Doing Business Against the Odds with Shehla Faizi

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Meg Brunson

Hey, FamilyPreneurs, welcome. Welcome. Today I am super excited. We have Shehla. She is a mom of two Rambunctious boys, and when she isn't juggling the madness of virtual school, she also works as a freelance graphic designer, illustrator and product photographer. She also hosts and produces her own podcast called I Am a Muslim. And that's okay. A light hearted take about being Muslim in America. I am super excited today to introduce you to Shehla Faizi. Thank you so much for being here today. What many people don't know is this is our second recording because my first one... I like to be transparent for my FamilyPreneurs, because I think sometimes- not that I'm, like super famous or anything- but they hold people to a pedestal. Right. And I want people to know that I am not perfect, that even though most of my episodes are amazing, sometimes my sound quality is terrible and we have to rerecord. So I want people to know. And I feel like that also speaks to how amazing you are because you're re recording with me with no complaints. So thank you.

Shehla Faizi

No, thank you so much for having me, Meg. And like I told you, it's like my second chance I get to make myself look better. So here it is.

Meg Brunson

All right. Well, I want to start at the beginning, right? Start somewhat at the beginning. You were in traditional what everybody would think of as traditional employment, and you made the decision to step out and pursue entrepreneurship. Can you tell me a little bit about what led up to that transition?

Shehla Faizi

Well, yeah. Here's the thing. Sometimes it's not even about your own personal decision. Sometimes life happens. And that's what sort of happened to me. I did my bachelors in graphic design and some of the industries that are open after that. One of them was advertising. That was my first job. That was my first corporate job in advertising. And just as a preface, this was me working in Pakistan because I did my education and all my work in Pakistan. And my first job was an advertising job. I did a little bit of creative content creation, a little bit of marketing journalism. About a year and a half, two years I did that. And then I got married and I moved with my husband to the US. And this was smack-dab in the middle of a recession. I sort of tried to look for jobs in advertising, but it was a hard time to really find anything, especially when you have international experience. At that time, it was a completely different field, like playing field. I think employers over here were not sure how good would an international candidate be. And I just did not get any feedback or any responses to any of my job searches.

Shehla Faizi

And life happens. I had two kids, my two boys and you're raising them. And I moved around a lot. There's a running joke in my house that after we moved to the US, we moved about eight times, and we moved eight different houses. So we're not even settled in one place. And I tried to pursue my master's first time was in Michigan, but then when we moved from Michigan to Texas, none of my credits would transfer. And that's a problem. You're almost starting from the beginning again, so it just sort of becomes really complicated. And this was like about seven to eight years into being in the US. I finally found an online master's course, which was in strategic communication from the University of Iowa. And I could do that entirely online. And the advantage of that was that if I moved again, my credits were still intact. That in itself is such a huge relief because I can't keep doing the same thing over and over again. It was the slowest Masters in history. It took me four years to do my Masters, but I did it. And after that, basically the opportunity that opened up for me was in PR.

Shehla Faizi

And I first did my internship at a PR company. But again, things shifted so rapidly. This was not the same kind of corporate job that I was used to when I was working a corporate job. This was entirely remote, and which is great when you think about it, especially when you have smaller kids. You've got the school pick up schedule, all of these things. Doing the work when you're remote makes it much easier. But the disadvantage was that I was on contract. That's the first time I had ever worked on contract. And it's not the same as when you're a corporate employee. There are no benefits or anything of that sort. And by the end of that year, this was 2019, just before the pandemic hit, and they were like, here's your two weeks notice. We don't need you anymore. And that was it. And I was laid off unceremoniously just before the pandemic. And I'm sitting here and I'm like, I don't know what to do with myself because the pandemic started and you're still applying for jobs, but all you're getting is a big fat no. Let's be honest. You're getting a big fat no out of all of this.

Shehla Faizi

And I was like, this is not working out because for the first time, I had a really good look at the playing field. The fact is, I didn't have as much experience as those that were much younger than me. And I was at a heavy disadvantage. So I was like, I see a lot of people going the freelance route. Let me see if it will work out for me. And that's when I decided that I would start my own freelance gig as a graphic designer, illustrator, and product photographer. All three things that I've always loved doing. But you never think about it that way to do it as your own boss, because we had grown up traditionally because I'm old as the Hills now. That's what we grew up with. We grew up with corporate jobs. Freelancing is a pretty new thing. Yeah, go ahead.

Meg Brunson

You talked about coming over from Pakistan. Yes. And starting your search there. And you felt like people weren't sure if they wanted an international- do you feel like you were facing racism or. I don't know if racism is the right word. Sometimes I get confused about the -isms, but do you think some of that was based on your ethnicity?

Shehla Faizi

There is a definite bias. Let me preface again, because at that time I didn't wear the hijab, so I was not visibly Muslim. It's not just that. The thing is there is a certain perception that if there is somebody who's coming from abroad, one of the major things that they see is that, maybe this candidate can't possibly be qualified enough. And the second thing is how good is their English? That is one of those things that sort of is in people's heads. And for them, it mattered at that time. I see that that is shifting now with the younger generation, younger immigrant generation. That is no longer something that holds them back. But at that time, it was definitely a thing that they were not sure. Like whenever I used to speak, you could see the shock on their faces. Her English is proper. I was not expecting that. That's the thing. At that time, there was definitely a barrier in people's mindsets that could potentially have kept me from getting a job. But again, it was a very tricky time as well. The recession was a tricky time. It was hard to even retain the jobs you had.

Meg Brunson

So there may have been numerous things at play there. And I think I always think back to the way I was raised, being raised American and going to public school and stuff. And it was a while, I was grown before I realized - this is kind of embarrassing. But again, full transparency - before I realized that Pakistan has cities and colleges and people aren't just, you know what I mean? Because we're taught that America is like this pedestal of perfection and advancement. I can't help but wonder how much that plays into it. And we're not going to dwell on that issue. I just want to touch on it.

Shehla Faizi

I don't dwell on it. You know why I don't dwell on it? Because I can see that changing, because I have two young boys, okay. I don't want them to have to have where their parents came from or any of their background to affect any of these things. But now I see a lot of this in the younger generation that they understand the bigger world. And I credit social media a lot for this because it has brought in a lot of exposure to international culture. When I stepped foot in the US, Kpop was not a thing. Okay. And I've always been a fan of anime, but that was not even a big thing at that time. But now it's mainstream. And I'm like, wow, this is fantastic. This is so great. That is a great thing, because those that are younger won't have to face the same kind of challenges we did.

Meg Brunson

Yes, I love those shifts, and I see them happening. That's why I try to talk about things transparently, even if it makes me look silly or stupid, because I think it's important that we address them and confront them and things like that. But now to jump back a little bit. When we last talked about entrepreneurship, you were just kind of starting in. You had two young boys, we were in the middle of a pandemic. What were some of the challenges you faced, either mindset wise or like, physical challenges with getting your business up and running?

Shehla Faizi

I had zero idea what I was doing. Okay, that's the thing. You have the idea. Okay, the idea is great. Theoretically, the idea is great, but there's so many pieces that have to go into place, and I didn't know that. But again, bless the online community, all these wonderful women that have these groups on social media that will guide you through entrepreneurship and being a freelance business, everything that you can ask them a question freely and they will answer it. I didn't know I had to register myself as a business. I had never paid taxes as a business. And there are certain stipulations, and they will also offer you their services for whatever it is that you need help with guidance or if you need an accountant. I didn't know you could find an accountant through a social media group. That's great. But that's the thing. I didn't know what I was doing. I had to, like from square one, figure out how this was going to work. It was not just about setting up a website and you're done. That's not how that works. Websites are important. I'm not saying websites are not important. You put up a portfolio, but you do need certain steps to make sure that you can work efficiently as a business and be functional as a business.

Shehla Faizi

I think the only thing disadvantage to that is that there's so much information out there that at one point I was frozen. I was like, I don't know if I have all of these pieces together. Somebody could assume- it's one of those valid fears because you don't know how it works. But then you have to sort of breathe and be like, okay, I'm going to ask A B and C question. And most of the time they will answer you and put you at ease, and you can take the next steps. And it's a slow process. That's one of the things I also had to learn that it doesn't happen overnight. You do have to plan certain things out. That okay. You've registered your business and how to register. I didn't know how to register a business. There's several different ways that- you can pay other companies do it or you have to do the legwork, do it yourself, all of those things. I have to figure that out while doing the other 10,000 things that you do as a mom. And I was virtual schooling. My kids just went back to in person schooling, just like it's barely been a week.

Shehla Faizi

Okay. Past two years, I've been trying to virtual school them. Their Zoom meetings are not working. They don't know what to do. Where do you upload the homework? All of those things happen. And I was trying to juggle that and plus try to figure out how am I going to open my business? I don't know. Okay. So I was trying to figure that out. And in the middle of that, my third thing was that I started my own podcast. And again, it was very random, but I was trying to juggle all three of these things at the same time. I think that's the difficult thing about being a mompreneur. It's not ever one thing. Like anybody out there who's a mom, it's never one thing. It's always 10 billion things. And those 10 billion things have to sort of fall in place. So I think starting up and getting over your own initial fear of starting it, because again, I was used to the corporate life. I was used to the corporate job where you had somebody else as boss. And I think that's a terrible mindset when I think back at it, because especially the jobs I worked for, sadly, two out of my three jobs had toxic bosses.

Shehla Faizi

Okay. And with those toxic bosses, you sort of get into this really awful squished mindset where there are people taking advantage of you for real. So when you free yourself from that and then you realize I have to be my own boss and all the responsibilities that come with it, it can be a little overwhelming. But you sort of have to push through that as well because you're doing this for yourself. And I think that's the great thing about being freelance or an entrepreneur further on, you may have other employees, but it's not the same mindset as a corporate job. You're not boss. Exactly. You are somebody who's in charge, but you got to be human about how you're working.

Meg Brunson

But you're invested in the business because it's like it's yours. People say "it's your baby." Most people- CEOs or bosses, even in the corporate space, they didn't build it. They applied for that job and were hired.

Shehla Faizi

Even if you built your own company at a corporate level. And I studied this in various the courses I did when I was doing my Masters. It's like when you're at the top, the disconnect is real. The disconnect is real because the CEO does not know what the manager is doing. Really. There's like literally seven, 8, 9, 10, 100 people in the middle. The CEO doesn't know what the delivery guy is doing or what your Secretary is doing, so on and so forth. All the people that are making the cogs work, they're disconnected from it. Yes, they have decisions to make, but the disconnect is often what causes problems in any corporate setting. And I'm not saying that small businesses don't suffer from that, but these levels of disconnect are less. So, if something goes wrong down the line, it's the job of the boss. I keep using the word boss, but the person who's in charge, it's their job to step up and connect. What's the problem? What is the real problem and how can we make it work? And that's the difference. When you are working in a small business, that a good leader should be connecting.

Shehla Faizi

If they're not, they're doing something wrong.

Meg Brunson

Sure. Now, do you have a team or are you a solopreneur right now?

Shehla Faizi

SoloPreneur!

Meg Brunson

I just wasn't sure if you had people underneath you yet or not.

Shehla Faizi

Yeah, I wish, but not there yet.

Meg Brunson

That is okay, right?

Shehla Faizi

No, most definitely. But here's the thing. I know that there are other people who are hiring me and I'm part of their team. Again, these are all small businesses, so they're connecting with me, I connect with them. And again, it's contractual. But the thing about being contractual is that the obligation isn't there either way. So if at some point you're like, I don't feel that I can connect with this small business, you don't have a big investment in that, and you can definitely then break the contract and then move forward. And I think that's one of those mindsets that is prevalent now, I'm not saying it's bad, but it gives those that are being contracted choices that I don't have to work for this toxic X, Y and Z. There are other people who value me for what I'm offering, and I can just like, I'll give you my two weeks notice, I'm going to move on now.

Meg Brunson

And that's a great point where it is much tougher to then have to find a new job in the corporate world where we're already, as entrepreneurs, we're already putting ourselves out there and making connections and building and growing our networks. So to let a client go can be empowering and you follow. You still use some common courtesy or contract, if possible. And then you move on.

Shehla Faizi

Right.

Meg Brunson

And I've done that. And it feels great when you're able to let go of a client who's no longer serving you.

Shehla Faizi

Right. And it's not just that. What I've learned. And I think one of the toughest things, if you look back, was to find clients when I was starting out, because again, I'd never done this before. But you do have to go out seek clients, so many different avenues, and not all clients will be a good match for you. But here's the thing. The mindset that I had come from is that you should be taking on all clients, because that's how business works. That's how you're going to make your money. But I had to teach myself that not all clients are good for you. I've had my encounters of clients that were pretty shady, and I had to teach myself how to cut them off and be like, I'm sorry, I can't serve you because XYZ reason. So with this, you do have to reteach yourself. The rules that you need to set your boundaries. Boundaries are important. I come from a generation where boundaries do not exist. This is all new. We're teaching ourselves boundaries and trying to become better people at the end of it because of that. But you do have to understand that you do have power to not have to take all clients, especially those clients that are treating you badly and they're trying to cheat you out of stuff.

Shehla Faizi

I've had it happen.

Meg Brunson

And that's a really good point, too. Depending upon where you are in your journey, that might not be a skill that you've developed yet. And I started at the same place where you were when I started my business. I mean, even decisions when it came down to branding and what colors I was going to use, I chose colors that I thought would appeal to both males and females because I thought I needed everybody to work with me. And I didn't want to talk about values, especially when it comes to controversial topics like diversity, which shouldn't be controversial. But I digress. I didn't talk about those because I didn't want to turn off... And then it took time, and it took years, and it took seeing other people doing those things. And now I feel like my business is exactly what I want it to be. My colors are girly, and who cares if that turns you off and my values are everywhere, and if that turns you off, that's fine. It's almost a way of gatekeeping the people that come into your community. So thank you so much for bringing that up.

Shehla Faizi

It's very much like how we should have personal relationships. Business relationships should be like that because as a person. And that's the thing that's again, one of those mindsets that we come from, where I come from is that you have to be likable to everybody, but in reality, it should not have to be that way. If somebody doesn't like me, fine. They have a right to not like me for whatever it is they don't like me for. I don't have to be likable for everybody because it removes authenticity from who you are. And the same thing works for a business. My business shows upfront in my bio that I'm Muslim. Anybody who doesn't want to work with a Muslim- fine. I have zero issues with that. I'm at this point, I'm done pandering to anybody who doesn't want to be like- who doesn't want my services. But I have so many people who have willingly reached out to me, those who are friends and even those who just found out about my business that they reach out to me and want to work with me. And they're some of the nicest people I know.

Meg Brunson

Yeah. And it feels empowering and it feels good. I can see if you're listening. You're not seeing Shehla's face, but when you talked about that, you just looked empowered. You're like, I'm not even going to entertain that anymore. That confidence. Yeah, that's awesome.

Shehla Faizi

But that's the thing. I didn't start out like that. Again, you can say that this was just two years ago, beginning of 2020. You do have to go through that process, and that process is very uncomfortable for anybody listening out there. It's going to be unpleasant, and you're going to have to come face to face with a lot of unpleasant emotions when you learn that lesson that you have to make the decision of how do I want to run my business and where my boundaries are. Again, boundaries, boundaries, boundaries. Anybody who's listening, boundaries have to be there.

Meg Brunson

Yeah. And another way that I feel like boundaries have shown up for me is in the time a boundary surrounding the time you spend on your business and the time you spend with your family and setting those boundaries. One of my personal boundaries, which is weird or different, I should say, is that Wednesdays are my day off. I don't do phone calls. I don't do, like, Wednesdays are my day off. Now, am I ever just, like, relaxing by the beach? No.

Meg Brunson

No, it's not really that sometimes I'm doing family activity, but other times it's just my day to work on my business. I can actually work on my business, and I'm not working on my clients businesses, which is important. Right. But I love my clients and I give them my all. But I still have to have a boundary around when I'm doing my own professional development, my own business work, and I had to set that boundary and stick to it. So for my own- the health of myself, the health of my business, you got to make it work, and you've got to figure it out. And your clients will adapt. You're just clear and communicate, and your clients adapt.

Shehla Faizi

Right. And that's the other thing. I think also, when you're just starting out as an entrepreneur, the temptation is there especially monetary temptation. Yes. We need to be making money off of this. I know a lot of especially young women who do both, who do work for other companies, but they do have their own freelance business on the side. And I think that's a very wise decision to do because you do have your backup job that you're doing. That's a consistent source of money, source of income. Otherwise, if you're just reliant on your freelance business, it can be a problem because you do become desperate. And that in itself can cause problems because you are not setting boundaries and you are definitely overworking yourself just to get very little money. So those things again, a lot of those things I have to figure out by myself, like, how am I going to be making- because for the first couple of months, yeah, you're making zero money. Literally. For my first couple of clients, I would just work for them for reviews. And that's the thing that's something you also have to do because you've got nothing to show for.

Shehla Faizi

I was starting from zero, so I had to build something up. You do have to build something up. And you'll be working for very little money, very little to no money at all for the first couple of months, maybe a year or so into it before you have enough that you can show and the other clients will be like, oh, I like what you do and then take it from there.

Meg Brunson

Yeah, that's a great point, too. You talked about starting with your job and a side hustle, which I think many of us have done. And then as you get going, I think the way that that snowballs is, you start to add various income streams. I don't know the stat, but I know the most wealthy people have X amount of income streams. I've seen that, like post on Facebook. So you start to have different streams and you can break down what those are. And then if one stream gets a little thin for a while, you've got other like, you still have a backup plan.

Shehla Faizi

That's right. And here's the thing that's also something that I found is that the great thing about freelance and entrepreneurship is the chance to grow and the evolution of the business itself. I started off with just my basic three, which I still do, but because I podcasted at the same time, I gained experience with that, I also offer podcasting services, editing services, which I found was a great need as well. I mean, I'm not saying that graphic design is not a need, but when I jumped into it, I didn't realize how saturated it was. I'd be there because there'd be other young graphic designers out there, wonderful talented young women. I'm not saying that they're not talented, but wonderful talented young women I was competing against. I was like, I don't know how am I going to compete against this, but I got some clients. But what I found was that I was getting more clients because there were podcasts was the theme for the pandemic. Everybody suddenly realized that podcasts exist and we should be listening to them. And more people were creating podcasts, more women especially, and they wanted podcast Editors or even just designing stuff for podcasts.

Shehla Faizi

And when I started offering that, I started getting more clients through that. And now it's one of those standard things I offer too, is that I offer podcast editing services because I found that women, especially, podcast editing - I'm not saying that it's not something that women don't do. I know sound Editors that are women, but it was traditionally something that men did. And when women are looking for Editors, they're more comfortable working with other women. So that was a need that was there. And me and other podcast Editors, they were there to fill it at that time, especially when there was an influx of podcasts that were emerging. And it just sort of happened because I did both things simultaneously. And then the podcast editing just became a part of my business, too. You just add it in. That's the great thing about it. Like, with a traditional job, it's very rare to add in stuff or new stuff and be making money off of it. It's usually the same thing. If you're a copywriter, you just get paid for Copywriting and you don't get paid for anything else. But with this, I can add on as much or as little as I want in the future.

Shehla Faizi

If I think, oh, product photography is not working out for you, I can take it out. It's high, not the end of the world.

Meg Brunson

And that's its own little sense of diversifying. Right. So that's the other piece is that as we know, technology is always evolving. I don't know what the next big thing is going to be, whether it's like a new social platform like TikTok kind of hit the in the past, like a year or two, I feel like TikTok really emerged as a marketing tool and not just a dancing app that our kids would use. And when things like that happen, it provides us as innovators as entrepreneurs to look at it and figure out how you might be able to serve that market and step into an area. So you can just evolve your business constantly pivoting and evolving in order to grow in the way that works best for you.

Shehla Faizi

Right. But I would caution, and this is not to say that you should not take in new trends. My only caution is that with every new trend, I would see that, what is it really that you can do? If somebody asked me that, I want you to plan out TikTok videos for myself. You make videos, you can do TikTok videos. I'm like, no, this is not something I'm going to touch. Okay, I do my own podcast videos. But that's a different demon altogether. When you make TikTok videos, and to make them successful, it needs a host of different skills. It's not just you're making a video. You become viral. People don't understand the level of planning and thought that needs to go into making a viral video. It's not the same as making a video. So whatever new thing it is, it looks good on paper and you think you can make money off of it. But you have to really think, is it something that I can do? I think that would be my only question.

Meg Brunson

Make sure it's aligned with your interests, your skills, your experience, of course. Yeah, I agree with that, too. I'd love if you could share where our listeners and viewers can continue to connect with you, learn more about you learn more about the services that you offer.

Shehla Faizi

Thank you so much, Meg. Well, for my freelance graphic design services and even my podcast editing services, even though I do have to update my website, websites are important people, so please keep them updated. I do have to update with my podcast editing services, but you can find me on www.creativecookiejar.com. That's where I offer my freelance services. And for my podcast, you can find me wherever you listen to podcasts, just search out I'm a Muslim and that's okay. And you can find listen on my website as well. Www.imamuslimpodcast.com. That's where you'd be able to find me.

Meg Brunson

And I just want to say that I love your branding. I love how you've wound that cookie jar analogy throughout your website copy. And as somebody who does value diversity, equity and inclusion, I love the concept of your podcast. I know you've got Asked a Muslim opportunities, and I think that it's really important for those of us who aren't familiar with the Muslim faith and traditions. And I think it's great that you're willing to be that person that people can go to and feel comfortable asking questions.

Shehla Faizi

Most definitely anybody. And this is to all your listeners. I usually have my Ask a Muslim segment once a year. I do it- I will be doing it this coming most likely April. I collect all sorts of questions and I've answered all sorts of questions in the past two years because here's the thing, people are curious and I've answered any number of questions upon any subject. If anybody has a question, please feel free to reach out to me via email. You can email me at [email protected] and just ask me a question or if you want to know more about something, I'm more than happy to discuss that.

Meg Brunson

That's great. I appreciate you so much. Thank you for joining us here today, for joining me for a second time. It was just as exciting and pleasant to speak with you again. And I really appreciate you.

Shehla Faizi

Thank you so much for, you know, giving me a second chance.

Meg Brunson

You didn't need a second chance. Let me make that clear. You didn't need a second chance. I needed the redo. Thank you.

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