Taking The Leap To Build Your Own Beauty Business With Sharla Edmondson

Posted on December 22, 2022

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a teenager suffering from acne or an elderly person aging gracefully; everyone needs skin care. This is what drove Sharla Edmondson to get into the beauty business. Sharla knew that she wanted to help people, and she discovered that beauty was one way she could serve. After working in spas for a few years, she mustered up the courage, followed her heart, and took the leap to start her own business, Genesis Beauty Company. She wanted to really be able to spend more time with her customers and truly overcome their beauty and health challenges. Now she’s able to connect and give in a whole new way while getting to spend more time with her family.

Join Steph Silver as she talks with Sharla Edmondson about what it’s like to run her own spa. Learn how what you eat affects your skin. Discover what skincare products you should be using. And understand why it’s important to always make time for yourself. Start making your dreams a reality, and just do it!

—

Listen to the podcast here

Taking The Leap To Build Your Own Beauty Business With Sharla Edmondson

My guest is Sharla Edmondson, Owner of Genesis Beauty. Thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you so much for having me.

I brought you here because I’ve heard so many good things about you and your service. We met at an Ozona Chamber of Commerce Halloween event. Everybody said that you were fabulous and I needed to have you on the show. Thanks for coming in.

You’re so welcome. Thank you.

Tell me a little bit about who you are and what you were up to. What led you to start Genesis Beauty?

I am a mom. I’m a wife and I have been an esthetician for years. What led me to start Genesis Beauty was that I had been working in the field for a long time, and that’s always been a dream of mine to have a spa on my own so that I can take care of people the way that I see fit. I like to customize each facial to the person and what their skin needs. Also, I like to treat the skin from the inside out.

I look at the skin and I like to ask you questions like, “What are you doing with your diet?” A lot of things that are going on inside of your body reflect what’s going on with your skin on the outside. That was the main driven reason I wanted to start Genesis. I found that in a lot of places where I had worked, they only wanted to take care of the skin on the outside and like, “Here goes the serum or here goes this wash.”

It’s a lot of things that happen on the inside, what you digest, and what’s going on. We might have an allergy to like gluten or something. All that shows out in the skin. That was one reason. The second reason was that Wimberley is such a wonderful community. I’ve been in Wimberley for many years and I wanted to be able to be of service to this community because I felt that I love it so much.

When did you start Genesis Beauty?

I started on June 1st, 2021.

A year into the pandemic?

Yes.

Did you know a lot of people already when you started it? How hard was it to start a spa, and where are you located?

I’m located off of Ranch Road 12, right after Winters Mill Parkway. Depending on which way you come from, I am from right behind what used to be the wine and beer patio, Casa Vindemia. I’m tucked away, so it’s hard to find me, but once you do find me, everybody was like, “This is such a little quaint little place. You have a little view of the hill country.” It’s nice. I get to look around and see nature, so it’s a little tucked away. Once people find it, they’re like, “This is wonderful.”

How was it starting a business? The community was very supportive when I first started. I didn’t have a problem with getting up and going and running straightforwardly. The pandemic was still very much in effect, but I’m still taking all the necessary precautions with HEPA filters that are med-grade in the spa and triple sanitizing everything with autoclaves and BARBICIDE and all the things alcohol.

Going into that, it was very important for me to try and keep every person as safe as possible. Did I know a lot of people? No. When I first got here, I worked in The Leaning Pear for a year and a half, so I knew a few people in the community, but when I started the spa, I didn’t know a lot of people. I joined the chamber so I was able to meet a lot of people in business.

Also, I’ve done a few publications so that bought a lot of business to me that people like, “We didn’t even know that you were here.” I’m like, “Yes, please come let me pamper you.” The community has been outstanding and supportive of my business and letting me love on them through my services and them loving on me with overwhelming support. Everybody’s had such great things to say and it’s been wonderful.

When you say you did some publications, was it advertising? Did you write? I’m curious about starting during a hard time to get in front of people in a small town, not having a book of business already. When some people start a spa, they go from another spa and bring half their business with them. What was your most effective way of meeting new clients other than once you started doing a great job and getting referrals?

I was on the radio with The Chamber so that bought some business. In November of 2021, I was on the cover of the Wimberley Living Magazine, which brought more business. Once people got wind of those, it’s still been a while and I still have people say, “You were the girl that was on the cover of the magazine. I remember hearing you on the radio.” “I’m finally here.” Those were a few. I also did an article for the San Antonio Voyage Magazine and I finished up a publication for Canvas Revel, an article out of Austin as well at the end of October. Also, the Welcome to Wimberly Magazine as well.

From the beginning all the way up to now, those are all the publications that I’ve done, but what has worked the most is word of mouth. A good thing that has worked well in the community for me is that people would be like, “I love her and go see her.” They’d be like, “So-and-so sent me.” That is another thing that helped me a lot in business too.

Beauty Business: The most effective way of marketing or meeting new clients is just old-fashioned word of mouth.

What do you think makes you so passionate about skin and beauty?

When I was pregnant with my first child, I was a little bit stressed. First-time mom and my hormones with the pregnancy were out of whack, so my skin showed that. I was wondering, “How I can help myself?” Also, being stressed, I was like, “When I was pregnant, I had my first facial. Maybe that’s some way that I can help other people too,” because there are a lot of people that are stressed. There are a lot of people that had skincare problems and even teenagers. Wanting to help myself, I thought of others and how can I help them.

That’s one thing that I was like, “Maybe I can do that.” I was looking for a whole career change anyway because when I had my son, I chose to stay at home with him. I left being in the insurance industry after five years to be at home with him. I was like, “Maybe that’s something that I should move forward with.” I have done the research and found a school. I went to the Aveda Institute of Austin and got my aesthetician’s license, and then from there, I hit the ground running.

I started out at the European Wax Center. I did that for a few years because that was the outer appearance, slight beauty, and waxing. There are a lot of people that love to get waxed. I did that for a while, and then I decided that I wanted to get into the spa thing side of things, helping people with their skin, making a difference in boosting somebody’s confidence, and helping with concerns and issues that they might be having.

What drove me into the beauty business was, first, this is something that I feel that I would be good at because I care about all my clients and the people that I see. It’s not like I see you, and it’s like, “Okay, bye.” If somebody says it, I’m like, “Are they okay? What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Once a person comes to my table, I do want to take care of them.

I feel that beauty is one thing, but taking care of people is another thing that it makes me passionate about it. When somebody feels good and says, “This made my day, and I feel so good, relaxed, and relieved. I’m excited to start my skincare journey,” then it’s like, “Okay, thank you.” That’s what makes my heart smile, and I feel a warm and fuzzy feeling whenever people tell me that.

I haven’t had a ton of facials, but even between facial massage, all the different things that one might do or could do to either relax or replenish, you can tell the difference when someone’s going through the processes, do this, then do this, then do this. It’s the same with therapy. We had Rachelle from Hill Country Healing in here and she started her business because she wanted to be able to sit down and talk similarly to you and get to know what’s happening.

For you, it might be someone who has acne. For her, if someone has pain, you don’t just deal with that individual muscle. You go in a little bit deeper. What are some of the common issues? Do people come to you mostly for maintenance and general beauty or are there common issues that you see that people come to you for?

It’s all around. It encompasses everything. I see a lot of people for facials. That’s the number one thing people book in the spa. I get some clients to come monthly. If they’re trying to treat a concern, then I see them monthly or every other month. There are some clients that I see every four months, right after every season change. After summer, your skin is dry and dehydrated, then they come to me and I replenish it. After the winter, that’s one. The other ones that I do are waxing, tint, and brow tints. I have some clients that come to me every month for that.

I see a few teenagers with acne issues and I sit there and I talk to them. They have to be educated. That’s one thing that I do with all my clients. Whether you’re a teenager or if you’re aging gracefully, I still educate you because a lot of people don’t know where to start and what they’re using might not be the best for their skin.

Beauty Business: Whether you’re a teenager with a lot of acne or aging gracefully, education about your skin is still important. A lot of people don’t know that what they’re using may not be the best for their skin.

There are millions of products and everybody says they’re the best, and sometimes the most expensive is not the best or it’s not best for your skin.

Some things can be more damaging to the skin than can be of help. Some people will tell me like, “The dermatologist said it’s good,” but I’m like, “It might be good for somebody but it’s not good for you. Let’s figure out what can work for you.” I always like to ask people, “Is that working for you?” If it’s not broke, don’t fix it, but if it is, then let’s try to find something that’s going to work for you because we’re partners. You can’t just come to me and I do all the things and all the work and then you go home and use the same stuff that’s not helping you. If I’m going to do my part, you do your part too and let’s be a team on this.

If you have any questions, please reach out to me and let me know because we’re a team. Let’s work together if we’re going to fix the concerns that you’re having. That’s another way that I like to approach things because that’s very important in the way that I like to treat the skin. Find out what’s going on and then see how we can fix it because eventually if you’re coming to me every month for concern, I want to be able to get you to a point where we are only doing maintenance.

I have other different machines to help with that. I have microdermabrasion and oxygen facials. I have a microcurrent machine. There are a couple of other options that I have in conjunction with all the facials that I do too. Some of them I’ve either put into a whole facial package so that you can get an overall view of everything too and how it treats your skin. There is a whole bunch of things that I do in a spa and pretty much, facials are number one.

Talking about facials, are there any particular types of products that you suggest people use or stay away from? We don’t necessarily have to talk about brands, but there are all these serums or all the rage right now or all the acids started coming into play years ago. At first, I was like, “What? You’re going to peel my whole skin?” The first time I had one, I’m like, “This is awful. I can’t go in public.”

They seem so much less intense now. The products have gotten better but as you said, they’re not necessarily good for everybody in every type of skin. Is there something in particular or a type of product that you would suggest for people that helps with the overall glow everybody wants or maintains moisture levels and all that stuff?

It depends on the person and their skin type. If you have dry skin, then you would want to be using something with hyaluronic acid. You can find it in the facial wash and a lot of serums out there because it helps to hold in the moisture 1,000 times its weight of water. If you put it on, it’s going to help whatever type of moisturizer you’re using. It’s going to take all those moisture molecules, bind them to your skin, and keep them there. If you don’t use something like that, your skin’s going to suck it up. That’s for dry skin.

Beauty Business: If you have dry skin, you want to be using a product with hyaluronic acid because that helps hold in moisture a thousand times its weight.

For oily skin, they want to stay away from hyaluronic acid, but they still want to moisturize with something light because some people say, “I have oily skin. I shouldn’t use moisturizer.” You should because if you don’t, then your skin is going to be like, “I feel dry. I’m going to overcompensate for the moisture that they’re not giving me.” That’s how people end up excessively oily during the day because the skin is working overtime to produce moisture.

For combination skin, they have to stay in the middle. A light moisturizer, but then in the nighttime, they might want to use something that’s a little bit more nurturing to the skin, a little bit more heavy. It depends on how their skin is taking in the moisture. With other acids and stuff, it depends on what the person has going on. If you have acne, there are certain acids that you would use, but then for some people’s skin, you want to stay away from those same acids. It’s like a question that depends on the person.

You got to come in and talk to Sharla.

There’s no right or wrong answer. I just got to see it.

Is it the same thing with diet? Are there any particular things you suggest that everyone generally stays away from or uses in moderation?

Especially if a person is having acne issues, sugar and dairy are the number one thing because dairy can get inside the intestinal lining and cause a mucus buildup and then it purges through the skin. That’s one. Also, beer. It’s okay in moderation, but I see in some clients that beer can produce candida in the skin, which is yeast. Candida loves yeast. It feeds on it and it causes more of a problem that can purge through the face and also the back. In moderation, everything is okay but all the time, that’s bad.

It’s all about balance. If you put too much sugar, lactose, or yeast, that comes down to yeast because if you’re eating too many yeasty foods, then it does the same thing. You’re feeding the wrong bacteria in your body.

Some people have sensitivities to different types of things and it also has some things to do with ethnicity too. Some different ethnic groups react to certain types of foods differently. That can create something in the system that can cause issues. It’s a whole spectrum of things that people could stay away from and should stay away from. You just got to pick one thing at a time and some people don’t know.

Make changes slowly in your diet.

I’m not telling you to get off the wet and cold turkey. You can wean yourself, but in that, drinking lots of water will help to flush the system. Water is always your best friend when it comes to skincare. It’s amazing how whenever you drink water and you stay consistent with it, how much your skin will clear up, and you’ll have a glow. Sometimes it’s as simple as being hydrated.

It’s cleansing the system in general. A couple of things have come up that I’ve been thinking about. I’ve been using mostly drugstore and grocery store products and makeup my whole life. I got a skincare client and I said, “I’ve got to test out some stuff and you get to know it a little bit better.” The first thing I bought was a competitive product that was organic and natural. They used herbs from the meadow that they grew, and I broke out like crazy. I was like, “What? This is the most money I’ve ever spent on something.” My particular skin had a reaction and it wasn’t acne. It was those huge painful cystic.

It was awful. I didn’t know what it was at first because I thought, “Surely it can’t be this expensive product that I purchased.” Getting to know the ingredients in your products and paying attention is the same thing with your body and with the cleanse. A lot of people think that a cleanse is like you have to go on this ten-day thing, and it’s intense. “I can’t have any sugar, any alcohol, any carbs.” Think about it a little differently and say, “I’m going to drink as much water as I can, eat some more greens than I’m used to, maybe have some bone broth or slow down on the carb intake.”

Good dietary choices can help a whole lot because doing a detox is good. I would totally recommend that every six months or so or a whole year. However, if you are making good dietary choices, that will take you a long way and you will feel so much better and your skin will reflect it. People take supplements, too, to help with that. Even taking different supplements to help your liver or your gut can also help with the overall appearance of your skin too because it’s all from the inside. It reflects what goes on the outside.

I know that you said everything’s pretty much individual, and I said that as well, but are there any particular supplements or brands or products that you do tend to recommend on a regular basis other than drinking water?

It depends on the person and what they need. I have Osmosis MD and they specialize in skincare and supplements. It’s the only line that I carry in my spa because I feel like it’s the only one that works. It’s a holistic med-grade line. For that reason, it works in conjunction with the skincare products that I recommend to people. They have sea buckthorn supplements, they have oils that you can like digest and help the gut, and dietary pills and capsules that help to clear up the skin.

It has a lot to do with the immune system and getting that straight. There’s a lot in the supplements that I carry in the spa that will help a whole bunch of different things for one person because usually, one person was like, “I’m only going to take this sea buckthorn and I’ll be okay.” Sometimes you need a little bit more of something else to combat an overall issue that a person’s having. One thing that I recommend is finding what will work for the person because assigning one supplement is hard to do.

One of the things that a lot of people don’t think about is that your outer appearance reflects your inner health. I like that you are thinking about it from both sides and communicating with your clients about it on both sides because beauty is not an external thing. Both affect each other.

It goes a long way because, as I said, once you start doing things on the inside, you will notice that you feel great and then what comes with that is the skin will start to get better. It is like me and my clients, this is teamwork, the body, the inside and the outside, they’re a team too. I’ll ask most clients questions when I’m doing their facials.

I’ll be like, “Have you been staying away from sugar?” They’re like, “I’m not going to lie to you because I know that you can already see.” I’m like, “Yes, ma’am. Don’t do it.” It will tell on you. It’s always good to notice how you’re feeling and then go from there because if you ignore how you’re feeling on the inside and what your body is doing, it will tell you on the outside. They’re a couple of steps from each other.

How do you think your business so far has met, exceeded, or not quite met your expectations?

I feel like it has met my expectations. I always want to do more, but I have to tell myself, “You’re only one person. You’re a solo aesthetician. You’re the only person. There’s only so much you can do right now. You make the appointments, you answer the phones, and you do the facials.” I feel like it has met my expectations because I’ve been able to help so many people. A lot of clients are very happy with the work that I do. As I said, when they feel good, then it makes me feel good. I feel like I am doing my job when it comes to the overall spectrum of things. That’s why I started the business.

The first year, it was thriving. I’m very happy about that. Going into the second year in business, it feels good to know that I’m still here. I didn’t give up on myself and people still believe in the work that I’m doing. I feel like I have met my expectations, but there’s always going to be more with me. I’m always thinking of more ways that I can help people and more things that I can add to my menu. Once I get skincare, then it’s like, “What else can I do to help somebody?” Whether it is emotionally or physically, what other services can I do to help a client with whatever they may be dealing with?

Your vision for the future, do you imagine yourself partnering with or hiring either other aestheticians or other health practitioners like massage or acupuncture, all those different things that align with the spa and what you’re doing?

Yes. Maybe. I’m taking it one step at a time. I like it just being me. As I said, I know that at some point in time, I won’t be able to do all the things because I don’t do massage. I have only a few massage therapists that I recommend. That one is here in Wimberley. Another one is in San Marcus. I refer my clients to them for massage. I feel that that’s important too because I can’t do it. I give a mean facial massage. Neck and shoulders, I got you. When it comes to the whole overall body, I can’t do that. In the future, I will be partnering with them on like special days, like Valentine’s Day or something special, other events that we might put together but becoming a whole spot that does that, I don’t know yet. I haven’t quite figured out if I want to be that big.

This is a good time to mention that you are a mother. How many children do you have?

I have two children. I also have 3 dogs, 5 chickens, and a husband and a garden. I stay very busy. I try to stay present because whenever I started my business, I do want to be of service to the community, but I always put my family first. If my children are out of school, I will not be in the spa because I want to have that time to always be with them and share that time with them because when I’m working and when they’re in school, there’s all the rest of the things going on.

If I can have that off time whenever they have the off time and we go do stuff together, then that’s my time to be there with them. That’s always been very important to me. That’s one thing that I told myself that I was going to do once I started my business because whenever I worked for other people, they didn’t allow that. I had to always be on the job. There have been so many things that I’ve missed in the past with my family and stuff because I was working for other people, and they told me, “You can’t go.” That’s one thing that I always will always put first. I have to always be there for my family. I’m sorry if my availability is not so much, but my family time is super important to me.

Beauty Business: Once you start your own business, always put your family first. Because when you work for other people, you always have to be on the job, and you’ll miss a lot of family things.

I do the same thing, and every once in a while, when I’m in a business panic and I think, “Maybe I should get a job,” I think, “No way. I can’t pick up my kids at 3:00 and go on all the field trips with them and run to the river whenever I want to,” because we are here in Wimberley. There are so many wonderful nature things.

I did the same thing when I worked for someone else and I missed a lot of time and years. We lived in Austin and I was doing the city thing where the kids were in daycare from like 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM and my kids think back now and say, “Mom, that school was so awful. They didn’t close for Christmas or summer.” I’m like, “They were bad.”

I’m trying to explain to them now that mom and dad worked, but that was a choice that we made then. Now I’m making a different choice and it’s harder financially, but it’s so much better to know we have this little pocket of time where they’re going to be home and when they get sick and all those kinds of things. It’s nice to have the flexibility and not have to have a shift cover or get permission.

“Am I going to get fired?”

Yes. It’s the extra stress. Sorry to take this aside, but one of the things that I found heartwarming and eye-opening was when I started my own business and I moved to Wimberley, I realized that all of my customers and vendors were so much more understandable and understanding of family and time. The kids would be home and I’d say, “I’m sorry. I’d have to bring the kids with me to this photo shoot.” They’re like, “Great.” I’d go and they’d have brownies and water guns waiting for them. I’m like, “Not only are you understanding that you’re accommodating. You’re excited.” That was a huge shift for me to see that I wasn’t the only person that was caring about my family time.

I feel like that’s a great part of being here in Wimberley because the people here are very family-oriented and very much community. I grew up in a small town. My graduating class was 74 people.

Mine was twelve.

You understand. You have that whole everybody knows everybody and you’re very much a community, but then you move to the big city and you’re just a number. That was even in the schools that my children went to. My children were just a number. When we moved here to Wimberley, it was very much like people said hi. I was like, “People are saying hi to me. They see me.” It was great.

Whenever I started my business and those times when children are sick or the weather’s bad, I can’t get out of my house because I’m flooded in, all the clients are like, “It’s perfectly fine. Take care of your babies. Be safe. It’s okay. We’ll reschedule.” It’s a relief to be in a community with people that understand that life happens and that’s okay.

We will reschedule and they’ll be all right. I’m like, “I got to bring my daughter to your brow appointment.” “It’s okay. It’s fine. It’s perfectly fine.” I don’t do that all the time. They’re not there in the spa hanging out all the time, but during the summertime when there’s no school. My husband has his own business too. It’s like, “What are we going to do?”

I have long-time clients that have been with me since I’ve been at other spas. They’re like, “Bring them along. It’s okay.” My children will sit in the corner and won’t make a peep while I do my job. Everybody’s like, “Your kids have grown.” I have a lot of clients that had seen my kids from my daughter when she was one when we first moved here. It’s a great feeling to be a part of a community that is so understanding like that.

That leads to another question. You’re a mother of two and we ran down a lot of the things that you run or are as a woman in charge of for the most part. How do you handle expectations or burnout? What do you do to take care of yourself?

I try to designate time for myself. Whenever my children are at school, I try to take out a moment for a little self-meditation. I feel like most of my meditation I get to do at the spa because I don’t have my dogs there. I feel like the energy in the spa that I’ve created feels so serene. It is like before all my appointments, I take that moment to reset before I come in contact with people so that my energy is good and I’m okay before I take on everybody else for the day. I take a few minutes, whether it’s 10, 15, or sometimes 30, which is nice. Meditation is one thing I do. I take walks, go and walk the dogs because the Lord knows they need it, and I do too.

I don’t have a dog right now, but they do force you to get outside and move around.

Once I do that, you get to take in beautiful Wimberley. I’ll go to Blue Hole and it’s like, “This is nice.” It’s being one in the whole space with nature all the time. It’s like, “I needed this.” Sometimes I get away. I take a mommy staycation. I’ll tell my husband I’m feeling burnt out, and I need a moment to myself. He’ll say, “Okay.” I will go and I’ll book a room at a hotel here in Wimberley and have a night where I can reset myself until I feel like, “Okay. I’m good.”

I can only be so much for my family and my clients if I don’t take the time to take care of myself. Those are a few things that I like to do. Most people say, “Who does your facials?” Nobody. Me.” Getting facials is a thing that I can do but those few things that I listed are the things that help me reset myself so that I’m in a good space for everything that I have to do.

I love that you have that getaway. A lot of people are afraid to do it. Some people don’t have the finances. Even taking a few hours, like you said, to walk the dog is important. I realized when I was working in the agency in Austin that even walking outside and taking a deep breath right before a call. I wasn’t in a space where I could meditate yet. As soon as I sat down, I’d have a panic attack. “I don’t have ten minutes. I can afford a deep breath.”

I realized how much that changed my day, changed the call, change the meeting, or whatever it was. I thought, “If one deep breath makes a big difference, then what about five deep breaths, or getting myself into a calm space while I’m on the road or whatever it might be?” it’s all those little bitty changes. You realize that the 5 or 10 minutes or 30-minute walk are life-changing.

It always comes back to the breath. It’s funny because sometimes I’ll be doing things, and I’ll get like, “I can do this. I can do that.” Good old Apple, my Apple watch will be like, “You can use a reset and relax. Would you like to take a one-minute breath?” I’m like, “I don’t want to take a break right now. Don’t do it. Stop. Leave me alone, Apple.” It comes back five minutes later, it’s like, “Wouldn’t you like to take a deep breath?” I’m like, “All right, let’s do five-minute breathers.” My watch even reminds me, “You have to take time for yourself. Let’s take a few deep breaths. It’ll be okay.” “All right, Apple. Thank you so much. I appreciate you.”

It’s interesting. The things that we take for granted the most are the things that we need the most. You mentioned water earlier, and then now we’re talking about breath. I know that you’re an esthetician. People are wanting all these great skin care secrets and tips, but it all does come down to overall health at the root of it. You cannot have overall health without a sense of calm and clean, pure water, which not everybody in our world has the benefit of.

However, most of us here in this community are blessed with not having any issues right now as long as it keeps raining. I want to put an emphasis on that. We can look at the things that we can reduce and we can exercise more and we can add this and that. At the core of all of it is taking time and breathing deeply because we all have short, abbreviated breathing. The more stressed we get, the less oxygen we’re circulating through our whole bodies. Breath and water are the core of everything. If you can’t afford the expensive serums and the hyaluronic acids and to go see anybody that you need to, but especially Sharla, there are things that you can do very easily to increase that glow.

We are very fortunate that we live by the river or what’s left of it right now. The river here is very healing.

It’s partially spring-fed too, which makes it even more healing.

A moving source of water does so much for the soul. I know it’s hard to get access to the river here, but if you know somebody that you can go and have river time, put your feet in the water. Take a couple of breaths and you will be amazed at how amazing you feel after you take that time for yourself to go and do that. Always take time for yourself because you deserve it.

At the end of a decade, you are going to be sad that you didn’t.

Especially with everything with COVID, it makes you realize that everybody was very stressed at that time. Now that the world is back moving again, it’s still very important to take that time for yourself because look what we all came out of, and now we’re here. In order to stay in the right mind frame, you always have to take care of yourself in the way that you see fit.

Beauty Business: Everybody was stressed during COVID. Now that the world is back and moving again, it’s still very important to take time for yourself.

We talked about not necessarily wanting to grow. Do you have any thoughts or visions about what your business or your balance of business and personal life will bring over the next 5 to 10 years?

I won’t say I won’t grow. I’m saying that right now, I would like to stay small because I like that intimate time with all my clients and stuff, being one-on-one with each and every person. In 5 to 10 years, we might grow and I want to focus on bringing more services to Genesis Beauty company that will help people and more people that I meet in the community.

I would like to partner with them to help to bring more services to clients because once we start from organs and stuff, for me, the look of it is like the overall body, spirit, mind type of thing too. I would like to dig deeper into that as well over the next 5 to 10 years. Another thing that is important to me is energy healing and the body and stuff. That’s one direction that I would love to focus on in the future.

What’s been the greatest challenge that you’ve had either in these last few years of business or one that you would like to talk about the challenge that you’ve overcome or are working through?

It’s what we talked about, making time for myself because it is always me wanting to focus on everyone else and my family. I kept on telling myself, “You’re okay. You’re fine. Keep on going.” A challenge for me was being like, “You need to stop and you need to make time for yourself,” because it was so hard for me to do that.

With the business, spreading the word that I was here. Even with some of the publications and stuff, I’ve gotten a lot of business, but I still meet people and they’re like, “I didn’t know you had a business here.” Finding different ways to let the community know that, “I’m here. Don’t forget about little old me. Come see me.” That’s been one thing that was hard, but I know that I have to make myself more present in the community. I’ll put my family first. That might be why people don’t know that I am here because I’m always busy with the family. I feel that sooner or later, people will find out about me.

They will. People say great things, and word of mouth is everything in a business, especially in that business. What advice would you have for someone who is thinking about starting their own business and following a passion project but is not quite over the edge yet?

Just do it. It took me ten years because I was like, “I got to do this and that. Make sure everything’s in line.” Once COVID hit, it was like, “What are you going to do?” During the time when everything else was opening back up, I couldn’t go to work because I had children at home, so I had to stay at home with them for a full year. I told myself, “At the end of this year, you’re going to open up your business and you don’t have a choice because what are you going to do? Go work for somebody else? Do you want to do that again? You want this. It’s time to go do it.” I homeschooled them for a year and then after that year, they were ready to go back to school.

I was like, “Mom’s going to go to work. Mom’s going to do it.” It’s all about you making that jump because there will always be things in your head to be like, “Am I ready? I don’t know.” That’s fear and you can’t accomplish any great thing as long as you have fear. You just got to set that fear aside and do it. Once you do it, you will find that all these doors open that you don’t even expect that we’re going to happen for you because you find decided to do it. Just jump. Just do it. It’s time.

I find that there are multiple different types of business owners. When people are on that edge, some people get stuck in the planning and they have to have everything lined up and perfect. Others say, “I want to do this thing.” They jump and do it. There are those in the middle. I’m an in-the-middle person. I like to plan. Also, what I find interesting is that no matter how much you plan, it doesn’t quite work out. You can’t rely on having every single I dotted and T crossed and thing in line and partner in place. You do your work, but sometimes you have to have faith in yourself and in the universe.

If it doesn’t work out one way, it’s okay. It’s all a learning process. Get back up, tweak it a little bit, and try it again. Don’t ever give up. Keep on pushing and keep on going because, eventually, it’s going to work out the way that you want it to work out. You got to do it if you want it to work.

To figure out what doesn’t work, you have to start. What are you most proud of?

That I did it because, as I said, it’s always been a dream, but I always told myself like, “I don’t want to do it.” It’s like, “If it’s your dream, how are you going to say that you don’t want to do it? You know you want to do it, so do It.”

Listen to what’s in your heart.

It was a big thing for me because I would always make excuses. “I can’t because of this and what about that?” but the fact that I did it and I’m still doing it no matter what feels good. I’m like, “Good job, Sharla. Pat yourself on the back.”

That’s a good point because once you jump, once you start doing that thing, it’s easy to be like, “Now I got to do. I got to take my five minutes of breath and I have to take care of my kids and all of that.” You’re constantly, “This is me looking at how can I do it differently and better and change and all of that stuff.” It’s hard to look back and say, “You did it. Good job.” Wherever you are, at least you took those steps.

Acknowledge it because there are always going to be ups and down with anything that you do, whether you’re working for somebody or whether you’re in business for yourself, but the fact that you did it and that you keep on going and you continue to do it, that’s the thing to be very proud of because you didn’t give up. If you give up, then why’d you even do it?

Maybe it is time to give up on the exact thing that you started, but it’s time to start something new. You tried it and it didn’t work, so now what’s next?

A lot of things for some people can be seasonal. Life is seasonal because like this is what worked for this time, but it might be time to step foot in this new direction that is nudging and calling my name. “I’m over here. Do you want to come over here? Let’s see what this is about.” You’re like, “I don’t know. I got this over here. I can’t do it right now.” They’re like, “Come on. Do it. Come on over here. It’ll be fun.”

You finally decide to go over there like, “This is a party over here. I like this.” They are like, “I told you. Come on over. It’ll be fine.” Making that decision to stop one thing and start another one. It can be scary, but if you continue to work at that one thing that you feel in your heart that you’re supposed to be doing, it’s going to be all fine in the end.

That’s about listening to what’s in your heart. I love that. Thank you so much for joining me. Where can people find you?

They can find me online at www.GenesisBeautyCo.org. I am also on Facebook, Instagram, and also around about town. I’ll be walking around. If you see me, say hi. “I learned about you on the show. It’s nice to meet you.” I’m always going to say hi. I like to meet people. That’s where they can find me. My location is at 700 West Summit Drive here in Wimberley.

Everybody, make your appointments. Drink your water, take a deep breath and then go see Sharla. Thank you so much for joining me. It’s been a lot of fun.

You’re very welcome. Thank you for having me.

Thank you for reading. If you liked it, tell your friends. Follow us on Instagram or LinkedIn. The mission of MVP Business is to dig deep into the lives of true leaders so that others can follow, knowing that the path isn’t always easy, but the journey is worth it. Enjoy the day and live with passion.

Important Links

• Genesis Beauty
• Rachelle – Past episode
• Osmosis MD
• Facebook – Genesis Beauty
• Instagram – Genesis Beauty
• Instagram – Vine Brands
• LinkedIn – VINE Collective