Self-made Sherine
$10k in 30 days
Self-made was always in the cards for me. I didn’t really like the conventional 9-5 gig. I’m literally sitting lakefront in the desert working on my laptop for clients in Beverly Hills, in my pajamas without makeup, looking like a weirdo. What I wanted from life finally came to fruition with extremely hard work, hustle and determination. I never thought I’d be out of debt, but alas I’m here! Not without the complete headache of people up my ass about clients, influencers, posting, deliverables and more. I think I’ve earned it, like hell I did. I worked so hard… so, this is how I got here… let’s start at the beginning of my career.
I was 20, working 2 jobs, at two different colleges working to get my Journalism degree. Working 7 days a week, getting two different hourly rates because one job was a real job, the other was retail, to help supplement my income. I wanted to live a good life, so I wanted to go out and have a fun twenties type of lifestyle.. So I worked endlessly! I didn’t know it back then, but I was gaining the experience to get me to this exact spot.
For the past 13 years I’ve been in the plastic surgery industry, working specifically in social media marketing. This is a HUGE booming industry!! I worked as a personal assistant for a hand surgeon, who also did body and facial plastic surgery. It was kind of a creepy start, as I would walk into the surgery room to see a hand pulled apart and being put back together. It was a mesmerizing moment as I stared in awe, just surprised at how each tiny component of the hand worked. After all that shock wore off, I fell in love with the human body. Ironically, I would end up combining my two passions business and beauty. I ended up leaving that job as a business manager and I was helping run the damn show! This way way back in 2005, when social media was not prevalent and I had to hand deliver marketing flyers and we had paper appointment books. If there was a fire, well there all the files went.
Now, fast forward to my late 20’s. I’m working in Beverly Hills at a top surgeon’s practice. He was partner’s with a surgeon from Botched on E! He was trying to get heavily involved in social media and here I came, in my pencil skirt and sky high heels ready to nail this interview. I was probably about the 50th person they interviewed that day. Thank God I got the gig. It was shitty pay, but I got a headstart in my career. The drive to Beverly Hills was a complete bitch, sometimes 2-3 hours one way. I gained a ton of weight just eating and drinking my feelings after work dealing with the stress of it all. At the end of the day we ended up moving offices and I was offered a Marketing coordinator/assistant at the lavish and ridiculously overpriced facility, which housed specialists to cater to every human’s need. This valuable two years of life taught me everything I needed to kill it. Scheduling top influencers and celebs from fancy blondes to the Real Housewives of whoever, from top secret bombshell guests that cannot be named to people that booked the entire floor just to have the space to themselves.
Did you know that Beverly Hills is the MECCA of plastic surgery? Literally, the golden triangle is comprised of every specialist that has probably touched each and every single Kardashian and Jenner. Adding and removing body parts, enhancing other ones and more. I had Dr. Robert Rey from Dr. 90210 in my phone book, who am I?
What a heck of a ride. It all came apart quick when I lost my job. That night I went ham and with my severance pay booked Tulum, Mexico with my friends. 2 weeks of heaven and I suddenly had an epiphany that when I got back shit was going to get real and I needed a job stat. I literally booked interviews while on the beach and set one for the day after I got back. Luckily, by the grace of God I had no lapse in cash flow and became a Senior Social Media Manager for a great marketing agency in LA.
That was rough… I had to learn quick and manage a lot of clients in my day to day. Learning quick was fun, I’d stay up at night to learn new programs and learn everything I could to get it going and do things right.
I quickly realized that I was living beyond my means and living paycheck to paycheck. Between the high cost of rent, organic groceries and gas, things were tough. I also began dating and that was expensive too.
Being a woman in a male predominant industry was hard enough! I had to work harder just to prove that I am a business woman. It’s a dog eat dog world and if you’re not tough, you will get eaten by the vultures. I’m kind of self-sufficient and independent and I work better alone.
I had to start thinking quickly about my master plan. That’s when I decided to be a self-starter and be my own boss. I wanted to work as hard as I could to get ahead.. Indeed I did and I had a 6 month plan.
Month 0:
After all those months of hard work and endless days, blah blah. I had enough reserves to finally stop beating myself up over having to QUIT MY JOB.
I distinctly recall someone saying, “But what are you going to do for money” I couldn’t and didn’t want to tell them I had a quarter of a year’s salary saved and 4 contracts signed to begin ASAP. It’s no ones nosey business how I earn my money. But, you can imagine that nosey people want to see you fail, not succeed. So, they throw negativity your way hoping you fold.
Can you imagine how amazing that felt? To stick it to the man and be able to be my own boss, YES! I was done and realized that even though I’d lose a lot of friendships and acquaintances, I’d still come up winning, because no one was going to get me ahead, but myself. It felt great walking away from a place I knew I’d never get more from, like ever. Job well done.
Month 1:
Connected with anyone and everyone I knew that had a business and offer them my services. I was relentless, texts to everyone I knew with an association to a business. I went through all my personal contacts and talked to everyone, literally everyone. DM’d endless amounts of friends, family and more. Cold-calling was fun, at least everyone was nice!
I quickly landed 2 clients on the East Coast and set up shop, helping implement marketing plans and managing accounts. I also got 1 more account in LA and 2 more in Scottsdale. I was working so hard I barely slept. When I woke up, it was time for East Coast clients and business, so I worked every minute of the day. Oh, and by the evening it was time to hit the gym for 2 hours and cook on my days off (Wed).
All I did was work and stress… dealing with remnants from my 9 to 5. Then at lunch, I would set up meetings and have my sister help run the show. Little did I know I had my own growing business. The cash was insane. I made more with just the 1 extra client than I did with my own job in 2 months.
Month 2-4:
Set my goals and GTFO debt. I paid off all my credit cards and put them away and lived on a nice budget to keep me afloat. I got Lasik surgery which was at the top of my want list since I could remember. It felt amazing paying cash and handing them a wad of money.. I even got $1,000 off because I paid cash. Score…I could finally see. 20/20 was the life I was missing.
Month 5:
SAVE! I put all of my extra money away and was frugal AF.
Month 6:
I was earning so much money by the time I got checks, I would save them up to deposit. I quickly had to learn TIME MANAGEMENT!! The goal of this blog is to share my tips and free thoughts and share how I built a business. Most people I’ve worked with think it’s not a lucrative business, but see when you work with BIG FISH that have multiple accounts and profiles, you can easily charge 3-5k a month. How does that sound for a part time gig from your phone?
The only takeaway I get from all this is hard work. The freedom I get to work about 2 days a week and have the rest of the time off to hang with my family, relax and be out and about is heaven. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I actually made more than 10k in 30 days, but since I’m not entirely boastful, I think that’s a good solid number. I’ve never forgotten to share my successes either. I venmo the shit out of my family. I like everyone to share with me my success. They partake in all of my Amazon orders, fine dining, trips and more. It’s evident that I have to continue to work hard to have this lifestyle, but I don’t limit myself and continue to challenge myself and take on even the hardest of clients and business projects.
Thank God I have the gall to follow through. One thing my parents taught me is to be fearless. I now have influencers and businesses reaching out to me. Feeling super thankful and I don’t have to count down the days until I get paid again, or wait until the clock strikes 5, or worse.. wait around for something to happen. I made my own happen.
My goal for the New Year is to work hard and continue to earn this freedom I newly discovered. Moving to another state will be great, a new start with someone amazing who also shares the same vision. I can’t wait to show my kids the extent of what hard work can do. In reality, this is all for them. It all started with tiny notes scribbled in my notepad… don’t a lot of great things happen with just small ideas and wonder?
What are your goals for 2020?
Self-made Sherine 