Over the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of working directly with Shaleah of Seeing Beauty Biz to create a brand new eBook Designer Guide: finding a designer that fits your unique style where I talk about how to find your business’ style and how to find a designer that will help you create the best brand within that style. I’ve asked Shaleah to guest post for me to talk about the need she saw for this design eBook, how she helps her clients every day as a business coach herself and how Seeing Beauty Biz got started.
{Psst…want to read my interview over at Seeing Beauty Biz? Check it out here!}
I’m so excited to see some reviews pouring in for the Designer Guide eBook! My friend Erin had this to say:
“This was an incredibly thorough and comprehensive guide to what is most important when developing your brand. Megan provides great insight into how to pull inspiration and use your personal style to create a lasting, one-of-a-kind look for your brand. She offers clear-cut examples about the conversations you need to have with your designer and outlines the best ways for one to determine exactly what you want and how to convey it. I wish I had read this e-book before I created my brand because it would have saved me a lot of time and questions!”
Interested? Get your copy here.
And without further ado, here’s Shaleah!
Tell us about Seeing Beauty Biz! How did come about? What does SBB want to accomplish?
Like so many other creative inventions, Seeing Beauty was an accident. Karina and I had been working together for over 5 years building her portrait photography business when she had the idea to write an eCourse about photography to help introverts like herself who hated putting themselves in pictures. Pretty soon we realized we had lots of info from our combined professional experience to share and one course became three! At that point we decided to become biz partners and just keep going.
What is your favorite thing Seeing Beauty Biz does? Where are you most rewarded by SBB’s work?
My favorite part (and I think I can speak for Karina on this one) is helping people to see their own beauty and better showcase their creative work. This happens with individuals who take our courses and read our eBooks– it gives them hope, inspiration and helps them to tap into their own unique creative wisdom. And in the case of other pros (like yourself), we love finding them and asking them what they wish to create! Lots of talented people are too humble or too busy to develop their work on a larger scale. We love having a really capable production team to help pull projects off the shelf that are gathering dust, and bring them to life.
What is the biggest problem you see for women starting or growing a business?
There seem to be two big myths that do the most damage in all small biz communities but especially with women:
1. You need to be like everyone else to succeed.
Many people look to others for the models of success. While its good to have role models and goals, its totally detrimental to your creative spirit to give up your own “weirdness”. You have your talents, likes, dislikes and experiences for a reason. These things that make you YOU are what will make you successful in the end.
2. Someone out there has your secret formula to success.
This just simply isn’t true. In my experience with biz development- working one-on-one with Creatives from all over the world- and in our experience as founders of a couple companies now, the path is never straight. And frankly, if you are not willing to grow personally, you will only go so far professionally. So when someone promises you 6 figure growth with no personal growth, beware!
What traits do you think are necessary to succeed in starting/growing a business?
Patience. Self care. Problem solving. Creativity. Starting a business is hard. Much like parenting, starting your own business will stretch you in ways that you have never dreamed possible. How you feel about money, talent, education, being an expert. How you communicate, manage time and resources, what you really believe about your own self worth…this will all show up. The only question is are you down for the process because if you really are this will undoubtedly be the ride of your life and will bring rewards you can’t even fathom when you first start out. We can’t imagine life without it!
When did you see a need for an eBook written by a designer?
Since our company’s inception we have already gone through 2 rounds of re-design. It was actually quite painful and we both became aware how unequipped we were to work with and hire designers to help us. There are so many types of designers and terminology used to get stuff done. It’s weird to need help that much and yet not even know how to properly ask for it. I also have clients that have needed design help in the last several months and I found myself explaining some important fundamentals over and over about how to get to know what you want first BEFORE you hire someone- to avoid creative heartache. So the Designer Guide: finding a designer that fits your unique style was born of necessity. We wrote it for ourselves, for my clients and anyone else slugging through this important part of making a biz work!
You and Karina run Seeing Beauty Biz together, how did you find each other and know you’d be good business BFFs?
We met while traveling and never planned to become business besties. But after working together remotely for over 5 years, I moved to SF for a while to start Seeing Beauty. We just compliment each other- when she gets stuck I offer a new way to begin. When I get overwhelmed she offers a new way to look at it and always calms me down. Some things are just better together and I’m so grateful that this company chose us to birth it.
Where’s your favorite place to travel/live?
To live? That’s easy: Berlin. To travel…woah- that’s far too large a question. At the moment my short list for visits includes Bali and Greece but I am open to whatever gorgeous adventures want to present themselves.
What’s the best food you’ve found in all your travels?
Again, impossible question. In France we had a 6 course homemade meal in a countryside restaurant that probably changed the course of our young lives. On a business trip in Thailand I had transcendent street food with chili and what looked like Shrimp heads. In Italy I once had a tomato salad that actually made me weep. But if I had to pick a favorite food most everywhere it would be cheese. In the moment, I’m missing Mt Tam brie by San Francisco’s own Cowgirl Creamery. But seriously, don’t get me started on food…x
Want to check out the Designer Guide: finding a designer that fits your unique style? Find it here.
