Ask Me Anything: We're Talking About Social Media for Henna Artists, Henna Stain Troubleshooting, and Henna Design Practice
Ask Me Anything!
You’ve got questions, I’ve got answers!
In today’s Ask Me Anything!, we’re tackling the following questions submitted from hennapreneurs like you:
[02:20] What is Hennapreneur's Social Media Challenge?
[04:46] How has the COVID-19 lockdown affected your henna business?
[[11:38] Why do some areas stain lighter where the henna paste when I do a negative space fill design?
[18:35] Can you make a 3D flower class for The Design Lab?
[21:07] How can I get better at doing henna?
Got a question about how to become a henna artist?
Ask me anything about starting, growing, and maintaining your henna business!
By the way, you’re totally invited to join me and other high-aspiring henna artists inside of the private Hennapreneur Community on Facebook! There we connect about henna, about business, and about all things related to crushing it as a henna professional.
+ Read the transcript here
Chelsea: Hey, hennapreneurs, welcome!
Oh gosh, what day is it? Welcome to Tuesday, March 24. We are doing our last live Ask Me Anything for the month of March for 2020.
So let me get a little comfortable because I am not. I had to kind of run over here to do this thing, so let's get this started. I'm going to take a second really quickly to share this feed over into the Hennapreneur community as always, and then we can dive into all the things. Today I don't have a bunch of pre-submitted questionsso actually, we can chat about whatever is on your mind today. Let me share this over right here. Okay!
There were some questions that came in about the challenge and so I do want to make sure to touch on those, but I'm here to answer whatever you've got in the meantime. Let's see.
All right. Ah, okay, so we are ready to go!
So, hi guys, welcome to our live ask me anything session. If it's your first time here, if you're new here, if you're new to me, if you're new to Hennapreneur, hi, my name is Chelsea Stevenson and I am a professional henna artist and business strategist based here in Baltimore, Maryland. Twice a month, I come live here on Facebook and I answer all the things. So it is a filter free, judgment free zone, where I will come and I'll chat all things henna, business, branding, and sometimes other things. Sometimes just life, because that's the way that it is.
So today I have a couple of questions that I do want to address that just came in regarding the challenge that I announced. And some other things, but otherwise, we are open!
I'm like, I've got half an hour with you guys, and I would love to answer anything that you have, live. So if you have a live question, feel free to put it in the comments and we will go through those live today.
Hey Mamta, welcome. I'm so excited to see you here! One of the things that did come up that I wanted to be sure to touch on is that I got some questions about the challenge that we're doing, the show up on social challenge. So if you haven't, one, you may have gotten the email about it.
You may have seen it in the Facebook group, whatever. If this is the first time you're hearing about it, Hennapreneur is hosting a show up on social challenge. So this challenge is, basically, it's 27 days worth of showing up on social media. On your business account on your Instagram, or Facebook, if you'd like account to represent your business. And throughout the challenge every day, I'm providing you with a caption template that you will use, you will personalize, you will customize, and then you will put it out on social media so that you can connect with your audience.
Now, someone asks like basically, what's the purpose of this? What's the purpose of this? The purpose is very simple. I want to make it super easy for you guys to be able to show up on social media. I know that things are a little bit hard right now. It can feel really heavy, it can feel like you've got the pressure on you from all aspects of life as we know it,right? Which is changing literally by the hour, it seems, and so in order to take some of that burden off of your plate, I'm showing up for you with the caption templates and also with live classes throughout each week. So for the next four weeks, you'll find inside of the Facebook group, I'm teaching live classes as well to help you guys out so we can get you guys moving.
So the purpose of it though, in the long run, is that I want you guys to continue to show up on social media. I want you to continue to connect with your audiences, connect with your ideal client, connect with your communities. Even if, right now, you're not offering henna services, it doesn't matter. You still want to be there, you still want to be present, your people want to hear from you. And so I'm helping you to facilitate that exchange. So, there's that! Oh gosh, there was a second question and it's not, oh, I just had it at the top of my mind and I'm using my phone today, so I don't have it. I don't have it written down, it's in my notes. But it is what it is. I'll end up having to come back, it will come back to me. Again, there were not a ton of pre requested questions, so I'm happy to chat with you guys about whatever is on your mind today. I'll tell you one of the things, and this is just me being real. Can we just be real? Can I just be real for a second? One of the things that's a little bit real for me right now in business is that, if you don't know, yesterday, I closed the doors to my henna boutique. And it was something that, still, it's very upsetting. It's very upsetting for me. And I'll pause and say, listen, like we're humans, we have feelings and those feelings are sometimes contradictory of one another, right? And so on one side, I'm very happy with the fact that our local government made the decision to close non essential businesses for the good of the community and for the health of our citizens and so forth.
I think that it was a good call. But, to walk away if you will, from my business to walk away from the henna boutique and not know when I would be back, that part was really hard. Yesterday was quite a tough day for me personally, in my own business. And I share that with you because I think it's important, not only to share those things that are really great, like it's easy to talk about the things that are easy. It's easy to talk about the things that are fun. It's easy to talk about the things that feel like a success or like a big win. And I think that many times we don't talk about those things that are more difficult that are hard, right?
That are hard for us to cope with. This was something that was definitely hard for me to cope with. I cried on Instagram. Didn't expect to see that happen. It is what it is, you do what you must, and as a business owner, a decade of business for me, I know that it is in these moments that we're the most defined, that our journey is the most defined. It's not when it's easy, it's not, when it looks pretty, it's not, when it's sexy. It's not when, you know, all of the galas and the networking, and the shout outs on social, and the features on Buzzfeed, like those things feel great, but that's not where your business is made.
Your business is made in the trenches and yesterday was definitely me entering the trenches in a new and different way, a way that I've never entered those trenches before. I know, for me, I know that this is a turning point if you will, for my business. And I know the only good things are going to come from it in the end, no matter how scary it is.
So, Shab, I see your hugs, I appreciate them! I receive your socially distant hugs right now. My heart could use them for sure! It's a challenge, but you know what? It's also, again, it's the opportunity to define or redefine what you're going to be. It's in moments like this, honestly, it's in moments like these it's when it's in the times of hardship and it's in the times of challenge, that you get to choose.
I feel like it's in moments like these, where you have an option, right? The easy way or the hard way. The easy way is the obvious, I can just give up, this is not working. This is not working, I can just throw in the towel. It would be so easy to do that, right? Listen, all of my festivals are canceled, my events are canceled because people are social distancing. It's now against the law to do that. And it's now also against the law for me to service clients inside of the location that I pay, a lease for. Wow. So what does that mean? It looks like a great opportunity for me to just stop, right? That would be the easy way. I can't make money anyway, right? I can't serve clients anyway, so I'm just going to stop. I'm just gonna throw in the towel and I'll just wait for Coronavirus virus to pass and then I'll start again. But who does that benefit? It doesn't benefit anyone. I could make that decision just like you guys could make that decision,right? You guys have, we have the choice. Each of us has the choice. I was talking with one of the hennapreneurs in the community a little bit earlier today in a private message. And I was expressing like, this experience, the global pandemic the impact on the economy, the impact on our ability to offer services, even just from the physical perspective.
This is going to wipe out a number of artists. Like Coronavirus will be the end of many artist's henna journey, and I don't want that for our community. Like I want to see as few hennapreneurs have that experience as possible.
That's why I share with you guys, not just like the rah rah, you can do it, but I also want you to see even for me on the, this is the reality that I'm dealing with, right? This is real, and still I'm making the decision to show up and still I'm going to make the decision to move forward with my business and to continue to take the hard route.
And the hard route sometimes looks bleak, and sometimes you can't see but two feet in front of your face, but you do it anyway, because you love this work. You love this business, you want it for yourself and you believe that your dreams and you believe that your calling, right?
It is, it's a calling. Your purpose and your passion and your calling as an artist is worth doing it anyway. And I believe that about myself and so there's no other option. There's no other option but to keep going. Shab says, "it's like the world has gone crazy. The UK is now in lockdown, so no Henna here for quite some time." The same here in the US it's a little different in that each of the states has its own state's rights. So until, and unless, the federal government like, just cracks down on everything, which I don't see it happening.
And some of that is impacted by the state's rights anyways. It's kind of happening on a state-by-state basis, but my state is definitely on the forefront of taking more serious actions. So there's, California is one, Florida is one, New York is another and then we have my state, Maryland, and the state of Ohio, who are like really being proactive and then others are kind of following along.
So it's just really interesting to see how things are going. But the bottom line is we also we've got the lockdown and it just, it is what it is. It just is. Let's see! Mamta had said, "I have a question about henna stains." Ooh, I like it! Okay, "when I do negative space fills, I get a lighter stain where the cracks are in the paste after it's dried.
I think it's called a giraffe print." Yes, that's called giraffing. So the question here is, I'm trying to make sure that I'm understanding the question. We're wanting to see how to prevent giraffing, is that right? So for you guys who are like, what is giraffing anyway? When you're doing, when you're making, when you're filling, see I have old, but filled, fingertips. When you're filling your fingertips or when you're filling like a large area, as the henna paste dries, it can crack.
And then when it cracks, then you do, you have this lighter pattern. And so you'll find that there are areas that are darker than not, and it looks like the print on a giraffe's back, right? How to avoid that? One, the first thing is make your paste more, use a more sugar heavy paste when you're doing fills. When you do that, it's going to give that paste more flexibility, so you'll find less cracking. So you'll find less giraffing. The second part is when you actually fill it, I'm going to be honest, I didn't do it. I didn't follow this technique when I did mine, and you can see, I had a little bit in the old stain. You can see the old stain has some giraffing, but I actually have stain pictures of this design, and you cannot see it. The design was totally like filled and rich. But what happens is when you cap your fingertips or when you fill an area with a lot of paste, what you'll do is you'll take a little bit of water. You're going to like dip, literally dip your fingers in water. And just enough so that your fingers are wet. Not enough to saturate the paste, but just enough to cover your fingertips, and then you're going to tap and spread around that paste.
When you have wet fingers, when you have water on your fingers and you're moving that paste around, it's not going to stick to the finger that you're working with. So literally I will have a bottle of water and I'll just pour a little tiny bit of water into the cap. Like literally, that's all you need, into the cap of water.
And I'll just, rewet my, remoisten my fingers with the water from the cap, and then use that to smooth out the henna paste that's on those thicker areas. Whether I'm doing like full fingers or a larger area elsewhere. But by doing that, you're going to kind of seal off the top of the design.
And I've found that's really helpful, not only like sealing off the top, but even underneath. Sometimes if you're doing a really thick fill and you're just using the cone, it might look on the outside like it's all covered, but on the underside, there's still gaps. There's still air bubbles, right? And so when you do that, you're just removing any of those air bubbles, and so you'll make sure that you have a really nice, smooth, smooth finish to your stain. Yeah, that's how you avoid giraffing. It's one of those two, honestly, probably both. But one of those, two things, one have a more flexible paste, a more sugar heavy paste.
And then the other thing is making sure that you're smoothing that paste down and making sure that it's really getting onto the skin when you're doing the application. Okay? Yeah, you're so welcome, you're so welcome. So I don't know you guys have to tell me. Oh, you know what, pause, because I just, I saw a notification come up on Facebook right now.
And so I have to say, you guys, with this challenge, I am so excited! Because, okay, so you guys know I've been in there like ooh, who's doing the challenge? Everyone's posting their links inside of the group and they're posting the link with their caption and with their photo and whatnot.
And I love how you guys are taking these templates and none of you guys have written the same thing. Like you've all taken the template and then given it a totally new spin that's specific to your business, and has your voice, and I just freaking love it! I'm so excited by it! So I just saw that someone else posted theirs and I'm like, I'm all giddy, I want to go check it out.
You guys, if you're not in on the challenge, go do the challenge today. And not just today, do it over the next few days. Right? What else you guys got for me? Let's chat for real. I'm excited to connect with you guys about all the things henna, business and branding or otherwise. Like I said, we can chat about life if that's what's up your alley and what's on your mind right now. I am, I'm so excited by the challenge.
Like literally seeing that, I just I'm so giddy. I'm so giddy, I'm like a child, like I'm so excited. Oh gosh, look! Mamta, you have to. Mamta, you have to like, girl! And I know you have pictures that will work. I know that you, I know you'll have pictures that will work. Life is on your mind right now.
Listen, life is on all of our minds right now. There's not an easy answer for anything right now. There's just not, except about giraffing. I can, that's an easy answer, but like life, there's not an easy answer right now. It is, I think I'm trying really hard, right? And this is just me, this is just me. I am trying really hard to continue to face forward. That's just what it is. I know that I'm going to make missteps, I know that I'm going to make mistakes. I know that the possibility always exists and it's all the time, right? I'm going to say the wrong thing or there's always the opportunity for error.
And I know that exists. It's okay, just give yourself grace. Just give yourself some grace. Life is hard, we've never done this before. Like I mentioned, I don't know about y'all, but surprise! I've never been through a global pandemic before! Hey, I didn't have to survive the bubonic plague before, so now just letting things be and just, I don't know.
I'm just giving myself grace. It's what's helping to make this okay. And even grace to those people around us, too. Everyone's just doing their best. Christine said, "I need a 3D flowers class in The Design Lab." You know what? If you guys want to learn to do some 3D flowers, I would be happy to show you guys how to do some 3D flowers.
What do we want to learn? You gotta give me something. Do we want to do like roses? Do we want to do, I don't know, carnations? I don't know, orchids?! I don't know, I have no idea! Is there a specific type of flower that you guys would like to do?
I'm happy to make some tutorials. On the up, the love affair is going well, though. I love it, I love it! So for you guys who don't know about the concept of the love affair, I recommend treating your art, like your love affair. Connecting with your art like a lover, right? And so I know that it's like super, maybe that's cliche, maybe that's seriously, Chelsea, really?! But really. So when things get heavy and when things feel tough and when things feel hard, I like to remind myself and to remind my students and to remind our community as a whole, to treat your art like a love affair, right? Be willing to go and see them in the hallway and escape with them and spend time with them and just do the things, but without any expectations. And so I'm here for that. I'm here for that, I love that. Okay. Peonies and roses would be perfect. You know what the technique for those is so similar, we could totally do that. I love it. Hold on, motherhood is calling me. Hey, y'all? Nadia, one minute, please. She's calling chrysanthemum. I don't know how the birth month flower for November. Now I'm like, I'm going to have to look chrysanthemum. Oh, yeah! Okay, yeah! You know what? Let's do it, let's do it, we can do a thing. Why not? I will, I'll make some tutorials for you guys. Why not? So we've got peony, roses and chrysanthemums. Of course, Mamta, you would ask for a chrysanthemum with 6 million petals.
Are you guys feeling good? Are you guys doing your daily practices? Are we doing our daily practice? Like how are we keeping up with our practice? Are we? Save that time for yourself, that's your love affair time! Just those few minutes with your henna and your practice board. Oh, Mamta you're telling on yourself! Where's your practice board girl,where's your practice board? You should be practicing, doing the things. 10, 15 minutes a day. That's all it takes, that's all it takes, a little practice. Spend the time with your lover through your practice, through your practice board. Oh my gosh. Okay, listen, I know that things are a little up in the air right now,
I know. I hope that just connecting here, just like humans, it was helpful for you guys today. " Ma'am, I take my board and henna cone to work and work at the nurses station." That's what I'm talking about. Look, you're like, I'm going to visit with my lover right here in front of all of y'all!
I'm so here for it, oh my goodness! I hope that just connecting like this feels good to you guys. I really want to make it a point to show up for you guys in the ways that you need it. So if you need anything, please do feel free to reach out.
I'll put it on my calendar at some point later on this week, probably. We'll see, I'm not going to make a promise. Before the end of the weekend, for sure. I'll get up at least one of the tutorials for you guys, at least one. So that you guys can do that. That'll be fun to do together.
And then again, if you're not already a part of the challenge, the show up on social challenge, be sure that you join the Facebook group. Be sure that you join the group so you can get in. We started today. I'm excited, I'm so loving these. Then tomorrow, I'll be teaching our first mini live class.
I'll be teaching them every Wednesday. So I'll be teaching the first mini live class about social media and how you can continue to do the social media for your business right now. So, I'm going to jump off of here, I am being paged. I'll tell you, this is like me being totally unfiltered.
This is like the most unfiltered ask me anything session, ever. I'm being paged from the restroom. The little one, she needs my assistance. So I'm going to, I'm going to get off of here, and I will talk to you guys later! All right, bye.