Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Serious Lady Business is the podcast where we dive into the serious—and sometimes not-so-serious—realities of being a female business owner. Host Leslie Youngblood keeps it real about entrepreneurship as we dive into the hard lessons no one warns you about to the surprising wins that make it all worth it. Tune in for honest conversations, unfiltered insights, and stories that prove you’re not in this alone.
Leslie Youngblood (00:00)
Welcome back to Serious Lady Business. I'm Leslie Youngblood, your host, feminist and founder of Youngblood MMC, a marketing media and content agency. Today we are joined by Sallie Han... I'm sorry, Shelly. Sallie, I sometimes do that. that's probably one of the things I wanted to ask about. Sallie Hancock, very as it sounds. I always like to just read the guest name back to them. I will cut this out when we end the editing. So let me try that one more time.
Shelley Hancock (00:26)
you
Leslie Youngblood (00:27)
Take two, Leslie. Welcome to Serious Lady Business. I'm Leslie Youngblood, your host, feminist and founder of Youngblood MMC, a marketing media and content agency. Today we are joined by Shelly Hamcock. Shelly is a trailblazer in the aesthetic industry, a licensed aesthetician, educator, author, and mentor who's helped thousands of professionals build thriving businesses through authenticity, compassion, and purpose.
Shelley Hancock (00:29)
alone.
Leslie Youngblood (00:54)
In her newest book, Shelley continues to inspire others to believe that every twist in life has a reason and that passion, not perfection, is the true path to success. Shelley, welcome to Serious Lady Business.
Shelley Hancock (01:06)
Thank you so much, Leslie. That was beautiful. Thank you. I appreciate it.
Leslie Youngblood (01:09)
goodness,
⁓ you're beautiful. You have had this incredible journey that I cannot wait to dive into today. And, you know, for most business owners that feel overwhelmed by social media and constant marketing noise, you've been doing what you've been doing for over 25 years before social media. You know, what's one foundational principle that they should refocus on first?
Shelley Hancock (01:37)
Well, it's been 38 years. I think I was, I started before we really all even got into computers. Yeah, it's been that long. And I kind of, hmm.
Leslie Youngblood (01:41)
38?
Wow, incredible.
Shelley Hancock (01:51)
Connection is always a big word, I think in any industry. And I think we're just connecting in such a different way than we did way back in the day, right? We're connecting, but it's via social media and that way, whereas back in the day, you had to really connect with that person right in front of you, because they were going to go out and be your walking, talking advertisement. We didn't have all the ways to get out to people as we do now.
Leslie Youngblood (02:03)
Mm-hmm.
Shelley Hancock (02:21)
I don't know if that's a good or bad thing to be honest with you.
Leslie Youngblood (02:25)
I think it's a beautiful
thing because I think that...
because we can get so inundated with channels, take social media, email, still do the direct mail, podcast, know, all the things, website, all the things. And yet you're losing. It's not about the channel. Like you said, it's about the connection. And if you start with the connection and what's going to be the best channel for me to connect with my audience and my core customer, that's going to be the thing that guides you. And so I think that is really powerful that whether it's, you know, however long ago to
And now at the end of the day, that's truly what it's all about. And that's how you build a business that lasts, that you are proof positive of. And you built your business long before TikTok, Instagram. Tell us what you found that actually worked that still works just as well today.
Shelley Hancock (03:17)
Well, as you were just talking, something came up, and I don't know this is gonna answer your question exactly, but this just really came up for me. Over, I would say, the last, gosh, 20 years since I've been doing the mentoring, that sounds like such a long time to say. It's absolutely amazing to me when I pick the phone up and somebody goes, ⁓ Shelley? Is this really Shelley? Yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (03:31)
Mm-hmm.
Wow.
Shelley Hancock (03:42)
this is show because people don't pick the phone up anymore some websites don't even have a phone number to be able to reach anybody by so I kept that connection for my years in the spa with clients in the spa I kept it into my mentoring I'm easily accessible to people which I think is something we've lost track of in business in general
Leslie Youngblood (04:01)
you
Right, where it can be that surface level. I see you on the socials or I see you on the digital space, but the actual you, that business owner, that person that can help that, that's helping others and that people are looking for to help to actually be there to connect to. I agree. think if I called somebody or, you know, reached out to a business and it was like the founder, that that founder makes themselves available is a testament to that organization.
because it is a lost art and I can say, we don't call to really order pizza anymore, right? And remember how like back in the day we would call to even just order a pizza and be like, I don't wanna call to order the pizza. Why? It's not a big deal, just call. And so it's like, it's still kind of carries through where it needs to be you. It needs to be a person. There's really power in that. And like you said, it comes down to the connection. So I think that's really incredible. And so that one
part can really help improve the way you serve clients is being able to be connected with or to be engaged that can have the biggest impact on their business. I feel like you would say right, Shelley.
Shelley Hancock (05:19)
I'm
Well yes, and for me it's my favorite part. Like I don't want to just sit behind a computer or behind a camera. I want to talk to people. I want to see what's going on in their world and their businesses and how I can connect with them and help them. And I can't do that by not being available. How many times have you like you've needed help with something or you wanted to order something or something and you're on the phone and it's like press one to get to and all of a sudden I just get frustrated.
Leslie Youngblood (05:23)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Throw the phone. I just got a human.
Shelley Hancock (05:50)
hanging out you know yeah exactly
Leslie Youngblood (05:56)
Totally. Yes, 100%.
100%. And you entered the you your career has spanned over three decades you mentioned, but tell us about when you how you got started in the aesthetic industry because again, it's a decades long career. We've seen with the influx of social media the boom of the aesthetic space, but you've been doing the thing for much longer and I'm sure have watched it change through so many different areas, but I would love to talk about how you discover
Shelley Hancock (06:23)
Cool.
Leslie Youngblood (06:26)
this passion of yours for this industry that was just, you know, a baby industry back in the day.
Shelley Hancock (06:34)
It was, in fact,
back in the day when you said, I'm an aesthetician, they go, ⁓ awesome, you put people to sleep for surgery. No, no, no, that's anesthesiologist. Yeah, people didn't know that way.
Leslie Youngblood (06:42)
Right?
Very different very very different. You don't want me doing that ⁓
Shelley Hancock (06:51)
You know, it was actually a fluke how I got into the industry. I spent my 20s going from job to job to job, not knowing what I wanted to do with myself. Got hired at a dermatologist office in San Francisco to do computer work. Fine, okay. Doing the computer work and literally three days into it, the doctor taps me on the shoulder and says, what I really need is a back office assistant. Can I train you?
wow people go to school for that like what an opportunity that was being handed to me you know right right place right time or you know whatever and i had to think about it like a second but then i went shelly does stop you know this is you're being handed something wonderful so ⁓ went home and bought my white slacks and my white shoes came back the next day they gave me white lab clothes i knew absolutely nothing i didn't know what i was being thrown in
Leslie Youngblood (07:22)
Right?
Sure.
Thank you.
Shelley Hancock (07:46)
to right and they say to me ⁓ go back to treatment room number three and just observe that you know the the procedure that the doctor is doing okay I can observe today I can handle that so I kind of saunter on back to treatment room number three and I open the door and he's doing a liposuction on a woman's stomach
Leslie Youngblood (07:47)
Wow.
No way.
Shelley Hancock (08:06)
This is in 1987 in the doctor's office, right? This is big. This guy was big time. And I'm like, oh, I could feel myself like, breathe deep, Shelly, breathe deep, you don't faint. And somebody escorts me out of the room before I hit the floor. You know, so that's that was my first experience into this whole industry. And it just kind of took off from there. And he had an aesthetician, which, again, was unheard of back
Leslie Youngblood (08:12)
Yeah!
Mm.
Shelley Hancock (08:36)
them. And
while I'm learning my back office job, I'm watching this girl coming out of her own treatment room and all the patients are hugging her and saying thank you so much. I'll see you again next week or next month or whatever it was. And I was like, what's her job and how do I get that job? And that the first time I really heard, aesthetician. I quit and went to aesthetician school.
Leslie Youngblood (08:54)
Right, yes.
Wow, that's amazing. And then it wasn't soon after that, Shelley, that, correct me if I'm wrong, tell us when you bought your first business. It was very early on. What gave you the confidence to bet on yourself and to do the thing?
Shelley Hancock (09:16)
Again, something was handed to me. It was literally 18 months into being an esthetician. never been a business owner before. I went to work after school in a medical office because that's what I knew. I got a phone call from a lady that I knew that owned a small skincare center. And she said she'd just gotten the opportunity to ⁓ work at a big resort in, I think it was New Mexico. And she wanted to take this job, but she needed someone
to run her spa and she wanted me to be that person and I was like you sure you've called the right phone number cuz like you know
Leslie Youngblood (09:55)
This is Fully Hancock.
Shelley Hancock (09:57)
I
haven't been an ascetician that long. I don't know anything about running a business. So in her getting to know me, she must have seen something in me that I didn't even know yet. But I thought here again, I'm being handed an opportunity. How could I say no to this? So the next morning I called her, said, yep, let's do this. She said, come on over. We spent three hours in her spa showing me where everything was, how she does everything. And she left and I literally.
never ever saw her again. Yep.
Leslie Youngblood (10:29)
What? But you were
running her spa?
Shelley Hancock (10:32)
I was running her, so we had communication for a few months, but I never saw her. She took off and there I sat. There I sat with the spa that I realized very quickly why she wanted to go to this opportunity in this other state. It was a dying business. There was hardly anybody on the books. It was just as quiet as can be, but I thought I was like 28 at the time, I think. I thought, nope.
Leslie Youngblood (10:48)
Really?
Mmm.
Shelley Hancock (10:58)
I'm gonna make this happen. I don't know how, but I'm gonna make this happen. So I don't know if it was naivety, youth, right? Or just like, don't wanna fail. And I just put one foot in front of the other. And about three months later, I called her and I said, are you coming back? And she said, no, I don't think so. I said, I wanna buy your business from you then.
Leslie Youngblood (11:20)
Wow, what did she say to that? She said yes.
Shelley Hancock (11:23)
She said, yeah,
but she wasn't coming back. She's like, mm-hmm, sure. Yeah. ⁓
Leslie Youngblood (11:27)
Wow, what was the one of the
things that you did when you your one foot in front of the other to realize, okay, this place, I'm gonna turn this place around. What was the plan? Did you sit down and make a plan or, know? And I also think it's such a testament to you because you were saying, I was handed this opportunity and I was given this opportunity. But also I feel like that diminishes the work that you were putting in.
Shelly, like that was clearly. so I think a lot of times we can not realize that, but others can recognize that work and that passion and that commitment because nobody just gives somebody a business like and even, you know, 30 plus years ago where you didn't have Skype and Zoom and it was like you just get or email or text. You just connected by phone call. And so a testament to who you you know who you are and were that this one was like, ⁓ I bet you.
Shelley Hancock (11:54)
Thank you.
Yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (12:22)
this chick can handle it. I have a, and that you said yes to, I think that's also really key because we think it'll be an easy, an easy decision when we get these opportunities or I'm putting in the work and my, my break is going to come and then the break comes and you makes you want to throw up and you're like, I don't know. Like, are you sure? But you still said yes. And you still did the thing. And then you probably, you know, realizing, this isn't so a thriving business. gave to me, I got to do more work.
Shelley Hancock (12:24)
Thank you.
Leslie Youngblood (12:51)
for this. So now I would love for you to tell us a little like the first thing that you did or how you went about doing that.
Shelley Hancock (12:56)
Yeah.
An interesting thing was, those 18 months beforehand, I had been working at a dermatologist office and I built a skin care business inside of that dermatology office. It was hard to get him to say, okay, you can do facials, but once I did, I had a whole business inside of there. So I had created something, a solid future for myself, actually. I probably could have stayed there forever because of the work I did, thank you, to build that. But I looked at that and then I...
Leslie Youngblood (13:19)
Mmm.
Shelley Hancock (13:28)
looked at, ⁓ this opportunity, but I built this, and it was like all night long before I called her back up, it was back and forth and back and forth, and I just thought, okay if I really want to grow and do something different, I am being handed this opportunity in a way. So I was smart enough to say yes, but go to the dermatologist and say, may I still come to the office one or two days a week and continue to work on my patients? There.
Leslie Youngblood (13:54)
⁓
Shelley Hancock (13:56)
So while I was building the other business, I stayed there for probably, I don't know, it about six or eight months or so. So I still had that solid income coming in, right? Yes. Yeah. And then the really the main, I didn't know how to do anything. I really didn't. But the main thing I did to begin with was I was present.
Leslie Youngblood (14:00)
Mmm. Gosh,
Sure, right, yeah, which takes a lot of the pressure off. No doubt. Yeah.
Shelley Hancock (14:21)
I showed up every morning at 9 o'clock whether I had a client or not. And I stayed there all day long whether I had a client or not. I would clean. I would rearrange. would whatever to be there because if the phone rang, I wanted to answer that phone. Right? If somebody just happened to show up even though this was in a medical office, but if somebody just happened to show up, I wanted to be there.
Leslie Youngblood (14:46)
Mm-hmm.
Shelley Hancock (14:47)
And I think that's a thing that we don't do as much nowadays because we have cell phones. they can reach me on the cell phone. But if your energy isn't completely focused during those working hours, you're lunching with the girls when a phone call comes in. Right? Yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (15:01)
Mmm.
And that's
such like an easy, like it's such an easy yet profound thing to do. Like you said, where you do show up and it's that energy and that presence that you bring because we are also more distracted than ever in these days, right? And, but we say we want to build this business, but when a call comes in and you're not there to take it, it matters. And that is something that anybody listening right now can do and just say to themselves, I'm going to show up in
be present for the next week, right? Like even just test it or even three days and see if this is what Shelley's saying is really going to make a shift. And I'm betting that they will see a shift because it's that energy and that intention that you bring behind it. And you're not, you're taking it seriously. And so others will take you seriously. It's almost seems like that's so simple. But it really could be that basic for a success.
Shelley Hancock (15:40)
Thank
Yeah,
yeah, so that really was the simple thing I did to begin with. And then each client that came in, ⁓ here's a good one, when they would come in, and they'd been seeing this lady for a while, but not many of them, right? So I wasn't very busy, but when they would come in and they'd say, how's it going? Because they knew I was new and taking this over, how's everything going? my gosh.
Leslie Youngblood (16:04)
Wow.
Shelley Hancock (16:25)
this is so exciting, I'm so busy, everything's going fabulous, I'm so excited about this opportunity and it was Thursday and they were my first client that week. Right? But I would never ever ever say to them, well you know it's kind of slow here, I know why this lady wanted to leave. No, never say that to them. I always told them how busy I was. Right? Tell it like you want it to be, don't tell it like it is.
Leslie Youngblood (16:34)
I love that.
Mmm. Mm-hmm.
Yes, I think that is so smart because I think a lot of people say, ⁓ that's toxic positivity. But it's like, no, you're speaking it into existence what you want to see before you. And as business owners, we will have those dips in business or those frustrating points where we feel like the needle's not moving. But if you continue to show up and be present and then speak it like, I'm so busy, things are great.
It will like just that act alone. And these are not things that cost money. These aren't marketing channels that you have to go spend money on. These are simple things that anybody can start implementing today, no matter what stage they are at in their business, no matter how old they are, no matter what their budget is, no matter what type of business they have. I love that that is translates to business success, whether you're starting today or whether you're starting like decades ago. And I think that is so cool.
Shelley Hancock (17:21)
No, exactly.
cool.
Yeah.
People are more drawn to you if you have a positive energy. They don't really know whether you're really telling it like it is or not. They don't know. It's just your energy they're drawn to. I've always said that I became successful in my skincare business not because I'm the best esthetician in the world.
Leslie Youngblood (17:47)
Mmm. Yes.
Must.
Shelley Hancock (18:03)
But because I knew how to connect with people. And that energy, they want to be around it. They don't want to be around the energy of somebody saying, gosh, know, it's not going so good here. I don't want to go back to that, you know?
Leslie Youngblood (18:06)
Yeah.
Mmm.
Right?
absolutely not. I think it's just so true. The energy that you bring just is not, I think, taken as seriously ⁓ as we think it should, especially when it comes to business and just being humans in general. You don't want to be around the friends that bring you down. You want to be around the people that light you up or that, you know, make you feel good. whether you're dating friends, all the things. And so.
It's just such practical business advice too that we don't have to go read, you know, endless books on it. Like you can really start with these simple, practical things. ⁓ And I'm sure, Shelley, one thing that you also are is curious to start the skincare line in the dermatologist's office. And you said that he'd never done that before. And that was something that you built and grew. How did you, did you read about that? How did you think, I think you should do skincare?
You know, how do you pick and choose the endeavors to kind of, I don't know, like support or, you know, fold on top of the other things that you're doing? Because you can be an esthetician, do facials, yes. But obviously, facialists need products. And if people come to you and trust you and they're going to trust your product recommendations. But I think that was something that was so different to do back then that now it's just a no brainer how to expand your brand and have all these like things aligned under your brand. So how did you discover that?
or you know, feel like I need to explore that and experiment with this.
Shelley Hancock (19:43)
with products in general, is that what you're asking about? Yeah. There weren't as many product lines back then, thank goodness. Right? So it was easier to test and try them back then. And now there's just such a multitude, not only in the professional industry, but then just out on Amazon or wherever it is, right? I think you begin to get a sixth sense, I always have a hard time saying that, about what you feel like is gonna be
Leslie Youngblood (19:52)
You
TikTok.
you
Shelley Hancock (20:13)
or not after this many years in the industry. Back then you didn't have a lot to choose from and so there was times that it back then you had sales reps that still came in the office. I don't think that's a thing anymore. Yeah and I can remember one
Leslie Youngblood (20:19)
right.
my goodness, did they have suitcases and they would like open it up or they're, I love that. That's so cool.
Shelley Hancock (20:34)
that the gal came in. It was probably a fairly good product line, but I remember being in the doctor's office and you know we had to have an opening order of like I don't know what it was two thousand dollars or something like that, but yet she didn't have any samples or anything for us to try and in my head I was just like no sorry like how are we just going to put that kind of money out for something when we don't even know what this is like yet and I know she was offended but I just to me that was good business.
Leslie Youngblood (21:04)
Not your problem. I'm sure she probably learned her lesson from that date. Right. You would think. But I think, you know, you the sixth sense you talk about, you know, something that you've experienced and others I wish would you have to adapt to trends versus staying rooted in what already works. How do you navigate that? Is it that sixth sense or is it?
Shelley Hancock (21:04)
right? Yeah. ⁓
Maybe, I don't know. Could be, yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (21:33)
I can't even imagine, especially with how the aesthetic world has grown and changed. What's been your experience, Shelly?
Shelley Hancock (21:38)
Yeah.
I really do have that sixth sense now and I can almost open a jar and know it's just a weird thing just know immediately and with equipment with all the aesthetic equipment out there and that's where my passion is and more in the equipment than in the products. ⁓ I have a graveyard of equipment that got the big thumbs down out in my garage. mean literally I buy this stuff up I just want to know what's going on out there and there's a lot of it that's truly a waste of people's money and time.
Leslie Youngblood (21:48)
Yeah.
Shelley Hancock (22:09)
the time that they're sitting using it on themselves because it's I call them Tonka toys they're just nothing you know and it's a shame because the public can get their hands on anything out there right now and it's sad on one side because they're wasting their time and money and it's scary on the other side because they can get their hands on everything they're buying things that they shouldn't be using on themselves
Leslie Youngblood (22:10)
Mm-hmm.
Right. Right.
right.
Mmm. Mmm.
I lost you for a minute.
We got disconnected. Can you hear me, Shelly? no.
Shelley Hancock (22:36)
Leslie, you've locked up on me. don't know if you're still talking.
Leslie Youngblood (22:40)
Can you hear me now? We got my internet. I'm so sorry. We'll edit that out. ⁓ But you were talking about how the public can get their hands on anything right now.
Shelley Hancock (22:41)
There we go.
That's OK.
They can and perhaps there are pieces of equipment that aren't meant for their skin but because everybody else is talking about it they go ahead and go out and buy it right or they're not quality pieces of equipment and they could end up harming themselves that's the scary side of it that's where I prefer people to like find an esthetician they trust who's going to get them the right thing for their skin.
Leslie Youngblood (22:58)
Mmm.
Thank you.
Bye.
Nate. ⁓
Right, and you think, ⁓ it's great, we have so much more available to us right now, but really, that's not a good thing because especially when it comes to your face, and who wants to put something on their face that is going to cause them harm? And you think, no, this is, it's great, or it's this or that, or it's totally fine, but no, there's so much more to it, and that's why you wanna leave it to an expert, and you have experts like yourself in this space that you can trust.
Shelley Hancock (23:41)
Okay.
Leslie Youngblood (23:45)
and that you should always go and ask too, especially, can't even imagine some of the things that you maybe have seen of home remedies gone wrong, Shelly, and then they come in to you and you're like, well, yeah, probably shouldn't have done that,
Shelley Hancock (23:48)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, the marketing is so good. People are so good on Instagram and TikTok and everything that it draws the public in. yeah, look, so and so said that this is good, so I better get that. But ooh, your skin type doesn't need that, you know.
Leslie Youngblood (24:10)
Mm-hmm.
Bye.
Shelley Hancock (24:15)
Or in fact, it's not going to be good for you, I always call it getting caught up. I've gotten caught up throughout the years on certain things, but I just think it's more detrimental for the public to be getting caught up on this marketing that's happening now.
Leslie Youngblood (24:23)
Mmm.
Right.
Right, right. Definitely. What's one mistake you see newer business owners make because they feel the pressure to do it all or to be that top competitor and they're in a saturated field, Shelly?
Shelley Hancock (24:45)
That's a good one. And I always teach by telling stories. So I'll tell you my first big thing that I got caught up in. This was when I took that spa over and it was there just like my third month. I think it was actually right after I purchased the business. So I just made this purchase of it. And so money was, you know, tight because I just went through all of that. Well, this gentleman in a coat and tie came into my office one day and he started telling me about this advertisement that
all the businesses in town are doing. And as he was talking to me, started going a little faster and his energy was getting huge. Like, ⁓ everybody's doing it and if you don't do it, you're never gonna succeed in business and I'm real green here, right? Like this is, I'm just getting started and I know nothing. And I always go like this, I got caught up. I got caught up in this man's energy about this advertisement that everybody's doing it before you know it. I'm signing on the dotted line for this marketing, okay? I remember.
$950. That was a lot, a lot of money back then for me. It's still a lot of money right now. Do know what this advertisement was? You know when you go to the grocery store or the pharmacy or whatnot and you check out and they hand you your receipt? Did you know if you turned that receipt over that there's advertisement for businesses on that receipt?
Leslie Youngblood (25:50)
Yeah, sure.
I cannot wait to hear.
Yes.
Because
I throw my receipts away. I don't look at my receipts.
Shelley Hancock (26:13)
I never saw one of those advertisements, so what made me think that all the businesses in town were jumping on this? So I got caught up in his energy. I should have said, ⁓ may I have the name of a few of those businesses so I can call them and see how this is working for them? Didn't think about doing that.
Leslie Youngblood (26:17)
Mmm.
right.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Wow, well they really put the right person out there selling those receipt advertisements because that's the thing though is that is such an easy trap to fall into whether it's receipts, whether it's Google My Business or you know.
Shelley Hancock (26:41)
you
Leslie Youngblood (26:50)
Google advertising or social advertising because you are building something that really you cannot, you feel like you can't fail at, right? And that there's so much on the line and you hear, others are doing this. Yes, this must be like the right thing for me to do. But that's not necessarily true because if you had thought about the connection and what you're trying to achieve with that audience, I'm sure you would taken that beat to be like, yeah, this doesn't seem like the right thing, but it is so easy to get caught up in those things. And, you know,
Shelley Hancock (27:18)
Yes.
Leslie Youngblood (27:20)
you live and you learn. Right? And so I think that that's just a great, great story.
Shelley Hancock (27:24)
What happened?
So guess how many clients I got out of that $950 advertising.
Leslie Youngblood (27:34)
Zero. Zero. So yeah, that's a return. No ROI there. That's ⁓ that's a frustrating one. ⁓ I love it. So, know, Shelley, every business has hard seasons, which can make it maybe easier to jump on, maybe an easy fix that might come your way, maybe such as that example. But what's helped you keep going during those moments when quitting maybe felt easier than keeping going?
Shelley Hancock (27:35)
zero. Not one phone call.
I think just for me a passion for this industry, the clients, the way I feel when somebody gets up from a facial and feels better about themselves. That specific moment makes everything else that goes along with running a business go away. And then I want to just keep going.
Leslie Youngblood (28:22)
Hmm. Mm-hmm.
love that. How has your definition of success changed over the years?
Shelley Hancock (28:31)
you
I think now, not I think, I know now in my career it's more about helping others than it is helping myself inside of my bottle of my skincare center. Now my passion is about going out to aesthetic schools and speaking to the students and sharing this journey so that they can look at me and go, if that lady can do it, I can do it too. You know, your journey might be different. There's so many avenues to take in this industry, so many. And in any industry, there's
Leslie Youngblood (28:55)
one.
Mm-hmm.
Shelley Hancock (29:02)
so many ways you can go that you can listen to someone's story and just be encouraged, inspired by the fact that they did it. And maybe your journey will be slightly different, but that you can do it as well.
Leslie Youngblood (29:16)
Yeah, I think that is so important too to see. If you can't see it, you can't be it. And so I think that is so important, especially for women. When did you decide to make that pivot to coaching and teaching, Shelly? Tell us about when that came into your life.
Shelley Hancock (29:35)
Yeah, I know exactly. was 2005. I still have my big day spa. I had tried to have employees for a few years and that was like exhausting. And I just, remember waking up, I think it was a Sunday morning and I was sitting on the couch with my two King Charles Cavaliers and my cup of coffee, just thinking about life. And I was just like, I'm tired and I'm losing my passion and I don't want to lose my passion. So I think I need to sell this business.
It just, it hit me just like that. And do you know what? I sold it the next day. I could you not. And Matt told me, ⁓ I'm on my right path. Now I, that time I didn't know what the path was. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to stay in the industry, but I didn't know what it was. I just knew that I was finished running a big day spa. And I floundered for a few years. ⁓
Leslie Youngblood (30:09)
Get out of here.
right.
Hmm.
Shelley Hancock (30:31)
And then equipment started coming in the industry. And I started buying up equipment. And I loved it. And I started talking to other estheticians about it. And they started going to those companies and buying it. And all of a sudden, it hit me. Wait a minute. I'm getting all these estheticians to go buy this equipment. Maybe I
something here, right? So I started calling these companies up and telling them this is who I am, this is how long I've been in the industry, this is what I'm doing. They didn't know what to do with me because I wasn't asking for a job. I didn't want to become a salesperson for them. I just wanted to get a little something something for referring people over to them. And it just took off from there and a year later I had to open a training school and I opened a training center.
Leslie Youngblood (30:51)
Mm-hmm.
Right. Right. Right.
Wow.
To go out and sell products or was it to tell us about the training school?
Shelley Hancock (31:22)
Yeah, then I just, as I was just working with more more estheticians, I thought there needs to be a place that they can go to to be trained. The center had two treatment rooms, and then it had a huge room that I could fit 48 estheticians in. And all sorts of companies from the industry would come in and they would give their classes, and I would give classes, and it was just a beautiful, wonderful time.
Leslie Youngblood (31:33)
I'm done.
Yeah, that's awesome. feel like there's some, from my experience with some of the, you know, aesthetic.
salons and spas in Metro Detroit, they all have a training room. They all go to trainings. And so it makes perfect sense. And back then it was so novel and needed when you had like the, you know, the not like on-site, but like the expansion of all these devices in ways to service individuals. Right. And so it makes perfect sense to be able to to do that and give these individuals something that they really needed to do their service better. Like, what a powerful thing.
Shelley Hancock (32:14)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (32:27)
That's amazing.
Shelley Hancock (32:27)
Yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (32:28)
That's so cool. What advice, Shelley, would you give to women building service-based businesses today who maybe feel behind that they maybe not that they're maybe they're not loud enough or that they're not online enough? What would you tell them?
Shelley Hancock (32:45)
It's okay.
I built a business without being on and I love how you said that not loud enough. I feel like some of the advertising on Instagram and whatnot I almost feel like people are barking at me if that makes sense like go come to me. Huh get my stuff. ⁓ you know that kind of thing I think the softer approach still works and still keeping the human being in front of you in mind and connecting with them I don't think we have to be out there on the internet. I've
really backed away doing that. was doing it at first because I thought, we're gonna do this to build and it's not it's not my passionate way of wanting to do things. I still pick that phone up when the phone rings kind of thing.
Leslie Youngblood (33:28)
Yeah. Yes.
Yeah. And I think that is so powerful because you feel that pressure. ⁓ I have to, I think I just saw even a TikTok the other day where the one was saying.
Everybody says, you should build in public, but show them people what you're building. And most of the time it's directed towards women. And so you feel like, oh, not only do I have to build this business, but I got to show people how I'm going to build it. Because that's the way to get more clients. That's the way to build this business. And so you feel that pressure to do those things. But
It's okay to that not be the thing for you to grow your business. It doesn't have to be that channel. You don't have to do it. And I think when we lose sight of what feels right for ourselves, that's when we kind of spiral. And so you don't have to do those things that everybody else is doing if it doesn't feel right to you. That's not going to grow your business. Because that again, to bring it all back full circle, that energy and that intention is not going to be there behind it.
Shelley Hancock (34:24)
Absolutely perfectly said. In fact, I always talk to my estheticians and I always say you've got to find yourself when we're doing sales, right? Everything's about sales, but it's more about sharing with people, right? And you've got to find how you are and how you want to connect with people. Now in my, when I was in my spa, I always was so excited to show them the newest thing I got, the newest, I call them toys, my equipment, that I have this childlike excitement about it. But if somebody is a very quiet person,
person
and they try to be me, right, they try to have that, it's just going to come off as awkward. It's not going to work. So the same thing with what you're talking about. If you don't like to be on the camera, you're awkward on the camera, that's not going to work in your favor if you're trying to do that. So find where you're comfortable with and then push that way or leap that way or jump that way, whatever you want to call it.
Leslie Youngblood (35:01)
you
Yeah, I think that's a really, good idea. Yeah, right, exactly. I
totally agree, I totally agree. You've seen a lot of changes in the industry, Shelly. What are you seeing now that's exciting?
Shelley Hancock (35:29)
I feel like everything we just talking about and some people that I've been talking to recently, I feel like maybe we are going back. You know how they always say go back to the basics. I think maybe people, there's a slight little movement back to the basics of just taking care of that client in front of you. ⁓ And that's kind of what I'm excited about because I know that it works. That's how I grew it. And so I want to see other people do that.
Leslie Youngblood (35:47)
Mm-hmm, yeah. That's the jet.
right.
Yeah, I love that. I think that's so special. And tell us about your book, Shelly.
Shelley Hancock (36:04)
I've written a few books actually. all on Amazon. But this most recent one is just everything we've been talking about. It's my complete journey, all sorts of stories and fun things that have happened to me. And it's really geared toward the students, people at aesthetic school. So I can't get out all over the world, although next month I'm going to Arizona and speaking at three schools. I'm so excited. So it's something they can read and say,
Leslie Youngblood (36:06)
Yeah.
Amazing.
Shelley Hancock (36:32)
the story but then I go into lessons I've learned. All you know things that I know for sure that are going to help them start and grow a business. And so this one I know is near and dear to my heart.
Leslie Youngblood (36:43)
I love that. so this is your author multiple times. And this is the book that gives them the journey and the tools. if there was, maybe is there like a story in the book or a lesson in the book that you're most excited to share that you have never shared before?
Shelley Hancock (37:03)
No, all of them. And people
always laugh at me when I'm doing classes and whatnot because I just, do, and I've done it with you here a little bit, is I share by telling stories because I have so many of them. You if somebody asks me a question, I probably have a story to tell them that helps answer that question that they're asking me. So this was me just being able to get it all out of my head and write it down.
Leslie Youngblood (37:27)
Yeah,
I'm sure there's story, you know, in customer service, stories for days. I feel like anybody that's in customer service, whether you're in restaurant, aesthetics, I remember when I was one of my first jobs when I was a teenager.
back in the late 90s, I got hired at Starbucks. And this was before Starbucks was the Starbucks that we all know today that's on every street corner. And people would come in asking if we had donuts. And we were so slow there that we would sit in the comfy chairs and play Jenga. Right. And so it's just been really funny to watch how that that ⁓ has evolved over the years. But it was such a fantastic lesson in.
interacting with people in service-based businesses. And it's so fun to share those stories of, you know, that because...
You wouldn't, I always feel like now I'm a marketer. sit at my desk and I'll have Zooms and this and I'll go to clients, but it's just not the same. There's just something really unique about interacting with person to person in a service based business that I think makes you a better human. And you learn things and have stories for days to come out of that. my goodness.
Shelley Hancock (38:40)
especially in the aesthetic industry, right? They lay down on that
table and they're, ooh, the things they tell you. You could probably write a whole book just on things I've learned from my clients.
Leslie Youngblood (38:46)
Yes. Yeah. That'll be your next book, Shelly, like the untold
client stories. We've changed names and details to protect their identity. yeah, you know, when you go to your hairstylist and your aesthetician.
Shelley Hancock (38:54)
Yes, exactly.
Okay.
Leslie Youngblood (39:02)
It's
that really wonderful connection and community building. You have a relationship with that person too. They become like a friend, a therapist, even when you're there. And they're making you feel your best self, which is such a gift to be able to give somebody that is going through a hard time in their life or had a bad day. And, you know, I think we need more of that in our world. So I think that's really cool. We'll wait for that book, giving all like the key.
Shelley Hancock (39:28)
Okay. Okay.
Leslie Youngblood (39:31)
I love it so much. Shelly, if you could leave listeners with one lesson about building a business that lasts, not just one that grows fast, because again, I feel like we can get caught up today and I need to be in six figures in three months or right? Like we put these hard and fast rules on ourselves. What would that lesson be?
Shelley Hancock (39:50)
Let go of fear. It's a word I hear a lot. I'm afraid to do this, Shelley. I'm afraid to do that. Just let it go. I feel like when I started back in my 20s, I didn't know I was supposed to be afraid.
Leslie Youngblood (40:03)
Yeah.
Shelley Hancock (40:04)
Right? And then as you
get a little older, it's like, oh man, I'm so afraid about this. You know, just let that go. Nothing that that terrible is going to happen that you can't get up and pivot and go another direction. Just let that fear go and go for it.
Leslie Youngblood (40:16)
Yeah.
love that. I love that. Everybody that's listening, do something that scares you today. Put that fear down. Listen to Shelley. There's nowhere to go but up. ⁓ Shelley, as we wrap up today, we'd love for you to share with our listeners where they can find you and connect with you and all the information about your book as well.
Shelley Hancock (40:40)
Thank you so much. My website is Aestheticsuccess.com and then all the information to contact me directly is on there. And the book is Aestheticsuccess.com and you can see all that information on there too. And I have YouTube channel with a ton of videos over the years that you can go to. And it's just my name, Shelley Hancock.
Leslie Youngblood (40:57)
Awesome.
Perfect. And we will also drop those links in the show notes for everybody listening so you can hop right over. Shelly, thank you so much for joining us today. What incredible career and person you are. We appreciate you so much for joining us and sharing your journey with us today.
Shelley Hancock (41:13)
Thank you, Leslie. I appreciate you having me on. Have a wonderful day.
Leslie Youngblood (41:16)
Thank you.
You too.