How to Be the Go-To Expert on Microblading or Ombre Brows (or Anything, Really!)

So, you want to be the go-to expert in PMU.

Like, who do you think you are?

Just kidding.

Being the go-to expert in any niche could really set you up. Imagine being the go-to celebrity authority in your beauty niche. Imagine having everyone in the industry go to you for all the answers, that is mad industry power right there. In this, I'm going to teach you how to be the go-to expert in your niche by laying out my five-part framework for how to accomplish just that and make millions. If you’re one of my reader boss babes, keep scrolling! It’s all laid out for you right here.

Here’s where I tell you about the five-step framework that I recommend for being the one, the only, go-to expert in your beauty niche. Honestly, you can use this framework to build authority in any industry, so let's get right to it!

Step #1: Leadership is an Inside Job First

Don't skip this! Don't you dare skip this, because I know you want strategy. I know you're thinking, "Sheila, give me the to-do list that will help me be seen and have all the other beauticians bow down to their leader." Yes, yes, we'll get to that in the next step.

It is a common mistake among beauty professionals to bypass the most important step of all. Step one of being a beauty leader, a leader in this space, is the inner work. You have to believe in yourself first, truly. You should be the go-to expert. Stop waiting for that leadership certificate to come in the mail, because it's not coming. Mail it to yourself.

Stop waiting for someone to discover you. Discover yourself, girl! Beyoncé says, "No one gives you the power, you just take it."

So, if it makes you feel better, Beyoncé gave you permission to just take the power. There you go. You're welcome. Who says you can? Beyoncé says you can. Oh, okay. Well, she is queen.

The most common mistake people make is waiting for the official word. The official word that you can lead now is not coming. There's no piece of paper, certification, or governing official that's going to come your way and say, "You’re awesome; your message is valid." You have to validate yourself.

Start with getting right with the woman in the mirror. Because the thing is, people start with the strategic stuff, putting out whatever half-confident piece of content out there, and they skip the inner work. What they're doing is creating from an external place—they're creating from the outside in. And when you do that, you run the risk of operating from scarcity. And leaders are leaders because of their energy. They're up there because their confidence makes them so magnetic. It's just you're just drawn to them.

If you’re thinking, "Sheila, I'm not that confident," let me show what I've learned personally about confidence. What is that?

Every single time I focus on myself, I've been the most insecure version of myself, I swear. But once I learned how to shift my focus on what I can give as opposed to what I can get, something happened within me.

Why?

Because when you focus your effort and energy on just serving the people that need you, you realize that it doesn't matter what you look like, what you sound like, what your insecurities are. Someone needs your help, your experience, your expertise.

The secret to confidence is being others centered.

Step #2: Niche Down

If you want to become a successful business owner, you have to niche down. You have to be of service to a specific audience. Figure out what that is—fulfill the need for the smallest viable market.

Figure out what small pond to be the big fish in.

Why? Well doing this is actually a shortcut. People like resist niching down, they're like, "But I want to be all things."

First of all, that's not realistic, and there's a real practical reason for niching down, it's kind of a shortcut. Out of hundreds of people I know who are driven to build success, the ones who are killing it are the ones who are dialed down, serving the smallest viable market. That's how it starts. And those who haven't figured it out? They're still struggling.

Let me give you an example: if you’re saying, "I'm a beauty marketing expert," it sounds good, sure, but check this out. Instead say, "I offer help for new cosmetology grads who want to grow their clientele in 90 days." It sounds a lot better. Well, how about this example? Instead of saying, "I do permanent makeup training," why don't you say, "I help permanent makeup artists who are having problems retaining color, achieve 90% retention in one killer class?"

When you narrow down your specialty, you position yourself as an expert a lot faster.

The competition for these humongous industries is too broad to compete with, too vast to be noticed. So, niche down, for now! Once you experience success in that niche and you become the boss in that niche, great. You earn your right to go broader.

Step #3: Skill Up

If you want to be seen as the go-to expert into your niche, you have to be wicked smart. Be up to date and treat your brain like a hungry hippo for knowledge on that specific topic. For example, I'm a social media marketing expert for beauty entrepreneurs. So, what do I do? Every single day, I read, watch videos, listen to podcasts; I take notes to make sure the information I have is the most up to date and relevant information for someone in my space. You will never ever see me at home without headphones playing audio books or blasting the latest marketing school podcasts through Alexa. I do this while I'm running, while I'm in the house chasing my kids around—I don't waste time. I’m always learning; you should be too.

It takes me five minutes to brush my teeth and wash my face—that's five minutes I could use to listen to something that's going to nourish my brain and make me smarter. I'm listening to a webinar on digital marketing while doing so. You better believe I'm doing all of those things. I don't waste time.

Get obsessed with knowledge.

Part of the reason why I can be so confident on here, telling you what's best for your beauty business, is because I have the knowledge to back it up. You can't skip this step.

Make a learning a lifestyle. Seriously. Every single day.

Step #4: Demonstrate

Now that you've done the inner work, you've narrowed down your expertise and you’ve become the encyclopedia for your topic in that specialty, it's time to show it off. This is the strategic part of the formula that is a must. You have to demonstrate your newly inflated expert brain. Demonstrate your expertise consistently, every single day.

The types of posts that are going to position you to be in a place of massive authority are educational posts. Go hard on that—post infographics, go live on Facebook and speak on the topic, create blog posts to build authority.

Whatever the medium, do it regularly.

Teach what you know! Give it away for free. I promise, it will position you as a trusted voice in your industry. How are people going to know that you're an expert if you don't showcase it? If you just whisper it to yourself, maybe only your family knows, Yeah, he's really smart, she's really smart, but you guys share a bank account, so that doesn’t really count. It's kind of like knowing that you're an amazing singer, but if you never sang, people would never know.

Another thing business owners shy away from is admitting their mistakes. Not admitting your mistakes is a mistake. When you tell people the mistakes that you've made and what you've learned from the process, you're showing them two things: one, that you're honest, and two, that you're experienced. The quickest way to extract wisdom is through other people's mistakes. The hard way, the long way, is learning on your own through making your own mistakes, and that's really no fun. Any smart person knows this and would appreciate your transparency.

So, don't think that you have to know it all. Don't think that you have to be perfect. Just share what you know!

Be consistent and document your learning journey.

I'm telling you, people will appreciate it and they'll be like, "Wow, she went through that! She's a wise one."

Step #5: Build Your Tribe—Identification via Association

You need to level up your tribe and hang out with other experts. Collaborate with them.

Align yourself with like-minded people, birds of a feather.

Whenever you see somebody hanging out with a specific type of group, it's just natural to assume that there’s a common denominator. Not to mention, when you collaborate with other experts, it exposes you, especially if you do it on social media, to their audiences and vice versa. It's a win-win. Not only do you have that positioning factor, but you also have that easy cross-promotion.

Find people who are like you, who are obsessed with learning about this niche topic like you, or at least experts, whose expertise and specialties compliment your own. How you do that is overtime.

The way I've build up my network is I always attend live events. I always support the people who I want to align myself with by commenting on or sharing their posts. I also invite them to collaborate a lot.

I have to say, podcasting has really changed my life. I mean, what better way to be able to reach high performing people in your field than asking them to sit down for an interview or a deep chat with you? You don't even need a podcast necessarily to do that. You can interview somebody on your IG live or on your Facebook or on YouTube! Never in the history of the universe has it ever been easier to find the experts and to connect with them. Don't overcomplicate it. Just send them a message and watch the magic happen.

A lot of people ask me, "Sheila, how do I become friends with those girls or that shiny new group that's doing big things?” Well, you just need to accomplish your own dreams. That's so cool—not even their dreams, just yours. Just be a doer. You don't even need to be doing what they're doing. You just need to be doing the big things that you've always wanted to do. And people will see it.

Doers know other doers.

Real recognize real.

Send us a message or tag us on Instagram if this post helped you!

Also, here are some FREE resources for you boss babes to grow in your businesses:

My FREE Training: 7-Figure Instagram Formula
Listen to the Pretty Rich Podcast where I dive into some wisdom I’ve gained over the years and turn them into helpful tools for you to grow your beauty business. (Oh! I have some boss guests that join me from time to time on there too!)
Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for more helpful tips on growing your beauty business.
Follow me on Instagram: @realsheilabella