I did a thing and I’m celebrating…again!

So, I did a thing…again!

Strong Is My Beautiful™ online store is live!  Yup, our own e-shop!  That’s the thing.  It’s here and you guys know I celebrate ALL the wins and today’s celebration is sharing with you all!

We went live this week and as I brainstormed about how I would get the word out, the first was a no brainer.  This baby of mine started out as a blog and that was tactic number one.  Write a blog Shireen.  Great!  So how do I turn my shop launch into a story was the next question – I guess from one of my saboteurs and I answered: “I’m a writer dammit”!

Late last year an old friend of hubby and I reached out to catch up and also chat about my blog, my business(es) and my health and wellness journey and then some.  He shared some of what he does as a side hustle and pitched how he could help in terms of working together to elevate Strong Is My Beautiful™.

These conversations were happening at a great time because I was working on 2022 business goals simultaneously.  Now truth be told, the e-shop wasn’t very high on the priority list.  I don’t have an answer as to why, but at the time it just wasn’t.  Looking back, subconsciously I probably thought I couldn’t handle fulfilling orders myself and managing supply/demand but talking through it with him, I realized that it is in fact a very important business tactic (if not THE most important) that aligned with where I believe this brand is going.

I’ll be honest, the idea of bringing people to a place where I could share my story, my brand, mantra, and vision.  Where I could inspire, motivate, and mentor.  A place where we could all grow exponentially and do so without other distractions, gave me life.  Literally!  All the feels!

So, I jumped right in and was very excited.  Yes, there were obstacles.  Yes, there were moments of “what the hell” and “can I really do this” but here it is.  We already have some enhancements for the near future but my subscribers and loyal readers, you get to see it from birth and we’ll watch it grown together.

I’ll summarize this milestone in 2 points:

Explore every opportunity:

• When our friend Rashaad reached out, I could have easily said “no thanks, not a priority right now” but the last two years I made it a point to treat everything as a potential opportunity. At the very least, have an initial conversation or two before saying no.  More importantly, just being open to hearing and listening to opinions other than our own is huge.  Sharing great ideas, learning from our old and really smart friend, and playing off each other’s strengths is something I really enjoyed!  Not gonna lie, a little corporate started coming out a bit but mostly in the good ways lol.

Just do it!

• I try to live by these words as much as I say it! Even if you’re not ready, just do it.  FACT – you will never be ready!   It took me almost two years to finally launch my blog and I was determined NOT repeat that trend here.  It will never be perfect and if my 20+ years in marketing taught me anything, it’s that you have to be open and flexible to course correct, make tweaks and at times, change the goal.  Just don’t lose focus!

So friends, family, subscribers and followers I thank you again for your support to date.  I invite you to continue to follow the Strong Is My Beautiful™ journey as we are just getting started!

Let’s continue to manifest our goals and dreams and heck, let’s dream bigger!  We got this!