The Alimond Show
Welcome to The Alimond Show --join us as we share our entrepreneurial guests' stories, uncover their secrets to success, and explore the unique paths they've taken to build thriving businesses in our community.
In each episode, our host, Aliyah Dastour, sits down with a diverse group of local business owners, from the corner cafe to the boutique shop, from tech startups to family-run enterprises. We peel back the curtain to reveal the trials, triumphs, and transformational moments that have shaped their entrepreneurial journey.
Discover the passion, perseverance, and innovative thinking that fuels these businesses, as well as the challenges they've overcome along the way. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur seeking inspiration or simply a curious listener interested in the stories behind your favorite local spots, The Alimond Show has something for everyone.
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The Alimond Show
Yolanda Singh Owner of Limitless Skincare & Beauty
Ever dreamt of transforming your passion into a successful business? Join us as we sit down with a skincare guru who did just that. She recounts her journey from being a novice in the skincare industry to becoming a victorious entrepreneur, sharing the highs, the lows and everything in between. Her nuggets of wisdom and deep insights into the world of entrepreneurship are sure to inspire and guide any emerging business owner.
Hang onto your seats as we dive into the world of Bio Microneedling, a unique skincare product harvested from the depths of the sea. Our guest enlightens us on the miraculous effects of this product, tackling a multitude of skin issues from acne to melasma and even providing skin tightening - all without the use of needles! She's the only one in Virginia offering this wonder elixir, and she lays out her ambitious five-year plan and her vision of making a positive change in the world through her craft.
Our conversation takes an interesting turn as we broach the subject of her business model, one that's built on shared ownership and collaboration. She motivates her team by giving each member a stake in the business - a brilliant strategy that encourages shared responsibility and collective decision-making. Despite her struggles with social media, she has grown from a mere five clients to over 200 through word-of-mouth advertising, proving the power of delivering results. Listen in for invaluable insights on knowing your market, results-focused strategies, and the journey of building a successful business.
Since I started doing skin, they're like well, can you train us, Can we do something? So I was originally just sending products for them to sell and introduce their client to, but then we decided that we're going to have a full spot where you can get here and your face.
Speaker 2:Wow, and so are you going to be going back and forth, are you going to hire people to run?
Speaker 1:I mean I am going to hire people, but I'll be going back and forth as much as I can as much as. I can I?
Speaker 1:don't know I'm saying, is that the exhausted face thinking about it, or is that the you know, I guess you get into projects and you're like, yes, this is going to be great. And once you're in it you're like, hold on, this is a lot, yeah, but it should be great. I mean, they have a little you know from research and going there. They have a few spa, but it is just mainly facials. It's not like skin tightening treatments, it's just pretty much that glow facial. You get a glow, you go Glow and go.
Speaker 2:How you got into skincare.
Speaker 1:My entire life I've always been into taking care of your skin. My mom was a cosmetologist so she pretty much was like oh, you have to cleanse your face every morning, you should keep moisturizer so you don't get wrinkles. And my husband had really, really bad acne about 10 years ago. So I started making home stuff like, okay, use this, use this. Because we went to a dermatologist and she gave him I believe it was retinol at the time and he woke up the next morning and his entire face looked like it was burnt. So I was like, no, we're going to do something at home, something natural, where it doesn't have any acid or anything. So I started out doing that.
Speaker 1:His skin cleared up and my mom told me my entire life that God blessed me with my hands. Anything that I do with my hands will all succeed. So one morning I got up before I worked for Department of Justice. So one morning I got up and I'm like I'm not happy doing this, I'm happy doing this, so why not look into it? So I looked into it called how many years ago was this this was about seven years ago.
Speaker 1:Okay, I called different schools and I did the basic, but the basic was too basic for me. So I was like I can't do basic esthetician work. That's not. I don't see a difference. I don't want to give somebody a glow, I want to change the skin. I want you to wake up tomorrow and say, hey, I don't have to wear makeup, I don't have to do any of this, my skin looks great. So I went back for the masters and during the masters, I wanted to learn more. So I worked for a dermatologist and then a plastic surgeon, just so I can get more in depth on the skin. Once I finished working with them the plastic surgeon I was like well, the goal was always to get my own business. So I branched out on my own about five years ago. Okay, awesome, and it's been hard. What's?
Speaker 2:been the hardest part about it. Doing it by yourself, wearing all the hats Like as a business owner versus as an esthetician, exactly.
Speaker 1:As a business owner, as an esthetician, all you worry about is treatments, right? As a business owner, you have to worry about marketing. You have to worry about what specials you're going to have, how you're going to customize it, what's the best treatment to have in your business, what's going to make your business the most money, what's going to give your clients the best results? So it became you know how am I going to get all of this done? And in the beginning I hired a lot of marketing company. I lost a lot of money hiring marketing companies. It's a bunch of them, but it was a learning experience. I'm not saying I didn't take away anything from them, but I you know every marketing company that I hired. I took away a little bit from them. So it made me more knowledgeable on how I need to go about it in the next marketing company, what I need to tell them I need for my business. So I mean I have a great what did you learn from that?
Speaker 2:Like? What is it? What are a couple of takeaways that you can think of off the top of your head where you're like? Let me save you small business owner who is watching this right now $10,000, $20,000 of mistakes that I had to go through.
Speaker 1:What I can say off the top of my head is don't rush into a marketing company when you first start, because you don't even know what your business is at the time. You have no clue where you're heading towards. A lot of people get into it and they're like, yeah, I just want clients. But you can have a whole lot of clients and they can market you and you can get a whole lot of clients and nobody can return because you're not giving them what they need. What I think everybody should do as a small business owner is first know your business, get to know your clientele, your market and then start marketing to that. I went down to the process where I took a marketing class myself, because this isn't working for me. I know down to what TV shows my clients watch. That made it easy for me to tell a next marketing company. These are the clients that I want to target. I feel like you should know your business, know your clientele, know who you want to market. Once you get to know them, it's easy to market to them because everything you're going to do is going to go towards them. Versus everybody. I always tell people don't want to do everything. Be good at just that one thing that you want to be good at and believe it.
Speaker 1:I remember when I first started my business I had like five clients To me. It was like I was happy with my five clients. As the months go by, I'm like, no, this is not working for me. I started most of the stuff I did by myself. I did my Google by myself. I would post everything by myself. I'm not good at social media. Until this day, I'm horrible at social media. If you go on my social media I really have followers. Everybody's like why don't you post? I'm like I don't have time for that. I know social media is a going thing, but it never worked for me. I was really good at going out. I used to make the little packets myself and go hand it out on people on doorsteps and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Got that hustle mindset, don't you?
Speaker 1:I think I don't know. Everybody say when you're a Capricorn, that's your goal orientated. Maybe I am. I think I love what I do and I didn't want to fail at it. I did what I needed to do to get where I need to be. I'm still not where I need to be, but at least I know I'm getting there. I can fairly say I have about 200 clients on my roster. I remember when I first started having five. Sometimes we look at life and we're like, oh my gosh, I need to be booked out every single day. It's like, look where I was and look where I am. That's growth.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's five to 200. Is that just from passing out backs?
Speaker 1:No Worth them out the best form of advertising. This is worth them out. I'm big on results. If I can't give you results, I don't take you. If I can give you results.
Speaker 2:I take you. How do you know if you can give somebody results?
Speaker 1:I don't know, I'm so filming. Walk me through that process. Okay, most of the time when people come into me and I'm looking at their skin, I'm specialized in acne and skin tightening. Older, younger, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. Skin tightening my target market is 30 and over. They're more consistent. At that age. You're really thinking about your skin. You're looking like wait, I see a little bit of wrinkle. Acne clients is any age. I start from 16. Quick question what show do they watch? My acne clients? My acne clients, they watch the Love and the Hip Hop shows. My older clients are more of the housewife and the real family shows. I go on that.
Speaker 1:I go off of that when I think about them. My process in knowing how I can actually help someone is, like I said, I specialize in acne, so when anyone comes to me with acne I always take them with the skin tightening it depends on how deep your lines are, because my machine. I'm not big on Botox. I don't like Botox filler. I don't do any of those. But fillers I'm okay with, but Botox I'm not.
Speaker 1:I actually like that micro needle in because it helps to build back the collagen in your skin is something that's going to last you longer than if I would have done fillers or Botox. That I have to do every four months or every six months. So is that why you don't like Botox? That's because I don't like Botox. Because it's a toxin. It was meant for headaches, it wasn't meant to put in your skin every four months. And because it's a foreign object into your body, it can move. I have a client that did it and she had to do eye surgery because of right here. So she had to do eye surgery. So it's like I'm not a fan of it Just because of that. It can move and go anywhere because your body's trying to push it out, because it's a foreign object. Fillers is natural hyaluronic acid. Your body actually makes that, so it's not going to do anything. It's going to dissolve faster, but it's not going to do anything to you, but yeah.
Speaker 2:No, I love that. It's interesting to hear that because you could easily profit and make money and include that into your practice, but you're choosing not to because of what it does.
Speaker 1:I'm pretty natural. I mean, I don't eat meat. I do juices every three days, so I wanted everything to go follow me. I wanted to represent who I am as a person and not because everybody's doing it. Trust me, botox, you make money, I know that, but I also do great in what I do and they don't have to constantly spend money. Yes, it's a business. They're going to always come back because they want their skin to look tight, but you don't have to come every six months to me to get a foreign object in your skin. I feel as though, honestly, my clients come every month. Even though their skin are tightened, they still come every month. I want my skin to stay like this.
Speaker 2:Is that really? Why are they going to come and just chat with you? I?
Speaker 1:hope it's both. I hope it's both. I'm actually the only person in Virginia that has this product. It's called BioMicronadolin. Okay, what is it? It is natural. Hold on, don't even say it's natural. It is natural, but it comes from the sea, so it looks like algae, is called Sporella. It's the sponge of the sea.
Speaker 2:Okay, I think I take that in like little tablets Right Spargelinela.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is. Maybe it is it is.
Speaker 2:It is you take it in tablets. Don't quote me on this, maybe not. I thought it was all no.
Speaker 1:I know what you take it's a green. Yeah, you'd make it in a green juice. Yes, yes, yes, no, it's not different. Okay.
Speaker 1:No because this is actual needles. I'm like you cannot take this, nothing else, you can't take it, so it's like sponge of the sea. You dry it Well, I don't dry it, the company does but it gets dry and it turns into these fine powder. So when you rub it on your client's skin it starts to fill like needles without having to go through the process of using actual needles. So what it does? It clears up acne, it gets rid of melasma, it gets rid of it's also tight in the skin. So instead of my RF microenilin that's the thing that I do the most now. Yeah, I think in my business this is what I've looked for. I wanted something that can fix everything like acne, everything that I specialize in, exactly Everything that I specialize in and I wanted something that was going to fix acne without having to stress. This treatment is so great that in seven days you see your results. Oh well, it's for treatment, but in seven days you get 32% of that result, and I'm the only person in Virginia that has it.
Speaker 2:Now see, if you did social media, that'd be great to show just before and after.
Speaker 1:No, I do. No, no, no, no, no. I do show before as an after on my social media, Like a lot of people video as they're doing are not honestly, I have no time for that. Like, my focus is what I'm doing. If I remember, I might do a video here and there like my marketing company. They yell at me all the time. I was going to say they're like Yolanda, you need to send us more pictures and more videos and I'm like how can you do that? If you really care?
Speaker 2:about what you're doing. So something you could do just as an idea you take a camera like the one that's in front of us, have a nice wide lens on it so you can see without you having to go and see is it on focus?
Speaker 1:is it on focus Right right?
Speaker 2:And then you just hit record and then you just do your thing and then you take that video, send it to somebody else to figure out what to do with. They'll make it a YouTube video. They'll make it social media. Yeah, they do. They do all that. Extend it to your marketing company, let them, that's, that's what they.
Speaker 1:That's what they're saying. Like you know, you don't have to do the work, you just have to give us the video. Yeah, and I'm like I know, but honestly, I get it here.
Speaker 2:We're seeing that the conversation is me and my client are having because we're like getting into the real stuff, so exactly.
Speaker 1:And, honestly, when I go in there, I go in. I'm supposed to be going at 10 every day, right, I go in at eight. When I get in there, it's like I am, I don't take a break, I just want to finish my day and get out. So I'm back to back to back to back to back to back to back.
Speaker 2:Yeah it's not like me.
Speaker 1:Yes, until I'm done. If it's eight o'clock, that's everybody like all the other girls. They're like go eat and I'm like no, I just want to finish this out. I got to get home to the girls. I just need to finish my day and get home to my kids, like I'm fine, but I'm back to back to back to back. Like this morning I had so many people like can I come at eight? I'm like you know, not today. And when I leave here, from the time I leave here, I go straight to work. Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So my last question to you, before you wrap up, is where do you see yourself five years from now, and what type of impact do you hope to leave with the world? With what?
Speaker 1:you do. Where do I see I see myself being a household name. What kind of impact. I want people to know that you don't have to wear makeup. I want when people wake up they say I want to go to limit less skincare because I want to wake up every morning and not have to worry about my skin. I want people, even if you don't come to me, I want you to be able to contact me and get information on how to take care of your skin, like I'm. Always.
Speaker 1:I have people from Indiana that just call to get products and ask me what they should do with their skin. So I want to be a household name. I want to be able to help people. Whether you're a client of mine and you're coming to me every month, I want to be able to help you with your skin. It doesn't matter if you're paying me or not. I just I love dealing with skin. So if I can help you, whether you're here there across the world, I just want to help you. So I think my thing is being a household name, being an impact to people when it comes to skincare, changing it from just being facials or just in and out clients. A lot of people do clients where it's like oh, I'll give you 30 minutes. My clients get about an hour and a half with me, so I think I care about your skin. Like, look at me, how old I look.
Speaker 2:I know the fact that you said you have kids. I was like, okay, she's not 19.
Speaker 1:36. I'll be 37 in January. Well, your skin and it's taking care like everybody's. Like what are you doing? And I'm like I don't get to give myself the treatments I give anyone. Half of them I can't give to myself because I have to wear glasses and other ladies that I have working. They're not training the laser and the carmen peeling certain things, so I can't, they can't do it for me. All I do is get up every morning and night and I do my skincare.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's it. I learned to massage my face upwards so nothing droops, yes, so, but I think I love skin care so much Like I dream about this stuff, like if I my new clients, I literally sit down on our, research their skin and what's the best treatment for their skin, and while I'm sleeping I have to be like Yolanda. You know I have to think about this. You've already figured it out. But I love what I do I love that for you.
Speaker 2:That's amazing that you're so passionate about what you do. So I'm going to say it again YouTube videos. Think about how many people you could get across to and you could reach and become that house-held name. No matter what, I'm sure you're going to accomplish that. But to get there faster, once you're ready for social media, I think it would help get you that impact so much faster.
Speaker 1:But I am not.
Speaker 2:I'm not Yolanda. No, I want to Trust me.
Speaker 1:I want to. I think I've done so many research I've done. You know, everybody have these videos on YouTube telling you how to go about your social media and, trust me, I have like three books that I've sat down and write down everything they say and then I'll be like that's a lot of work.
Speaker 2:You said you know what? My schedule is full already. I need to focus on that.
Speaker 1:That's a lot of work. I do want to be able to do that. I've seen a lot of young ladies because the school that I went to I teach derma plant in there, like when she do have a class that wants to take it, so I go in and I teach derma plant in and a lot of the girls started their business you know, and I look at their social media and I'm like, huh, how did they do that?
Speaker 1:And I just cannot. That's one thing I cannot get down yet yes, let's say yet. But I look at the younger folks and I'm like y'all are really good at this social media thing and I've never been into it. I think that's the problem. My first Facebook page my cousin made it and I still have it I'm never on it. My Instagram I had the personal Instagram and they just sat there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Let somebody else run it. I'll tell you what your life is much better if you're not spending your life on social media Exactly.
Speaker 1:I don't even have that amount of time in a day. Once I get home from work, the girls take up my entire time. So it's like I went on vacation and I'm trying to like incorporate work back and numb and they're like no, mommy, don't go to work. You've been gone for 10,000 days so I have no time for social media. Like to be scrolling on social media, like I really like TikTok at one point cause they had funny videos, so when I wanted to go to sleep at night I would look at TikTok. But to post things and all that. And I have an event. Hopefully I don't know if you guys ever leave the studio what's the event For the product that I'm starting, that I've just started doing? I'm launching it on the 28th yeah, the 28th.
Speaker 2:In.
Speaker 1:October. Yeah, oh, where is that? It's at the spa, at the spa, okay, so it's like a big. You know, hopefully it's big. It's the first event that I've done. I've never done any before. Maybe little ones like open ins and stuff, because I was first in Ashburn and then I went to Leesburg, so maybe little open ins and stuff like that. That's the first big one. Like everybody that signed up, we have a makeup artist coming from New York. That's everybody that signs up. They're gonna be able to get free makeup that day.
Speaker 2:No, I'll be there?
Speaker 1:No, I'll be there. So, yes, it's on the 28th, so if you guys can make it, it'd be nice, Awesome.
Speaker 2:yeah, no, that sounds great. What time did you say? Four on Saturday the 28th.
Speaker 1:I'm hoping I can. I don't know why I went on vacation right before I started it. You know I did 70% of everything before I left. But you know, first event, something that you're passionate about. That 10% will take up like so much and it's like my marketing company, you know. They did a really good job at putting it out there and having people RSVP and stuff like that and I'm just, it's my baby.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I'm looking at the landing page, like this is not what I said I wanted on the landing page, Like I want the landing page to say this, this, and she's like, but it's been doing great. I'm like, yeah, but it's not what I want. She's like but it's such a short notice. Now I'm like let's make another landing page, so we have two. So yeah, it's hard to let go of things.
Speaker 1:I know it is especially when you've done it by yourself, Like I've built it by myself. I had my don't get me wrong. My husband has been a great supporter. He's been a great supporter of saying you know, whatever you want to do, Yolanda, I know you're gonna. I know you thought about it, you thought it through, so whatever you want to do, I back you. Yeah, I want you to give me like something Critical feedback. Give me a feedback.
Speaker 1:He'd be like no, I mean trust me, he know why he's saying no, he knows me Cause. I'm gonna be like what? No, that's not it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks, but that was the steepest thing I've ever done, exactly.
Speaker 1:So he's always like I will be your heir, yeah, and I will be the pocket. So I'm like I think that's good, yeah so, but it's hard doing it by yourself. I mean, I have other ladies that work in the spa, but it's still hard doing it by yourself, like, even though they're there, I never wanted people to work for me. I wanted people to work with me. I feel as though if I give you a piece of the pie, you treat it like it is your baby Versus. If somebody's working for me, they're not gonna treat it like it's theirs. If you're part of this business, you're gonna treat it like it's yours, so they have their own thing. You know, only time we come together for something is if I have a new treatment. I want everybody to carry stuff, like, but I allow everybody to do what they wanna do.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like I don't hold anybody, like you're underneath me, you do what as I say no, it's your business too. You build your own treatments that you want. You go about it how you feel best for you. I'm just gonna guide where we stay underneath a certain logistics. Like everything else, they do on their own, so I do it on my own. The only things I market for everybody is what I decide. You know, I'm like you wanna have this treatment in your treatment room and they'll say yes, and I'm like okay, so I market it for all of us, but there are treatments by theirself. They market it by theirself.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. I love that. I love that you're doing things a little bit differently, yeah.
Speaker 1:But they all do great. They all, you know the business do great because we all put our piece in, and not me putting my 9,000 senses. I'll tell you what I'm saying. You know, like I'm like, I don't have all the answers. I don't think nobody ever do, and when you have a group of people that you're partner with, I think everybody put a little bit of their knowledge and it makes it a whole, versus me thinking I know everything Because, trust me, I don't.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for being on this podcast. I appreciate you gave so many great piece nuggets of wisdom or not just me, but I'm sure all of our listeners. So thank you so much, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thank you.