Advice From a Serial Entrepreneur

I recently went one on one with Shama Patel. Shama is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of AIR and Clean Your Dirty Face.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your story and your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. What is something about you that would surprise people?

Shama: A decade ago, I beat the Guinness Book of World Record for “fastest text message on a touch screen mobile phone.” I started the process of securing the official record, but never actually finished — it was too long of a process, including travel to the UK.

Adam: How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth? 

Shama: I was an attorney who looking ahead, didn’t see a bright future as a female partner at my firm, so I quit in the middle of our country’s recession. I didn’t have much of a game plan in mind other than I wanted to start a unique business in the wellness space. I created a business plan and shopped it to over 20 banks, and got rejected. Finally, one bank made the loan and I opened my first wellness business, which was essentially an R&D lab where AIR Aerial Fitness would eventually be developed. Being rejected by over 20 banks taught me that the road to entrepreneurship is not easy but if you have the stamina and determination to make something happen, you can. How bad you want it is determined by the number of times you will pick yourself up and try again. The entire process taught me to look at everything as a learning experience, and that was invaluable. In my first year of business, I remember complaining about how difficult business was and my dad (also a fellow entrepreneur) said to me “if you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.” After that moment, I don’t remember complaining again, but rather, only looking for creative solutions to problems.

Adam: What are your best tips on how to come up with an idea worthy of pursuing as a business? And what advice do you have on how to assess whether an idea is indeed worthy of your time and investment?

Shama: You’re not truly going to know whether an idea is worth pursuing as a business until you actually turn it into a business. So, my advice is to think through the idea and make certain that you can execute the idea flawlessly — anyone can have an idea but execution is everything. If you can, then simply take a chance and start before you’re ready! For me, scrutinizing financials and overthinking about an idea doesn’t solve anything. Generally, I like to stay in the space that I know well, which is wellness. I like to roll up my sleeves, do the work, learn from it, and refine it. I’ve started multiple brands and businesses — all of them were successful and had great potential but the difference between them was that some businesses required more energy but produced lower margins while others required less energy yet produced higher margins. I only move forward with scaling the businesses that fall in the latter category.

Adam: How did you acquire customers before anyone knew who you were? What are your best tips transforming an idea into a real business?

Shama: Customer acquisition is everything and the very first task that I complete before I fully formulate a business idea. If I can produce a strong marketing strategy by answering a basic question like “how am I going to get the word out about my business?” then I will move forward with next steps on the business idea, but if the idea doesn’t even pass that first marketing test with confidence, then I scrap the idea. In my early years, I acquired customers the traditional way through word of mouth, community outreach, cross-promotions with local businesses, speaking with local media outlets and apartment property managers alike — I did everything I could to get the word out and always sealed it with a firm call-to-action plan. No matter who I was speaking with or what advertising literature I was handing out, I always marketed the same message.

Eventually, that same message traveled and everyone in town knew about the new client deal that I was offering to persuade prospective clients to try out my new business.

My best tip for transforming an idea into a real business is to think about the business from a 360 perspective. For example, how will I market this idea? who will I market it to? who are my customers? Research, research, research — you have to know the space that you are entering otherwise, you’ll likely fail. When people approach me about business advice on opening their own yoga studio, clothing boutique, etc., I always ask if they have experience in that area of business. In other words, your passion for yoga or taste in high fashion isn’t enough to turn this into a real business and you should have experience in that space, which at the bare minimum constitutes working the front desk at the local studio on weekends.

Adam: What are your best tips on building, growing and scaling a business? 

Shama: Start small, grow big, and along the way, refine, refine, refine. I paid off my initial bank loan seven years ago, I have no investors, and I have grown my entire company organically and based on the profits of my businesses. I believe in business fundamentals such as constantly reinvesting the money that you’re making back into your business, and that you should always have more money coming in than going out.

Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level? 

Shama: True leadership is when you create opportunity for others, including yourself. I believe that a good leader will continue to educate herself or himself, and continue to learn and evolve. I constantly read articles and listen to podcasts from other entrepreneurs as a way to stay on top of my creative, problem-solving game.

Adam: Who are the greatest leaders you have been around and what did you learn from them?

Shama: My father. He’s a structural engineer turned real estate mogul and he takes a “no BS” attitude as it relates to hard work. Although he’s not in the wellness space and probably still doesn’t know exactly what I do for a living, I certainly learned my work ethic, creative problem-solving, and ability to never give up from him.

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams? 

Shama: On building, hire people better than you in their respective fields. I’m not a fitness instructor or esthetician so while I can design the formats and systems from a consumer lens, I need top trainers and estheticians who can execute that vision. Similarly, with my corporate office, I strive to build a team that can own their respective departments and adds more value than I can. On leading teams, my advice is to be a good role model that others can respect, and always lead by example. On managing teams, someone who feels appreciated is going to do more than what is expected so appreciate your team because without them, you’d be nowhere.

Adam: What are your best tips for e-commerce entrepreneurs?: 

Shama: Currently, I don’t have any! I’m new to the e-commerce space myself. Thankfully, we are doing very well in that space, but that’s because we are leveraging our existing brands and their strong following for that. I’m currently building a fulfillment center in Texas because the sheer volume of orders is too great to continue operations out of our Chicago offices, and that high volume is based solely on organic traffic from our online shops. Check back with me in six months and I'm sure I’ll have a lot more advice for e-commerce entrepreneurs then!

Adam: What are your three best skin care tips?  

Shama: (1) I highly recommend having your skin analyzed by a licensed esthetician and let the experts tell you what you need. At our facial bars, more than half our clients have never had a facial before and you see them using wrong products or caring for their skin in the wrong way their entire life. Our estheticians put them on the right track quickly, so if you’re serious about achieving your skin goals, take the time to visit an esthetician, get educated, educate yourself, and then get started on the right path from the outset. (2) Don’t overdo it. My own personal skincare routine, on most days, only includes a toner, face oil, and night serum. Like in business, start small and then grow into a more extensive skincare routine once you have more information. (3) Similar to fitness goals, if you want to achieve your skincare goals, it’s not just about using clean beauty skincare products, it’s also about consuming a clean diet and being mindful of the need to deep clean your face routinely because there are multiple factors that can clog your pores including city pollution, fitness sweat, placing your phone against your cheeks, hormonal changes, and so on. It’s not just about cleaning your dirty face, it’s about cleaning your dirty life!

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received? 

Shama: Your time is valuable. Opening two corporate stores takes the same effort as opening ten facial bar franchises. The latter allows me to get my brand out there faster, so focus on putting your energy in places where you’ll have a bigger impact.

Adam: What are your hobbies and how have they shaped you as an entrepreneur? 

Shama: At my core, I’m an artist. My hobbies include painting and drawing, so it’s no coincidence that I like bringing concepts to life that only I can dream up in my mind. Single-service facial bars and aerial fitness + aerial yoga studios, while they may seem more mainstream now, were brought to market by me. For the past decade, I have developed brands as a creative outlet. At both brands, I have worn every hat possible and developed unrivaled branding and marketing skills along the way. My interest in creating concepts from scratch is absolutely attributed to my artistic ability.

Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share? 

Shama: I don’t like the spotlight — I would rather be the director than the actress!