a couple of steps back. Okay? Because the first thing that I really want to touch on is a common mentality that is held inside of the henna community. And it's one that I find to be incredibly, incredibly disempowering to that henna artists who wants to be full time.

And that's the concept of feast or famine. Now, if you've never heard of the term "feast or famine," that is referring to the belief - I'm going to call it a belief - that business will be booming during one particular time. Um, during which time you feast, right? You're getting regular revenue, your business is doing really well. Your schedule is fully booked out. You are in the weeds working with henna every single day and, and so forth versus famine, which is normally equated to about this time right now, and the next couple months or so, wherein the expectation is that it's cold so people aren't enjoying henna. And so there's no need for you to, um, count on having the income being something that you're going to receive. And, um, this feast or famine mentality is something that, yeah, you guys, we've got to get away from, we've got to get away from this though, is something that it is a real thing.

I'll tell you the concept of feast or famine. It is a real thing. But it's only a real thing if you don't have a strategy for how you're marketing your business. And so that's like a little secret that I just want to share with you today. And so with this whole thought process, this whole, this whole ideology of henna being a seasonal business of henna requiring a feast or famine sort of curve if you will, to how it's, um, to how it allows for our businesses to thrive. Um, I have to challenge that and I challenge that very deeply. I challenge that very seriously because if you are a hennapreneur, then you're going to need to have a plan for how you're going to market your business even in what's considered the off season. And so sometimes - and let me take it, I'll take a second here and just pause, right? - I am a full time henna artist. I've been working full time since 2014. I enjoy working full time and so I work full time all year round. It looks different - what work looks like in the summer looks different than what it looks like in the winter months, but I have a strategy, I have a technique, if you will. I have an angle for both seasons on how I'm going to continue to generate revenue in my business. And there are henna artists who have been doing henna for a very long time who also are full time artists and who choose to focus only on the income that they can make in those summer months, and then they have techniques like to squirrel money away during those summer months to cover for the winter months when they anticipate that they will not have business. If this is something that you're doing intentionally, then this is no shade, right?

If this is something that you do intentionally, like, "No, I really enjoy working, you know, the four to six months of, you know, spring and summer or late spring through early fall. And I really enjoy having the remainder of the year off. So this is the way that I do things." If that's you, cool, no shade, I love it. But let it be intentional. And this is something that I want to say like upfront because I feel like many times there are henna artists out there who are like, "Oh, well I really want to have a full time business," or "I really want to have like, I want my business to be serious. I want my business to be legitimate." But then they go about things passively. And so here is where I'm going to ask you hennapreneur: Are you being passive in the way that you're running your business today?

And I asked that question. I want you to like sit with it. I really, I genuinely want you to sit with it. And this is not me. Like, this is coming a hundred percent you guys, you know, I love you. This is coming from a place of humility and this is coming from a place of respect. This is coming from a place of I want to see you win, right? So I have to ask you this and I hope that you'll take a second just to reflect, like pause and think about it genuinely. Are you being passive about the way that you're running your business? Because let's be real. If the weather is like the only reason why you're not bringing income in during certain months, and it's not intentional, then that means you probably, probably have some excuses that you're leaning on as to why your business isn't growing.

Like "the weather" is an excuse. Sorry, not sorry. As business owners, it is our responsibility to be intentional about the decisions that we make in running our businesses. That's not just owning a business, right? Like let's be clear to own a business is one thing and just anybody under the sun, like anyone can own a business. But to run a business, to operate a business? That requires intention, you have to be in it and you have to be strategic. And so if you are going to choose to run a henna business, if you are going to choose to go in and be like, "Yes, I'm, you know, I'm a hennapreneur. This is what I'm doing. This is the lifestyle that I want to lead. This is, you know, the art that I love, the work that I love and I'm gonna make this calling into the way that I feed my family or the way that I maintain my lifestyle."

Then baby, that's going to require you taking it up a notch. That's gonna require you being present in your business. That's gonna require you being intentional about the things that you're doing and how you're doing them. Okay? So I really want to ask you, you know, are you being passive in your business today? And I find it very interesting as we come to the winter season where I start to see more conversation about the fact that like, "Oh, summer's ending. Now I'm not going to have income. Or summer's ending, people aren't booking henna. Summer's ending, no one wants my services anymore." And it's just, it doesn't have to be true. Now it will be true if you accept it. And it will be true if you don't make a strategy for how you're going to build business in the winter season. Um, it'll definitely be true if you stop marketing yourself because you feel like no one's going to buy.

Like that will definitely make those things true, but it doesn't have to be that way. Right? So I want you guys to really think about the strategies that you're implementing in your business if they exist at all, right? Because business, it requires strategy. Like you can't just, we don't just make decisions on the fly. It's not just like, Oh you know, I'm, I'm operating a business and so I feel like doing X today, so I'll do X today and I feel like doing Y tomorrow? So the same, I'll just switch it up. I'm just to go with the flow. Of course, as a business owner you have the flexibility to pivot and to change and to make decisions. And if you see that something's not working, then you can change it and you can move and you can - and I encourage that 100%. However, however you should always be making decisions based off of data.

You should always be making decisions based off of market research. You should always be making decisions based off of what your clients are telling you they need. And that, my friends, is how you maintain business through the winter months. So let's chat. Let's chat, right? Because I think it's important for us to really, um, kind of pull the curtain back, right? I promise unfiltered conversation and that's what I'm going to give you. So in my own business, right? In my own business, I started to find that during the winter months I did. I also, I've used to buy into the concept of feast or famine. And what's interesting is I bought into the concept of feast or famine while living in an area where winter was like a dusting of snow. Like, "Oh my God, there's a little bit of ice." I don't even mean real winter y'all. And, and I was okay with the thought that, "Oh, we're getting dustings of snow.No one's going to buy henna." And I bought into that. And I cannot tell you, when I look back, I just think about how much lost revenue was there because I believe the hype.

Meanwhile, some years later I moved across the country, and now I'm in Baltimore, Maryland, right? And here we get winter. And so, you know, even here with our full on winter, I maintain full time income throughout the winter months and how do I do that? I had to take the time to get to know my clients and get to know what their needs were. And so I definitely see a shift in the services that are selected from me, um, you know, between August and October - and the shift is very clear. What does that look like? I do continue to see clients in the henna boutique, but typically I'm seeing them around events, right? I am capitalizing on events, so I'm capitalizing on the holidays. I'm capitalizing on New Year's. I'm capitalizing on ways that my clients can stand out at that holiday party and so forth because my clients, they're fabulous. They're some of the baddest in the area. And so, you know what? The best way for me to serve them is to give them another opportunity to level up their look when they're going to do something fun in the holiday season.

So, but how do I know that? Right? Because I've come to know my ideal client, I've come to know my audience, I've come to understand what values they have. I've come to understand what gets them excited. And so when I post something about, Hey, you can get white henna to match your gown for that end of the year ball, then I'm offering them an opportunity to try different. I'm offering them the opportunity to try something that's going to give them the same feelings that they're looking for in the summer, but in the winter months when "Hey! We're not doing henna, right? Right?" Huh! No, no my friends. No.

You've got to think about what services your ideal client is looking for during this time. And it really isn't about the service itself. It's about, it's about their lifestyle. You have to come to know who you're serving. As you know, who you're serving, then you can identify those things that might be interesting or enticing to them. So if you have an audience that appreciates handmade wares and that's something that you can offer, then sure it makes sense for you to make the henna designed candles and sell them around holiday season. Absolutely. My audience? Not so much. Not so likely to purchase those things. Um, and that's okay. Right? That's okay. But you have to know what your people are interested in. So for me, I see a lot of that. I see, you know, the opportunity to be able to position my business around the festivities.

I see the opportunity to position my business around the convenience of having me provide services on location in the winter months when there's, you know, cabin fever galore. Don't worry. Book a party. Why? Cause I'll show up and you don't have to leave the house. You can stay nice and warm and toasty and you can enjoy a glass of wine with your girlfriends. And I'll show up and I'll bring the party. And you know? When you understand how your ideal client views the world, when you understand what your ideal client is looking for, when you understand why your ideal client is choosing to purchase a service, then it makes it really easy for you to position that service in such a way that they're willing to purchase it even when the rest of the industry would tell you otherwise. So I want to challenge you today, hennapreneurs.

I want to challenge you to sit down and think about who you serve. I want you to take a minute to really spend some time like think about those people who you see during the summer months. Why do they come to see you? Why did they choose henna? Because I guarantee you if they're coming to see you, it's like it's not about the henna itself. It's not. There's always another reason. There's a reason underneath why they're coming to choose to get their henna done. So why is it that they come to see you? What is it that motivates them to get henna done at that time? And if you can get down deep enough, if you can ask, if you can ask why just enough times you'll come to a reason or an explanation of their value system and once you've got that underlying why, then you understand how you can position the additional services that you are going to offer in the quote-unquote "off" season so that you can continue to generate revenue in your business.

I don't want to see you fall into the trap of feast or famine. I don't think that it's necessary. I don't think that it's real. I only think that it's real if you choose not to strategize in your business. So with that, this is what I'm going to invite you to do. I'd love it if you would come and join me inside of the Hennapreneur Community on Facebook and I'd love for us to have a chat about how you can position your services in the off season, and what services you're going to offer your clients so that they are happy to continue to do business with you even when it's snowing outside, even when it's chilly, even when the rest of the industry is taking those few months off. If you're struggling with ideas, that's all right too. Come inside, come join us inside of the Hennapreneur Community. We can brainstorm together about ways that you can position your business in the off season to continue to generate revenue as well. I want to see you win, so I want to see you be intentional about your business and I don't want us blaming the weather on why we're not making it work. All right, I'll talk to you guys next time.

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!