Health & wellness is a trillion-dollar industry, forecasted to grow tremendously in 5 years. Shahirah is no stranger to the world of health and wellness, having started her business because of her passion for the industry. She took her business from a side hustle while working a full-time job as in the banking industry, to a satisfying business for herself.

Shahirah has developed her personal brand quite strongly in this arena, with most of her clients channeled from social media. In this episode, she shared her journey to get where she is today, coupled with some tips on personal branding that has helped her grow her business.

Listen to the Episode below:

Key Takeaways

01:55 — Taking the leap from finance industry to health & wellness

Shahirah has always been passionate and interested about health & wellness. The leap of faith happened naturally and was planned.

02:52 — Personal branding is important in Shahirah's business

Shahirah shares how important personal branding is in her business. She primarily uses social media to get her clients who are like-minded.

04:37 — Managing expectations when working with your spouse

The biggest nightmare you've probably heard is when you work with your spouse. Shahirah has an interesting working relationship with her husband, who is also in this business with her.

05:09 — It's not all rainbows

Reality of entrepreneurship is that it's a super hard journey. So, if you have something you want to do, pursue it — don't think, just do!

Links Mentioned:

+ FULL TRANSCRIPT

INTRO:

Welcome to Fempreneur Secrets Podcast where business secrets are revealed. My name is Huda and I'm the founder of Fempreneur Secrets, an online community for women to start and grow their business. I created this podcast to inspire women from all walks of life to get started in business. They're all meant to be step-by-step so you can take quick action into your life and business today. Let's get started with today's episode.

Huda: Today, we have a very special guest and her name is Shahirah Rahim. She's actually a travel buddy of mine and she is a health and wellness advocate. Shahirah is an entrepreneur in the health and wellness sector since 2017. She is also a certified yoga and barre instructor. Previously, she was a relationship manager with a bank for 11 years. What started off as a side gig turned into her full time business from December 2018 and currently she is leading a team of women in this specialised industry. Sha, thank you so much for being on our show. Welcome to the show.

Shahirah: Thank you for having me.

Huda: It's so nice to have you here. Maybe you can share with us a little bit about what you really specialise in and what you do.

Shahirah: I am in the health and wellness industry, so I specialise in doing weight management and, at the same time, making people look good and feel good about themselves.

Huda: Can you share with me a little bit more about how you ventured into this industry?

Shahirah: I came across this industry when I went to see a naturopath. Prior to that, I was already someone who was very passionate about health and wellness. I was doing yoga every morning, I was eating healthily, but I was fatiguing. Basically, she told me that I was not getting enough nutrients from my day to day food. She prescribed me certain things that really helped with my journey of overcoming that fatigue.

Huda: How does it feel like moving from a finance sector into health and wellness?

Shahirah: Definitely was pretty daunting at the start. For me, it was not so much as a total jump because it was something that I was already passionate about anyway. It's been a very interesting journey, a lot of work, but at the end of the day it gives me a sense of fulfillment.

Huda: What kind of preparations did you do to get you started?

Shahirah: It was a lot of hours over the weekends after work, lunch meetings, a lot of reshuffling of priorities. A supportive and understanding spouse helps a lot.

Huda: How many months of clocking that side gig income before you make that jump? I think that's important to voice out to women entrepreneurs or aspiring women entrepreneurs out there.

Shahirah: Well, I think it's really subjective. There's no specific number of months. Everybody has their own journey and time. For me, it took a period of six solid months of going full on and head on with the business.

Huda: Let's talk about how you get your clients. How does it work for you? How do you find these people to meet?

Shahirah: Social media is a huge part of my business. I do what I call attraction marketing on social media. It's really important for me to be able to relate to my audience. But having said that, I also believe in being authentic and genuine because you will attract like-minded individuals.

Huda: In case you don't know, actually, Sha does a lot of videos, a lot of stories on her Instagram and I think it's really interesting to see... I'm going to put it in the show notes so you get to see some of her interesting videos. She actually does recipe videos as well. So maybe you can share with us also some of the links, yeah?

Shahirah: Sure. I will do that.

Huda: In case you are planning food or thinking about doing bulk cooking or anything like that, you really need to know how to do some simple recipes and I think Sha will be able to share that. How was it like... I mean, I was with you in terms of your journey from the very beginning. So I saw that you had some difficulty creating one and then deciding no I'm not going to do this. What was it like forming a personal brand?

Shahirah: There are a lot of advices out there, right? Like, "You should just stick to one or you should create a separate one for your business." But for me, eventually it came to a point where I felt like there was too much to juggle, especially because it's still very much a one woman show. If I could brand myself in such a way that people could trust me a lot more because this is truly what I do on a day to day basis, it really shows authenticity of who I truly am and that's when I decided to make the decision to just focus on one, let go and see where it goes.

Huda: I understand that your husband is also in this business with you. How is it like... I guess in a way, with your personal life and with the business, how has it been?

Shahirah: I learned how to manage my expectations. There are a lot of times that sometimes you want to get a point across and you really have to think of how you're going to say this to him. Typically, when we run the business, he does his own thing and I'll do my own thing. It has taught me a lot in the sense of where I really need to understand where the other party is coming from before I come in and communicate things across.

Huda: What is one secret that you feel that no one has ever shared with you before, but you wish someone would have told you in relation to business?

Shahirah: That it's damn, bloody hard.

Huda: Okay. What are some of the things that, maybe if you could sum it up in one sentence... What is a tip that you will want to share to aspiring women entrepreneurs out there.

Shahirah: If there is something you want to pursue, don't think, just do.

Huda: Actually, I've read somewhere that... I think it's a psychology, some study or something like that... that our brain is the biggest skeptic.

Shahirah: Yes, it is.

Huda: So in anything that you do, before that moment sets in you just go. Go and do it anyway. So that's great advice. What kind of services that you offer?

Shahirah: I do my weight management programmes. I do help people get back on track with their health in terms of looking at how they eat, really changing their lifestyle so that it's a sustainable thing. I also do have a range of skincare specifically in youth preservation or, what we call, anti-ageing. People usually come to me for consultation. I will give advice accordingly as to what they need.

Huda: What's going to happen about six months time from now?

Shahirah: In six months, my new revamped website is going to come up. Right now it's still the progress. I'm working very closely with my website girl. She's putting in the work right now, so that will be up and hopefully that will help me to automate a lot more things.

Huda: How can people get in touch with you, Sha?

Shahirah: For now, you can get in touch with me through Instagram @shahirah.rahim. I'm on Facebook as well. Also Shahirah Rahim. I do have a website. Shahirahrahim.com

Huda: Thank you so much, Sha, for being on this show. It's been a pleasure to have you on the show.

Shahirah: Thank you for having me for, Huda. It's been a pleasure to be here.

Huda: So, keep learning and keep believing in yourself because the world needs an inspiration just like you. And I'll see you in the next episode of Fempreneur Secrets.

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