From Doubt to Doing: Turn Your Skill Into Income

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

You’ve got the idea.
You’ve got the gift.
You’ve got the vision.

So why haven’t you started?

In this episode of Life, Finance, & Real Estate, Kirby sits down with special guest Waverly McSwain, CEO of WM Beauty, to talk about what it really takes to move from doubt to doing.

This conversation is for the person who knows you’re called to more… but keeps second guessing yourself and waiting to feel ready.

Because the truth is… waiting has been costing you more than you realize.

Together, we break down
• Why overthinking keeps you stuck
• How sitting on your gift delays your growth
• Why confidence doesn’t come first… movement does
• What it really looks like to turn your skill into income

Waverly shares her journey of starting before she felt ready and how she built something by choosing to move anyway.

This episode will challenge you, stretch you, and push you to take action now… not next month, not next year.

🎯 TAKEAWAYS

• You don’t need more information… you need to move
• Your gift has value but only if you use it
• Waiting will cost you more than starting imperfectly
• Confidence is built through action, not before it

📝 THIS WEEK’S ASSIGNMENT

Take that idea, that skill, that thing you’ve been sitting on… and do ONE thing

Write it down
Tell someone about it
Or take one action step

But move

📻 LISTEN LIVE

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http://www.921wjmg.com

🎧 CONNECT + SUBSCRIBE

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🔑 FINAL WORD

Own your life…
so you can own a piece of America 🇺🇸

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 1:30

Hey family, hey family, hey family. Welcome back to life, finance, and real estate with you, girl, Kirby the Realtor. Listen, this is the room where we don't just talk about it, we move on it. And today's episode is for that person who knows they are called to do more, but you keep second guessing yourself. You got the ideas, you got the gifts, and you've got the vision, but you keep waiting to feel ready. And today, y'all, we're breaking that. Now, before we get into today's episode, let's go back for a second. Let's go back and recap for our new listeners. Last week, we talked about why some of you haven't started and what was really costing you. We talked about that gap between knowing and doing because a lot of us, we know what to do. We read, we read it, we can hear it, we've heard it, we watch and go to seminars and we watch YouTube videos. We've even told other people what to do and how to do it. But when it comes to our own life, we tend to hesitate. And last week I told you it's not a lack of information, it's not a lack of um of knowledge, it's a lack of movement. And you don't need another video, you don't need another class, you don't need another seminar. The truth be told, you just need to move. And see, I gave y'all some homework last week. I told you to take that idea, take that gift, take that thing you've been sitting on, and I told you to do one thing. I told you to write it down. And then I told you to identify what's been holding you back. Like, be real with yourself. Take one step towards it. Some of y'all did it, and some of you didn't. Some of you just listened, like, oh, that's good. And you wrote it down, but guess what? You kept moving, you kept moving on through life and you didn't write it down. But I need you to be honest with yourself right now. Did you really move, or did you just think about it? Did you move or did you just sit there and think about it? And that right there, that's why it matters today, because today we're gonna talk to somebody who didn't just wait until everything made sense to her because I've heard her before. We've had conversations, we've sat, and I hear how she encourages and coaches others. She didn't just wait until she felt ready. She moved anyway. So I got my girl Wavely McSwang, y'all. I got Wavely here today. When I tell you, she's not just talented, she's been building something over the last few years. It took a skill, she took her skill and she turned it into income. She's helping other women feel confident, bold, and beautiful. And I'm one of them women, like not just with makeup. She does it by doing brows, brow titting, permanent brow makeup, eyelashes. She does a lot of things, y'all, and I'm just gonna let her explain it. But more than that, she made a decision to move. Y'all, I want y'all to welcome my girl, Wavely McSwain, in the room. Wavely, welcome.

SPEAKER_04 4:33

Thank you so much, Kirby, for inviting me on. I'm so excited to speak about this topic. Um, because it's something that I'm still working through now. So that's also a key point for people to realize that it's something that you always are gonna be working at. Once you hit one thing, once you take that one uh task or goal off the list, you're gonna continue doing something different. God is gonna continue to deposit something new for you.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 5:03

Um and so with that being said, you've already introduced me, but let's talk about Waverly Max Wayne, beauty and what it's about. So basically, it's where busy women come to eliminate their stress of just getting ready. Um, so they can wake up polished, they stay confident all day, and they're never second guessing how they look. Um, and that is for like everyday life or big events, and even after physical changes have happened, such as uh chemotherapy due to breast cancer or any form of cancer. Um, and so how I how I impact that is I I actually help people who've actually dealt with breast cancer or any form of cancer where their hair has uh they've lost hair or they have lost um bilateral or unilateral breasts, and they just want to feel a sense of normalcy. So I go in there and I actually can create a 3D aerial locate too. That's that's one of my newest things that I'm going into now. However, I've been helping women to just look good no matter what for over a decade now. So we we're looking at about 16 years now. And I still feel like I'm just getting started, Kirby. I still feel like I'm just getting started. Um I guess.

SPEAKER_05 6:29

What are my what are my questions, Kirby? Well, so I have a question because a lot of people they feel like, you know, a lot of business owners, we make it look so easy because they don't know the behind the scenes. They don't know what we, you know, have to endure or deal with. But what did life look like for you before the business? And when did you realize you wanted more for yourself?

SPEAKER_04 6:54

Um, so life looked like for me, I was going in day to day. I was working for a major cosmetics company that everyone knows, um, called Met Cosmetics. I worked there for nine years in totality. Um I ended up, before I ended up transitioning into becoming uh my own self-employment, I was working as a retail manager. So pretty much I feel like I knew that there was a shift happening, that I was not going to continue with Mac. And really, like most people can say, the shift kind of happened around the time of COVID. So when COVID came about, I was working, I was taking care of like and managing about eight employees with the direction of Mac and how their standards and systems flow. And you know, I I think for me it was like March 14th, 2020, was like the day that they stated to us like, hey, we're gonna be closing down for a little while. We don't know how long, but it's basically a state of an emergency, and we just we don't know what's what's the next move. So basically y'all go home. That's what you know um to do for tomorrow. Don't come into work. And so I remember that I remember that first week uh of like the unknown, and it was so interesting because um I really feel like God was like nagging at me or not nagging, he was kind of like pushing at me then because he uh basically I was in the process of within that first week I had already created like a makeup class. Like I started noticing everybody on social media was moving towards something. So I was like, okay, well, let's do virtual makeup classes. So like I feel like that's when everything started with with becoming virtual. Um I was able to create a class and make money at home just from that alone. And then I did it so well that I was able to um also teach and also give like my whole systems to a friend of mine that does makeup and she was working for Matt Cosmetics as well. So it went to the point where she was so so so successful, where she was able to buy her a new car door and code it. Um she was able to um basically just like expand what she does as well. So that's where everything started, where entrepreneurship started like tickling, tickling me. It was like, okay, you know, you you got an idea, you can do something here. And I remember like we were on furlough for four months, and every day I was doing something, every day I was keeping myself steady. So like I would wake up in the morning, I would, I would actually have a routine for myself because I was at home. So I I had to make a routine so I couldn't just be. I was tired of watching all the YouTube, I was tired of watching all the um lives. I needed something for me, so I I started becoming a little disciplined with like, okay, well, you're gonna go and you're gonna like work on this business plan. Like I have a whole whole different business plan for a self-care, a self-care beauty box that I created in 2020 that I didn't um dive into, however, that was just a way of me building and understanding it was something for me to do. Um shortly after that four months was up, I come back, um they reinstate our employment, but the scene has changed. Where once we had eight people that was like actually working, now it was three. Um, one full-time and two part-timers. And that was a shift, like that was another rocket shift. Like, okay, well, how are we gonna navigate this? And I just found myself to be at work every day. I was working every day like from 11 to 8. I only had two days off, and that was tiring. Um, because you can't really do nothing before 11 o'clock unless you get up really, really early. And not much is open after 8 p.m. So the next big shift happened when they decided to um basically reduce our pay. Um, and that was basically like all management. Everybody had like between a $10,000 to $20,000 pay cut. And that was like one of those moments. I remember I went home. I was upset that weekend. Yeah. And it was something about after I got upset, I was like, you know what? All right. It was like that next morning. I woke up that Monday morning and I promised you like clockwork. I remember that Matt Cosmetics paid for schooling. I said, okay, cool. Let's go. You know, it's time to shift. And I knew that I've always loved brows. I knew that brows frame the face. I knew that people um was losing brows. Um, just it could be just from aging. Your brows are thinning. And it was just, I've always loved it in makeup. So I went for it.

SPEAKER_05 12:15

So that's when when when you were during COVID, basically during COVID, and you were there and they y'all went on furlough, that's when it kind of like shit um clicked that, hey, I want more. I can do more. So what was the biggest, what was the biggest lie? You know, sometimes the the enemy, I'm gonna say the enemy, because y'all know I'm that girl, but the devil tried to put these, plant these seeds. So what was like the biggest lie that you believed about yourself in the beginning?

SPEAKER_04 12:46

Like, oh, the biggest lie was like, girl, can you do that? Like, well, but really the biggest lie came in filts. Like each step that I actually took, I the enemy was like planting something, like a doubt in my head. Each like, and I'm what I mean by each step, I'm talking about like, okay, you need a you need a space, you need a studio, because you can't do this procedure like out your house. Oh, I can't afford that. You know, that was like the first one, right? Um, and then when something did come about and I was gonna go in and sign with another lady, then immediately afterwards, like like within the week we were supposed to sign the contract, she didn't want to uh sign anymore. So that was another blow to my to like my confidence. Like, okay, well, how like, well, God, I told you my yes. I eventually said, okay, I'm about to go for this. And then now this is not working. But Kirby, I it's good to have wonderful people in your ear. It's good to have people who know who God are, who God is in their life, and they can help push you forward. And I had this one lady say, Hey, look, because I seen this one building, and I was like, nah, I can't do that. I will not be able to pay for that. Like that, and and my home life and everything else that comes with it, I was so doubtful. So that's one of the things that the enemy was was trying to plant in my head consistently. So that I was not gonna be able to pay for work.

SPEAKER_05 14:19

How did you push past though the fear, the doubt, the overthinking? Like, how did you push past that?

SPEAKER_04 14:26

Um a lot of breathing, a lot of prayer. Like, I literally, every moment that I had the fear that was creeping up in my throat, I had to kind of speak it down and say, okay, at least you can try. Like, if you don't try, nothing can be done. So I just I just put one foot in front of the other. And I had different little systems where I I prayed, where I taught myself through it. I I had to do some breath work in order to to make it happen because you that's the time you get anxious. Like it starts to it starts to work on your body. Like, can I do this? You know? And so you start noticing that your everything about you is kind of jittery. Well, and I just pushed past it. And plus, like I said, I had good people in my corner too, who who encouraged me to still go for it. So it's great, it's great to have cheerleaders too, and friends, you know, that say, hey, try it.

SPEAKER_05 15:28

Gotcha. That's good. Um, oftentimes you meet people, and you know, we we have a lot of small business owners, but a lot of times people just don't understand what goes into, you know, opening a business in those things of doubt. And one of my mentors often says, watch what you say. Like you put that out in the atmosphere that, oh, this ain't working, or this and that. That stuff comes to fruition and and it can be detrimental to your just your life. God tells us to be careful what we say. You have what you say, and um gotta speak positive and put positive things out there. Um, I think we kind of talked about um, well, no, we didn't. What help you stay consistent? Like when you open your business and you you started working for yourself, what's some things that help you stay consistent and on your toes there? What would you say helps you?

SPEAKER_04 16:24

One thing that helps me to stay consistent is to know that I I I gotta make it. Like that's like the that's one of the main things in my head is like you have to make it. Like it's for yourself. Like you like you're doing this more than just for yourself as well. The number the my first thing is I'm going to make it. So that's one thing that keeps me consistent. Um, telling myself that, and then also like who I'm called to work with and for. And who I'm able to service is what keeps me going. Because I have so many days when I have women who truly like they have they have given everything. They've given everything to everybody. And I'm talking like work, they've given everything to family, they've given everything to husbands, they've given everything to uh whatever they are called to do specifically. But sometimes because they're so strong, they're sometimes often overlooked. So my space is like more of a refuge for them in beauty services. And they come in and they get to relax, they get to sleep. The amount of ladies that get to rest in my location is unreal.

SPEAKER_05 17:40

Yeah, I'm one of them. I go to sleep, y'all. I may snore two or three times.

SPEAKER_04 17:48

Yeah, like it's just unreal.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:52

Um, so that's what keeps me consistent because like I have days when I just don't sometimes don't want to don't want to show up. But I have to remember, like, okay, I told God yes, I told myself yes. I and then I also am speaking uh inaudible, you know, like yes to my clients. Like, come on in, you know, and they give back. Uh honestly, not even just a monetary, but they give back, and sometimes they're listening to me, you know, um, to help me through it. And so yeah, that's what keeps me consistent.

SPEAKER_05 18:30

Okay. Um, so do you think you were structured going in or were or are you like figuring it out as you go or do you think you're structured?

SPEAKER_04 18:39

I am figuring it out as I go.

SPEAKER_05 18:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:43

I feel like entrepreneurship is something that you always, it's like it's gonna be something new. You know, just like how like in the world today, right? We when we look at um, like when we get on social media, what do we see? One minute they're talking about investments, one minute they're talking about my home, the next minute they're talking about um vacations, right? Or the next minute they're talking about, oh, well, did what did you put your money back in or how you'll save the time? You know what I'm saying? Like something as simple as that. It's almost it's it's that way in entrepreneurship because you're like, hey, um, did I run down my monthly numbers this month? Um, did I put money back for myself? Did I make sure my insurance is is is paid? Is is like what's coming up? Oh, right now in April and May, my licenses are coming up. I gotta renew them. You know, like it's always something that um that's gonna happen. You're gonna find out something new. Like look luckily it's like people who will just start talking and they'll tell you, oh, well, someone's gonna help me out here. And that'll get you in in an alignment. So I'm forever getting better daily. Yeah, but no, just everyday, it's an everyday improvement.

SPEAKER_05 20:02

Yes, it actually is. Um, I would say too, I see you a lot. You you speak to a lot of women, whether they're young, you know, the young women, I see that you do that. You're on different, you know, different shows. And y'all at Waverly fails to tell you guys, she actually has her own podcast as well. Waverly, um, she can tell you a little bit about that too.

SPEAKER_04 20:25

Yes, it's called Bouge and Rouge. It's uh my partner and I uh her name is D Rouvan and myself. We basically talk to um other women in the beauty industry specifically, and what that looks like and and how they have uh made it from point A to point B in their life. We and not even really just specifically to beauty, but it can be an aspect of um like magazines, illustrations, um, someone who is really great at what's it called, like creating websites, because all that is a level of beauty, like what what allows people to be attracted to your business or who you are. So we basically are just speaking to ladies about what got you to where you are and where and where your faith takes you.

SPEAKER_05 21:26

Where can they find the episodes if they want to go back and listen or join you guys? Where where could they find it?

SPEAKER_04 21:33

Yes. So we just wrapped up season two, and you can find us on all social media, uh social uh media platforms at Bouge and Rouge, and then you can also find us on both all podcast platforms as well.

SPEAKER_05 21:51

Okay, that's good. Um, so let's get back because I I know I jumped, but I just wanted to make sure I didn't forget to ask because that's you know it's Important that people know where to find you. Um, what's something you had to learn about business that nobody told you?

SPEAKER_04 22:13

No one told me. It's hard.

SPEAKER_05 22:18

They don't tell us that, do they?

SPEAKER_04 22:22

Just just simply like simple, simply put, it is difficult. Because you it's all about like some about entrepreneurship, you have to have self-regulation. They don't tell you that. So like when these major companies, they have people that can speak and do content and uh email you get and and things of that nature, you are generally the forefront of your business when you're an entrepreneur. Even when you have people that are over that that you uh employ. You're still the forefront. Like people are gonna still see you. Um it's difficult. It's difficult to hold all those roles. And generally, when you first start out, you're holding all those roles. So you basically like are juggling multiple roles at one time, and you have to have self-regulation. You have to even be able to tell yourself stop. It's a hard piece. Like, do nothing else. Like, don't even think about it, don't even respond to this person. Just give yourself a moment. Breathe. Take a nap. Like that's something I did in the first beginning of my of my entrepreneurial entrepreneurial career. I took naps consistently. Like naps was actually helping me to refuel myself when I found myself to be overly anxious.

SPEAKER_05 23:55

So let's go into the confidence and identity portion of beauty. Um, what happens when a woman, or what do you think happens when a woman finally sees herself differently after you've done something? When, you know, like for instance, I know for me, lashes, you know, I was buying a strip, dollar store lashes, right? I was buying them. They not they're not a dollar no more. They buy $250, $35. But and I felt like, okay, well, you know, I felt cute when I put them on, but it was a different, you know, sitting there and letting you do individual lashes. Um I mean, I even stopped wearing makeup every day because I just felt like it gave me a different sense of confidence. Um but what happens for you when you a woman finally sees herself differently? Like, how does that make you feel? Or how do you think they even feel when you when Waverly does something uh to help enhance their beauty or make them feel differently?

SPEAKER_04 24:52

So um that's a really good question, Kirby. I am always um, I feel like in awe about it, and I'm excited about it because when I well like when a woman like when she gets refreshed, because that's really what I look at, like she's refreshed. Because it's something like when you get your hair done, right? And let's say you had a bad day before you um earlier in that day, you go get your hair done, or you go get a beauty service, and you feel like yourself again. So many people end up, um, so many women I like I end up looking at their photo like uh a mirror of themselves, and they're like, girl, you bad. Like they talk to themselves differently compared to when they first roll in. They like, girl, I look a bit. You know what I'm saying? Like, let's go ahead and refresh me. You know? Um, they know they're coming in for a refreshing. And so that's super like that's so it's so amazing, it's so cool to be able to see them. Like, it's almost like they're recharged. Like, like they were, like their battery was low, but now they feel so much better. All because I've applied makeup on them, their brows are back, and they're fuller because uh their aging, they actually um like thin or disappear. You know, it's just something about it. They just they whole theme just brighten, just brightens up their company. So that's what it does for me. I love it.

SPEAKER_05 26:28

Well, love it. That's beautiful. Um, let's get real for a moment here, because you know, we we don't we don't show everything, but I always like to tell people sometimes I almost quit every day, I feel, in in real estate. And I literally mean it. Um, but what's some what's something you feel like almost made you quit and what kept you going anyway?

SPEAKER_04 26:55

Um win at a bank account reflect what all I'm putting in. Um sometimes it can feel like a deal breaker. Um because like especially when you're coming from working for um a corporation, you know that you know what that chill is gonna look like each and every time. That's not the that's not the same here. Like business has ebbs and flows, and you have to be smart, very strategic about where you place your money, you know, so that when when the ebb comes off and you you're good. You can you can flow through it, you can flow through it.

SPEAKER_05 27:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:42

Um that that can sometimes be a make or break for me. Um, but I always have to say, like, okay, well, babe, who who is who's your source? Like, and the moment I like stop and I give it back to God, he like opens up doors, like literally. And then like right now, for me, um, I've hit your I've hit your five. And so much other stuff is like pulling at me to like get better at. Um, it's also showing me uh what I need to change in my business. And that's hard because it's where I have built up for five years, now I still see that it's more to me, it's more to me to have to change to shift in order to become and receive this next um opportunity. And a lot of people don't realize what that's like.

SPEAKER_05 28:41

Okay, that that's good. That is good. Um, if someone is listening right now and you feel like you're stuck, I I need you to think today. I don't want you to wait later in the week, but think about that one thing that you need to do this week. What would you tell your younger self? Because this wasn't just Waverly's story, it's just a snippet, y'all. It's just a snippet. She just shared a snippet of, you know, kind of how she got started, and she's got more. She has more. We're gonna have her back on to, you know, we can get on into some more questions. But I appreciate you, Waverly, taking out time to give us some insight into the is it Waverly Max Swain beauty or do we call it WM Beauty?

SPEAKER_04 29:26

Oh, it's either or.

SPEAKER_05 29:27

Either or short.

SPEAKER_04 29:29

For sure, it's WM beauty.

SPEAKER_05 29:31

Okay, gotcha. Um, so when you let's just recap real quick. When you transitioned, you weren't really ready, you just knew there had to be more. So let me let me get out here. And I gotta, I'm gonna figure it. I didn't have it all figured out at first, but I'm gonna move anyway, right? Moved anyway. I had a question last week after the call, and they asked, How do you stay consistent? Like, how do you you make plans, but how do you make yourself do it every day? And and that was big. And Waverly talked about that, just being consistent, starting your small habits, like not responding, right? Taking that nap. So those are good habits to have. You gotta start small, and I tell people all the time, Rome. We've been told all the time ourselves, Rome wasn't built in a day, was it?

SPEAKER_04 30:23

Nope, it was not. It wasn't and wrong was massive. So if someone actually looked, said, like, look, look up wrong and look what wrong was all about. You know, you're building something, it's gonna take some time.

SPEAKER_05 30:42

Yeah, you can't build y'all, y'all can't build wealth being hesitant. You can't build anything, staying stuck in your own head, because a lot of times we're held hostage by ourselves, and confidence doesn't come at first. You gotta start small, and eventually your confidence will build up. You will build up and you know begin to get comfortable with the choices and decisions that you made. So before you try to own a piece of real estate, before you even try to build wealth, before you try to own a piece of America, you have to own your mindset. You gotta own your discipline, own your decisions to move, and then you can own a piece of America. It's been real, and I appreciate each and every one of you tuning in. This is your girl Kirby signing off. Bye for now. See you soon.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

Thank you for tuning in to Life, Finance, and Real Estate with Kirby the Realtor. You can catch us every Thursday at 12 p.m. on 92.1 WJMG, 93.1 WGDQ. And also you can listen live at 921wjmg.com or 931 WGDQ.com. If you happen to miss the live recording, don't fret. We'll replay it at 6 p.m. tonight. Thank you once again for listening to Life Finance and Records.