Meet Jemma Roedel, working in the beauty trade by day with semi-permanent makeup and throughout lockdown she has been working hard to create online courses to help other new beauty business owners start their social media accounts.
Jemma has seen a lot of girls stumble finding clients so she was setting out to help them get seen. Also throughout lockdown, Jemma has been working on bringing out a book, a book focused on helping business/career-driven women. This is set to be a series of books all curated around the problems we face with business. The first book is on leadership.
Tell us more about your book, who are your readers, what are they looking for?
My book She Thinks Like a Boss: Leadership is the first book in the series so far (I am currently working on a whole range) this book highlights the essentials skills needed for great leadership for any women bosses out there. Whether it be in the workplace or their own business. As women, we face different challenges to men when it comes to business so my book is designed to empower the modern-day working woman into becoming the best boss.
Can you share something from your book?
Why is confidence important? According to a Pew Research Study,1 in both business as well as in politics, female leaders with confidence are more likely to be viewed as “stronger” than those without confidence by male counterparts. The same study discusses differences in what the general public believes about men and women when it comes to leadership traits in both business and politics. Traits like “ambition, decisiveness, and assertiveness” are believed to help men in both politics and business, whereas being emotional in the office can be seen as a liability for women.
The study states that even with acknowledged differences between men and women, most people tend to have “more confidence [in] women’s abilities.” Women have a “stronger ability to create a respectful and safe working environment (43%) compared to men (5%). Women are also more likely to value people from different backgrounds (35%) compared to men (3%), consider the impact business decisions have on society (33% vs. 8%), provide guidance and mentorship to young employees (33% vs. 9%), and providing fair pay and good benefits (28% vs. 5%).”
Do you have any special advice for other ‘digital divas’ out there?
If you are an online entrepreneur you may know that sitting at home behind a screen all day can be lonely! My advice to anyone who is self-employed, or runs an online business is to get friendly with those who also work online! It is amazing what a great mastermind of people in a similar working experience can be. After all most brick-and-mortar offices, you would have co-workers right? Get busy on Instagram, and Facebook groups and create a network of some online friends, or accountably partners. This way you can keep each other motivated in business. I have a great mastermind of around 6 people who we met online were all in the online business. 6 minds are better than one! Family and friends don’t always share the same mindset when it comes to business, so find people with matched passion. We do bi-weekly zoom calls to catch up on our progress too which is so valuable to see face to face, and try to meet up every few months in person now the restrictions have eased.
How has covid-19 affected your own business so far?
So the pandemic really hit my current beauty business! I then was closed for over half the year in total across 3 national lockdowns. This is where I found the time to start other projects, I just didn’t expect it to expand as quickly as it did! I am very grateful for the success on my book. It has been launched 12 weeks today as of writing this! Its growing bigger every day! This is where I now want to focus on and grow this business and create more content due to huge demand and the feedback received.
What’s your favorite social network – Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter? Why?
Instagram Is my go-to for my beauty biz, but Facebook is where the magic happens for networking in the Facebook groups etc, if you get a good group and a really engaged audience it’s great for staying connected, I am friendly with other authors, and we share tips and tricks for online marketing or what software to use etc all day long, it’s amazing having an online network.
What has been your greatest accomplishment so far?
I feel like my greatest accomplishment so far is balancing two very active businesses at the moment, and maintaining life. Albeit I would love a holiday right now! The greatest accomplishment is also being reaching the Number 1 New Release on Amazon for my book in the USA and surpassing the goal I had for the launch sales, I’m so excited to see where this goes next. I have currently had 3 books live on audible.com with 2 more in the works for this month, I have a great team supporting our progress now!
Tell me about what you’re working on now.
I am working on a range of books, smaller in length than my ‘main’ book but these will be designed as quick reads but on specific topics to help anyone (not just women) in business. They will be all the same branding so they will be easily identifiable we may tweak the title slightly, they will be a series on Amazon, and a soon-to-be audiobook! Audiobooks for me personally are the best thing since I can work and listen on the go! I will release 10 in the next few months! Keep an eye out 3 are live at time of writing this, with 2 more around September. I also have a range of merchandise launching very soon.
Can you share some marketing tips on how to launch a new product?
Have a plan! Talk to others who have also marketed a product like yours before get some tips and tricks, every product is different. When it comes to book launches you want to get your book in front of as many eyes as you can and as many sales/reviews in the first 6 weeks and of course the more money you have the better. It’s all about building your audience before you even launch. Cover all platforms. Get busy in the Facebook groups/Instagram. Tell people what you are about and who you are! I’ve been asked to do numerous podcasts and Facebook lives for my topic from being active in Facebook groups. Start on the podcasts that have the lesser views to start with to build your confidence if you’re shy speaking live.
When you suffer a setback, how does that emotionally affect you and your work?
Thankfully I have a strong mindset that is not often phased by setbacks, and to be honest I never really see them as setbacks it’s just a matter of adapting and trying the next thing. Eventually, something will click if it hasn’t worked before! Business is trial and error most of the time. What also may work for one, may not work for someone else but it’s all worth a try, at worst you have learned a new lesson.
What has been your key (or keys) to success?
I get asked all the time “How do you get so much done?” And in my eyes I really don’t think I do somedays! But I would say the most important thing to success is consistency.
I will have a list of tasks to do, and some days I want to dive deep into the bigger tasks, some days Im not as motivated so then I have a list of smaller tasks that take barely any effort to complete. So as long as I am moving forward in some way or another I feel I’m always working towards the end goal. All these little steps add up! The rule I live by is the Compound effect, defined as “The strategy of reaping huge rewards from small, seemingly insignificant actions” I would say that defines my day-to-day life to a T. Consistently making small actions towards my businesses. If you look back on yourself a few months ago after making small constant actions you will be amazed at what you have achieved. Just don’t give up if things get tough! Surround yourself with strong mindsets, I thankfully have a strong mindset, I’m not often phased by setbacks and to be honest I never really see them as setbacks it’s just a matter of adapting and trying the next thing. Eventually, something will click if it hasn’t worked before! Business is trial and error most of the time. What also may work for one, may not work for someone else but it’s all worth a try, at worst you have learned a new lesson.
What have you learned most from entrepreneurship?
There is a lot of things that it teaches you, as in the beginning, you do have to juggle every task till you start to work out what your strengths are, eventually outsourcing your weaknesses. What I have learned most impotently so far is discipline. Until you are in a position to which it’s more beneficial that you outsource the jobs you dislike or are weak In, it’s important to keep going at the ‘boring’ jobs that essentially can demotivate you from the end goal.
Another way to look at discipline is, It’s easy to get distracted along the way with what everyone else is doing. That’s the thing with entrepreneurs being friendly with other entrepreneurs, you have so many ideas bouncing around all the time. If your mind is like mine, you want to do it all, and all at once! So what I have learned most is to stay disciplined to the end goal for that moment, do not lose focus, stay on track till you then can think about the next step.
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