We were lucky to catch up with Michaeline F recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Michaeline, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
I think one of the strongest forms of confidence comes from doing something successfully not just once, but multiple times. This tactic can be used and applied in so many areas of your life whether it’s starting a business, growing a presence online, improving your appearance, or speaking up for yourself. The more you do something the more confident you become in whatever that thing is.
Personally I don’t believe confidence is linear. You can be super confident in some areas and very insecure in others. Thats why it’s a continuous process of growth to become your most confident self. I think anyone who doesn’t see that probably lacks self-awareness.
More recently, I developed my confidence by executing the goals I set for myself. Especially as it pertains to business. As an entrepreneur it’s challenging executing a vision because you have to learn how to prioritize and identify what’s most directly related to your success. There are so many rabbit holes you can get distracted by and my confidence has really grown by constantly setting goals, small and large, daily and monthly that I work to achieve.
To get anywhere you have to just put one foot in front of the other and one day you look up and you’ve arrived at your destination. Setting attainable goals daily, and executing on them has really boosted my confidence because when you go from a forming a business concept to seeing real results, you soon realize that anything is possible if you keep working at it.
Theres just a special confidence that comes from utilizing your work ethic for yourself.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I created an app, The Black Book. The Black Book, is the go-to resource for finding black, trusted service-based businesses in the DC Metropolitan area. This free marketplace helps thousands of clients discover beauty and creative professional services.
Our app simplifies the search process, connecting clients with local businesses that can meet their needs. Our service categories currently include: Lash Techs, Nail Techs, Make Up Artists, Barbers, Estheticians, Tattoo Artists, Chefs & Photographers.
Surprisingly an app like this doesn’t exist which is why so many of our users are excited about it. Did I mention we’re free? We’re hoping to expand to other major cities very soon.
We’re hosting meet ups throughout the city as a way to get live feedback but also provide a fun experience for our users (people who love self care). At a meet up you can expect to network with amazing creatives and business owners, enter into a visa gift card raffle, access to a professional photographer, aesthetic venues and free drinks!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
– be wise and learn from every person and experience
– be consistent
– prioritize of revenue producing tasks
Find something and stick to it. The people that win in life are the ones that don’t give up. So the journey feels long sometimes and its cliche but keep going, consistency always beats talent. People want to know they can rely on you for whatever it is you’re saying you can or will do, so do that.
Im a numbers girl so you know I had to add that last point but the truth is there are so many entrepreneurs that get distracted by the ‘fun’ things when in order to truly avoid burnout you need money. So if you want to be more efficient focus on the things that will increase your revenue, you’ll have more time to do the ‘fun’ things when your business is financially stable.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Yes! The Black Book is a marketplace app, thats FREE. So we’re all about community and without it we wouldn’t be needed.
I’m hoping to increase app presence in the community so always looking for social media collaborations, and partnering for events. If you’re a beauty or creative entrepreneur and looking to do fun events would love to chat about ways to engage with the beauty and self care community in the DMV. Feel free to reach out to me!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://blackbookdmv.app/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblackbook.app?igsh=dmw5djExa3pkOHFl
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
