Who Am I & Why Did I Start The Yegi Project? + How I Ended Up in the Beauty Industry | Solo Episode - The Yegi Project

In this episode, you will meet Yegi! Yegi is the founder and CEO of Yegi Beauty, but most importantly, she is a self made entrepreneur who quit the corporate 9 to 5 world to start her own business with her house, financial stability and pride on the line. Yegi Beauty started out as a salon seven years ago - which ended up becoming profitable within the first year - then grew into a successful eyelash extension supply company and training academy. As the name suggests, The Yegi Project, is a podcast for the entrepreneur who wants to continue working on themselves in order to grow and develop so that they can live their dream life too.

We hope you enjoy this first episode and that you join The Yegi Project's journey and take action in your life.

If you would like to be a guest on a future episode of The Yegi Project, please email info@yegiproject.com

The Yegi Project will be available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Sticher and more!
https://linktr.ee/theyegiproject

Disclaimer: The information provided in this episode does not constitute business, legal, or accounting advice, and is designed to provide general information relating to business and commerce. The Yegi Project’s content, information, products and services are not a substitute for obtaining the advice of a competent professional. Any advice given for personal development is not meant to substitute therapy, psychiatry or diagnose listeners.

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Transcript

0:01

Hey beauty lovers and fellow entrepreneurs - I'm Yegi, the owner and founder of Yegi Beauty. Within five years of being my own boss, I was able to grow Yegi Beauty into a multi-million dollar company. This podcast is where I share what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur in the beauty industry. We live - but are we really living? Wouldn't it be amazing if you just felt rich, successful, happy and fulfilled with all aspects of your life? Do you ever stop and think about what you really want out of life what it's all about and what being rich and happy really means to you? I've been actively researching, applying and studying for answers to these questions for over seven years now and I want to share my findings with you. But who am I? I'm the owner and founder of Yegi Beauty and we are a specialized brand for eyelash extensions, focusing on education and the product line. We do teach classes all over the US and online and we do sell our products across the world. This podcast is for young entrepreneurs who don't know where to start, don't have someone to guide them and teach them what it takes to be successful or have any funding or support from others. Why did I decide to start this podcast? It's because when I started my business, I was a young, immigrant woman who didn't come from a wealthy family but made it in America and I wanted to share my journey with you to show you that even at every disadvantage there is a way and if I did it so can you. And people around me have told me that I inspire them to do more and get excited about life and I want to take this podcast and reach more people to hopefully change more lives. I strongly believe if more people are happy the world would be a better place to live in. It has been my mission to find a way - a system - to spread this message and that is where The Yegi Project was born. This is my project to continue learning, growing and sharing with you to do the same. My goal is to help you become rich in all areas of your life, find balance between work and life, feel successful and happy, dream big, think outside the box, find peace and acceptance, have continuous growth, see the best in people, help you accomplish a positive mindset, become a goal-driven individual who can accomplish anything, push you to take calculated risks and get organized, have a plan, and overall to help me change the world. I also had a hard time coming up with the title for the podcast because sometimes I could be all over the place with how passionate I can get with everything I want to do, but we ended up with the title "Project" because, although I'm happy with where I am, I know I still have a lot to do to complete my mission and purpose in this world and I am going to keep working hard to grow to where I can make lasting change in people's lives and the world. So let's talk about growth; why is it important? From my research, I found that growth actually leads to fulfillment and unless we are growing or accomplishing more as humans, we are not fulfilled. Have you noticed that sometimes we accomplish a goal or get something that we wanted to get and then we're just happy for that moment and then that's it? Well this was happening to me a lot in my past and I realized that, wait, something's wrong. I need to figure out a way to enjoy the journey and always feel happy and not only when a goal is accomplished. But for this reason, I want to encourage everybody to grow with me and I've continuously tried to grow and accomplish more to feel that contentment as my human nature wants me to. However, it is very important for us to realize that we need to enjoy the journey; we need to find a way to enjoy the little successes along the way to our goals. Although this podcast is aimed for the beauty industry, since that is the industry I'm currently an expert in, I believe it can be applied to any industry for the individual who wants to be successful and rich in all areas of their lives. Another thing I want you guys to know about me is that I have decided that my next mission is to have an education system in place about finance and success for those who don't easily have access to it; to have facilities that teach the mentality and habits of the rich, the top two percent, to give all youth equal opportunity to be successful to change their faith and lives if they choose to - to know that they have options and that there are people out there that care. For this reason, I need to be financially free to have enough time and money to work on my mission. My next goal is to have 20 million, which will allow me the freedom to focus on this mission.

Now, here is a little story time: 5:16

How did I end up in the beauty industry? My story and how I got denied an opportunity which led to this amazing lifestyle that I have now. Back in 2014, I had just graduated with my master's degree and I was working really hard to climb the corporate ladder to be able to have enough income to live this dream life that I had imagined. I followed all the steps that my guidance counselors in high school and colleges had told me to you know I went to college, I got work experience, I applied for a higher position job, so I thought I was doing everything right. Until one day, I applied for a managerial type of position - it was actually a registrar position at a university- and I basically got shut down and they said I have no experience managing people and I wasn't ready for it. Now, they might have been right that I had no experience but if nobody gave me the chance to build this experience, especially I was working for that company for over six years, then how else was I going to build that experience to grow and make change in my own life? Now, I really didn't like hearing no for an answer because I knew I was capable and I knew if somebody believed in me and gave me a chance, I would learn and do what it takes to be great at that position but since they didn't give me this opportunity nor even fully considered it, I got really shut down from the beginning, it really pissed me off and it almost made my future. It pushed me to the edge where I decided to start my own business, to take control of giving myself that title, giving myself those extra responsibilities. To have the project of starting and running a business to grow these skills of managing people or running a company in a department. So that's what I did! Now that the idea of starting my own business had crossed my mind, I literally sat down and considered it. I had never considered that before because I was happy following the cookie cutter guidance of being successful, but once I sat down and started thinking, okay wait, what business can I start? What do I know? And all I've worked in was in higher education and I definitely did not have the funds or the experience of running a whole university - that I knew I was not going to be able to do. So I started thinking, what else do I have experience in? What can I be successful in? And what do I love? What's my passions? And that's when the beauty industry came into mind because I did already have my cosmetology license, I did have my business degree, I was good with people, I was creative and it wasn't as demanding as some other industries that I considered. And i'm so glad that I did listen to my gut feeling and go into the beauty industry because this was something I had passion for and I did not listen to anybody else around me, because it has really transitioned my life into where I wanted to be. Now back to The Yegi Project - what qualifies me to do this podcast? One thing I want you to know about me is I don't like to just talk or say something unless I have tested it and have proof firsthand that it works. And that is what I have been doing in the past seven years before I decided to fully start this podcast and share it with you. I have my cosmetology license for over 10 years now, I have my bachelor's and master's degree in business, emphasizing in accounting, I have six years of experience in higher education industry of being a student advisor in finance and academics, I also have one year experience in sales and marketing in the health care industry - however I learned very quickly that the healthcare industry is not right for me- I've been a salon owner for five years, I started a lash academy across the U.S. and online for over five years and it's still running, I started my own product line and again it's been going for five years now and it's continuously growing. I'm a business owner and a homeowner in California, which is an accomplishment of its own since California so difficult to have a business in or own home in, but I'm also happily married with one toddler and another baby on the way and I find great meaningful relationships with my friends for over 20 years. And this is not to brag but I really want to share it with you because I personally hate when people pretend to be experts in topics and share their opinions without really knowing what they're talking about. So I want you to know that I've taken my time to make sure I know what I'm talking about before I share it with you. So since this is the first official episode of The Yegi Project, let me share one last thing with you and I want to share a lesson that I learned when i started my first business, which would be the beauty salon aspect of Yegi Beauty. My ego misguided me at first. I thought that the beauty industry was going to be easy breezy because I have experience in all these other areas like business and accounting and all that stuff. Initially, I thought that I can start the business as long as I have a solid business plan and I have some funding and know what I'm doing, the business should be able to run on its own and I can just kick back and collect the profits. Initially, I thought that running the salon was gonna be a piece of cake because in theory, with my MBA, I knew exactly what I was doing, I had a business plan, I had gotten a loan or whatever and everything was going to go smoothly and I was going to be able to just sit back and the business was going to run itself once I set it up, but it does not work that way. Things in theory and in practice are so different. I started freaking out when I realized I was over a hundred thousand dollars in debt and that was a lot of money for me back then to be especially in debt with. And it was more scary because it wasn't really just a loan under my name. I had borrowed money from family and friends, I had drained my retirement 401k, I had run through all my savings and I had borrowed, gotten a business loan with guaranteeing under my house with my parents for the business. So this means if I was unable to pay this loan back my parents were gonna be kicked out on the streets with me next to them. So it was very very nerve-wracking - I can laugh about it now because it all worked out great but it also pushed me to have a reason to make sure that I'm going to be successful; to make sure that failure was not an option. And when I realized that failure was not an option, because it wasn't only me - I was obligated to pay these people back, to make sure that I don't mess up anybody else's life because it wasn't only me - that's when I literally just made the decision that failure was not an option and I was gonna do whatever it takes to make sure that I could pay everything back and be successful. So after a month or so of trying to run the business by just being a business owner and realizing how quickly I'm getting into more and more debt - because initially the business did not make any money - that's when I had to put my ego aside and really get my hands dirty. I had to be the receptionist, I had to clean the toilets, I had to be ready and on call 24/7 to work on my business in order to grow it. I even took services and did them for six dollars that were worth over a hundred dollars in order to build clientele, just so I would bring in some new people through the doors to try our services and then I would pass them on to other cosmetologists or lash artists in order for us to grow the business. And it had so many challenges along the way but like I said, that decision of having failure not to be an option and just really doing different things as trial and error to really see what works, was what helped me make it happen. And until today, I do remember, it wasn't that long until the business started making money. A lot of startups don't make money for years in the beginning but the salon started being profitable within the first year actually and it was amazing to me and I was even able to pay like a big chunk of the loan back and officially be debt-free within that first year of opening the business. It had so many challenges along the way but it was also so fulfilling to overcome those challenges but don't get me wrong - just like you or other people out there, I also had a lot of ups and downs and every month I questioned if what I was doing was the right thing especially when things didn't go as planned. But what I've learned was, it was the most important thing is to sit, analyze, replan, regroup, make adjustments and move forward instead of fully giving up on your business and I really really have to keep that in mind almost every single day of my life as I try to grow my business. Remember, if you know what you want and work hard at it, you will accomplish it no matter how little you may have now, how bad things may seem or how lost you may feel. Start somewhere and take action with me and you will see the progress that will lead to success and happiness - a rich life! Thank you for listening - please rate and review this podcast, follow and engage with us on social media under @theyegiproject and if you're interested in being a guest, email info@theyegiproject.com info@theyegiproject.com and don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on any future episodes!