E56. Madi Cured on How She Went Viral, Built a Massive Waitlist & Leveraged the Haters

Welcome to the Beauty Business School podcast! Beauty Business School is proving beauty therapy is more than just a hobby. Where your new beauty besties, your partners in crime, your ride-and-die crew, with a sprinkle of Regina George's confidence but none of the drop. Picture us as your personal cheerleaders, the BFFs you've always wished for as we tackle the beauty industry together. Beauty training taught you how to be really good at treatments and beauty business school is here to teach you how to attract your dream clients by creating a beauty business that stands out in a busy industry. Navigate salon owner life and talk about the mindset shifts that you need to thrive in the beauty industry. It's time to become the CEO everyone is trying to marry. Let's get into the podcast with me, your host Kimberley Howard. Welcome back to the Beauty Business School podcast. I am Kimberley Howard and I am your host. Today I have the most incredible guest I literally just care. I am your low-key stalker and I'm so glad I got you in a room. I have the amazing Maddie Keward with me today. Welcome. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me on guard. Oh my gosh, it's my pleasure. I'm low-key having my own moment over here but I'm so much full of your stuff. Thank you. What I'd like to start with is learning a little bit about you. I would love to know where you started in the beauty industry and how you got to where you are today. Okay, yeah. So I started in the beauty industry. I actually went to the French beauty academy in 2017. I did a diploma of beauty therapy. I thought I was going to like everything but turns out I just liked nails. And the reason why I like nails so much is because when I was about 12 or 13 years old, I was gifted a pack of plane press on nails and a whole bunch of nail volition from my cousin and I would sit on my bathroom for every single Friday night, put these pressings on, shape, paint, decorate them, pop them off by Monday's school. It was my thing up until I was about 19 years old. So I went and did my diploma of beauty therapy. My job was to take decorators for a while and then I felt pregnant with my daughter, COVID here. And I was like, I think I want to start doing nails from home. I want a job where I can work from home, work around my daughter's hours, my partner's hours. And that's how I pretty much built my business. That's where it all started. I'm almost in shock. Like you started this business in COVID. Yeah, I started in COVID. So I had my daughter and then I was just practicing at home. I was setting up the salon. I'd set up my Instagram page and I was showing everyone like the renovation process. My original salon was actually in my garage. We just set everything up and then once all the restrictions and everything kind of left, I was like, well, time to take quiet, I guess. And you've been out to achieve everything that you have achieved since, yeah, four years, I've been in a nail tech now for shut up, Maddie. Everyone always says that. They're like, four years. I'm over here like 16 years old. It's crazy. It's so crazy. How have you gone on the back of having so much publicity, so much growth in such a short period of time? Not gonna lie. There was a mental breakdown in between it all. When I first started doing all the content creation, I was so fine with it. I absolutely loved it. I actually did an editing course back in high school. I was a bit of a nerve. I was with all the nerve that I loved editing videos. So yeah, jumped onto the content stuff. And then I was doing five clients a day editing two videos a day, going to bed at like 11 30 at night, waking up at 2 AM, reading comments, checking everything. And then eventually, yeah, I had a full mental breakdown, which I'm now medicated for my anxiety. And now I've toned it back in because it was too much. I'm really glad to hear that. But I do think this is probably something not spoken about. I had my own little like explosion when I first started the industry for Instagram and content, but I did similar things. I was up until one or two in the morning getting up this stage and had little babies like, yeah, just monitoring everything. I think I was in like panic mode. If something was going to go wrong, someone was going to make a hate comment or just just something like that. I think that's why I was just like consistently checking. And then it happened anyway, right? Yeah, it happens. I was with a regular client. I had seen her for years and she asked me to paint stars on her nails, which I've never done before. And I was like, oh, yeah, like I think I can do it. And then all of a sudden, my body just got completely hot. And I literally felt like I was going to pass out. I never had anxiety. I didn't grow up. Everything anxiety is a child. My partner, however, did. So I went inside to him and I was like, something's going on. He's like, you're having a panic attack. I told you, you're overworking yourself. And yeah, I ended up having two weeks off work and been medicated for it and everything. So yeah, now I just got to take it easy because I think so many girls push themselves to doing, you know, seven clients a day and everything, but it's like a well-made. It's a law. Especially when we do a crazy nail art, not just plain sets all day. And it's one of those things, I think, when you have been in that position, which it's as like both of us have, I had two proper mentees. It's like a long time to come back from, which is sure. Like having the breakdown is scary, but how long it takes for your body and nervous system to recover after that is where all this is drawn out. Like it's crazy. Yeah. How could you say to people who are especially in nails? And I love having you on here because I did a podcast a while back where it was an open letter to the nail industry where I was like, get your shit together. Nails are, I'm going to be controversial. And I hope this is OK by you, but they are the most undercharged, like overqualified. You are literally creating like pieces of art. Yeah. What would you say to people who are doing that, not charging enough, taking on too many clients, burning the candle at every end? When I first started, I was charging $25 for a meal set. And that was to get anyone and everyone through my doorstep practice. Was I making a profit? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I then had to increase my process and tend to let increments because you know, if we all do it by $20, it's ridiculous. Recently this year, I had some time off for my broken ankle and I came back and I was like, no, I'm done. Like I'm done undercharging myself because it's ridiculous. So I did a $50 price increase, which is unheard of. But I did it and I was like, oh, well, if they leave, they leave, I'll get no one's like, whatever, it's fine. And now it's like, I think that like from a client's point of view, everyone's always like, oh, all the money has got to go into the business. So I'm like, no, if I want to take my family on a holiday, so I'm making enough money to do that, I should be able to bloody do that. So yeah, this is where we really need to offer prices. I actually taught a class last night at French Beauty Academy. And the girls will account much to do charge. And I was like, do $25 if you're starting off at least two between 1680, compare yourselves to the other people in the area. You need to be making a profit. You need to be able to pay yourself, not just buy new polishes. I was originally a stalker, but now I'm your best friend. I feel the same and I always say you should be in 30% profit. Yeah, at least 30% profit. Because why shouldn't you have left over money to advance the business if you want to to go on a holiday if you want to? Yeah, literally. I just think I would say lashes and nails vary in that regard that it takes so long, but that was to charge the price for it. 100%. My excuse always is when someone says, why do you charge so much? I always turn around and say, well, it's $10 for a bag of cheese at the moment, but I'm sorry. I actually bought it. Palmerston cheese the other day and it cost me $12.50. And I was like, I've got a really good money mindset, but like, is that what you're living? Is that what you're living? Exactly right. Why? Why is Palmerston cheese $12.50? It's like half-cheese. Like that. Exactly. I think that it's such a prevalent conversation, particularly beauty business school has so many home-based salons or small salons. That's really what we specialise in. And I would say more than ever, it's the solos and the small businesses that are like, oh, we can't. Yeah, no, not at all. And I think the thing with nail tech says it's hard because we get compared to the shopping center salon. The reason why the shopping center salon can charge the 60 bucks and charge the 80 bucks is because they're using absolute shit on your nails. We're the ones who have invested into our education. We're the ones who are using a brand new buy-law to you every time you come in for God's sakes. We're allowed to charge more. Like, yeah, it's just crazy. And the overheads, I think, what a lot of people don't realize, even when they see the shopping centers, you're not looking behind the scenes of that business. Yeah. Not seeing how other stuff paid fairly. Exactly. They have high overheads. Like, you're not seeing if they're in profit because a lot of businesses, as someone who looks behind the scenes of businesses all the time, are not in profit. They're running massive losses. Yeah, exactly right. Yeah, for sure. So I think, I suppose with that, charging your worth is probably the wrong word, but charging your, charging what you should be. Yes. How would you then find a line clients? Like, many would say to me, it's really easy for you or Maddie to say that you've been in the industry, you've built the credentials. A hundred percent. I think it's a hard question for me to actually answer because truth be told, I don't know if I would be charging the $200. If I had to follow, if I didn't have the following, then I have because it's just such a stigma around nail tactics. It is so hard. I see posts in Facebook groups all the time. Well, I see all these other people trying to do 100 and I live in this area and no one's going to pay that. And it's just, it's almost like we all just need to come together. The UK actually did it last year. They did a national price increase date for nail technicians, where every single nail tech in the UK up to their prices. And I truly feel like if Australia jobs on board and did something like that, we would finally get to a point where it's like, this is how much we should be charging. This is how much we're doing. Oh, I love. Let's go on time. We'll get our pitchforks. And we'll, like, I don't actually, we only have a month for it. Now, let us get on board. I actually think that if you led that and did content around that, you would have a pretty impact. Yeah, it would be pretty fun. My next email is going to be like, so about that much. And I love that you are, I've known us that you're getting out there more and you're talking and you're doing podcasts and you're sure information because I suppose for me on the back of that, when people are like, but how can I charge that? We need to show you the expert then, right? Yeah, 100%. I feel like it's all through social media. When we're just consistently posting nail photos, yeah, it's cool, but we need to have these educational posts. It's why I do my client consult videos. I'll have little bits and bugs in there where I'm like, oh, if we do a map top code, it's going to look like this, dead it up. I'm trying to educate people through my content to get them in as a client because they don't like the money. Yes, I love and you've built a really strong personal brand online. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, whenever I talked to clients about this, I took a deep breath that I was like, well, I know what people are thinking. Yeah, they're scared of being seen. They're scared of 100% being bullied online. They're scared of all those things. I have seen you create t-shirts of your picked on you and the way that you laugh, the way you look, the way you talk. Yeah. How do you navigate that and show up anyway? So the original hate comment that I received was picking on my upset. It was sorry. It was known. I hated it. I hated it. I used to delete it when people would pick on my upset. And so I was like, you know what? I'm going to run with it. And the first video I did of me actually writing as the like my captions above was S-A-U-R. Everyone loved it. It took off because I was paying out my art accent. And I feel like now the way that I view these hate comments and navigating it is literally to make a joke out of every single one. That's why I've started these reacting to my hate comment videos. They blow up more than my nail consultations right now because everyone is like, oh, this is so good. This is so funny. But the reason why I've started it is honestly because I want to show women that they mean nothing to me. They should mean nothing to anyone. Like it's just a stupid comment made by God knows who some troll account. And we should take it and make a joke out of it. Yeah. I love that. I love that you are able to sit in that because I know that for so many people they don't show up because of this fear of 100% always uses like the girl I went to school with. I don't care about the people I went to school with. I have other changes who have been ruthlessly mean. Yeah. Yeah. So sure. I now have a folder. I've screened shot my favorite hate comments and I put it in my little album and it's called my favorite hate comments. And sometimes I'll sit there with my mates and be like, oh, listen to this bunch. I hate to be at that lunch. I've been there with my little creature. It's so funny. Tell me the most recent. Amazing how you've been able to turn your mind set around on that because it would be so easy. I had clients who have gone viral and got hate. And that was it. They never wanted to go viral again. I think the other thing too is because we are in a business. You don't want to look like you're responding to these hate comments because we all need to absorb professional. And you know, I'm just like, no, this is my business. If people don't want to come to me because I respond to a hate comment, cool. That's one point I don't want to deal with. I'm so fine with that. But yeah, I'm just trying to put it out there that like, we don't always need to be so professional on our business. Like, you can also make a joke out of it. Oh, I love that. Literally. That's my whole ethos in life is. Yeah. I actually have a good time in your business and the more of a good time you have, the more going to go further, do more and stay in longer. Yeah. Literally exactly. So with viral content, and I know that this is always a really controversial topic because everyone's like, going viral isn't always the bees knees. What was it that sent you viral? What continues to take you viral other than the hate comments? Yeah. And does it actually convert to clientele for you? Okay. So the first video that I had to go viral was a consult video. So I'm seeing a lot of hairdresses doing it. I knew that I had funny consults with my clients. I know that I could end it well. And I was like, I'm just going to record one. So I recorded it. I got a million views in 24 hours. I was on the phone to my phone like, oh, not refreshing. We were fricking out. We couldn't believe it. And they're trying to make my spaghetti balladay. It's like watching my phone. It was, it was a my so real experience. And honestly, I thought it was a fluke. I thought it was a fluke. I thought that was done. I made another one. The same thing happened again. It just kept going and going and going. I could not believe it. What I've actually started doing now is yes, the hate comment videos, but also little tiny reels of relatable things. So for example, I made one the other week. That was minding my own business. And then when someone asks me how I wipe my ass with my nails. Oh, I asked it. Yeah, yeah. That's all being asked out. It got so many shares, so many reposts because it was relatable. I'm trying to make little relatable things now so that my page is just being reposted on everybody else's nail tech page. All the clients who have been asked that they are all resharing get to their friends and family. It's all that kind of stuff as well. So even though they're short, they're not like my consoles, they're still going as viral as my two minute consoles. So started doing that as well. What was the end of the question that you asked? Oh, does it convert to clients for you? Does it convert to clients? How 100% it definitely converts to clients? I have clients who come in, who tell me they watch my stuff all the time. They will have followed me for ages. I have a wait list system now. So people have to actually apply to become a client with me. And if they suit my time and days and all that stuff, I accept it. That wait list is on 550 people. I can guarantee you every single one of them has watched one of my videos, gone to my page and signed the wait list. That's how it's converting to clients for me. I am obsessed. Yeah. That's an ever-freshing thing to hear because so many people are like, you don't want to go viral. And look, I'm not saying everyone needs to go viral to have a successful business. And not at all. Yeah. But it's nice to hear someone who goes viral to be like, actually, it is working. And it's 100%. 100%. As I said before, with the price thing, I don't know if I would have, I probably would still have a fully booked clientele because I did before I started my client consult and all the TikTok. I was fully booked prior to them. But I don't know if I would have as many people on my wait list. That's for sure. Could you give me that confidence as well to be like, well, that's the price. These are the times having that in there. Yeah. It also is the main reason why I moved out of my phone salon into an actual salon was because I knew that I had people waiting and people were willing to pay. Sorry, the rent was covered. And I think that that's so smart of you. A lot of people move into commercial salons before they have a clientele base and then there is so much pressure on them. Yeah, it's been to the girls here all the time and they always say like, oh, they'll have people coming and be like, so are you going to get the clients for me? And that's like, no, that's not how it works. It's very exciting. Bella Bruns, right? Bella Bruns tan. Yeah. Yeah. That's a beautiful friend of mine. I love her. Oh, yeah, awesome. I think she was the first person to ever call on my podcast. Oh, really? Oh, my God. That's so exciting. Yeah. I think it was my, I have had two podcasts. It was my other one. And I was like, would you come on my book? I'm so like, that's so good. Yeah. She started too later for the industry. I love her. Yeah, she is. So if someone's starting, right? They're like, okay, I'm starting from ground zero. I am terrified to get on social media. I want to have that level of success. I want to have that level of viral ability. What would your advice be around that? Because I think people are trying, but it's flopping for them. Sorry. I have a lot of people. First of all, come to me and say that they are scared to put their face online. They're scared to talk to a camera. My main steps with that are stop face timing in friends and family instead of actually calling them. When you have the phone in front of you and you're like, looking at yourself, you will genuinely get used to feeling yourself, but you're just on a phone call anyway. The other role that I always have is pretend that the camera is not there. That's what I say to my clients when they walk in and I go, is it okay if I film up on social media, they'll go, yeah, I go, cool says just pretend it's not there. I always have my tripod and everything set up in the phone. It's like a full-on camera. I have it's not just my phone. So it can be a little bit daunting. I've always pretended it's not there. And that's what people need to start doing as well. When I was first starting, I was parsing consistently on my Instagram, just like nail photos and stuff, but if I could go back, I would probably get straight into reals and TikTok. You get way more views on a real because a lot of Facebook, we're all sitting there and TikTok, but we'll Instagram rails at the end of the night, scroll, scroll, scrolling, get way more views on a real or TikTok than you do a nail first, a photo. Sorry, I would definitely start that from the beginning, 100%. I completely agree. I mean, Instagram and TikTok, well, TikTok obviously, it's my full videos. Well, there's boarding carousels, but yeah, yeah, they really are pushing that content that you will watch over and over. It kind of looks like that cycle, sorry, 100% agree. What about editing? How long does editing? It is hard to do. So because I've got a little bit of a background in it, I was fine today. But I go through CapCut for absolutely everything. CapCut is my go-to for editing. Now, CapCut also has to swap. Well, I said a bit we were scared to create content, or don't know how to. They have templates on there. When you literally click on templates, you can select whatever template you want. Even for that video, and it will make the video for you. You don't need to do anything except for uploading your videos. You download that video, you post it, you're done. You got to reel. That's that easy. If you wanted to actually go ahead and do the CapCut stuff, the amount of YouTube tutorials that you can go and do watching how to do stuff on CapCut is endless. It's absolutely everywhere. You don't need to go and pay a thousand dollars to do an editing course. There's no point. When YouTube is there, you can get taught by that. Have a play around with it, and honestly, it's so easy. You'll have it in no time. Do you think there's something that helps through seeing engagement? I've noticed at the beginning of your videos, there's always something a little controversial, or there's always something that grabs people in. Yeah, 100%. I remember one of my most viral videos. It was a client of mine, and she's been a friend of mine for a long time, when we were joking around, and she goes, "Oh my God, I hate them." And I look up at her like this, and then after she was like, "I'm just kidding. I got rid of the "I'm just kidding. Oh my God, I hate them." At the start, and everyone was commenting, "Oh, you had me so worried. I thought she was going to hate them. Got so many views. It's clickbait, baby. It works." Yeah, literally, "I'll do a dust. I will try to, when I'm reporting with my clients now, so at the moment, I'll hold away the nails." I'll try and be like, "Oh, we're doing ghost Halloween nails." That'll be my first part, so that people who want to watch that, they know that that's what they're in for. Yes. I think I love as well watching your reactions. I often zoom in, and I was saying things about something, and you're zoom in on your face kind of being like, "Oh, you're kind of being like the moment I was like, I can't do that," or like, "I love that you're almost giving insight into your thoughts as it's happening." I'm just resting your face professionally, being like, "Oh, I know. I'm very expressionant. I think your content really brings people into the room." Yeah, so sure. And I think that's another reason why I have gained so much clientele is because people feel comfortable enough because they've seen me online, they know what they're in for, they know what a bit of an appointment looks like with me. So that's why people fork 100%, especially those with anxiety, for sure. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, even as I coach in the industry, I always say to people, "Show your room, show yourself, and show the experience of coming in," because I know that I get nervous going to a point where people, yeah, hopefully they like me. Sounds so silly. I'm paying for appointment, but I'm like, hopefully they like me because we've all had the head of appointment or the beauty appointment where we're felt like this person hates me. I need to get up and drink. I think I've been talking to me like, it's people into what an experience, whether it is day-spire and you are very quiet. But it shows them what to expect. Exactly, and I think it's super beneficial to do that because even before I started content, I was doing the same thing. I was looking for one appointment. I was going to be like with them. Hey, Bestie, sorry to interrupt the episode, but we need to talk. How fully are books right now? Let me guess, you've opened your dream beauty business. Set up the space, stocked the tools, even made an Instagram and Facebook page. But now work. You took the leap and finally you're working for yourself. No more making money for someone else thinking, I could do this because you did. But here's the tricky part. How do you get clients? What should you charge? How do you show up online? How do you pay yourself? Let's be real. Beauty school didn't teach you this, but you don't have to figure it out alone. That is exactly why we created beauty business foundations. Your step-by-step guide to building a beauty business that stands out is in profit and attracts dream clients. If you're interested in joining, send me bbf on Instagram and let's see if it's the right tip for you. Now back to the episode. I think as well like having people see that content then come in, do you think they're more inclined to let you record? Yes, 100%. Yeah. I have a lot of clients who it'll be their first time and I'll say is it okay if I fill my console? No, we're like, oh my God, I was so busy, you would say that. People like, I'm literally here to become nail famous. Yeah, literally. And I have clients now that I'll post their console and they actually have been stopped and they're like, I've seen these nails before. Yeah, I haven't happened with a lot of my clients now. Are you starting to have like otherworldly experiences where people are stopping you and being like, you're manicured? It happens a lot now, a lot. The first time it happened, remember I was in a shopping center and this moment for daughter came up and the daughter was freaking out. And I was like, oh, she's like, I'm just a nail tack, I could feel right, like, and I asked for a barter and I got in the car and I was like, oh, just ask this for a fuck. Like, I put in the label. Yeah, it's, it's wise, wise. I love that so much for you, but yeah, because I've watched a lot of your content and to me, did you seem like a typical Aussie family, right? Yeah, pretty much. It was like super normal over here, like, yeah. How does that feel, feels? Does it feel big? Does it feel dysregulating? Is it like, this is the best thing in the world? I enjoy it for my business. There are certain things for my family that have been a little bit different. For example, when people come up and they want to take photos and they're stopped, my daughter, she actually asked me one day, do you know them? And she's four years old, five years old now. She was four years old at the time and I was thinking straight away, stranger danger. Like, what am I supposed to say to her? And so my partner and I sat down and we had a really good chat about it one night and we were like, let's just start saying that they really like mummy snails. And recently, I've actually started YouTube and one of my YouTube videos popped up and we were all sitting there as a family one night and they popped up on the home screen and she goes, oh my god, it's mummy on the TV. And then we were like, do you know that's why people come and speak to mummy sometimes? It's because mummy does YouTube and she processed it and got in it. Yeah. And yeah, so that's definitely been on navigate. My partner does not watch any of my videos. He thinks they cringe. But yeah, other than that, that's pretty much it. It hasn't really changed your family dynamic or anything like that. Yeah. I think it's really cool though to hear the behind the scenes and people probably don't think about that when they come up. They're just so excited to be like, I watch your videos and they're excited to give you that validation of like, you're amazing. Yeah, imagine having your children in the mix there. It would have added a lot of like, oh, I know. The only time that I'm a little bit with it is if I'm alone with my daughter and they ask for a photo, I need to be concentrated on her in a public place, not taking a photo with somebody else. That makes so much sense. And I think it shares your priorities like it doesn't matter how big you get in business or on Instagram or on YouTube. Yeah. That's for sure. 100%. I want to take a little sidestep. You have had a rough couple of months a few months ago. Yes. And I suppose it brings up the question of like, when have been your hardest times in the last four years? So definitely, that means we'll break down. That we spoke about before. 100%. That is one of them. But yeah, top tier was this year. I broke my ankle the day before Australia day. I broke it in three places. So I did it eight plus for effort job. So that's time I've ever broken a bone. Had to have emergency surgery on that. And I ended up having almost three months of work within that time when I thought it was ready to return to work. A cyclone in the gold coast. And we woke up the next morning. The whole cast is fine. Let's go check on the garage. The entire ceiling in the garage had fallen in on my salon, destroying almost everything. So someone was like telling me to just stop basically. Yeah. I was like, I'm done. Like how am I coming back from this? But my thing was I am not letting anything take my business away from me. I am not sucking shelves of calls, babe. I'm not doing that. I really like doing now. This is the thing that I have found that I am really good at. And I have to keep going. So basically, yeah, what I did was I created that wait list to be like, who wants to come to me after three months off. And heaps of people applied. And I was like, I'm going to just go and look for salons. And this place popped up. Bella bronze is a two minute drive. It's that from my actual house. So it's fine with all my regulars who were wanting to return. And it's like nothing ever happened. But that was mentally challenging. I never thought I was going to come back to this. I never thought. Yeah. It was so interesting to watch you navigate that online as well. And you know, it was so hard. Yeah. Do you think navigating that and sharing that very vulnerable and open like I think there was a day I watched and you were literally you were in tears. Do you think that that amplified your support? It's so crazy. The post that I made on my story where I took a photo in the ambulance. I was flying at us. And I were well, I just broke my ankle. It's the most highest story views I have ever received on my account. I have 187,000 story views on that. And everyone starts following me. And then I post things about my ankle. People would post advice. I'd take that advice. And then it just kind of become, I know some haters look complaining about it, but it was kind of like an outlet for me to like talk about my ankle, my experience and really get advice from other people who had been through it. Like it was really hard. So to speak to some people online while my partner's alive, my daughter's a kidney, I'm laying in bed with my foot off all day. It was really nice. And I also think if I was to stop posting and disappear, I would not have anything to return to. So I had to post something. What was I going to post? I'm laying in bed. Are you mad again guys? Yeah. It's still working. It's not healing faster just because I went viral. Exactly. Do you think the storytelling part of it builds connection then? Like as well as you have your consultations, you have the haters videos. Do you think getting on there and genuinely showing parts of who you are has that trusting connection? 100% because I have clients who I've never met in my life coming in. And that's like our full appointment. She'll be like, oh my god, the other day, I saw you talking about this. And it just, it just starts to conversation straight away. It was a little bit weird at first because I was like, oh, okay, you know I broke my ankle, obviously, like the person about it. But I got used to it in the end. I love that. My husband sometimes says to me like, I learned things about you online. I didn't even know. And I'm like, oh yeah, because you weren't home. So I put it online. Did that in a YouTube video the other day, I bought myself like an expensive handbag and it's being delivered. And I set it in a YouTube video. I was like, oh, I'm getting this new handbag. My partner's watching it. And I'm like, looking at him like this and he goes, oh, really? Oh, sorry, dude. Whoops. Did I no mention that? I think what you've done is insane. It's insane. It's incredible. You've built a cult following. Yes, thank you. I mean, you're like, this doesn't feel any different to how you post online. I'm not sitting here being like, oh, whoa, she's a totally different person. So many people say that when they meet me, they're like, oh my god, you're exactly like you are online. And I'm like, imagine, imagine if I just posted those console videos. And I had a client walk through it. And as soon as I turn that camera off, I was completely different person. Like, what are we doing? Not gonna happen, man. I just think so. That shows so much that you're authentic self, even with haters, even with all the people out there, like you've got the sweetest cherry pie and people don't like cherry pie. It just goes to show that your personality is the thing that gets people in the door. Your talent, of course. Yeah. Personality is the thing that's really building those relationships. Yeah, definitely showing your own personality online definitely changes things for sure. Yeah. We're like, I don't actually ever want to get off this meeting with you. We're gonna take over the world. What's next for you? Sorry. Really exciting. So next for me, my partner and I are actually starting another business in the hopes that he will create his job and come and now work for me. That's fun. We will be releasing some, there's a tiny little hint behind me, behind me. Why could I find behind me? We're gonna be releasing some things. We're gonna be starting a business and that's probably gonna come in like the next month and a half. It's been a long time in progress. But yes, when you think about all my thores and gnomes and all of that stuff too, people might be able to wear it soon as well. Sorry. That's gonna be really fun. It's so fun. I absolutely can't wait. I've actually thought of like a sub question for you circling back a little bit. How long does it take you to edit a video? Okay. So my consult video, why edited in one this morning, it takes about 45 minutes to an hour. It's funny. It actually takes me a shorter amount of time to edit a YouTube video because it's all just click, click, click, put it all together. But it's all the time being and zooming in and everything like that. It goes into the consults. They take make the longest. Yeah. Okay. I love how honest that was because so many people will be like, you can do your sit down for an hour and do your social media video. Yeah. How many do you post a week? I'm just trying to remember. Honestly, I used to try and act one every single day. It was just like I had a mental breakdown. So now I'm doing it. I'm trying to do one a week, maybe two. So posting less that's still getting the traction. Yep. Still going to get. Yeah. Do you think you still would have got the traction if you had done that from the very beginning? No. I went hard and fast in the beginning because I just wanted to get it out instead of relevant because I didn't want it to go anywhere. And I was watching the numbers go up every single time I was posting a video. So I got really excited about it and kind of hooked on it a bit. Yeah. Yeah. You're like, oh, I like this dough for me in here. Thank you very much. Literally. It was really cool. Yeah. Yeah. It goes to show great things can be happening to you and you can still end up in burnout. That's 100%. Yeah. For sure. It's the same. I actually posted about it on my story last night with me teaching those classes. I had a major anxiety at that last night before I went into teacher class. And it's the same with getting up and stage. I know I'm actually going to speak in an event next year and it is on my mind every single day. I am freaking out about it. And I think that, you know, we see so many like beauty boss babes who are like talking on stage and we're like, oh, I'm going to be like that. But like, I'm freaking out. Is there? I'm going to be there. So I'll hold your hand. I'm speaking at that same event. So I will. Yeah. I've said I've stayed a lot. Maddie. I've got. Make me feel so much better. In my DMs, I'll be like, I'll help. I've spoken now at like, I think I'm up to 38 event. Yeah. I know. She's been around Maddie. Four years, 16 years. I've gotten around. This will be my third one. I love to say that like it gets easier in the regard of like, you know, you know, you know, you're shit, right? It gets to that point. But I every time I get on stage, I get on stage and one of the first things I say is like, why the fuck did I say yes to this again? Literally. I have considered messaging so much. I mean, I don't know if I can do this girlfriend, but I actually had a call with them the other day. And the best thing that you can do is let them know, like, seriously, I'm the same with my clients. If I'm feeling anxious or I'm just not feeling right, I know that it's like, so not professional, but I'll be like, sorry, if I'm a bit quiet today, say someone just be anxious, that's all. Like, it's just a subtle little, hey, it's up. You've got this. You know, you're shit. Yeah. Yeah. You get on stage and be like, I know what I'm talking about. Yeah. I always try to imagine that like, it's just one person in the room or whatever the maximum people you feel comfortable with. I just kind of just audience mentally. I usually tend to actually bark us on one person. So I'm sorry to whoever I bark us on. But I'm like, yeah, you right there. I'll be staring at you the whole time. I did this once in New Zealand because I was really nervous. And I was like, I'm going to focus on this one person, but it was quite a heavy topic. And she actually was like, why do you keep looking at me? Because I'm talking about like, raise your prices and do this and do that. And she was like, I feel personally tired. I'm so good. I'm so sorry. I'm just so sorry. I'm focusing on all right. Yeah. Literally. Exactly. I think it's amazing that you're pushing yourself to these new limits and new edges, so new businesses getting on stage. Like, I honestly think you are just scraping the surface of what you're going to do in this industry. Oh, thank you so much. Thank you so much. Sorry. Your energy is clean and pure and you're doing it from a place of passion and people can tell. Yeah. Oh, thank you. You're like, I'll keep you. You can stay. All right. Round this out. If you were starting a business all over again, what would you do in the first 90 days? I got asked this a lot. And I think that lots of people think that like third nail business is all about painting art and buying really cool tips. For me, I would get a really good accountant from the beginning. And I would have a business card ready to go. So I'm not meshing my personal payments and my business payments together. That was a big mistake that I made. Honestly, it's all for the undersigned stuff. Your insurances, your aviens, all of that kind of stuff that I'm like, yeah, you really need to get that sorted. Asap. Asap. Otherwise, all the fun stuff that we're really looking forward to isn't going to last. No, you're so right. Those foundations are absolutely so important. And they're often skipped. People like, when I talk about like, what do you have insurance in case someone gets an infection? They're like, no, no. What do you mean? I know. Exactly. Like, if you need it, you never know what's going to happen. And I'm saying to I am so grateful now that I can just send everything to someone else's way and they can deal with it. It is worth paying for. I'd love. I do have another question because I keep popping into my brain. I'm like, we could list this day. We'll just say. I'll just pick the best bits out here. Would you ever outsource parts of your business, including social media? Yes. So I actually have been trying to find an editor. I've been going through everyone's applications and stuff. And I'm just waiting for the perfect person. But I really struggle with outsourcing. I really do. When I did my logo, I originally spent four days on researching how to do this bubble font for my logo because I refused to have somebody else created for me. So I went on this lady's page and I found what I wanted. I researched it. I did it myself. Come three years later. I ended up refreshing my logo. I ended up paying this lady who I originally took it away from. And it's so much better. But I was terrified to have somebody else do something for my business like if it was so scary. But now I'm like, oh, that's actually really beneficial. It's for all these other things that I'm doing for this other business as well. We've had to outsource a lot of stuff and rely on other people for things. And yeah, I'm like, okay, it's actually easier than doing it all by myself. It isn't. It's also terrifying, isn't it? Because it's so scary. When you do it, it feels like there's this level of control. Exactly. I'm a control for a hundred percent. Even my partner has become way more included in my business. And in the beginning, he would make suggestions. And I would be like, oh, yeah, cool. Yeah. Whatever. And then I actually went to sort of psychic a couple of months going. She was like, your partner's trying to become more included in your business. And you need to let him do that because it's his pathway as well. And I told him that and he was like, I don't know what you're like. I literally said, I told you this morning to me. It's like a right of passage that he's like, she said something to me. And I was like, oh, Claire said this. And he was like, I told you that. Yes. Can you say it also really helps because I just got an email that I need to launch my best statement. And I was like, well, there's the jobs. You want to be so involved. Do you want to do the fun stuff? That is stuff no one talks about. That is the unsexy side of this. It's like, everyone's like, you're doing so well. You're making so much. You're killing it. And then you're like, yes, but also I just got a $50,000 tax bill. Exactly. Well, there's cute things. There's some pretty uncute things that go ahead and hand with that for sure. That I don't want to wrap this up. I've had an absolute boss, but I respect your time so much. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming and talking to me today. I know that this is going to be so valuable to so many people. Yeah. Just in case by some chance they're living under a rock and they don't know where you are, they find you. My Instagram account, every account is Maddie_Cured. It's Maddie with an eye, not a fly as well. If you're not, she is so much fun to watch. Like, honestly, you bring joy to my day. I actually said this to my team the other day. I was like, why can we make fun content like Maddie? Everyone needs a little bit of you in their life. Thank you for having me on today. I really appreciate it. It's really fun. Oh, sorry. It's been my absolute pleasure. And that's a wrap on today's episode of the Beauty Business School podcast. 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